Culture

The University Of Sydney Had A Truly Awful Week

No, it wasn't all because of Sharri Markson's hard-hitting journo work.

by Meg Watson  18 October 2014

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By now you all know about the hard-hitting investigative journalism undertook by The Australian‘s media editor Sharri Markson, who recently went undercover at the University of Sydney and UTS to get answers to the big questions. Or maybe just this one mediocre question: why are media lecturers insistent on teaching students about the media?

Her in-depth feature published this week in The Australian was met with a mixed reception at best, and made her more of a target for mockery than ol’ mate Murdoch himself.

In fact, the University of Sydney has had a truly awful week — one not limited to her allegations of systemic bias. Two other stories emerged that would have been much more deserving of the full-page splash The Australian gave to evil lefty media studies.

For starters: hate speech from a respected academic.

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Barry Spurr and His “Whimsical Linguistic Game”

News about Barry Spurr is everywhere right now, and no one’s quite sure what to make of it. On Thursday night, New Matilda unearthed emails from the University of Sydney poetry professor in which he makes derogative and offensive comments about pretty much everyone who isn’t an old white guy. There were a lot of emails. Two years worth of emails.

The lowlights of the decidedly vile bunch include an instance when Spurr calls Aboriginal people “human rubbish tips”, refers to Nelson Mandela as a “darkie” and labels a female victim of sexual assault a “worthless slut”.

Seriously.

Consulted about the emails prior to publication, Spurr told New Matilda the exchanges where meant as a joke; an attempt to mock “very extreme language” used with one other colleague in particular. “These statements are not reflections of my views or his,” he said. He then referred to it as a “whimsical linguistic game”.

For me the word “whimsical” brings to mind images of Zooey Deschanel blowing bubbles while listening to ‘New Slang’ by The Shins, but whatever, each to their own.

Regardless of his intent, every major news outlet has now picked up the story and Spurr has been suspended from the University of Sydney, pending investigation. On Friday, The Australian had published a 160-word story on his suspension; a piece that is one quarter of the size given to another quoting Spurr earlier in the week. In the latter report, published two days before the emails were found, Spurr pushes for more European heritage to be taught in the national curriculum instead of Indigenous culture.

This morning, Sharri Markson penned a slightly longer piece, the bulk of which is made up of Barry Spurr’s unproven allegation that his email was hacked — which both New Matilda and journalist Wendy Bacon emphatically deny.

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Sexual Misconduct and Institutional Incompetence

Barry Spurr and his questionable email etiquette isn’t the only thing USyd’s been making headlines for this week. Student newspaper Honi Soit reported a story about the university “fail[ing] to protect a student who had their naked photo shared without their consent”.

Allegedly “dragg[ing] their feet at every step” and taking months to process the initial complaint, the university did very little to help the victim, and took little to no steps in punishing the perpetrator who had since confessed in a letter. Though taking nude photos of someone without their consent is a crime, there is a six-month time limit on pressing charges with the police. As the victim only found out about the image eight months after the event, she only had the university to turn to.

Within five hours of posting the article online, the university had contacted the SRC asking Honi to redact the offending student’s name. Expressing concern for his “safety” and “privacy”, the student body which funds the publication decided Honi should black out the alleged offender’s details online. The editors begrudgingly complied.

This story can’t inspire much hope in students at the University of Sydney. According to a study commissioned by the NUS, 67 per cent of female students have had some kind of unwanted sexual experience, yet only 3 per cent have reported it. Maybe that number is so low because of the standard that’s been set.

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Both of these larger controversies are far from over. Students rallied on campus yesterday calling for Barry Spurr’s immediate dismissal, and the University is beginning investigations into the emails this week. It’d be great if it was all just a big, kooky, fun-loving misunderstanding. That’s nearly possible, right?

Though it may not get as many column inches, the university’s handling of sexual misconduct is a bigger story still. This isn’t an isolated event; it’s indicative of serious failures in a system that students need to trust.

With thousands of HSC kids currently sitting their exams, all this is hardly an incentive to place USyd at the top of their preferences. That is unless they’re hoping for a career in biased lefty media — in which case they’ll feel right at home.

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Photo via USyd.