FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
30th of May 2020
The Australian Liberal Students’ Federation today speaks out against the University of Queensland’s decision to suspend Drew Pavlou.
As a Federation we understand that there are times in which an organisation must take disciplinary action against an individual, however, during this process it is incredibly important that procedural fairness is allowed to the highest standard, decision making is completely transparent and that any dispute procedures or policies are followed to a tee.
Unfortunately, the University of Queensland did not afford Mr Pavlou this courtesy in their disciplinary hearing against him on Wednesday the 20th of May.
“The ALSF has been monitoring this situation closely as it has been developing over the last few weeks, we opted to wait and see what the University said in it’s side of the story before making any statement” said ALSF Secretary Blake Keating.
“Unfortunately, the University of Queensland has failed to uphold its own standards and has clearly demonstrated to the whole country that it is a bought and paid for institution of the Chinese Communist Party”
Following the hearing on the 20th of May, Mr Pavlou’s lawyer stated (which we now know as fact) that University Administrators sought talking points from the Chinese Consulate in regard to an alleged assault against Mr Pavlou during a demonstration which was allegedly carried out by pro-CCP students.
Even if this was not the case the Australian Liberal Students’ Federation has been a strong advocate for free speech and free association on University campuses.
“If you are in favour of free speech for your friends then you must also be in favour of free speech for everyone else. It doesn’t matter what Mr Pavlou’s politics are for us to state very clearly that no student should be booted off campus for what is easily described as quite common student activism on very mainstream political issues.” said ALSF Secretary Blake Keating.
The ALSF Is incredibly disappointed that the University of Queensland has decided to deal with this matter in such an unsatisfactory way for both the student body at UQ, the broader community and for Australia.
“This isn’t the first time that UQ administrators have acted against free speech and association” said ALSF Social Director Zedekiah Sparks.
“This is just one in a long line of troubling decisions coming out of this University, If something isn’t done to demonstrate that this behaviour from UQ is unacceptable, more Universities will seek to stifle speech and association.”
ENDS
