TRANSCRIPT
Akash Nagarajan is on a university path he hopes will one day lead to him becoming an industrial lawyer.
His ambitions are motivated by a passion for defending the rights of others.
But he says he himself became a target for racism, while standing for student elections at the University of New South Wales.
“Someone told me I should be deported and that I don't belong here at university or in this country - before saying Australia was for the white man - and doing the Nazi salute and taking one of my pamphlets and running away before I could do anything about it. You're not supposed to experience that on campuses, it's absolutely shocking and it makes me appalled.’
And according to the Human Rights Commission, his experience is a part of more widespread, insidious problem.
The interim findings of its Respect at Uni investigation warning that universities are not inoculated against racism by the intellectual endeavour that takes place within them.
It also said the safety concerns have been compounded by insufficient responses from these institutions.
Race Discrimination Commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman describing the concerns as a systemic and pervasive problem that needs to be addressed.
“Clearly universities need to do more to address racism and I think the starting point is acknowledging there is a problem and be willing to take action and I think that can be evidenced by engaging with us and not putting barriers in place. They can be institutions that either challenge inequality or entrench inequality and if they don't address the structural racism that can affect them then they'll be entrenching inequality.”
In response, Universities Australia - which represents the sector - said racism had no place in our universities and safe, inclusive campuses were essential.
The group added that it's engaging with the commission's ongoing work.
Tensions on many campuses have been elevated this year with a wave of protest action over the Middle East conflict and an increase in reports of antisemitism and islamaphobia.
Several universities are taking steps to examine policies on dealing with racism... bolstering complaint mechanisms and student counselling services.
Mr Sivaraman says it's a start, but more action is needed.
We can have this idea that because they are places of such learning and scholarship they can be immune from racism but that's clearly not the case so that's why I think it's so crucial for the sector to sit up and take notice from this and I will say that the engagement from the universities has been good so far.”
The report also highlighted the experiences of First Nations students and staff and international students, many saying they felt reduced to cash cows by universities.
While those of Asian and African backgrounds were among the most common victims of racism.
But some students like Akash Nagarajan have expressed concern about speaking out due to barriers to reporting or the fear of the repercussions.
It completely undermines that fact that universities are supposed to be a place of learning - it is supposed to be a place that fosters multiculturalism and diversity when you undergo experiences like that and you can't do anything about it. I think the university has to provide some sort of reporting mechanism to show that people who say this sort of stuff need to be dealt with.”
UNSW Sydney told SBS it stands against all forms of racism and encourages staff and students to report it when witnessed.
It says a newly-launched mechanism has been set up to handle these complaints.
