A spokesperson said the university would not comment on individual matters, in line with its confidentiality requirements and commitment to procedural fairness under university policy.
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The university’s use of technology to identify protesters has drawn criticism from legal professionals and human rights activists. In 2016, the university responded to privacy concerns by claiming its new tracking technology – which it said was introduced to improve retention rates – could not be used to identify individual students.
At the time, academics raised the concern of function creep, warning the stated purpose for collecting data could change over time.
The University says on its website that it is governed by the Victorian Privacy and Data Protection Act. It says its policy for collecting biometric data from staff and students “is voluntary and based on your consent”.
Lawyer Lizzie O’Shea of campaign group Digital Rights Watch questioned whether the university was complying with privacy legislation. It had said in 2016 it was compliant because students could not be identified.
“If I was talking to Melbourne University, I’d be asking … is it de-identified, or isn’t it?” she said. “The next question is: was it collected by consent?”
O’Shea said the use of facial recognition technology in recent years by some businesses had sparked a public outcry.
“I think this is a similar scenario. When you go to university, you’re not necessarily expecting that a Wi-Fi login and even facial images from CCTV will be used for something like [this],” she said.
O’Shea said it was important from a human rights approach to consider whether the use of private data had been necessary and justified.
“You’d have to assess how disruptive these protests were,” she said.
Second-year science and classical Latin student Zara Chauvin-Cunningham also faces a misconduct hearing this week for joining the sit-in.
Chauvin-Cunningham, who is Jewish, said the protesters had welcomed her participation.
“We had Shabbat at the camp. We had Jewish speakers in multiple times. There has been nothing on campus even vaguely resembling what I would consider radical,” she said.
Chauvin-Cunningham said she had protested knowing there could be consequences, but the misconduct notice still came as a shock.
“We had peacefully left the buildings and cleaned it and left it in perfect condition and complied with everything the university asked in that agreement,” she said. “I took that to be we would not be penalised.”
On October 7 last year, Hamas fighters crossed the border into Israel, killed 1200 people and taking more than 250 people hostage, according to Israeli officials. Gazan health authorities report more than 37,000 people have died during the subsequent invasion of the territory by Israel.
UniMelb for Palestine established an encampment on the university lawns in April, and in May, protesters marched across the campus. A group of students separate from UniMelb for Palestine staged a sit-in at the Arts West building.
About 50 students ignored the university’s request to leave – delivered over megaphone by then acting provost Pip Nicholson.
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On May 16, students sleeping in the hall woke to a message over the loudspeaker warning them to leave or risk disciplinary action.
Classes in the Arts West building were cancelled and notices were posted across the campus advising students that their protest was unauthorised.
At the time, deputy vice-chancellor Michael Wesley called the protesters “intimidating” and warned via a video statement that the continued “occupation” of the Arts West building could result in the police being called in.
The university issued a statement saying the protest was an unacceptable safety and security risk and that it was deeply concerned about damage to university property.
On May 22, student Dana Alshaer led discussions that resulted in the university agreeing to transparency regarding its research funding deals with weapons manufacturers and foreign militaries in exchange for an end to the sit-in.
Provost Nicola Phillips said freedom of speech is foundational to the University of Melbourne’s values and policies.
“We have consistently stated that we recognise the right of students and staff to participate in peaceful protest,” she said.
Barrister Julian Burnside is a committee member of Liberty Victoria, which pointed to the privacy implications of the University of Melbourne’s use of tracking technology in 2018.
Burnside said students standing up for the women and children of Gaza was a legitimate reason for protest.
“If their location has been assessed by watching where the phone is, I think it’s an outrageous breach of privacy,” he said.
“Who are the major supporters who will cut off money that the university so obviously needs in these circ*mstances that someone is expressing a view that’s pro-Palestinian?”
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