Students, staff live in fear as racism rampant at unis

Dominic Giannini | February 17, 2026

Culturally and ethnically diverse students and teachers have described harrowing examples of intimidation, humiliation and exclusion as universities are chastised for failing to address racism.

Personal experiences detailed in a landmark Australian Human Rights Commission report ranged from racist tropes, such as petrol-sniffing jokes about Indigenous people and Jewish bloodthirstiness, to hostility in classrooms targeting Middle Eastern cultures or religions.

“A group of girls started ‘joking’ about the way my eyes are ‘slanted’ and that I smelled like noodles,” one student of Asian descent said, adding it made them feel less human.

Jewish and Palestinian students and staff are bearing the brunt of ingrained racism, with more than 90 per cent saying they experienced discrimination because of their religion or ethnicity at university, according to the Respect at Uni report, released on Tuesday. 

A Middle Eastern student described the class responding with laughter when he outlined a serious racist attack, while a Jewish student encountered anti-Semitism before university, but “I had never been scared to be Jewish”. 

Another Jewish student said criticism and protests against Israel were legitimate, but there were too many instances where it crossed the line into anti-Semitism, including targeting a Jewish staff member. 

People from Indigenous, Asian, Middle Eastern, African, Pasifika, Maori and Muslim backgrounds also face high rates of racism, the survey of more than 76,000 students and staff from 42 universities in September found.

This included more than eight in 10 respondents from Indigenous, Chinese, Middle Eastern and northeast Asian backgrounds reporting racism. 

Racism spiked during periods of social tension, such as against Indigenous people around the voice referendum debate, Asian students during the pandemic and Jewish, Israeli, Palestinian, Muslim and Middle Eastern people since the start of the war in Gaza.

“Racism at university is not confined to isolated incidents or individual behaviour, it is systemic,” race discrimination commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman said.

The study’s 47 recommendations included universities having a positive duty to stamp out racism, the creation of national and university-specific anti-racism plans and more reporting and transparency requirements.

The National Tertiary Education Union labelled it “a systemic workplace crisis” with one-in-five staff reporting direct racism.

Half of staff who experienced racism reported negative impacts on their careers – including one in five saying they were denied promotions they thought they deserved.

Greens anti-racism spokeswoman Mehreen Faruqi accused the Albanese government of diminishing anti-Palestinian racism and called for it to address all racism, rather than elevating anti-Semitism. 

“Cherry-picking one type of racism over others does nothing to dismantle structural racism embedded in policy and practice,” she said. 

A Palestinian student questioned their university’s commitment to free speech, saying they were silenced when speaking out against mass killing and genocide in Gaza.

Despite the high prevalence of racism, only six per cent of people made a complaint about the racism they suffered.

Dissatisfaction with the complaints process is high, with almost 70 per cent of domestic students and 80 per cent of academic staff who directly experienced racism unhappy with how the university handled their complaint.

Universities Australia labelled the findings deeply troubling, saying racism had no place at universities. 

Noting institutions were bound to ensure academic freedom and freedom of speech, this could never be used to justify spreading harm or impacting another person’s rights, the peak body said.

“Universities accept our responsibility to confront racism wherever it occurs,” it said in a statement.

Education Minister Jason Clare flagged major changes as the federal government considers the report’s recommendations, but said work had begun on improving the standards universities needed to comply with.

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