By Alex Crowe
The University of Melbourne tracked students who staged a pro-Palestinian sit-in at a campus building, capturing CCTV footage and Wi-Fi location data that it will use as evidence in misconduct trials due to start this week.
Human rights experts and students have expressed concerns the surveillance contravenes the university’s own policies against using tracking technology to identify students.
Palestinian student Dana Alshaer and Zara Chauvin-Cunningham, a Jewish student, are both facing suspension or expulsion over protests.Credit: Justin McManus.
Twenty-one students who are facing suspension or expulsion over the protests have been emailed CCTV images of themselves inside the Arts West building on the university’s Parkville campus building in May, during the seven-day sit-in.
Alongside the zoomed-in stills – taken from cameras that appear to capture each corner of the building – were details of the students’ use of the campus Wi-Fi network, which the university said was evidence of alleged wrongdoing that will be presented when misconduct trials begin on Wednesday.
Dana Alshaer, a Palestinian on a scholarship to study international relations in Australia, said the use of surveillance technology triggered a familiar feeling of being watched while at home in the West Bank.
“Palestinians are the most surveilled population in the world, you have CCTV cameras everywhere you turn,” said Alshaer, who has almost completed her master’s degree.
She said she had felt “oppressed and surveilled again” finding out that the university used technology to track her.
The University of Melbourne did not respond to questions from this masthead on whether it had breached the students’ privacy by tracking movements.
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.
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?”
Students rally outside the university’s Arts West building in May.Credit: Joe Armao
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.
The UniMelb for Palestine camp on the South Lawn in May.Credit: Penny Stephens
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.”
Students pack up their camp inside the Arts West building after the university agreed to disclose its ties to weapons manufacturers.Credit: Penny Stephens
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.
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.
Student protesters in the Arts West building.Credit: Joe Armao
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.
Zara Chauvin-Cunningham and Dana Alshaer speak to the media during the protest.Credit: Joe Armao
“Who are the major supporters who will cut off money that the university so obviously needs in these circumstances that someone is expressing a view that’s pro-Palestinian?”
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