“When pro-Palestine student protesters at the University of Melbourne packed up camp on 22 May, ending their occupation of the South Lawn and Arts West building after weeks of escalating actions, they claimed a partial victory in their campaign demanding the university disclose and divest links to weapons manufacturers involved in the Israel-Hamas war.
In a deal brokered to end the protests, the university promised new disclosures of its research ties, and in June published “transparency declarations” revealing it currently had projects worth $43 million in funding from the Australian and United States defence departments, plus at least $7.1 million from defence-related companies.
Many students and staff weren’t satisfied with the level of detail or the framing of the declarations “as a sign of good faith and conscience” rather than the outcome of the campaign, as one protest organiser put it, but expressed hope it signalled a shift.
But new insights into an eight-year long campaign by anti-war activists on the campus – academics, students and professional staff – indicate a steadfast determination at the highest levels to maintain links to companies involved in weapons development, and signals substantial resistance to the second part of the protest agenda – divestment.
An investigation by The Citizen, exploring meeting notes and the recollections of key players in that campaign, including some senior academics, indicates that their repeated objections to the university’s association with weapons companies have been deflected or dismissed.
In May 2023, University of Melbourne leaders invited about 50 senior academics and professional staff to an internal discussion titled ‘defence-related research at Melbourne: opportunities, risks and consequences’.
The meeting occurred five months before Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1200 people, seizing around 250 hostages and igniting the war in Gaza, where the ongoing Israeli bombardment of Gaza has killed more than 40,000 people.”