One of Australia’s top universities has overturned a decision to dock marks from a student after failing to acknowledge the traditional land rights of Indigenous people.
The move came after the engineering student filed a formal complaint at Melbourne’s prestigious Monash University on Oct. 7.
A Monash university spokesperson told the Herald Sun newspaper that the “Acknowledgement of Country” was meant to demonstrate that students can meet the “standard of professionalism required of an engineer in Australia.”
Yet the university also said it respected the right of students to “respectfully and appropriately decline to provide an Acknowledgement of Country if they believe it conflicts with their right to free speech or academic freedom.”“Monash will continue to encourage students to include the Acknowledgement of Country where relevant and appropriate.”
The Acknowledgment of Country is a ceremonial statement often recited before formal Australian gatherings that recognises the Aboriginal people’s heritage and links to the land.
‘Lip Service’
But the practice has been criticised by Indigenous Liberal Senator Jacinta Price who said it had become “lip service” and a trigger for “real divisiveness.”
In August, she questioned why Aboriginals were singled out rather than respect being paid to all Australians.
“I don’t feel there’s a real genuine sort of, you know, sentiment behind it but more like we want to be seen as being non-racist,” she told Sky News Australia on Aug. 9. “Nobody’s really learning anything deeper or going beyond anything like that.”
In her maiden speech to the federal Parliament in July, Price also called for an end to the “pointless virtue signaling” that did nothing to improve the lives of Indigenous Australians.
“It would be far more dignifying if we were recognised and respected as individuals in our own right who are not simply defined by our racial heritage but by the content of our character,” she said.
Teaching Indigenous culture and history is a compulsory part of Australia’s curriculum from primary to high school and is also included in many disciplines not directly related to Aboriginal studies.
Victoria’s state Shadow Education Minister David Hodgett has argued that education around the topic should be encouraged, not mandatory.
“This is really yet another mandate by stealth as students are going to be punished and lose access if they don’t complete,” he told Sky News Australia on Aug. 4.
“Universities are about education. If they can’t present this information in a way that encourages take up, then it’s almost an admission of failure by the university.”
