University of Queensland student Drew Pavlow, who has been critical of the higher education institution's links to the Chinese government, will face a disciplinary hearing in May for "reckless behaviour", which could result in his expulsion from the UK.
Student Drew Pavlou told ABC News that he was charged with numerous violations of university policy, many of which stemmed from his campus activism against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The University of Queensland came into the focus of the world media last year after serious clashes between two groups of its students, those who supported the demonstrations of colleagues in Hong Kong and others who defended the policies of official Beijing. Pavlou claims that during those clashes, pro-Chinese demonstrators physically attacked him and threatened him with death via social networks.
"This is a political process that attacks the right to free speech and tries to stop my activism for Hong Kong and my criticism of the Chinese Communist Party," claimed Pavlou.
Such a conclusion is argued by Pavlou, as he emphasizes, by the trivial accusations against him by the university authorities, such as the one that he used a pen from the campus store and then returned it to the shelf, instead of paying for it and taking it with him.
Nearly 25 Australian citizens who have so far signed a petition in support of Pavlo think that this is a politically motivated process against this student.
The ABC has not been able to see the UK document containing the allegations because all details of the proceedings are confidential.
Queensland University of Technology Students' Union president Olivia Broome, who has reviewed the full document, told the ABC she found most of the 11 counts of the indictment against Pavlou to be "absurdly trivial".
"The allegations are related to either the activism that Drew has done regarding China, his support for Hong Kong democracy, or what he has done on campus and in online forums," Broome said. She concludes that most of the report that is the basis for the prosecution of Pavlou, and especially the way in which that report was compiled, indicate that a vindictive action is being taken against Drew because he has become a thorn in the side of the University's management.
A spokesperson for the University of Queensland said it "would not be appropriate" to comment on the specifics of individual disciplinary proceedings. However, the university denied that the action had anything to do with student Pavlou's political beliefs. Attorney Tony Morris, who offered to represent student Pavlo pro bono, says this action is an attack on freedom of speech.
"Drew was disturbed by the situation in Hong Kong, but also by the terrible genocide that the Chinese authorities are carrying out against Muslims in Western China, and he spoke and wrote about it publicly," explains lawyer Morris and concludes:
"Universities should not exist to support totalitarian foreign governments." The University of Queensland's arrangements with Chinese government organizations have been the subject of considerable media attention in Australia and America over the past 12 months.
Over the years, the Chinese government has co-funded at least four university programs, including one on China's role in global politics, human rights and the fight against terrorism.
The UK spokeswoman says that the Confucius Institute and its collaborators, through whom the aforementioned support of the Chinese government went, were not involved in designing and running these programs. Also, interestingly, University Vice President Peter Hay was a senior unpaid advisor and member of the Supreme Council of the Beijing-based Hanban Institute, which is responsible for running Confucius Institutes around the world. In addition to all this, the University of Queensland also last year appointed China's Consul General in Brisbane, Xu Ji, as an Associate Professor.
Dr Xu made headlines in May 2019 when, during student demonstrations in Hong Kong, he praised the "spontaneous and patriotic behavior" of Chinese students in Queensland who supported the authorities in Beijing. For those others, who were on the side of the students in Hong Kong, he said that they were "anti-Chinese separatists". It all ended in a minor diplomatic scandal so that in the end, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Australia, Maurice Payne, had to speak out, who invited the foreign diplomats to "not support disturbing or potentially violent behavior".
In its latest annual report, the University of Queensland said it could lose $100 million to $200 million in projected revenue due to the travel ban caused by the coronavirus. The measures prevented many Chinese students from traveling to Australia after March 1, with the ban extended to all foreign students soon after. In 2019, the university earned 679 million dollars from international tuition.
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