Anti-Racism Action Plan to acknowledge, understand, prevent and respond to campus racism

This River Red Gum from University Oval is part of Billibellary’s walk. Billibellary's Walk is named after the ngurungaeta (clan head) of the Wurundjeri people at the time of Melbourne’s settlement.
This River Red Gum from University Oval is part of Billibellary’s walk. Billibellary's Walk is named after the ngurungaeta (clan head) of the Wurundjeri people at the time of Melbourne’s settlement.

The University of Melbourne has launched its first Anti-Racism Action Plan, detailing the steps it will take to combat racism on its campuses.

The plan builds on the Anti-Racism Commitment published in January 2023 and is structured around four pillars - acknowledging, understanding, preventing and responding to racism. This commitment identified racism as an issue that impacts students and staff and acknowledged the University’s complicity in and legacy of racism.

The action plan was developed in consultation with students and staff of diverse Indigeneity, culture and faith with lived experience of racism in the University community. It was also informed by reports into racism at the University of Melbourne prepared by the University of Melbourne Student Union.

“The University has listened to the experiences of students and staff who have been inexcusably subjected to racism in our community,” says Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous), Professor Barry Judd.

”Community consultations prove that racism is not ‘a thing of the past’ but the contemporaneous experience of many people. It is the responsibility of the University to ensure that anyone who works or learns here acknowledges racism exists, understands the definition of racism and knows how to prevent and respond to instances of racism. We ask that all those in our community who have not experienced racism, read and learn from this plan.

“The Action Plan clearly outlines the actions that must be taken for the University to create a culturally safe space where Indigenous people, and people of diverse cultures, nationalities and faiths, can learn, work and thrive.”

The Anti-Racism Action Plan supports the work outlined in Murmuk Djerring, the University’s Indigenous Strategy, which seeks to improve the lived experiences of our Indigenous students, staff and partners, and follows the publication of Dhoombak Goobgoowana: A History of Indigenous Australia and the University of Melbourne in mid 2024. This truth-telling work examined the University’s troubled and complex historical relationship with Indigenous people.

Anti-racism was identified as a priority for the University in 2021 through its Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2030, with work progressing steadily since then to ensure a consultative approach that enabled the student and staff community to share their experiences either anonymously or directly.

“As a diverse, multi-cultural and multi-faith community, the University of Melbourne condemns racism,” said Deputy Vice-Chancellor (People and Community), Professor Pip Nicholson.

“We recognise the destructive impact racism has on individuals, as well as the damage it causes our community and the university.”

The Anti-Racism Action Plan forms part of the Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2030, where the University of Melbourne committed to creating action plans to remove obstacles to inclusion for specific university cohorts. The others are:

"By actively participating in the delivery of the actions in these plans, all students and staff at the University can play a vital role in ensuring a vibrant, respectful community,” says Professor Nicholson.