On March 25, the editors of Noise, UNSW’s independent student publication established earlier this month, received a “cease and desist” email from Arc @ UNSW’s Director of Marketing & Experience, Mitchell McBurnie.
The email, sent from McBurnie “in [their] personal capacity”, demanded that Noise immediately cease and desist from publishing “any further defamatory statements”. The email identified Noise’s March 8 mission statement “Why does Noise exist”, as defamatory as it alleged that there was no Project Officer hired. In his email, McBurnie claims this is “entirely unfounded and without merit”.
The email also requested a retraction of this March 8 article and a public apology. Noise has since deleted the article and it is not publicly available on their website or their social media accounts. McBurnie’s email threatened legal action and insisted upon “written confirmation of your compliance with our demands within 3 days”.
Noise is an independent student publication that arose amidst UNSW student publication Tharunka’s dispute with the Arc Board.
Honi understands Noise is reviewing its internal processes after the incident.
Honi reached out to Mitchell McBurnie for comment but has yet to hear back at the time of publication.
A representative from Arc declined to comment. Honi is not suggesting that Arc was involved in the email sent to Noise.
