In October 2024, the election results for the Undergraduate and Postgraduate Fellows of the University of Sydney Senate for 2024-26 were suspended. This followed allegations of irregularities in the ballot.
The Senate is the peak governance body of the University, with all policies decided by its membership. It also elects the new Chancellors and Vice-Chancellors of the University, as well as nominating two members to the Board of the Union.
The suspension was communicated to candidates on 24 October 2024, the day voting closed.
There were eight candidates in the election for the Undergraduate Fellowship and four for the Postgraduate. To be approved for nomination, all of the candidates were subjected to “Chancellor-level” background checks against police and ASIC records, requiring multiple forms of government ID and a headshot.
On 29 November 2024, candidates then received another email on behalf of Returning Officer and University Chief Governance Officer Michelle Stanhope. Stanhope detailed that the suspension was lifted for the Postgraduate Fellow. Subsequently, Weihong Liang was declared elected to the Senate for 2024-26.
Candidates did not receive an explanation in this email as to why the Postgraduate Fellowship was announced, or what any of the allegations pertaining to either Fellow involved.
Liang is the Sydney University Postgraduate Representative Association’s (SUPRA) Education Officer, SUPRA President from 2022-24, and International Officer from 2021-22.
Liang is a former member of the Chinese Communist Party. Sources within the University have told Honi that, due to this, Liang’s candidacy may attract negative attention and be weaponised by politicians at a time when the University is under intense government scrutiny for its executive salaries and responses to antisemitism.
Alexander Poirier, a candidate for the Undergraduate Fellowship and a former member of Student Unity, expressed concern that “the roughly 40,000 undergraduate students have no representation to the Senate, which is a major concern given the large number of policy updates and other significant changes that are happening within the University.”
The first meeting of the Senate is on 22 March.
Stanhope confirmed in correspondence with Poirier that the University is “actively considering options to enable undergraduate student representation at the Senate meeting on 22 March 2025 should a Fellow not be elected by that date.”
Students must be enrolled in their degree the entirety of their term, meaning that those with only a full-time year left of study must take their classes part-time, in order to prevent a by-election.
Given the term of a Senate student fellowship is only two years, and with terms starting on 1 December, this delay has meant that a quarter of the Undergraduate Fellow’s term has been lost to administrative issues.
A University of Sydney spokesperson said that “We are continuing to consider allegations of possible irregularities in the ballot for Undergraduate Student Fellow of Senate and the current suspension remains in effect until further notice.
“We are legally constrained in what we can say about individual cases but we take these allegations extremely seriously – acknowledging these matters can be complex and take time to resolve.
“We acknowledge that suspending the declaration of results is unsettling for candidates, and the broader student community, however, we’re committed to upholding the procedural fairness and integrity of the election so that the potential irregularities can
be appropriately considered. Our Governance Office is currently considering options to enable undergraduate student representation at the Senate meeting on 22 March 2025 if a Fellow has not been elected by that date.”
