The University of Sydney has announced amendments to the Campus Access Policy 2024 (CAP).
In an email to staff and students on the 27th of February, Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor Annamarie Jagose outlined amendments made in response to 111 community feedback submissions received in October 2024. Jagose noted a “reduction in the complaints and expressions of unease that had marked the previous semester” after the implementation of the CAP.
Jagose flagged multiple amendments in her email, including the removal of the 72-hour notice requirement for demonstrations. Organisers are still required to notify the University of a demonstration “no later than when first communicated to people other than organisers”.
The ban on outdoor megaphones has also been lifted, with the amendment allowing them for “crowd management” but not to “harass or harm others”.
The CAP still maintains the ban on megaphones indoors and the rule that “any stall, booth or similar structure will require a space booking so that we can avoid clashing claims to the same space”.
In 2024, during the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, the University wielded the Inclosed Lands Protection Act 1901 (NSW) against protestors to revoke “permission…to be on our lands”. Following the amendments, individuals may now request a review from the Vice-Principal of Operations.
In the CAP document itself, further amendments can be found. Section 2.4, titled ‘Unacceptable Activities’, explicitly outlines an “exception for weapons permitted by law”.
This is in conjunction with Section 2.7(4)(b), which allows campus Protective Services to “require any user to provide…photographic identification” if they do not have staff or student identification. Previously, Protective Services requested only “name and address”.
