From: Bettina Arndt [mailto:bettina@bettinaarndt.com.au]
Sent: Monday, 17 September 2018 7:33 PM
Subject: Riot squad called in to protect me and my audience at Sydney University.
 
Hi Everyone,  What a thrilling, exhausting time we have had in the past few weeks. My Fake Rape Crisis Campus Tour went off with a huge bang.
 
We’ve made the most wonderful video showing you exactly what happened. https://youtu.be/apMaHebZRfo
 
Huge thanks to Scott for the many hours he spent filming it all and pulling it together and to Irene for her film work and endless research.
 
I’d be most grateful if you could really help me promote this one. I feel it really exposes what’s going on so well.
 
Latest news from my campus tour
 
For those of you who haven’t heard the news, the La Trobe talk was pretty difficult with noisy protesters doing their best to drown out my talk. But Sydney University demonstrators took things to a different level. The security guards were overwhelmed by the unruly protesters who blocked the corridor leading to the venue preventing most of the audience from attending the event. Our students were threatened, physically jostled, some even flung against walls by the aggressive crowd prior to the riot squad being called in by security to control the protesters before my talk could go ahead.
 
Action against Sydney University  
 
I am preparing a detailed letter for Sydney Vice Chancellor Michael Spence, to be counter-signed by the Liberal Club students, asking for the return of the nearly $500 security fee that the Liberal Club students had been forced to pay (with help from my crowd-funder https://www.gofundme.com/h9qp7). I have attached the invoice.
 
We will also be providing the university with detailed witness statements from many students who tried to attend the event plus information about the key organisers of the protest. We will be asking the university to enforce their code of conduct which precludes students interfering with other students’ access to lectures, university facilities and so on. And we will be seeking action against the protest organisers who publicly stated their intention of preventing me speaking on campus.  We are investigating whether any action can be taken using the university’s bullying and harassment policies.
 
I would love help with all of this – ideally lawyers in NSW and Victoria, although we would welcome assistance from elsewhere as well.
 
Boycott Sydney University’s Corporate Partners?
 
It would be great if someone could mount a campaign to boycott the corporations who are partners for Sydney University. See list attached. I hope someone can step up and take this job on. Surely some of these corporations can be shamed into pulling funds from the university due to their flagrant disregard for free speech?
 
Volunteers for other jobs   
 
We are hoping to have questions asked in parliament – some of you might be able to persuade your local MPs or Senators to have a go at this one?
 
And how about some of you contacting the ABC’s Media Watch and ask how it is possible that not a single ABC programme has mentioned this story about a riot squad to be called in to Sydney University, although it has received huge publicity on Sky News, 2GB, and at News Ltd?  Not a word in Fairfax media, naturally.
 
I’ll post some more information below for any of you who would like to come on board and help with all this. Please contact me if you can volunteer to take action in some way.
 
Next stop  – University of Queensland
 
What’s really great is we have student groups in universities across Australia keen to sponsor my talks. The next one is at the University of Queensland, Brisbane. Thurs, September 27. 4 PM. University of Qld, Steele Building. Details of room coming soon.
https://www.facebook.com/events/286222961984023/. I hope some Queenslanders can come along and support me.
 
That’s about it for now. Cheers, Tina
 
PS Yes, I know that as the video goes on I become progressively more hoarse and ever more haggard.  But I thought it was a bit rich that one of the protesters, Lily Campbell, described me  on her Facebook page as “reptilian scum”! Now who would like to help me take a case to the Human Rights Commission charging ageist discrimination over that one?
 
More information.
 
The key issues are the failure of the universities to protect free speech on campus. These failures include:

• Charging prohibitive security fees to conservative student groups presenting talks on topics leftist or feminist students find challenging. This policy simply encourages more protests from the left given that their own events rarely run into similar problems due to the fact that their opponents rarely seek to close down discussion.
• In the case of La Trobe, initially making a decision to simply ban me from speaking because they claimed that my talk questioning the rape culture on campus failed to “align with the values of the university.”
• Both universities have codes of conduct which require students not to interfere with other students learning or access to university facilities etc. Why are the universities failing to enforce their codes when they are so ready to apply such policies in other circumstances.
• Why are they failing to take action against students who encourage others to violently protest and prevent people from speaking on campus?  

 
I’ve been posting other information about the campus tour on my Facebook page and website but for those of you who are really interested, here’s a summary.
 
Here’s a description of my initial problems with La Trobe University. http://www.bettinaarndt.com.au/news/la-trobe-bans-my-talk-on-the-fake-rape-crisis/
 
And details of the actual La Trobe event: http://www.bettinaarndt.com.au/news/la-trobe-activists-try-to-disrupt-talk-on-fake-rape-crisis/
 
With Sydney University, the initial stumbling block was the administration took 12 days to provide the students with a venue for the event, and that was only after I make the issue public: http://www.bettinaarndt.com.au/news/no-venue-for-my-sydney-university-talk/ and here:  https://www.facebook.com/notes/bettina-arndt/vice-chancellor-tells-porkies/343283716235273/