University’s ‘woke’ subject requirements include Welcome to Country and ‘privilege walk’
A top Aussie university has been slammed for ‘woke’ course requirements forcing students to perform Welcome to Country and a ‘privilege walk’.
Holly Truelove, news.com.au, March 20, 2025
Sydney’s Macquarie University is facing new criticism over a course which requires students to perform a “heartfelt” Welcome to Country and a “privilege walk” to pass the module.
In an attempt to encourage students to understand power and status, the Age and the Law course has included the delivery of an acknowledgement of country as part of the rubric for an assessment which is worth 30 per cent of the final course mark.
Students have to perform a “thoughtful”, “culturally respectful” and “exceptionally well written” acknowledgement of country at the beginning of their oral law exam to check off one of the five key marking criteria, The Australian reported.
Sydney’s Macquarie University has been slammed for ‘woke’ course requirements. Picture: Supplied.
Course convener Holly Doel-Mackaway has doubled down on the requirement in a post to the university’s internal learning platform, saying “it’s about acknowledging your positionality as a student of law on this unceded land”.
Two students told the Australian said the course had become hijacked by a political ideology that was damaging to their education.
One student said they felt pressured to “express an opinion that I don’t truly believe in”.
Another former honours student who remained anonymous said the law school’s reputation was being damaged by these actions.
“It’s the fault of the university and no one is suffering the harm more than the students of its law school,” the student said.
“It reflects upon the students who are going out and applying for these jobs. And you’ve got these partners … who would look at this stuff and think ‘That’s crazy. I don’t want to hire a kid who’s been taught by people like this’.”
Course convener Holly Doel-Mackaway has stood by the inclusion of a Welcome to Country performance as part of an assessment task in the Age and the Law course. Picture: Supplied.
The Australian approached Macquarie University for comment and were told that the compulsory acknowledgment to traditional Aboriginal owners was dropped from the honours unit last year.
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