UNSW Council Candidate Claudia McDonnell Exposed for Racist, Transphobic Posts
Ellie Stephenson reports.
A candidate in the UNSW Council elections, Claudia McDonnell, has been exposed as the author of racist and transphobic social media posts. The posts included racist stereotypes of Indian people, attempts to justify colonisation and fetishisation of black men.
McDonnell is a Media/Law student running under the slogan ‘Clauds for Council’ and purporting to be “accessible, ethical, apolitical”. In a stark contrast from the content of her social media posts, her campaign platform champions “refugee activism” and “speaking up against injustice”.
While some of the posts, including a Facebook post using a racial slur, are from several years ago, many of the posts are more recent. On 23 February this year, McDonnell shared a post on Facebook mocking Lebanese people. A tweet reading “It’s important to learn about the effects of colonisation but when it’s painted with big leftist brush strokes, it’s really intolerable” was from last month.
The UNSW Council is the university’s governing body which consists of students, staff and representatives appointed by the government. It is responsible for the strategic decisions of the university and is notoriously secretive.
Responding to a Twitter thread exposing McDonnell, UNSW tweeted:
Students criticised the university for distancing itself from the UNSW Discussion Group and focussing its support on McDonnell rather than substantially addressing the effects of the racist and transphobic posts for marginalised students on campus.
McDonnell’s campaign has yet to publicly address the issue. They did not respond to our request for comment in time for publication.