UQ Senator and occasional good bloke, Drew Pavlou, is in the firing line today, and it’s not just a Facebook comments section that’s grown hostile to his chaotic mix of aggression and tension. Cartoon villain Peter Hoj, fresh from diving into a literal pool filled with gold coins, has reportedly sought to expel Pavlou.
The Vice-Chancellor, a man of Danish heritage, is presumably very good at writing tense, bleak crime thrillers and taxing his citizens at an eyewatering rate, as his ethnic origins would suggest. But he is weaker at reading the public mood, exemplified by the latest flight of fancy which has preoccupied the man responsible for guiding Queensland’s premier educational institution through its greatest challenge of the modern era.
Instead of focusing his incisive wit and undivided attention to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on higher education, it appears Mr Hoj has taken umbrage with a cocky twenty-year-old who, armed with nothing but a Facebook account and a face that was punched once, has managed to embarrass Mr Hoj and the University to such a degree that Hoj is looking to expel the young man.
The fellow in question, Drew Pavlou, is a lot of things. A rebel. An iconoclast. A punk. A father. A poet. A serviceman. A dentist. A goldfish, in a bowl of dreams. But above all else, he is a student of UQ, and is undeniably, inextricably entwined with the fates of that institution.
Across a series of increasingly obnoxious Facebook posts, Mr Pavlou has criticised Hoj and the administration of the University. Instead of taking the high road, which would be relatively easy given Hoj is literally twice Pavlou’s age, Hoj has decided to become personally offended by these comments, many of which are blatant jokes.
Admittedly, humour tends to struggle in Denmark. One wonders that if Pavlou was simply making tight crime-thrillers on SBS with subtitles and a stunning performance from a Skarsgard or something, Hoj would be listening.
But alas.
The University seems to have both barrels trained on Pavlou, in some misguided notion that expelling the man will reflect well upon them. This is up there with such classically foolish ideas as ‘that sixth beer won’t hurt at Jade Buddha happy hours,’ and ‘thirty pieces of silver is a worthwhile trade here.’
It’s worth considering whether the University is ignorant to its student bodies hopes, concerns, and dreams, or whether they are simply brazenly pushing past them to achieve their own goals. And when faced with this binary question, of whether they are blind or bullies, it’s hard to imagine which is better.
Twirling his cane, tipping his top hat, and adjusting his monocle as he strolls the halls of the University, Mr Hoj is likely feeling pretty positive about his prospects of succeeding against Mr Pavlou. After all, this is just some Arts student, just some kid, and the whole of the University surely has the resources to expel him.
But as that ninth bottle of champagne is consumed by Hoj’s four pet tigers, which were bought by the Vice-Chancellor in an incredibly prescient homage to Netflix’s ‘Tiger King,’ maybe a pang of doubt and guilt will set in. Who knows?
Plenty fucking more to come.