comments that were made. These included comments like "you've got to rape the paper, man, you can't let the paper rape you" and "at least ugly girls don't get raped". In response to this, a spokesperson for Victoria University of Wellington said that "student safety was a key focus, and the university had partnered with police and Wellington City Council to promote awareness of personal safety". In late 2015, academics and students at Victoria University of Wellington spoke out at the university hosting Israeli Defence Force troops for a public lecture. The opposition for this public lecture came about because of the soldiers' involvement in Operation Protective Edge, which is thought to have killed at least 2000 Palestinians, most of them civilians. In July, 2016, a Victoria University of Wellington staff member Rebekah Proctor was jailed for two years and five months for defrauding the university out of $480,000 – as of 27 October Proctor has appealed her sentence. In October 2016 students protested the cut of several European languages, including the German language department losing 43% of staff. Also in 2016, Victoria University of Wellington was embroiled in a row with the Tertiary Education Union, when it was discovered that union members were being paid less than non-union members. This led the TEU to characterise the Vice-Chancellor Grant Guilford as being anti-union, and resulted in a one-day strike. In April 2020, during the COVID-19 outbreak, the university came under fire from students, politicians, and media for suddenly announcing at 48 hours notice that they would be charging students a "placeholder fee" ($150 per week) for student accommodation that they had been forcibly removed from, despite emails from the university previously telling those same students that they would not have to pay. Notable academics and staff William Alington (architect), architect James Belich, historian Doreen Blumhardt, education academic Jonathan Boston, public policy academic Mai Chen, public law lawyer Paul Callaghan, physical sciences academic Margaret Clark, political science academic Sally Davenport, management academic Lloyd Geering, religious studies academic Bill Hastings, chief censor and judge Robert Walker Hay FRSE, chemist Frank Holmes, economics academic George Edward Hughes, philosophy academic Joanna Kidman, sociologist Allison Kirkman, sociologist Wendy Larner, social scientist, Provost Douglas Lilburn, music academic Richard Cockburn Maclaurin, mathematics academic Bill Manhire, author and poet Douglas Mews, academic and early keyboard specialist Paul Morris, religious studies academic Peter Munz, history academic Terence O'Brien, diplomat