Academics In Freedom Rally
The Age
Monday August 4, 2008
The pursuit of funding limits public debate, some academics fear. By Bridie Smith.
A NATIONAL campaign to promote academic freedom will be launched tomorrow, with the academics' union calling on universities and vice-chancellors to stand by their staffs and protect the vital role they play in public commentary.The president of the National Tertiary Education Union, Carolyn Allport, says the universities' reliance on government and industry funding for research and new course development has made some institutions reluctant to upset the hand that feeds them.But that comes at a high price, she says, with the vitality of public debate and commentary increasingly under threat."There is a concern about university reputation ... because of money," she says. "But the university has a responsibility to support the public commentary role played by their staffs and particularly by their researchers."A senate inquiry into academic freedom in schools, universities and other higher education institutions is under way, with a report expected by November11. The union has also urged the Rudd Government to change the 2005 sedition laws to give greater protection to the right to make public commentary."People who work in the universities, the arts and media are all attempting to give information and analysis to the community and we need to do that in a professional way and without fear or favour," DrAllport says.The campaign follows the resignation of prominent public transport advocate Paul Mees from Melbourne University in February. Dr Mees, who now works at RMIT, was told his pay would be cut by $10,000 a year and his position downgraded after he ridiculed the authors of a 2007 report. The university launched an investigation and found Dr Mees guilty of misconduct, after the then head of the Department of Infrastructure, Howard Ronaldson, threatened legal action.Dr Mees will be among the speakers at the public forum, which will be hosted by his former employer, Melbourne University."It would have been very easy for me to just slink off to RMIT and get on with my life, but I don't want Melbourne University to get away with it," Dr Mees says. "If they do, then it will have a chilling effect on academics around the country."Another speaker, Robert Pascoe, dean laureate at Victoria University, says it is vital that academics be allowed freedom in both their choice of research topics and public commentary."The job of academics is to push their discipline in ways that are sometimes controversial," Professor Pascoe says. "The challenge to the vice-chancellors is to nurture and support their academics ... it requires great skill but the world's great universities do it."Glenn Withers, chief executive of Universities Australia, which represents the vice-chancellors at Australia's 38 universities, says the organisation is "committed to the principles of academic freedom" and to academics speaking freely as experts in their disciplinary areas."Academics should also be free to speak on issues as citizens in their own right," Dr Withers says.According to a spokesman for Attorney-General Robert McClelland, the Government is considering the Australian Law Reform Commission's report on sedition laws.LINKacademicfreedom.com.au
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