UQ’s potential partnership with Ramsay Centre could ‘affect academic freedom’

Union officials have slammed the University of Queensland’s potential partnering with the Ramsay Centre to introduce a Western Civilisation major, saying that the institute’s academic freedom is on the line.

UNION officials have slammed the University of Queensland’s potential partnering with the Ramsay Centre to introduce a Western Civilisation major, saying that the institute’s academic freedom is on the line.

UQ this week unveiled its proposal and opened a consultation process with staff over the move to introduce the Ramsay Centre-funded major, which has been opposed at other universities.

Last year, the Australian National University withdrew from a lucrative deal with the Ramsay Centre, which boasts former prime ministers John Howard as chair and Tony ­Abbott as a board member, over academic freedom concerns.

Former prime minister John Howard chairs the Ramsay Centre.

Staff at The University of Sydney have also opposed its introduction.

Yesterday, National Tertiary Education Union state secretary Michael McNally said the staff consultation period, which ends on February 14, was far too short, and that a draft memorandum of understanding with the Ramsay Centre should be made public.

“Our main concerns surround institutional autonomy and academic freedom,” Mr McNally said.

“The university has to maintain its independence, it’s all about governance; who gets to control what is and isn’t taught.”

UQ vice-chancellor Peter Hoj wants staff to have an open mind.

In an email on Monday, UQ vice-chancellor Professor Peter Hoj said he hoped staff would approach the proposal “with an open mind”, and that he understood “some people will ultimately disagree on the place that such courses have in the contemporary university”.

Mr McNally said a union meeting would be held soon before the end of the consultation period.

“(Our members) are people with differing opinions on politics, identity, culture,” Mr McNally said. “But what tends to unite them is that universities are special places of learning which need to be protected.”

UQ Associate Professor in History and NTEU branch president Andrew Bonnell said a major concern was UQ’s ­welcoming of a Ramsay Centre delegate on a panel to recruit staff for the course.

“That’s highly problematic, and calls into question the arm’s length relationship and the university’s independence,” Prof Bonnell said.