UTS Professor sent threats about course closure to herself: cops
The dean of science at the University of Technology has denied sending herself threatening letters which sparked a police investigation and drove her employer to put $150,000 worth of extra security measures in place to protect her.
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The dean of science at the University of Technology has denied sending herself threatening letters which sparked a police investigation and drove her employer to put $150,000 worth of extra security measures in place to protect her.
Professor Dianne Jolley yesterday pleaded not guilty to dishonestly obtain financial advantage by deception, give false information person/property in danger, and false representation resulting in police investigation at the Downing Centre Local Court.
Police allege the threats received by Jolley were concocted by the academic herself and relate to her role in cancelling a controversial Chinese medicine program.
It is alleged 10 messages were sent to Jolley between July and November.
The 49-year-old was arrested at the university’s Haymarket campus on November 15.
Sources have told The Daily Telegraph the course at the centre of the threats was the Bachelor of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
The university announced in September that it would dismantle the Chinese Medicine Department because it was no longer financially viable and did not fit with the “strategic direction” of the science faculty.
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The decision to wrap up the course angered students and alumni who expressed concerns that the quality of Sydney’s acupuncture and herbalist services would suffer as a result.
In mid-September Jolley lodged a complaint about a threatening letter and stolen clothing items that were allegedly left on top of her car.
Security was stepped up around the university and a police investigation was launched as a result.
“Unfortunately we don’t have a motive,” Detective Chief Inspector John Maricic told reporters yesterday. “It’s certainly unusual.”
The academic smiled but did not comment as she walked from court shortly after her lawyer, Aaron Kernaghan, told reporters the threats were indeed real.
Mr Kernaghan said Jolley was on leave from UTS with pay and wants to return.
A university spokesman said they were assisting police with the investigation.
WHO IS UTS DEAN DIANNE JOLLEY?
The university dean, accused by police of falsifying threats to herself, spends her time tweeting to the ABC and researching contaminated ecosystems including Antarctica and the Great Barrier Reef.
University of Technology Sydney’s Dianne Jolley describes herself online as an “environmental chemist and toxicologist with 20 years’ experience” in investigating toxicity in the natural world.
Jolley, on a University website, says she wants her work to set guidelines for remediation and clean-up of contaminated sites in Antarctica.
She made headlines in 2018 when a video of a penguin jumped from the icy sea into her inflatable dinghy went viral online.
She told the ABC she was a “geek who is passionate about the environment” and spoke about her work with the CSIRO on the Great Barrier Reef.
“Our work is focused on coral reef systems and understanding the impact of the nickel on spawning and the reproductive health of coral systems in this climate, where we know they’re under stress,” she reportedly said.
Jolley is also a prolific Twitter user, even using the platform in the week following her arrest and charge.
Late last month she posted a picture alongside the ABC’s Leigh Sales and Nicole Kidman’s journalist sister, Antonia, at UTS’ mental health research centre.
In May she reached out to the broadcaster’s Q&A program through the platform.
“All nations should acknowledge the past and present impacts on our climate as supported by the peer-reviewed scientific evidence. We need to invest in R&D to guide our activities to prevent future damage,” she wrote.