Uni dumps plan to give students extra credit for helping Teal candidate

A Melbourne university has scrapped a program that would have given students extra credits for working on a Teal candidate’s election campaign.

Swinburne University has scrapped its offer for course credits for helping on a Teal candidate’s campaign. Picture: George Salpigtidis

Swinburne University has moved quickly to dump a program that would have seen its students awarded points towards their degrees for working on the campaign for the Teal candidate in Hawthorn at November’s state election.

Hours after the Herald Sun revealed on Saturday that senior academics at the university had endorsed a campaigning-for-credits deal to support the candidacy of a fellow Swinburne employee, the university moved to suspend the program.

A spokesman said the university made it clear to staff it was “a nonpartisan institution”

Swinburne’s “manager of student equity” Melissa Lowe is running as a Teal independent with the backing of Simon Holmes a Court whose Climate 200 group bankrolled this year’s successful campaign by Monique Ryan that unseated federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg in the federal seat of Kooyong.

Melissa Lowe is running as a Teal candidate for the seat of Hawthorn. Picture: Facebook

Dr Rob Hoffman told students voluntary campaigning or research roles would count towards their degree.

She is trying to unseat Labor MP John Kennedy who wrested the seat off the Liberals in 2018.

The Lowe campaign operates from the same Glenferrie Rd office Dr Ryan’s campaign used.

Within days of announcing she was running, politics students at the university received a message from Dr Rob Hoffman, a tutor in the Department of Social Sciences announcing that “Swinburne had lined up an interesting opportunity with Melissa Lowe” which “will combine a voluntary campaigning or research role” which would count towards their degrees.

Students who volunteered on the campaign could be put to work doing research – including the voting records of other candidates – as well producing campaign material for Ms Lowe, in what he conceded will be an “inescapably partisan-political environment”.

Interested students were encouraged to contact Associate Professor Christine Agius, who along with Professor Ruth Abbey, Department Chair of Social Sciences has been in liaison with the Lowe campaign.

Dr Hoffman’s message to the students said “Mel” was a running as Teal independent for the seat of Hawthorn in a campaign “focused on climate action, political integrity, gender and LGBTQI and inclusive communities, education, housing and health.”

He said these were “themes you are already studying as part of your degree so you have expertise that can contribute to community messaging as part of Mel’s campaign!”

Dr Hoffman’s message said the campaign was looking for two kinds of volunteers, those who had the capacity to get course credits by enrolling in a course over summer – after the election was over – and those who wanted to do general campaigning.

Those who could enrol in the summer course would get credit by writing a report on what they had done during the election.

The other volunteers would not get course credit but “we” are looking at aligning the volunteer work with Swinburne’s Emerging Leader Programme.

But on Saturday morning a spokesman for Swinburne said students who involved themselves in Ms Lowe’s campaign would no longer be eligible for credit towards their degrees.

He said that as part of its commitment to Work Integrated Learning, Swinburne supports its politics students to gain experience in the offices of existing duly elected MPs or Senators, at Federal or State level, of any political persuasion.

“Students are also free to volunteer their own time to support a political candidate’s election campaign if they so choose,” he said.

“The University does not support this being incorporated into course work where credits are earned.

“No Swinterns will be involved in the campaign activity of Melissa Lowe as part of their work integrated learning. Swinburne is an independent and nonpartisan institution, and steps have been taken to ensure all staff understand this.”