Academic freedom is on the line at the University of Adelaide

Academic freedom is on the line at the University of Adelaide

It is a matter of national disgrace that Joanna Howe has been bullied, demeaned and harassed by the University of Adelaide, where she is an acclaimed law professor, in an attempt to prevent her research into “the politically contentious topic of abortion” (“Speaking out for academic freedom”, 10-11/8). She endured six investigations across 4½ years conducted by the university and was cleared on every charge. Despite this, she was forced to succumb to a course on “unbiased research”. After six months dealing with the investigation process that has cost her nearly $100,000 in legal costs, she has cleared her name. Her primary field of research is in labour law and migration law. She holds a doctorate in law from the University of Oxford, where she studied as a Rhodes scholar, and is the author and co-editor of three books. Her “crime” is to challenge abortion. Only a woman of great moral fortitude would persist in the face of the abuse, ignorance and denial of the academic freedom of research she has faced.

Mary-Anne Higgins, Rose Park, SA

Backing Olympians

Looking behind the sporting greatness across the Paris Olympics it is sad to hear first-hand from those who have endured financial loss from lack of supporting wages, accrued leave and unpaid leave while training and competing at their own cost. Our hearts go out to those interviewed after missing medals expressing that one important missing factor of monetary reward from lack of support. Their championship status from competing aside, their losses are difficult to estimate and accept, being both psychological and financial.

Stan McCartney, Walkerville, SA

Before the nation explodes in euphoria over our Olympic triumphs we should recognise that success in the medal table comes and goes. At the Melbourne Games in 1956 Australia came third behind the Soviet Union and the US. But two decades later in Montreal we could manage just one silver and four bronze, ranking 22nd. It then took 48 years – and many millions of dollars – to return to third place.

David Salter, Hunters Hill, NSW

Back to the future

Many fuddy-duddies like this one would no doubt agree with Chris Kenny’s comment that “the world would be a better place and a smarter place if the smartphone were eradicated tomorrow” (“Fear and loathing in the age of unenlightenment”, 10-11/8).

As he went on to say, this is never going to happen, but his wistful observation got me thinking about what other “eradications” of modern technology – in a make-believe world – might offer more pluses than minuses, and perhaps even improve the human condition. Eradicating the internet would be a good place to start, removing an uncontrollable communications medium that has put us on 24-hour call and opened up vast new avenues for espionage, criminal and predatory activity. These developments also have led to parents losing control of their children, teachers losing authority over their pupils in the classroom and dumbing us down to the point where hardly anyone bothers researching anything in books any more, or writes letters or phones someone for a chat.

Bernard Salt said it all in his column in The Weekend Australian in which he wrote: “Arguably, the advent of sewerage did more for average Aussies than the invention of the internet” (“Back to the Future”, 10-11/8).

Peter Austin, Mount Victoria, NSW

Supporting UNRWA

Under the Albanese government, Australia has resumed funding the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East in Gaza. Last week the agency announced it had dismissed nine employees involved in the October 7 atrocities, some 10 months after the event and long after their involvement had been identified by Israel. This action should trigger a review of the agency’s existence. Edward Luttwak, an adviser to US president Ronald Reagan, wrote in an article in Foreign Affairs magazine in 1999: “UNRWA has perpetuated a Palestinian refugee nation, preserving its resentments in as fresh a condition as they were in 1948 … UNRWA has contributed to a (then) half-century of Arab-Israeli violence and still retards the advent of peace.” These sentiments ring true 25 years later. The agency is supported by the delusional policies of nations such as Australia that fail to recognise the reality of Hamas.

Michael Neustein, Bondi, NSW

Politicians, the press and the public have discussed intake of Gazan refugees. Besides the obvious humanitarian act by us and other nations acting likewise, there would be several positive benefits. The main ones that come to mind include depleting Hamas’s human shield. It would be a positive step in winding up the disgraced UNRWA. A withdrawal of funds from UNRWA would pay Australia’s expenses in resettling these refugees.

Michael Adler, Mount Waverly, Vic