$100m Snow foundation lifts ban on Melbourne Uni after settling ‘white men’ row

A $100m donor has lifted a ban on Melbourne Uni which was imposed after it awarded honorary doctorates to six white men.

Six white men awarded honorary doctorated by the University of Melbourne in 2022. From left: Peter Donnelly, Leigh Clifford, Francis Gurry, Colin Wilks, Mark Schipp and Allan Fels.

One of Australia’s largest private philanthropy groups, the Snow Medical Research Foundation, has ended its two-year ban on giving funding to the University of Melbourne after determining that it had “made progress towards gender equality”.

Snow Medical, the philanthropy arm of the Snow family that owns Canberra airport, has given more than $100m to universities and medical research institutes since 2020 and is carrying on with a program to donate millions more dollars every year to tackle tough health challenges.

In 2022, Snow Medical banned the University of Melbourne from future grants after it held an honorary doctorates ceremony just prior to International Women’s Day on March 8 and all six awards went to white men.

Tom Snow

At the time, Snow Medical chair Tom Snow – a former University of Melbourne Rhodes Scholar – said he was “deeply upset”, particularly by a photo displayed on the university’s website showing the six honorary doctorate awardees in full regalia.

“That photo was sending a message to every young woman trying to achieve in their fields that no matter how hard you work, white men will be awarded ahead of you,” Mr Snow said then.

The six included former Qantas chairman Leigh Clifford, economist and former Australian Competition & Consumer Commission chairman Allan Fels, and Australia’s then chief veterinary officer Mark Schipp.

At that point, the foundation had committed $16m to funding medical research at the University of Melbourne.

In a statement to be issued on Thursday – the day before International Women’s Day this year – Snow Medical foundation said it had “officially reinstated” the University of Melbourne to be eligible for medical fellowships after the university awarded honorary doctorates to seven distinguished women in 2023, signalling a “broader commitment to gender equality”.

Mr Snow said he and his family “were really excited about where the University of Melbourne has got to” compared to its past record. He said the university had not awarded any honorary doctorates to women in 2020 or 2022. No honorary doctorates were awarded in 2021. He also praised the university for awarding honorary doctorates to First ­Nations people last year.

Mr Snow said his foundation had ranked all its philanthropy partners on 32 measures of gender equality and the University of Melbourne was performing above the average.

The university said “improving gender equality has been a longstanding priority … and we are proud of our achievements to date and our ongoing efforts. The university’s work on gender equality is not motivated by the Snow Foundation.”

Its latest figures show that membership of the university council – its highest governing body – has reached parity with women making up 50 per cent of its membership in 2023 with a woman as chair. The university executive is made up of 38 per cent women and 44 per cent of deans are women. The proportion of women associate professors has risen from 35 per cent in 2018 to 47 per cent in 2023 and, for professors, from 30 per cent in 2018 to 38 per cent in 2023.

Snow medical fellowships are highly valued by researchers because they offer stable long-term funding of $8m over eight years, giving research leaders time to test ambitious ideas and take risks which, if they pay off, can yield breakthrough results.