Fury as ANU dumps study of Western civilisation

Proponents of planned Western civilisation degree at ANU left blindsided as John Howard reveals threats of revolt.

Former prime minister John Howard. Picture: Hollie Adams

Proponents of a Western civilisation degree planned for the Australian National University have been left blindsided by the institution’s decision to withdraw from negotiations, and Ramsay Centre chairman and former prime minister John Howard says talks were on track and amicable until threats of a revolt last month.

In a strongly worded letter to ANU vice-chancellor Brian Schmidt yesterday, Mr Howard said the decision was “quite at odds with the tenor of our discussion just two days ago”. He challenged Professor Schmidt’s description of the planned course, which was to offer up to 40 scholarships in the first two years, as a “sponsored program”, saying the centre had “fully endorsed the principles of academic autonomy”.

The Canberra university used the vice-chancellor’s weekly online newsletter yesterday afternoon to announce the decision to withdraw after six months of ­negotiations. The proposed bachelor of Western civilisation, due to commence next year, was understood to be the first course of its kind in Australia and was the brainchild of late healthcare mogul Paul Ramsay, who bequeathed part of his $3.3 billion fortune to revive the neglected study of the liberal arts.

ANU was the first university invited to enter detailed negotiations after the Ramsay Centre opened in March last year.

READ JOHN HOWARD’S LETTER TO ANU HERE

The backdown follows intervention by the National Tertiary Education Union and the Australian National University Student Association, which had claimed the program would push a “racist” and “radically conservative agenda”. It also follows a meeting last week of the university’s governing council, headed by chancellor Gareth Evans, a former federal Labor minister, when the issue is understood to have been discussed. Professor Schmidt said the university had approached the opportunity in a “positive and open spirit”, but it had become clear “the autonomy with which this university needs to approve and endorse a new program of study is not compatible with a sponsored program of the type sought”. He acknowledged the course and “generous scholarship program” was “an attractive proposition”.

Mr Howard told The Australian it was disappointing and said the description of the course as a “sponsored program” was “offensive”. While some differences had emerged over the curriculum, which was in the process of being redrafted by the university, he had understood a reworked version would be presented to the centre in the coming weeks.

“The facts speak for themselves,” Mr Howard said. “Negotiations had gone very well indeed and then the academics’ union became involved.”

In a letter to Professor Schmidt last month, the NTEU’s ANU branch president, Matthew King, expressed “grave concerns” and warned of a potential backlash if the finalised agreement was perceived to compromise the university’s core principles. Mr King singled out a Quadrant article by Ramsay Centre director and former prime minister Tony Abbott in which he “implies that the Ramsay Centre would wield considerable influence over staffing and curriculum decisions”.

Mr King said yesterday: “ANU has today stood up for the academic principles which make it one of the world’s great universities … This decision makes clear that no matter the financial or political pressure powerful interests bring to bear, public universities are not and ought not to be for sale.”

Ramsay Centre chief executive Simon Haines said it “ at all times fully endorsed the principles of academic autonomy, and recognises in that context that this was a decision for ANU, based on its own perceptions of the program of study”. The centre was continuing discussions with other institutions.

Education Minister Simon Birmingham called it disappointing and said: “It is essential that universities are not only open to but enthusiastic about the study of the values that helped to create both them and the modern society in which we now enjoy unparalleled opportunities.

“I hope that other universities in discussions with the Ramsay Centre resist ill-informed or politically correct objections and find a way to ensure this generous bequest enables valuable study into the foundations of our society.”