In dispute over rescue plan, University of Adelaide loses two top officials

The University of Adelaide has lost its two top officials in the midst of a heated dispute over a financial rescue plan.

University of Adelaide vice-chancellor Peter Rathjen has taken “indefinite leave”.

University of Adelaide vice-chancellor Peter Rathjen has gone on indefinite leave one day after the university’s chancellor, former South Australian governor Kevin Scarce, resigned in the midst of a heated dispute about a financial rescue plan for the institution.

The university’s council, its top governing body, has appointed provost Mike Brooks as acting vice-chancellor in place of Professor Rathjen, indicating there is no plan for the vice-chancellor to return to his post.

Professor Brooks email university staff on Tuesday morning to say that Professor Rathjen had taken special leave “for an indefinite period”.

“Council has asked me to assume the position of acting vice-chancellor during this time,” Professor Brooks said.

“I look forward to working with the university community over the coming period as we further respond to the challenges posed by COVID-19 and continue to ensure that our university provides a world-class quality of education and research.”

Rear Admiral Scarce’s resignation from the chancellor position, the university’s top governance role, came very suddenly in an email sent by the university at about 4.45pm on Monday, saying that he was resigning with immediate effect.

It is believed his resignation followed a dispute in a university council meeting, chaired by Rear Admiral Scarce, on Monday over a rescue plan for the university which has been hard hit by the loss of international students due to COVID-19 travel bans.

The University of Adelaide has long had the weakest finances of any institution in the Group of Eight sandstone universities because it lacked the large student numbers of eastern state universities, and the fundraising ability of institutions such as the University of Western Australia, which benefited from the minerals boom.

Rear Admiral Scarce was the key voice behind the plan to merge the University of Adelaide with the University of South Australia that was proposed in 2017 but failed when UniSA pulled out months later, after detailed planning had been completed.

There is speculation that, with the departure of Rear Admiral Scarce and the standing aside of Professor Rathjen, the merger could go ahead with UniSA taking the lead role.

Professor Rathjen was the chair of the Group of Eight universities and it is understood that Monash University vice-chancellor Margaret Gardner will become chair in an acting capacity.