Sydney professors’ association calls for inquiry into sacking of colleague
The Sydney University professors’ association calls for reinstatement of their president and an inquiry into why he was sacked.
The University of Sydney Association of Professors has strongly backed its president, Manuel Graeber, who was sacked from the university after a three-person committee reviewed allegations against him and ruled he had committed “serious misconduct”.
In a statement on Monday the USAP council said Professor Graeber’s dismissal followed “public interest disclosures of alleged misconduct and corruption at the University of Sydney”.
“We express full support for our colleague, the eminent scholar and teacher Professor Graeber, and call for his full reinstatement to the Barnet-Cropper chair of brain tumour research,” the statement says.
The council called for an “open and public review” of the process that led to Professor Graeber’s dismissal and called for “a wider inquiry into the governance and management of the University of Sydney”.
Nick Riemer, the university’s branch president of the National Tertiary Education Union, said that Professor Graeber was a whistleblower who had been dismissed.
“We oppose punitive action against a whistleblower,” he said.
“It’s obvious to all observers that there are very serious failings in governance at the University of Sydney across a whole spectrum of issues.”
Two members of the review committee – Janice McLeay, dispute management consultant and a former member of the NSW Industrial Relations Commission, and Marcel Dinger, the university’s dean of science – found Professor Graeber had committed “serious misconduct” and that his proposed termination was reasonable. The third member, computer science professor Alan Fekete, who found that termination was not reasonable, was overruled.
Allegations against Professor Graeber included that he had refused to teach a class as directed. Professor Graeber’s response was that he did not have the expertise to teach the class and that he had found a replacement who was qualified and willing to take the class.
Professor Graeber told The Australian that his problems with the university had started after he made the first of two public interest disclosures on behalf of other University of Sydney staff.
“All my public interest disclosures were made on behalf of others and in my official role as USAP president,” he said.
Minister canes unis over effect of early offers
As year 12 students approach their final exams, one education minister is worried that early university offers have encouraged them to slack off.
Uni debacle was always going to get ugly
Our two oldest universities are both loudly left-wing campuses – they have activist staff and student groups where the party-line is settler-colonist theory – in which Israel as is has no right to exist.