Calls to defund Grok Academy, WiseTech programs after scandals

Female tech educators are calling for an urgent redirection of taxpayer and philanthropic funding away from Grok Academy and WiseTech’s Earn and Learn program following scandals that have rocked the sector and led to the resignations of two of its most powerful figures.

A petition started by Girl Geek Academy founder Lisy Kane has demanded the funding be given instead to women-led technology education programs, arguing the recent scandals were likely to erode interest from girls and women in the tech sector.

Lisy Kane says recent events could not be sending a worse signal to young women with an ambition for a career in technology.Credit: Bri Hammond

“Recent events could not be sending a worse signal to young women with an ambition for a career in technology,” she said.

James Curran, chief executive of high-profile coding program Grok Academy, apologised and resigned last month after three separate investigations substantiated allegations of harassment, including against students who were at high school at the time. This masthead spoke to nine women who allege Curran sent them inappropriate messages, and Grok Academy remains in turmoil after most of its staff were made redundant and more than half its board members resigned.

Curran’s departure was followed last week by the resignation of WiseTech Global CEO Richard White, who stepped down following an aborted court case against an ex-lover and allegations published by this masthead of inappropriate conduct.

Grok Academy CEO James Curran resigned from his position after multiple allegations of harassment were substantiated by an independent investigator.

One of Australia’s richest people, White had been a key financial backer and public supporter of the Grok Academy coding program, both through his software company WiseTech and on a personal level.

White has previously described Curran as a “superb educator” who is “incredibly powerful in delivering tech education”, and the two are understood to be friends socially. It was White’s funding that allowed Grok to grow quickly and offer its products free to students.

Grok Academy has also received more than $10 million in total government funding through three separate initiatives, including the Digital Technology Challenges project, the Cyber Security Skills Partnership Innovation Fund and the Australian Cyber Projects Fund.

Its filings to the charity regulator show it received just over $1 million from the government last financial year. Its digital learning platform remains freely available to students.

WiseTech’s Earn and Learn mentoring program, which pays students the equivalent of $300,000 while they study and work at WiseTech, is also continuing despite the string of allegations of inappropriate behaviour by White. The program is funded by WiseTech.

WiseTech chief executive Richard White resigned last week.Credit: Natalie Boog

Kane says her petition isn’t calling for the closure of either Grok Academy or WiseTech’s Earn and Learn, but instead wants future taxpayer funding for such programs to be made with gender as a key consideration.

Girl Geek Academy has a stated goal of bringing 1 million women into Australia’s technology sector and is gearing up for an upcoming AI High education program, funded partly by the Telstra Foundation, to which 2000 high school girls and non-binary students have enrolled.

“Our goal here is diversity more than anything else. We want more education programs for the technology sector, not less,” Kane said. “But this saga underscores the importance of diversifying support across multiple programs. We can’t bury our heads in the sand and wait for this to blow over.

She said the scandals had “much larger consequences for Australia’s ambitions for its technology sector.

“Any smart educated woman would see the current outcome of the Richard White saga as a major deterrent for a career in tech, where the industry folds in on itself to defend his reputation.

“We need to end this boys’ club mentality running technology education in Australia, and we can’t do it without broader support.”

WiseTech Global and Grok Academy were approached for comment.

There are ongoing questions about why the University of Sydney continued to employ Curran for two further years after its 2019 investigation that substantiated allegations of harassment against him.

“We are committed to creating a safe environment for students and staff and our trauma-informed sexual misconduct complaints process is designed to protect the safety, wellbeing and privacy of all involved,” a university spokeswoman said last month.

“I’m incredibly angry at the state of this industry”: Jeanette CheahCredit: Steven Siewert

It’s also unclear why Curran was allowed to continue working with students as Grok Academy’s CEO until last month. Current and former board members did not respond to requests for comment.

Jeanette Cheah is CEO and co-founder of Hex, a start-up that offers entrepreneurship programs to high school and university students.

She said education companies with a history of bad behaviour towards students and women should not receive taxpayer funding unless they can prove a wholesale change of leadership and culture.

“Imagine being a young woman excited to learn about technology, and your first experience is to be harassed by someone you respected, then to see excuses being made for their bad behaviour,” she said.

“I’m incredibly angry at the state of this industry. I would hope that anyone making decisions about philanthropic or government funding is doing due diligence into the culture of the organisation, and asking themselves hard questions about the diversity of the organisations they are funding.”

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