The unity at ANU that brought down Genevieve Bell has collapsed, with criticism of Interim Vice Chancellor Rebekah Brown appearing.
But the comrades are sticking with her, “nobody gets everything right but she has got a lot right,” Lachlan Clohesy from the National Tertiary Education Union states in 15-minute video released Saturday. He also argues at length that members of the university council are the problem and positions need to be spilled and the university Act changed so “we don’t run into the same issue again.”
The NTEU wants all university governing bodies to be dominated by staff and students, and a majority of external members, “to have experience in the public sector, not the private boardroom.”
The NTEU is not getting that though. What they have now at ANU is the Tertiary Education Quality Standards Agency in charge. Last week ANU Council agreed to TEQSA taking control of the selection of a new Chancellor to replace Julie Bishop, whose term expires at year end.
Comment – Tim Winkler
Much has been said and written about ANU over the past 18 months or so. I was going to write 'Some of it has even been true.' but that is too trite. Some of the news, posts, broadcasts and commentary have been fair, evidence-based and informative. But some also have been subjective and/or driven by sources bent on pursuing internal feuds.
What is abundantly clear to everyone outside the 2601 postcode is that for all the plots, groans, anxiety and injustices of the past 18 months or so, nobody has emerged a winner; neither staff, nor executive, nor Council, and certainly not students. ANU’s reputation has been shredded; not by the media, but by the actions and voices of some of its own people. The sector as a whole is the poorer for it.
University politics and governance clearly carry no votes – otherwise the real master of ANU, Education Minister Jason Clare, would surely have intervened more comprehensively and swiftly, as he has in many other areas of higher education arenas, for better or worse.
There is a new level of uncertainty over the future of ANU leadership. Minister Clare has TEQSA appointing a new Chancellor; but then what of the recruitment process for a new VC? Also, what does the new independent selection process for the Chancellor mean for the roles of Council members and senior university staff in future?
Despite the uncertainties, there are two clear facts, demonstrated by the challenges that ANU leaders have faced over a decade or so:
- A new Chancellor and a permanent Vice-Chancellor will be able to do little on their own to address the scale of the issues of culture, governance and performance at ANU . An empowered team of leaders and a clear, practical strategy will be required.
- At the normal pace of HE recruitment and establishment of new teams it could be 18-24 months before a team is in place to even start to address the mess. A more rapid solution is surely required. A once-great institution, and the thousands of students and diligent staff still working away at the coalface surely deserve that.