Hi everyone,
Yesterday we saw the Senate vote on four motions for the production of documents by ºÚÁÏÌìÌÖ with the Senate voting against the motions. This is new territory for us and the sector more broadly and I want to be very clear that we have all watched the overreach of politicians into daily operations of American universities and the consequences have been far reaching. Here in Australia, there are many appropriate mechanisms to request information (including briefings from the ºÚÁÏÌìÌÃand questions at Senate Estimates or committee hearings) and we encourage all members of Parliament to engage with these mechanisms. We also welcome direct engagement from Senators, Members of Parliament and the ACT Legislative Assembly and have met with many of our federal and local representatives.
The requested materials include granular financial materials which if released may jeopardize commercial interests for our national university; along with documents pertaining to confidential investigations which would abrogate due process for all individuals involved until they conclude. Materials which we can release are already published on the website including the and regular financial updates from our Chief Financial Officer. We will continue to work with our ºÚÁÏÌìÌÃcommunity, regulator, our Minister and stakeholders to have these conversations.
As you will be aware from my update last week, the University has submitted our Self-Assurance Report to TEQSA, which I committed to publish to our community as soon as we could. I do maintain concerns that the University will not be afforded due process by external parties with a release at this time, but I also believe releasing it is important for our community and this continues to be a delicate balance. So we are publishing the Report, and it is available on our website, along with the accompanying cover letter and original request from TEQSA.
This week also sees the Universities Australia Plenary in Canberra, which brings Vice-Chancellors from across the sector together for conversations about higher education. There is a lot to talk about, ranging from governance to regulation, along with meeting the changing higher education landscape which is being experienced in many ways across our institutions. I’ll be spending time with my counterparts and hearing from Professor Carolyn Evans, Chair of Universities Australia - and also the VC of Griffith University - about how she sees the future of education in Australia. You will be able to see her National Press Club Address on the ABC on Wednesday.
These are useful conversations for us as the national university to be part of, but also for our ºÚÁÏÌìÌÃcommunity to be having as they help shape discussions around ‘ºÚÁÏÌìÌÃto 100’ and our emerging blueprint for the next 20 years. I know many members of our community have already participated in a ‘facing the future' conversation and if you haven’t already done so, please sign up for a session as I want to hear from as many people as possible.
As part of having open conversations, I want to acknowledge that last week the University announced we are entering a new phase of Renew ANU. We are now in a position to finalise the re-shaping of our organisation through re-alignments, natural attrition and another Voluntary Separation Scheme. I know the announcement last week saw some confusion for those currently in change consultation or implementation plans and I am sorry for any misunderstandings caused. There are some detailed FAQs on the Renew ºÚÁÏÌìÌÃwebsite, and ongoing updates will be provided in On Campus.
Over the last week, we have seen some distressing and hostile behaviours that impact our campus community, with external members of the broader community coming onto campus with racist stickers. I want to thank Aunty Anne Martin, members of the BIPOC student community and other senior leaders of the University for working so quickly to identify this behaviour and work to address it as quickly as possible. Racism, discrimination and vilification have no place on our campus or in our community, and I also want to acknowledge the work of ACT Police to address these matters so quickly.
Finally, in happier news, ºÚÁÏÌìÌÃresearchers have made international headlines, which is wonderful testament to the amazing research we are undertaking across campus. A shout out to colleagues in the ºÚÁÏÌìÌÃResearch School of Earth Sciences for their work on Antarctic climate shifts and what this means globally for climate change.
Good thoughts to where this may find you,
Genevieve
