Monday March 18, 1996

Complaints typical of campus life: academic

SPECIAL REPORTS BY MICHAEL DAY

COMPLAINTS made in 1991 about archaeology at the University of WA were not unusual in university life, according to the most senior member of the committee which heard them.

Eminent Australian academic Professor Isabel McBryde said the problems could have been sorted out by the campus counselling service or in other normal ways,

Professor McBryde's views are in striking contrast to those of the archaeology review committee convener, UWA associate professor Neville Bruce.

Professor Bruce said he was so disturbed by the experience of listening to the complaints he has kept himself involved in the issue and last month called for an inquiry by the UWA senate and academic board.

The complaints referred to by Professor Bruce were against archaeology professor Sandra Bowdler, and not those made against former UWA senior lecturer in archaeology David Rindos.

The complaints against Professor Bowdler came from seven students five of whom had been employed at various times by private consultants opposed to UWA's archaeological consulting arm, the Centre for Prehistory.

Professor McBryde, now retired as prehistory professor at the Australian National University, is a former Australian Heritage Commissioner and a former vice-president of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

The only non-UWA member of the archaeology review committee, she said the complaints were of the type that were often taken to department heads by students who were sensitive to criticism or straight-talking.

"These were things that often came up in the daily life of students--that was my feeling," Professor McBryde said.

The management problems were also of the minor type that could have been worked out by the head of department and university.

Confirmation of her view has come from lawyers advising the University of WA, who said that even if the allegations in the complaints were proved they would not be strong enough to force Professor Bowdler from her post.

Professor McBryde said she found it embarrassing to talk publicly about the report because she had strong feelings that it was not proper for former committee members to talk about work they had done so long ago.

Professor Bruce and archaeology review committee colleague, psychology professor Bernard Moulden, have not been so reticent.

A month after the committee completed its work, the two professors sent a confidential memo to the heads of two UWA divisions and to vice-chancellor Fay Gale stressing the need for a properly constituted board of inquiry.