Threat to autonomy

The West Australian parliament has set up an inquiry into the events surrounding the denial of tenure to Dr David Rindos by the University of WA.

It has been reported that the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee sees this inquiry to be a threat to autonomy.

But sometimes "university autonomy" can be at the expense of other interests. In the numerous cases of whistleblowing and suppression of dissent that I have studied, internal procedures seldom have delivered justice. Universities are little different from other organisations in this regard.

When an academic exposes some problem such as favouritism, plagiarism or sexual abuse, it is common for senior academics and administrators to close ranks and squelch open discussion. A more enlightened response would be for the university to put its house in order. If the University of WA had set up a truly independent inquiry, with experts from the outside, the present parliamentary inquiry probably would have been unnecessary.

The Senate Select Committee on Unresolved Whistleblower Cases reported in October last year. In relation to higher education, it commented as follows: "The committee heard allegations of destruction of documents, alteration of documents, fabricated complaints concerning work performance and harassment of the individuals concerned. Such allegations raise concerns about the ethical standards within institutions and attitudes to outside review. The committee concedes that there is a need for outside review to be balanced against the autonomy of academic institutions. However, autonomy cannot be allowed to override responsibility to academic staff as well as students."

Since a web page has been set up about the Rindos case (http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~hjarvis/rindos.html), readers can judge the issue for themselves without relying on the AVCC.

Brian Martin
Department of Science and Technology Studies
University of Wollongong