RINDOS DIES BEFORE VERDICT.
By Kate Legge

(picture of Rindos with caption "Sacked . . . David Rindos)

United States academic Dr. David Rindos has died without an independent verdict on whether on whether the University of Western Australia denied him tenure unfairly and failed to properly investigate allegations of misconduct against a female professor.

The West Australian parliamentary committee examining events surrounding the univeristy's dismissal of Dr. Rindos was scheduled to finalise its report in the new year, but the State election and a new Parliament makes the inquiry's future uncertain.

A separate inquiry by the West Australian Ombudsman has been on hold pending the committee's report.

The delay was a blow to Dr. Rindos, who devoted his considerable energies to getting an outside assessment of this extraordinary affair, which left him unemployed and driven by a sense on injustice for the past three years.

An autopsy is being held. His partnet, Mr. David Goddard, said the Dr. Rindos, 49, was in good spirits on the eve of his death, which occurred while he slept in the early hours of Monday morning.

UWA vice-chancellor Professor Fay Gale has insisted Dr. Rindos was denied tenure in 1993 because of low productivity and that her decision had nothing to do with Dr. Rindos' protest over alleged iniquities in the university's archaeology department, then headed by Professor Sandra Bowdler.

But in a letter to Dr. Rindos in June, 1993, Professor Gale acknowledged that her decision was based on matters additional to a tenure review committee's finding on academic grounds and these matters related to his difficulties with Professor Bowdler and the future scope of the archaeology program. A spokesman for Professor Gale said yesterday that the university extended sympathies to those close to Dr. Rindos.

Those responsible for defending the university's conduct before the committee are keen for the new Parliament to abandon the inquiry so that this long-running saga, which has hurt UWA's reputation, can be forgotten.

Dr. Rindos, who graduated as a mature-age student from the prestigious Cornell University in the US and attracted world attention with his book The Origins of Agriculture, had been described as "brillian" by Professor Bowdler when she supported his recruitment to archaeology in 1989.

Six months after taking up his post as senior lecturer, with an expectation of permanent tenure, Dr. Rindos became acting head of the department while Professor Bwodler was on leave and the experience made him critical of administrative practices and concerned about student complaints of inequitable treatment.

SACKED RINDOS DIES BEFORE VERDICT

One complaint was lodged by a PhD student who had been involved as an undergraduate with Professor Bowdler and said she felt badgered and intimidated.

Dr. Rindos, who was also gay, was deeply troubled by perceptions that academic fortunes hinged on membership of an "inner circle" within the department, where staff included present and former girlfriends of Professor Bowdler. Dr. Rindos claimed he suffered institutional harassment and was shunted between departments when he made his concerns known.

The affair polarised the university and archaeology lost its autonomy. Professor Bowdler retained a full professorial salary and Dr. Rindos was sacked.

Even critics exhausted by Dr. Rindos's pursuit of the case praised his enthusiasm in the classroom, where he was known for sweat-soaked shirts and lively methods of popularising science.

Mr. Goddard said yesterday: "He was a brillian man who adored teaching. The University of Western Australia denied him the very thing he loved doing the most."