EVEN in death, Dr David Rindos continues to create controversy.
Just a year after he died, Rindos created news headlines again In December when the report of a Western Australian parliamentary inquiry criticised the University of Western Australia over the way it had dismissed him in 1993.
Now a distinguished British archaeologist has joined in the chorus of condemnation with a vehement attack on the university as well. Professor Lord Renfrew of Kaimsthorn described the treatment Rindos received as a "monstrous injustice".
Lord Renfrew -- director of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at Cambridge University - said he believed the actions of the university consituted "one of the most flagrant cases of academic injustice" he had seen in recent decades.
He said he had recently read the report of the parliamentary inquiry into the case and found its findings alarming. He believed the strain and tension surrounding the affair may have contributed to Rindos' death and he had felt he should speak up.
"When somebody dies then they are no longer in a position to undertake any legal action -- anything Dr Rindos may have been contemplating has presumably been stayed -- so it's a great pity if the necessary questions do not continue to be asked."
The report reprimanded the university and said it had not given Rindos adequate and fair opportunities to present his case.
Rindos was appointed a lecturer in archaeology at UWA in 1989 with a PhD from Cornell University and several years experience teaching in American institutions. Three years later, he was denied tenure, placed on further probation and sacked for what he claimed was raising questions about the conduct of a colleague.
His case attracted international attention and archaeologists from abroad wrote to support him. Lord Renfrew said he had followed the affair and had spoken to Rindos before his death.
Rindos had made a significant contribution to archaeology, he said.
"His work on the origins of agriculture is a sort of standard classic -- that is why it seemed extraordinary to me that the university tried to suggest he wasn't a scholar of very high standing."
This was a reference to the fact that UWA justified denying Rindos tenure because he had a poor academic record. The former vice-chancellor, Professor Fay Gale, later told Campus Review that no academic with so few publications to his credit would have been given tenure.
Rindos kept fighting for reinstatement. instated, [sic] claiming it was not his productivity but his whistleblowing that was the real reason UWA rejected him.
A self-declared homosexual, Rindos argued he was denied tenure because he had raised concerns about the conduct of the then head of archaeology, Professor Sandra Bowdler, a lesbian, who was accused of sexual harassment.
But a university inquiry later recommended that Rindos be denied tenure because of unsatisfactory performance. Gale accepted the recommendation and has since maintained that the questions raised by Rindos about Bowdler were not related to his being denied tenure.
She told Campus Review that complaints had been made by students and, as a result of an investigation, Bowdler was removed as head of archaeology and the department shut down.
Lord Renfrew said he realised part of the issue was the amount of work Rindos was producing while at the university -- the book on the origins of agriculture was an earlier one -- but that "once he got enmeshed in all this strife within the department it became a very difficult working environment".
"I did not know him before all this began so I am reasonably partial, whereas the actions of the university looked to be very partial and very vindictive and seemed to be caught up with the strange relationships within that department."
The WA Legislative Council decision to hold an inquiry on the issue (before Rindos died) was a first for the stale (see story this edition; page 2), but it was condemned as intrusive by the Australian Vice-Chancellor's Committee.
Gale, who retired in December, rejected the inquiry's findings and said the university stood by its decision. She accused the committee of denying the university natural justice and fairness.
"There is nothing contained in the committee report which materially affects the decision to deny Dr Rindos tenure," Gale said.
Renfrew had heard about the personal relationships between academics it UWA, and between staff and student.
"I know Dr Rindos had his own personal life but I don't think that involved his department - whereas others were very departmental, if you see what I mean. I've always taken the view that someone's personal life is their own affair unless it impinges on their professional life. I thought Dr Rindos behaved broadly correctly but others less so."
"We should all be seeking to uphold academic values and when a university seems to fall far below decent academics values I think it is an international question - not just a local one," Renfrew said.