Wollongong council pulls rank to OK Western civilisation course

The University of Wollongong’s governing council has unilaterally approved a controversial course in Western civilisation, stymying legal action against an earlier approval and further sidelining the university’s academic senate in the process.

The council has exercised powers in the university’s underpinning legislation that authorise it to “act in all matters concerning the university” and to “provide such courses, and confer such degrees…as it thinks fit”, in the latest tactical ploy over Wollongong’s agreement with the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation.

The move sidesteps legal action launched by the National Tertiary Education Union in response to vice-chancellor Paul Wellings’ use of a fast-track approval mechanism to bypass consideration of the course by the academic senate.

While the union had appealed to the Supreme Court to rule Professor Wellings’ action invalid, any legal ruling now appears irrelevant as the course has been approved under separate means.

The university said the council had been worried that uncertainty surrounding the approval status could disrupt preparations to deliver the course next year. Chancellor Jillian Broadbent said the council had “full respect” for the university’s academic process and “particularly” the role of the senate, but the “particular prevailing circumstances” had forced its hand.

“By approving the degree, the council has acted in the best interests of the university,” she said. “It will enable progress to continue despite any continuing legal challenge to the vice-chancellor’s earlier approval decision.”

She said the council was still prepared to defend the legal action but now hoped that it would “not be necessary”. The university said it had invited the union to withdraw the court action.

Union president Alison Barnes said "we will consider the impact on the legal case and decide our next steps as soon as we are in a position to do so”.

Australia’s higher education regulator, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency, has also been considering a complaint about the original course approval.

Wollongong is the only university so far to reach an agreement with the Ramsay Centre, which has sparked academic and student backlashes at three other universities considering running its courses.

The Australian National University broke off negotiations with Ramsay in May last year, citing threats to its institutional autonomy, while the universities of Sydney and Queensland are still deliberating over whether to offer Ramsay-funded courses.

Mehreen Faruqi, education spokeswoman for the Australian Greens and a former UNSW Sydney academic, branded Wollongong’s move “outrageous” and a “slap in the face” for students and academics. “The lengths the University of Wollongong will go to in order to bypass their academic review processes are quite extraordinary and deeply worrying,” she said.

“This sends a message that any organisation with a big enough chequebook can buy extraordinary influence over our universities.”

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com