Attack on freedom of speech at Victoria University
Posted on 18. Dec, 2008 by admin in Academic Freedom, News
Read the NTEU media release here.
Read the statement from Friends of Victoria University
In an astounding move, the Chancellor of Victoria University is threatening to sue an academic staff member. Dr Jamie Doughney, a senior lecturer and NTEU Victorian Division President, has been threatened with legal action over critical remarks he made in the media about the plan by Victoria University to make over 270 staff redundant.
Government solicitor John Cain jnr has sent a letter on behalf of the chancellor, Supreme Court judge Frank Vincent, to James Doughney, a member of the university’s governing council, demanding he withdraw and apologise for an attack on Victoria University chiefs over their plan to slash hundreds of jobs.
Justice Vincent last night defended his decision to engage the government solicitor, and dismissed Dr Doughney’s assertion that his academic freedom was under attack.
The Age revealed in October that Dr Doughney, an economist and state president of the National Tertiary Education Union, had sent a six-page paper to state and federal MPs accusing the university’s vice-chancellor, Professor Elizabeth Harman, of manufacturing a cash crisis to justify cutting about 270 jobs. Mr Cain’s three-page letter to Dr Doughney, dated December 12, says his statements were false and defamatory.
VU Branch President of the NTEU, Mr Richard Gough, has called the Chancellor’s threat to sue a clear case of censorship: ‘This is what the lawyers call a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, or a SLAPP’.
Mr Gough added, ‘This is a very nasty Christmas present! It’s certainly a rude SLAPP in the face for integrity in the governance of public universities.’
Speaking at the last University Council meeting for 2008, Dr Doughney said, ‘You cannot plan to educate a 30% growth in student numbers by sacking 29.6% of your academics. This decision is voodoo economics, a shocking dereliction of educational responsibility, and a betrayal of the community in Melbourne’s west.’
Crikey.com also reported on this issue:
The idea of universities being bastions of free thinking, free speech, and places where intellectual and social boundaries can be pushed are a thing of the past. Today, in Australia at least, those who run universities are behaving more like CEOs of big companies or government departments. Dissent is restricted, and universities are using legal sledge hammers to rid themselves of those in their ranks who are outspoken or radical in thought, word or deed.
To fortify this observation, one only has to examine the conduct of officials from two of Victoria’s universities this year towards members of their academic staff. Last week, the Chancellor of Victoria University, Frank Vincent, a sitting Supreme Court judge, has had the Victorian Government Solicitor, John Cain, write a threatening letter to James Doughney, who is a member of the University’s Council and a union rep for the National Tertiary Education Union. Dr Doughney’s sin was apparently to write a six-page letter to federal and state MPs earlier this year in which he accused the University’s Vice Chancellor of manufacturing a financial crisis to justify cutting staff positions.
How this accusation could possibly be defamatory is anyone’s guess — it is the sort of statement or assertion made every day in the normal world of political and industrial relations debate.
Doughney is not happy and is standing his ground as he should.
Read more about this attack on free speech at Crikey.com.
Carol-Anne Croker
Dec 22nd, 2008
We must stand up for our colleague and escalate cross Institutional and cross sectoral Industry action asap.