The Fall of Australian Universities

As part of my job as a university employee, I had to sit in on classes and take notes. This was back in early 2019 before the pandemic. I used to sit in on an international relations class. On the first day of class, the lecturer introduced himself and stated that in his class, nobody will talk about, discuss or mention President Donald Trump in any way. He said the penalty for doing so would be $5 placed in a jar in the classroom. I found that a bit strange for an international relations class considering that Mr Trump was the sitting President of the United States. Anyway, throughout the semester, a total of only $5 was placed in the jar, and that was by the teacher. He “accidentally” went on a rant about President Trump, and consequently, placed $5 in the jar. I use the term “accidentally” very loosely, as I believe his rant was staged. Now don’t get me wrong, as you probably know, I’m not a big Trump fan, however, this is a university class on international relations. The course content included the rise of China under Xi Jinping, Russia under Vladimir Putin, and even the Weimar Republic and the rise of Adolf Hitler. Yet, President Donald Trump was off limits! What the hell is going on in universities today?

Another part of my job was helping PhD candidates with their statistics and IT issues. One lady I was helping had been studying and researching about the problems that Indigenous people face. She had been doing this for almost 10 years. She was also working casually in the Indigenous Studies Department and was expecting to become an academic or a lecturer after graduating. She was close to gaining her doctorate which involved the research of Aboriginal health issues, specifically issues faced by Aboriginal men. She went out to many remote communities and interviewed many Aboriginal people. It was clear that she had a real passion for helping Indigenous Australians. The day of her graduation came and she was awarded her PhD. But, the university had recently made a rule that only people who “Identify as being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent” can be employed in that department. I found that a bit strange. I actually bumped into her about six months later at a Buddhist temple, of all places. I asked her how she was going, and she said she was on the dole, that is, she was receiving unemployment benefits from the Government. Despite her being an expert in her field, the university refused to employ her because she was not Aboriginal. I think the university really shot themselves in the foot here. All those students studying Indigenous studies, essentially the people providing income to the department, most of them are not Aboriginal. Of course, only 3.2% of the Australian population identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, so of course, the vast majority of students are not Aboriginal. So when these students graduate from Indigenous studies, what are they going to? The university won’t hire them because they’re not Aboriginal. So what are they going to do? Go on the dole? Work for Coles? Eventually word will get out that only Indigenous people are employable in these Indigenous Studies departments and then students will naturally seek out a different course of study. This important stream of income to the Indigenous Studies Department will dry up.

I currently work in a department that helps students in various ways. About seven or eight years ago, they employed a new director, a lady who identifies as a member of the LGBT community. Now, I’m not exaggerating here, she hates men. Well, I don’t know for sure, but all signs point to that. Under her watch, we went from about 50/50 female/male ratio to about 95% females now. When I walked past her in the corridor, she actively ignored me, but would say hello to her female colleagues. She often gave presentations, or wrote articles about issues of gender imbalance in business stating that men are given more advantages in companies and are more likely to succeed than women. So she made it her mission to destroy the chances of all men in her department.

In the news, Australian universities have been massively underpaying their staff by millions of dollars. It seems, even when they get caught, they continue to do it.

Isn’t it strange? Universities claim to be places of free and open debate, yet certain topics are off limits! They claim to be against racism and sexism, yet they actively discriminate based on race and sex! They claim to be fair and equitable, yet they steal wages from their staff! Are we witnessing the fall of Australian universities? Or is this just the new normal?

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Allégro by Emmit Fenn