Dear Colleague,
Why is the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) publishing misinformation although the facts are in the public domain and its editors have been informed?
- Is it because editorial corrections would expose the fact that the current management of the University of Sydney has submitted numerous falsehoods to the Federal Court?
- Is it because the current chief-of-staff of the University of Sydney is a former editor-in-chief of the Sydney Morning Herald?
- Is it because an investigative journalist who has close ties to the Sydney Morning Herald was on the Senate of our University for years but never informed the public about the management problems that continue to be aired by very concerned staff?
I strongly object to the Sydney Morning Herald refusing to publish the necessary factual corrections which need to be made because the current reporting is very misleading.
These corrections are online but it is hard to compete with an established newspaper so please pass on this information and the links in this letter.
I am very concerned about failed university governance and, looking at my experience, the lack of “protections” for whistleblowers in Australia (see my submission to the Attorney General).
On 12 January 2024 I have formally asked the NSW Ombudsman to refer the current management of the University of Sydney to the federal police after NSW ICAC repeatedly failed to investigate complaints by academics of our university and I had not heard back regarding my original request made to politicians on 4 May 2023. The case number is R/2023/12 Previous reference: C/2022/11889.
The management of our oldest university needs to be put in order urgently. Academics need to be placed in charge to end the crisis of values and academic principles, also at other Australian universities.
This is very urgent because we need good universities to be able to take on the new challenges posed by artificial intelligence to protect our democracy. There is not much time left.
Since universities are the places in society where human intelligence and ideally morals are cultivated, corrupt university managers that stamp on academic values such as honesty and integrity pose a national security risk. A Royal Commission that looks into university management misconduct nationwide would be appropriate.
You can support our work in the public interest here (Petition) and here (GoFundMe)