[Crikey] As an ANU employee, I call on the government to investigate the university
"Universities are no longer fit-for-purpose, and the ANU is leading the charge." Reposted from Crikey, May 28, 2025
Original article: https://www.crikey.com.au/2025/05/28/australian-national-university-report-christine-nixon-nepotism-sexism-bullying/
By Liz Allen
May 28, 2025
Australian universities have been making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Systemic problems plague the sector on everything from underpayment to sexual assault and racism, excessive executive pay, jobs for mates, misleading the Senate and governance issues.
And this is just the Australian National University, where I work as a senior lecturer.
The problem with ANU
A new report on a former ANU college shows a damning culture of “nepotism, sexism, and bullying” adversely impacting staff and students. The shocking, but not surprising, revelations in the review by Professor Christine Nixon into the defunct College of Health and Medicine reflect an endemic problem across the university.
No school or college at the ANU is immune to claims of structural issues, especially those impacting women and people from diverse backgrounds. Exploitation, harassment, discrimination and bullying have been enabled. A poor complaints process has made seeking justice nearly impossible. Staff close to perpetrators are tasked with investigating reports of wrongdoing, meaning junior staff investigate some of the most senior people at the university.
I was an elected staff member of the ANU Council — the university’s overarching governing body — but the leadership’s unwillingness to listen to the concerns of staff and students prompted me to resign due to a lack of confidence.
Much like the issues mentioned in the Nixon review, I’ve lost a position I love, foregone a promotion, and my career is permanently damaged.
Self-interested leadership
Disestablishing the ANU’s embattled college won’t fix the problem, unless the leadership intends to do away with all the colleges.
To be fair, they’re giving it a red hot go, axing 635 jobs over the past year and with more cuts to come. Workloads are increasing at an alarming rate, absenteeism is probably the highest it’s ever been, and morale is at rock bottom. The very core of academic work — teaching and research — is being undermined; we simply cannot do our jobs.
Not a week goes by that the ANU isn’t in the media. The university is tanking in world rankings, and if domestic student numbers are anything to go by, even Australia has lost faith in the once hallowed institution.
It’s not surprising that widespread gender-based aggressions in a feminised workforce, like the ANU, filter into every aspect of university life, including student residences. I have my own experiences of gender- and class-based discrimination at the ANU. Meanwhile, while some ANU executives pocket at least $500,000 salaries, researchers are defaulting on contracts because we can’t hire the necessary personnel.
Elitist, not elite
Former ANU vice chancellor Brian Schmidt famously aspired to an “elite, but not elitist” university — something Chancellor Bishop once excitedly echoed. That time is long over. Student diversity at ANU is declining, with representation of people from low socioeconomic backgrounds falling. Funding is being cut to First Nations research priorities without notice.
The government’s vision for the sector to drive skills and increase equity representation among students unravels further with each scandal.
Universities are no longer fit-for-purpose, and the ANU is leading the charge. The Senate inquiry into university governance is now more important than ever, and the ANU’s problems can only be fixed through listening and action via proper process. I call on the government to step in and investigate what is happening at ANU. The nation needs a robust national university, and the ANU must be held to account.