Dear UWAASA members,
And so another year is coming to an end!
First of all, a heartfelt thank you for your continued support. Without members, associations like ours wouldn’t exist. Our primary focus in the coming year will be to play an active role in rebuilding a sense of community amongst academics at UWA. Our university’s (current) structure has us splintered across 22 different schools, and it can be hard to remember that we are, in fact, all part of a whole. Because we believe that a university has to be first and foremost a community of researchers and educators, and to hear your views on what role UWAASA should play to restore that, we will be hosting a half-day event in the first quarter of the year. It will be fun, so stay tuned!
Looking back, 2024 has certainly been an eventful year. We ran the Philippa Maddern Award after a two-year break, and we were delighted to celebrate two outstanding members of our community: Professor Robyn Carroll, whose contributions to the association and UWA more generally span four decades (!!) and are set to continue in her new role as Emerita Professor, and the late Associate Professor Gavin Pinniger, who left us too soon but not without making his indelible mark in the UWA community.
The year ended with two significant losses. We payed our respects to former Vice Chancellor Professor Alan Robson who passed away in November, and less than a month later, we received the devastating news of Emerita Professor Brenda Walker’s tragic passing in the aftermath of a senseless road accident near Kings Park. We will miss both of them very much, and will do our utmost to honour their legacy.
An academic year at UWA wouldn’t be an academic year at UWA without some interesting surprises (for lack of a better word). Three stood out.
First, the UWAASA committee was certainly surprised to hear of the appointment of Diane Smith-Gander AO as our next Chancellor. The process of appointment of a new Chancellor doesn’t exactly ooze transparency (nor does anything else our Senate gets up to, frankly), nevertheless this decision came a bit out of the blue. Like everyone else, we learned of this appointment when it was communicated by our current Chancellor last June. But as you surely know, the governing committee of UWAASA is one of the bodies that Senate needs to consult when appointing a new Chancellor. So, when asked, we gave the Senate three names (and outlined a detailed rationale for our choice) of individuals that we believed would have been qualified and well-suited to the task on both a professional and personal level. We of course did not have an expectation that the Chancellor would be picked from the names we recommended. However, since we were asked, we did think that an extra iota of transparency and courtesy wouldn’t have gone amiss. But hey, that’s part of what makes UWA Forward such a hit and never a boring read… We will endeavour to meet our new Chancellor in the new year, and get a sense of her ideas and vision for the future of UWA and its academic community. As always, we will be open, but vigilant.
Secondly, you probably have noticed a flurry of new policies, guidelines, checklists, etc in recent times. While it is tempting to just tune out to the constant announcements of new frameworks that inevitably entail more work (and not of the fun kind) for academics, one such new policy made a bit of a splash when it came into force earlier this year: the University Behaviour Policy, the purpose of which is to ‘express the University’s expectations on Appropriate Behaviour by members of the University Community’. It is important to state from the outset that having processes in place to ensure that toxic behaviours are appropriately dealt with and do not get a free pass is critical. Yet, this particular policy has raised a number of concerns with regard to its impact on academic freedom as enshrined in our very own Code for the Protection of Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom, as well as the clauses on freedom of expression and academic freedom enshrined in our Enterprise Bargaining Agreement. These are of course serious concerns, but there is also a question of internal coherence… Clause 5.1 (C). reads as follows:
(C). Inappropriate Behaviour means behaviour that is disrespectful to others and/or which causes harm to others, to the University, or to University Property, including but not limited to —
(1). causing, threatening, organising, coercing or inciting harm;
(2). putting safety and/or well-being at risk;
(3). damaging the interests of —
(a). the University or members of the University Community; or
(b). individuals external to the University while performing University Activities;
(c). Aggressive Behaviour; and
(d). Persistent Inappropriate Behaviour.
(D). The University Community must not engage in Inappropriate Behaviour.
If damaging the interests of Aggressive Behaviour and Persistent and Inappropriate Behaviour amounts to Inappropriate Behaviour that one must not engage in… one could be confused as to whether, in a Kafkaesque turn of events, they’d now be required to engage in micro-aggressions and cyber-bullying!? It is not lost in me that this is in and of itself a sarcastic remark that potentially constitutes Aggressive Behaviour per clause 5.2 (A).(1). However, and at the risk of being facetious, if an institution is going to outline with such painful level of detail what is and is not acceptable behaviour (and assuming for a moment that the university doesn’t in fact want us to aggressively harass each other), I would highly recommend a quick proofread!
Jokes aside, one piece of context that may not be as widely known as it should, is the fact that this policy isn’t just another product of university bureaucracies losing the plot. This policy is a proactive response to nationally mandated requirements that will apply to the whole university sector in Australia following entry into force early next year. The fact that much of this is coming from the Federal Government won’t assuage the concerns of many, but it does mean that we can have rational conversations with our relevant counterparts within the university to ensure that this policy doesn’t turn into an unreasonable and overreaching tool for mid-level and senior management to control staff. We will be meeting with key people in the new year, and will keep you updated with more information as things unfold. As usual: open but vigilant.
Last but not least… parking. I will save that rant for the new year, but isn’t it lovely to know that a good chunk of our much-advertised pay rise is going back to the university’s coffers in the form of a doubled parking fee? I am sure those with caring duties and junior staff who typically have less flexibility and live further away from campus (and thus are more likely to need their car) will absolutely love this. We will follow up on the salary packaging option (still no details on that for now) as well as any other reasonable adjustment we can think of to make sure this is not too punitive for our more vulnerable colleagues (if you have ideas, email us). Again, we will keep you posted.
This is a good place to remind everyone that the reason we can engage in conversations around the university governance, aside from our informal connections and visibility as an organisation, is because we are members of many of the university governing bodies, including our Academic Board, the Academic Consultative Committee and Workload Committee, and the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee (and more). We will keep making sure the voice of the academic community is heard in those venues and beyond! And, when vacancies are advertised, think about putting your hand up as the elected membership to university governing bodies plays a vital role in the functioning of the institution.
For now, it is time to put this year to rest. There is much to be excited about in the new year. If you have read the minutes of our AGM, you will know that we are planning some changes to make us more visible and embedded in the community, without sacrificing our ability to influence governance where we can. Stay tuned for more and, for now, have a lovely and well-earned break (at least from teaching and admin…)
Very best wishes,
Marco
Dr Marco Rizzi
President, UWA Academic Staff Association
T +616488 3836 M004, Perth, WA 6009
UWAASA – THE VOICE OF ACADEMICS AT UWA www.uwaasa.org.au