Catherine Waldby

Feedback on ANU Governance Project Draft Report The ANU Governance Project Working Group are proud to present the Draft Project Report for community feedback and consultation. The Draft Project Report is available on our website or through THIS LINK. Using a process that has involved deep listening and a participatory and deliberative process across the ANU community, we have compiled a unique and valuable body of evidence that documents what’s wrong with governance at the ANU and charts a way forward to help rebuild trust and to deliver best practice governance. Over 600 ANU staff, students, and stakeholders have participated in this project, and in contributing constructively to the future of ANU. This includes 590 members of the community who participated in our survey, 75 who participated in one-hour small group discussions, and over 40 from across the university who participated in our project workshop. The ANU community told us there a critical need for change: Over 96% of survey respondents and all discussion group participants believe current ANU governance is not fit for purpose and should be reformed. Over 92% of survey respondents and all discussion group participants expressed dissatisfaction with current ANU governance. Over 93% of survey respondents said they were dissatisfied with current practices of transparency at the ANU. Over 93% of survey respondents said they were dissatisfied with accountability frameworks at the ANU. The ANU Community has proposed the following near-term steps forward for a reformed ANU: Council must direct Finance to produce and publish a current budget breakdown. Council must revise and publish selection criteria for Executive positions. Council meetings must immediately be made fully accessible to the community. Academic Board must regularly review and assess the financial decisions of senior executives and Council. Commence senior leadership listening tours with the ANU community. Additional recommendations forwarded by the community are summarised in the full report, including a proposal to co-design legislative reform of the ANU Act with the community. The Working Group invites the ANU community and stakeholders to offer feedback via this form on the draft report by midnight on Tuesday 7 October. This deadline has been extended in order to allow us more time to hear and incorporate community feedback ahead of the release of our final report on Monday 20 October.

ANU colleagues and students - please share this post if you can:

The ANU governance project has extended our deadline to comment on the Draft report to next week - 7 October.

Here's a link to a feedback form, which also contains the link to the draft report:

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

1/At Macquarie Uni we are losing 50% of our units in my faculty. This is on top of cuts in 2020. We estimate by next year my faculty will be teaching 80% fewer subjects than pre Covid. Disciplines being cut do not have declining enrolments. @jennaprice.bsky.social @michaelwestbiz.bsky.social

ANU people - please share! The ANU governance project has a media release about the presentation by the Interim Vice Chancellor's speech on Thursday here: drive.google.com/file/d/1oGH5...

anugovernance-davidpocock.nationbuilder.com/here_s_how_w...

1 / 1 Letter in support of Meanjin’s future As members of the Publishing and Communications program’s staff at the University of Melbourne, we strongly support the continued existence of Meanjin Quarterly. From direct involvements with the journal during the past 25 years and more, we personally attest to the formative role Meanjin has played in the development of writers, editors and publishers, and an independent Australian cultural voice. The creative labour of thousands resonates deeply in the fabric of this cultural institution founded by Clem Christesen in Meanjin/Brisbane in 1940. We call on the University of Melbourne to recognise the rich and continuing social, political and literary value of Meanjin by ensuring its future. The journal is a living resource for our teaching, and vital to our students. Its publications fill our reading lists with ideas from the best minds of our time. It has uplifted many of our students through publication, internships, partnerships and employment, and its connection to the University is part of what makes our writing and editing programs valuable and comparable to other leading universities on the international stage. We believe the University’s enduring purpose of benefiting society compels it to take swift action to preserve the journal and sustain its continued publication, preferably within the University itself. At the very least, the University should do all it can, acting in good faith, to transfer the journal’s cultural and IP assets to another institution prepared to save it. Culturally, the University of Melbourne has benefited immensely from its support of the journal since 1945; the extinction of the journal would be its enduring loss but an even greater loss to the community the University serves. Signed by: Sybil Nolan Tim Coronel Matt Holden LJ Maher Fiannuala Morgan Sharon Mullins Beth Driscoll Claire Parnell Nicola Redhouse Hollen Singleton Bec Kavanagh

Re #MeanjinJournal, a letter from myself and some of my colleagues to The University of Melbourne. #Meanjin is such an important part of Australia's literary ecosystem and losing it would be culturally and industrially devastating. #AusLit #AustralianWriters #Publishing #Unimelb

When Bell resigned, staff cheered. The ANU drama and a broken university sector The downfall of now-ousted ANU boss Genevieve Bell is just a microcosm of a broader crisis in Australian university governance.

An ANU all-staff meeting erupted into cheers when it was announced that Vice-Chancellor Genevieve Bell was stepping down, writes Ben Eltham.

This moment is a chance to rebuild ANU into a democratic, accountable and thriving institution that has the trust and confidence of its community once again.

It must not be wasted.

ANU's crisis runs deeper than the leadership. Here's how we save the university If we get this right, it could be a model for other universities.

“dialogue is the antithesis of either top-down or bureaucratic decision-making. It acknowledges the place of risk in the interactions between participants, as they make themselves vulnerable by engaging with a wide range of people...”

ANU Governance Project

www.canberratimes.com.au/story/906463...

UTS told to pause staff cuts because of ‘psychological harm’ risk The workplace regulator has intervened in a redundancy process at the University of Technology Sydney in what experts say is rare but could become more common.

As the only university covered by federal law, why can’t we see a similar intervention at ANU?

I hear constantly from staff about the huge toll on from the almost year long shambolic process of cuts at the ANU.

We need an immediate pause to forced redundancies.
www.afr.com/companies/en...

ANU at a crossroads: between the social body and the iron cage - Overland literary journal The organic solidarity on display across ANU gives the institution its moral clarity and counterweight to a bureaucracy that risks becoming a case as hard as steel. In the last six months, ANU staff, ...

A gut-wrenching read from a brilliant scholar, on the crisis at ANU. It speaks to the broader sickness in our universities (including my own).

FYI @frankbongiorno.bsky.social @hannahforsyth.bsky.social @capandgown.bsky.social @joshuablackjb.bsky.social

overland.org.au/2025/08/anu-...

The country holds round tables on productivity while the university sector is underfunded and suffers from poor neoliberal governance without accountability right at the top. One doesn't need a uni degree to understand stagnant productivity if one doesn't invest in knowledge and innovation.

@thesaturdaypaper.com.au your headline is grossly inaccurate: the VC intends to continue with more than 100 further forced redundancies. This includes through cruel spill and fill processes scheduled for later this year.

Regulator demands ANU defend its council members' conduct A federal government investigation into the Australian National University demands the university defend the conduct of its council members amid concerns they have failed to competently oversee its op...

Regulator demands Australian National University defend council conduct amid governance concerns

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...

Bishop should stand aside from ANU role amid bullying claim, senator says ACT independent Senator David Pocock says he is concerned the issues facing the Australian National University are affecting its staff and students and calls for more transparency.

David Pocock: Julie Bishop should stand aside as ANU Chancellor www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...

Beyond distressing to experience and watch this unfold

ANU community members, please help complete this governance survey.

The organizers are seeking high volume of responses before the Senate hearing next Tuesday.

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

so cool ...

ANU fights back against savage cuts to jobs and courses – Solidarity Online On Wednesday 30 July, more than 100 ANU students marched against the university’s proposed Renew ANU cuts.

“The proposed changes will deprive staff of their livelihoods … Students, who come to university on the promise that they will be able to explore ideas in whichever discipline they choose, will find their study options severely restricted.”

solidarity.net.au/universities...

Poster with main heading: "Help Reform ANU Governance" and a caption saying "join us today" At the bottom is a "who & how" section that says: "Are you staff, student, alumni, or a member of the public who cares about our national university? If so, and you'd like to participate, then: 1. Complete the survey via the QR code [link in main body of this post] 2. Attend one of our kitchen table conversations by emailing us at: ANUGOVERNANCE@GMAIL.COM 3. Read our briefing paper (link in the survey) to see more options on how to be involved!"

Participate in the ANU Governance Project, launched today by a group of ANU staff.

Check out their website and fill out the survey:
anugovernance-davidpocock.nationbuilder.com

Repeal Job-Ready Graduates Policy Now: Restoring Equity in Higher Education - Online petition We sign this petition in solidarity with those who signed the Open Letter to the Prime Minister on 28 July 2025…

We are so close to reaching our target of 2500 signatures on this petition calling for the repeal of Job-Ready Graduates! If you care about equity in higher education and want the BA to be affordable and accessible for *all* students, please sign! www.openpetition.org/au/petition/...

Attacks on the humanities at Australian universities are not new – but they are now more lethal | Julianne Schultz Punishing fees for arts degrees must be ended if the country seriously wants to take part in the information age and give students the opportunities we need them to have

“Abolishing the punishing fees for arts degrees must be within reach if Australia seriously wants to actively participate in the information age and give this generation the opportunities we all need them to have.”

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

As well as a motion to pause redundancies, Senator Pocock has also given notice of motions for OPDs that would bring much needed transparency to ANU finances and governance.

A big thank you to @davidpocock.bsky.social from the ANU community!

www.aph.gov.au/~/media/7A63...

It was great to meet with the ACT Minister for Business, Arts and Creative Industries, Michael Pettersson MLA, this morning to discuss the ANU School of Music cuts. 🙏

@nteunion.bsky.social members stand against these damaging job cuts at #ANU. ✊

Great news! The parliamentary inquiry into university governance is back on! Thanks to union members for keeping up the pressure for urgent reform.

Help us build on the momentum - find out more 👉 betterunis.nteu.au/inquiry

Read full media release 👉 nteu.info/m-inquiry

Wellcome-funded 'Between Deception and Dissent' project is recruiting a postdoc working at the interface of medical STS and socio-legal studies, supervised by Martyn Pickersgill @ Edinburgh #STS www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNY639/r...

e) resolves that the Australian National University shall be instructed to pause any further forced redundancies or other terminations of ongoing staff until the conclusion and reporting of the Senate Standing Committee on Education and Employment's inquiry into the Quality of governance at Australian higher education providers.

BREAKING | @davidpocock.bsky.social has lodged formal notice of a motion to instruct ANU to pause cuts.

Senator @davidpocock.bsky.social has a motion on notice in the Senate to stop #ANU job cuts. 👀

Will ANU Council act accordingly at their meeting tomorrow, or will they ram through job cuts whatever the damage to the University?

@nteunion.bsky.social is calling on ANU Council to stop the job cuts.

Your support is needed - sign the petition opposing the Job-ready Graduates Scheme www.openpetition.org/au/petition/...

@austhistassoc.bsky.social

Students and @nteunion.bsky.social members at #ANU are calling for an end to job cuts. Well done to all who participated and thanks to Laura Nuttall MLA for speaking in support of ANU staff and students.

Our truly national university fades into the sunset | Canberra CityNews Arts editor HELEN MUSA despairs that the ANU's unpopular organisational changes are not primarily an attack on the Schools of Music and Art and Design, but on the very basis of the ANU as Australia’s ...

The CASS change proposal “is NOT primarily an attack on the Schools of Music and Art and Design, but on the very basis of the ANU as Australia’s national university.”

Arts editor Helen Musa

citynews.com.au/2025/our-tru...