The University of Queensland¡¯s chancellor and vice-chancellor have been given the green light to close a deal with a philanthropic centre seeking to fund controversial courses on Western civilisation.

The UQ senate has endorsed continued negotiations with the Ramsay Centre, authorising chancellor Peter Varghese and vice-chancellor Peter H?j to sign a memorandum of understanding with Ramsay ¨C provided that it guarantees the university autonomy over curriculum, governance arrangements, academic freedom and faculty appointments.

In a 26 February email to staff, Professor H?j highlighted seven ¡°areas of concern¡± raised during a four-week staff consultation period. They included reputational issues, academic freedom, Ramsay¡¯s influence over academic appointments and the perceived narrow curriculum of the proposed courses.

Professor H?j said he had raised many of the same concerns when he first explored a partnership with Ramsay last year. ¡°I was as clear then as I am today that there are threshold issues for the university which are non-negotiable, and that this needed to be understood before we could proceed,¡± he told staff.

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These caveats had spawned a ¡°sound basis to progress our engagement¡±, he added.

Professor H?j said recent developments could ease some of the concerns ¨C especially Ramsay¡¯s mid-February promise to insert commitments to academic freedom in its future agreements.

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Ramsay¡¯s earlier refusal to do this reportedly triggered the breakdown of negotiations with the Australian National University last June.

Other concerns could be addressed ¡°internally¡±, Professor H?j added, pointing to current moves to revisit the proposed curriculum.

The senate go-ahead comes after the university¡¯s National Tertiary Education Union branch emphatically rejected a partnership with Ramsay, citing violation of university autonomy ¨C specifically, in allowing a Ramsay representative to sit on academic selection committees ¨C and the ¡°explicitly elitist¡± nature of a proposal that disproportionately benefited a small number of students.

Branch president Andrew Bonnell said he was not surprised that the senate had green-lighted an agreement with Ramsay. ¡°A lot of UQ staff have been saying that they think it¡¯s a done deal,¡± he told Times Higher Education.

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¡°I thought there was a possibility, though, that the senate would want to see any MOU before it was finalised. I¡¯m disappointed that they¡¯ve simply given UQ management a blank cheque to go and negotiate.¡±

Dr Bonnell, who was on the UQ senate during former vice-chancellor Paul Greenfield¡¯s removal over a nepotism scandal, said the Ramsay proposal involved ¡°incalculable reputational risks¡± to the university.

¡°If you¡¯re on the governing body you can¡¯t just delegate the protection of reputation to university management,¡± he said. ¡°The buck stops with the senate.¡±

Dr Bonnell added that?Ramsay¡¯s concession in offering an explicit guarantee of academic freedom was ¡°interesting¡±, but that he would like to see how such a commitment was worded. The Ramsay proposal was different to traditional philanthropic donations, he said, with staff appointed to fixed-term positions and Ramsay given a say in the hiring process.

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Ramsay would also review the programme after four years, with the whole arrangement up for renegotiation after eight years. ¡°The pledge of respecting academic freedom is welcome in itself, but it seems to be at odds with the design features ¨C which seem to be about trying to retain control and influence,¡± Dr Bonnell said.

¡°I don¡¯t know how they¡¯re going to square that. It¡¯s going to involve feats of great verbal agility.¡±

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john.ross@timeshighereducation.com