We share the concerns of University of Sydney staff that accepting funding from the highly partisan Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation will undermine university autonomy, endanger intellectual freedom, and contradict the values of inclusion and diversity that should be core to any university.
In this day and age, a proposal for an elite course predicated on a narrowly-defined notion of “Western Civilization” raises unavoidable political and ethical questions. Such a course would exacerbate the already dominant position that the “West” occupies in any typical Humanities and Social Sciences curriculum. It would risk entrenching an intellectually obsolete and divisive civilizational outlook on the world, which a humanistic education should call into question. And through its alliance with the Ramsay Centre, the university would lend scholarly legitimacy to forces beyond the campus who promote an unabashedly ethnocentric politics, to the detriment of muticulturalism and social cohesion.
We are troubled not only by the consequences this prospective collaboration will have for the University of Sydney, but by the damaging precedent it will set for education in Australia and elsewhere. We declare our solidarity with the staff and student campaign against any deal with the Ramsay Centre, and urge University of Sydney management to immediately call off negotiations with it.
Signatories from Australian universities
Therese Apolonio, University of Technology Sydney
Dr Jacqui Baker, Murdoch University
Dr Ruth Balint, UNSW
Rosie Barron, University of Melbourne
Dr Thomas Baudinette, Macquarie University
Dr Jumana Bayeh, Macquarie University
Dr Andrew Beattie, UNSW
Dr Lauren Bliss, University of Melbourne
Dr Adam Bowles, University of Queensland
Dr Jane Brophy, Monash University
Associate Professor Peter Burdon, University of Adelaide
Professor Anthony Burke, UNSW
Dr Rowan Cahill, University of Wollongong
Associate Professor Emma Christopher, UNSW
Professor Emeritus John Clark, University of Sydney
Dr Mike Clear, Western Sydney University (Retired)
Graeme Corbett, ANU
Dr Anne Cranny-Francis, University of Technology Sydney
Dr Angela Daly, QUT/CUHK
Dr Julia Dehm, La Trobe University
Scientia Professor Louise Edwards, UNSW
Dr Ben Etherington, Western Sydney University
Janet Fallon, University of Western Sydney
Associate Professor Caroline Fleay, Curtin University
Dr Robbie Fordyce, University of Melbourne
Dr Ruth Gamble, La Trobe University
Professor Mobo Gao, University of Adelaide
Dr Ben Golder, UNSW
Dr Emily Gray, RMIT University
Dr Michael Grewcock, UNSW
Professor Helen Groth, UNSW
Rowan Holmes, University of Technology Sydney
Emeritus Professor John Ingleson, UNSW
Dr Andy Kaladelfos, UNSW
Professor Grace Karskens, UNSW
Emeritus Professor Jane Kenway, Monash University
Dr Linda Knight, Queensland University of Technology
Prof Dr Jon Eugene von Kowallis, UNSW
Dr Declan Kuch, UNSW
Dr Elaine Laforteza, UTS
Associate Professor Anthony J. Langlois, Flinders University
Dr Susie Latham, Curtin University
Dr James Leibold, La Trobe University
Associate Professor Alana Lentin, Western Sydney University
Dr Dylan Lino, University of Western Australia
Professor Kam Louie, UNSW
Professor Martyn Lyons, UNSW
Dr Simon Lumsden, UNSW
Associate Professor Kama Maclean, UNSW
Associate Professor Roald Maliangkay, ANU
Gabrielle Mardon, University of Tasmania
Francisco Mazzola, University of South Australia
Dr Julie Montgarrett, Charles Sturt University
Associate Professor George Morgan, Western Sydney University
Dr Paul Munro, University of New South Wales
Dr Kathleen Neal, Monash University
Katy Nebhan, Charles Sturt University
Dr Briony Neilson, UNSW
Dr Wendy Ng, University of Melbourne
Professor Anne O’Brien, UNSW
Francis L Peddie, University of South Australia (Retired)
Dr Benjamin Penny, ANU
Dr Anna Cristina Pertierra, Western Sydney University
Jon Piccini, University of Queensland
Dr Geir Henning Presterudstuen, Western Sydney University
Sean Pryor, UNSW
Dr Kate Purcell, University of Technology Sydney
Dr Reuben Ramsey, The University of Newcastle
Dr Michael Richardson, UNSW
Andrew Riemer, Retired Associate Professor, Department of English, University of Sydney
Professor Robbie Robertson, Dean, School of Arts, Social Sciences & Humanities, Swinburne University of Technology
Julie-Ann Robson, University of Western Sydney
Cristina Rocha, Western Sydney University
Dr Sarah Rogers, University of Melbourne
Dr Kaz Ross, University of Tasmania
Dr Peter Ross, UNSW
Dr Jordana Silverstein, University of Melbourne
Dr Peter Slezak, UNSW
Dr Emmett Stinson, Deakin University
Dr Cait Storr, University of Melbourne
Anneli Strutt, UNSW
Professor Wanning Sun, UTS
Dr Malini Sur, Western Sydney University
Marcelo Svirsky, University of Wollongong
Assoc Prof Melanie Swalwell, Flinders University
Dr Jay Daniel Thompson, University of Melbourne and Victoria University
Dr Ntina Tzouvala, Melbourne Law School
Markos Valaris, UNSW
Dr Liam Ward, RMIT University
Dr Shuge Wei, The Australian National University
Dr John Willsteed, Queensland University of Technology
Shan Windscript, University of Melbourne
Jimmy Yan, University of Melbourne
International signatories
Othman Al Bahri, University of Cambridge
Dr Duncan Bell, University of Cambridge
Dr Francesca Biancani, Bologna University
Associate Professor Elizabeth Bishop, Texas State University
Professor Ray Bush, University of Leeds
Corey Byrnes, Northwestern University
Sandrine Emmanuelle Catris, Augusta University
Dr Estella Carpi, University College London
Dr Tanzil Chowdhury, Queen Mary University of London
Professor Yvette Christianse, Ann Whitney Olin Chair, Africana Studies & English Literature Barnard College
Dr Andrew Chubb, Columbia University
Dr David Currell, American University of Beirut
Professor Edward Curtis, Indiana University
Anatoly Detwyler, University of Wisconsin
Dr Rossen Djagalov, New York University
Distinguished Professor Stephi Hemelryk Donald, University of Lincoln (Arts)
Professor Christian Enemark, University of Southampton
Marta Ferraresso, University of Cambridge
Associate Professor Daniel Fisher, University of California, Berkeley
Dr Meredith Gamer, Columbia University
Dr Gennaro Gervasio, Università Roma Tre, Rome
Mr John Goodman, University of Exeter
Dr Priyamvada Gopal, University of Cambridge
Professor Rebecca Ruth Gould, University of Birmingham
Dr Farid Hafez, University of Salzburg
Dr Elizabeth Ingleson, Southern Methodist University
Alva Gotby, University of West London
Maxime Gosset, Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne University
Dr. Morag Josephine Grant, University of Edinburgh
Kim F. Hall, Lucyle Hook Professor of English, Barnard College/Columbia University
Cole Harry, University of California, Berkeley
Professor Rebecca Jordan-Young, Barnard College/Columbia University
Professor Angela Joya, University of Oregon
Dr Sarah Keenan, Birkbeck Law School
Dr Dennis Kortheuer, California State University, Long Beach
Sonja Laukkanen, Helsinki University
Dr Ronit Lentin, Trinity College Dublin
Professor Mark LeVine, UC Irvine / Lund University
Professor Lydia H. Liu, Columbia University
Professor Zachary Lockman, New York University
Dr Nicholas Loubere, Lund University
Dr Saira Malik, Cardiff University
Dr Shamira Meghani, University of Cambridge
Flagg Miller, University of California, Davis
Associate Professor Christina Neilson, Oberlin College
Nicola Perugini, University of Edinburgh
David Porter, Harvard University
Dr Ying Qian, Columbia University
Associate Professor Patrice Rey, School of Geosciences
Dr Paola Rivetti, Dublin City University
Dr Yvette Russell, University of Bristol Law School
Professor James Schamus, Columbia University
Professor Eric Schluessel, University of Montana
Joe Shaughnessy, University of Cambridge
Dr Chris Smith, Coventry University
Siddharth Soni, University of Cambridge
Dr Zoe Stewart, University of Cambridge
Dr Claudia Stoicescu, University of Oxford
Dr Malini Sur, Western Sydney University
Azmil Tayeb, Universiti Sains Malaysia
Dr Andrea Teti, University of Aberdeen
Dr Lisa Tilley, Birkbeck
Dr. Serena Tolino, University of Hamburg
Dr Gray Tuttle, Columbia University
Dr Illan Wall, University of Warwick
Associate Professor Jini Watson, New York Unversity
Associate Professor Chuck Wooldridge, Lehman College, City University of New York
Eloise Wright, University of California, Berkeley
Danny Yee, University of Oxford
Dr Hakeem Yusuf, University of Birmingham
Alumni and Community Supporters
Rosie Barron, NTEU
Ewen Bell
Dr Robert Boncardo
Ms Arum Budiastuti
Sachin Burns
Imogen Champagne
Xi Chen
Nien Cheng
Graeme Corbett
Cheryl Cumines
Christina Dahl
John Davidson
Nick Dobrijevich
John Dooley
Dr Yaegan Doran
Rory Douglas, Family of staff and alumni
Paul Esber
Dr Rosa Evaquarta
Nicholas Fogarty
Dr Stephen Gapps
Dr Alex Gawronski, Sydney College of the Arts
Sophia Davidson Gluyas
Eda Gunaydin
Alexander Huelle, Former Chair of Amnesty International Germany
Ann Huntley
Alex Jones
Ms Syra Khan
Timothy Nicholas Laurie, UTS
Xiaojia Lin
Dr Sophie Loy-Wilson
Aisha Maik
Senjuti Maitra
James Newbold
Associate Professor John Michael O’Brien
Suzanne O’Sullivan
Tom Patton
Natali Pearson
Elizabeth Ross-Ward, Theatre maker and historian
Michael Sainsbury
Wayan Jarrah Sastrawan
Dr Nikki Savvides
Sharon Terry, Adult and Vocational Trainer
Lucas Tooth
Mark Vicol
Aleksa Vulovic
David B. Wang
Dr Gianni Wise
Dr Phyllis Yu, Geosciences