Open Letter

In June 2018, as news first emerged that the University of Sydney was entering into negotiations with the Ramsay Centre, staff drew up the following open letter, which quickly attracted the signatures of two hundred members of staff.

Open letter from University of Sydney academics – No to collaboration between the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation and the University

We are strongly opposed to the University entering into any arrangement with the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation. As teachers and researchers in the humanities, we are acutely aware of the lack of means that our faculty suffers. There can be no doubt that a major financial commitment to our disciplines is needed. But since tertiary education is a public good, we believe that this is, first and foremost, a responsibility of government. However, if private benefactors want to support our work, they have every opportunity to do so. The cultural and intellectual legacies of ‘the West’ – a category which cannot be simply presupposed, but which requires significant historicisation and complexification – are already intensively studied and taught in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Paul Ramsay could simply have donated funds to support existing humanities teaching in Australia, here or elsewhere. The fact he chose not to do so shows that his intention was more than simply fostering university study of Western intellectual and cultural traditions, within the standing norms of academic independence. Ramsay’s aim, according to his centre’s website, was to create ‘a cadre of leaders … whose awareness and appreciation of their country’s Western heritage and values… would help guide their decision making in the future’. The centre was established to promote the study of Western civilisation ‘in this spirit’. Public comments of Ramsay Centre board members, for example Tony Abbott or John Howard, can leave no doubt as to the conservative, culturally essentialist, and Eurocentric vision the centre is dedicated to propagating, nor about its intention actively to shape the ideological and political tenor of its educational offerings and hiring practices. Simon Haines, the centre ‘CEO’, told The Australian that the centre ‘would expect to have a voice in the hiring process while acknowledging the autonomy of universities’, and that it ‘would not be wanting to hire somebody who is coming in with a long liturgy of what terrible damage Western civ had done to the world’. The intention to predetermine academic outcomes evident in these remarks is clear. We are a university, not a training institute for a future political ‘cadre’. Enquiry in the humanities must be free and conducted independent of the influence of third parties. It is in the nature of a true liberal arts education that it is undertaken for its own sake, independently of any intended instrumentalisation, whether political or social. Decisions about how the cultural traditions of Europe are to be studied at university are for academics to make, not billionaires or former prime ministers. It is not for us either to specify in advance what direction study must take – for example, by requiring that it be conducted in a spirit of ‘appreciation’ of Australia’s ‘Western heritage’ – or to place strong expectations on our students about the ends to which their education will be directed after graduation. The most obvious point of comparison to the Ramsay Centre, the university’s Confucius Institute, places no constraints of this kind on undergraduate education, which it has no capacity to influence by either imposing or excluding particular lines of study. Quite aside from these concerns over the threat the centre constitutes to the university’s academic independence, we are also deeply concerned that offering ‘Western civilisation’ courses would establish a structural discrimination in the undergraduate curriculum. Handpicked students interested in studying the ‘West’ would be granted generous scholarships and offered educational opportunities – personalised tutorial-format instruction in small classes – entirely out of reach of those interested in indigenous Australia, South East Asia, or the Islamic world, to give only three examples. While the faculty has scholarships and various support programmes in different areas, the Ramsay Centre’s proposal for a stand-alone, elite degree in Western civilisation is of an entirely different order of magnitude. This concern over the discriminatory consequences of devoting uniquely favourable learning conditions to the study of the West holds regardless of whatever guarantees may be given about the academic independence of any Western Civilisation course. The Ramsay programme represents, quite simply, European supremacism writ large: it signals that the study of the European cultural tradition warrants better educational circumstances than that of others. The profoundly dangerous implications of this bias do not, we believe, need further comment. Of further concern, admission into this privileged programme would not be determined by the university on academic criteria alone. Rather, students would be awarded places on the basis of the board’s assessment of their ‘potential for leadership and community contribution’. In that context, we believe there is every reason to fear that educational opportunity will be made a function of students’ perceived political sympathies, as ultimately determined by a board, chaired by John Howard, whose political leanings leave little room for doubt. The university should not accept financial support at any cost. As academics committed to the critical role of humanities education and research in improving society, we are deeply disturbed by the possibility of Ramsay Centre courses being part of our institution, to say nothing of the significant and justified reputational damage that the university collectively, and its academics derivatively, would incur as a result. We belong to a multicultural and hybrid society in a world traversed by serious geopolitical and social animosities. Collaborating with the chauvinistic Western essentialism that the Ramsay Centre programme embodies would be a violation of our crucial role in promoting a society of diversity, inclusiveness, and mutual respect. Dr Nick Riemer Professor Adrian Vickers Dr David Brophy Dr. Jane Chi Hyun Park Dr Melissa Hardie Professor Linda Connor Dr Cat Moir Associate Professor Damien Cahill Dr Frances Clarke Dr Stephen Whiteman Associate Professor Kate Lilley Dr Chin Jou Dr Sophie Loy-Wilson Associate Professor Ahmar Mahboob Dr Matthew Stavros Associate Professor Bronwyn Winter Professor Moira Gatens Professor Alison Betts Dr Julie-Ann Robson Dr Astrida Neimanis Professor Michael A McDonnell Dr Mats Karlsson Dr Rebecca Pearse Dr Fiona Gill Dr Con Spirosi Professor Adam David Morton Dr Sonja van Wichelen Professor Penny Russell Associate Professor Jake Lynch Dr Andres Rodriguez Dr Stuart Rosewarne Dr Tim Anderson Associate Professor Melinda Cooper Professor Nicola Piper Dr Neil Maclean Dr Evan Jones Associate Professor Fran Collyer Dr Cynthia Hunter Grant McCall Dr Xiaohuan Zhao Associate Professor Antonia Rubino Professor Danielle Celermajer Dr Hélène Sirantoine Dr. Ruben Perez-Hidalgo Dr Terry Woronov Dr Yasmine Musharbash Dr Mark Allon Dr Huw Griffiths Associate Professor Peter Kirkpatrick Dr Yaegan Doran Dr Martin Rorke Dr Andrea Bandhauer Dr Lucia Sorbera Associate Professor Sarah Gleeson-White Anna Hush Associate Professor Ian Maxwell Alex Page Professor Meaghan Morris Dr Omid Tofighian Dr Fiona Martin Dr Yeow-Tong Chia Dr Fiona McFarlane Professor Emeritus Stuart Rees Dr Fiona Lee Dr Gaynor Macdonald Dr Belinda Castles Dr Jen Harrison David Primrose Professor Vanessa Smith Em. Professor Raewyn Connell Em. Professor Stephen Castles Dr Su-kyoung Hwang Professor James Martin Associate Professor Natalya Lusty Dr Nesrine Basheer Mr John Tonkin Honorary Associate Professor John M O’Brien Associate Professor Susan Thomas Mr Fadi Baghdadi Dr Victoria Grieves Em. Professor Helen Dunstan Dr Liam Grealy Associate Professor Thom van Dooren Honorary Associate Professor Susan Hood Dr Anthea Taylor Dr Brigid Rooney Associate Professor Megan MacKenzie Dr Leah Lui-Chivizhe Dr Marcus Carter Dr Shawna Tang Dr Cindy McCreery Dr Caroline Lipovsky Dr Nerida Jarkey Professor Sujatha Fernandes Professor Elspeth Probyn Dr Ase Ottosson Associate Professor Ruth Barcan Professor Robert Aldrich Dr Guy Redden Dr Elisabeth Kramer Dr Dinesh Wadiwel Dr Luis Angosto-Ferrandez Dr Michael Beggs Associate Professor Nicole Mockler Dr Dyah Pitaloka Dr Susan Potter Professor Michael Allen Dr David Kelly Dr Anthony Cordingley Professor Emeritus Frank Stilwell Professor Ariadne Vromen Professor John Frow Dr James Kane Dr Kim Kemmis Dr Gareth Bryant Dr Christopher Hartney Santalia Deane-Johns Dr Santí Rozario Dr Dalia Nassar Dr Alex Gawronski Professor Peter Marks Dr Catherine Keeley Dr Beth Yahp Dr James Flexner Associate Professor Helen Proctor Dr Chi Pham Dr Erik Paul Natalia Maystorovich Chulio Associate Professor Rebbeca Suter Associate Professor Bill Dunn Dr Sarah Dunstan Mr Rafi Alam Emeritus Professor Geoffrey Samuel Dr Vek Lewis Dr Sonia Wilson Dr Jessica Kean Dr David Smith Associate Professor Charlotte Epstein Dr Gavan Butler Dr Lorraine Mortimer Dr Joe Collins Dr Glenys Eddy Dr Claire Hooker Dr David Haines Alix Thoeming Dr Holly High Dr Chiew Hui Ho Marni Williams Dr Ben Brown Dr Gretchen Poiner Dr. Mark W Post Dr. Elizabeth Ingleson Vivian Honan Dr Isabelle Hesse Mr Theo Delaney Marie de Lepervanche Dr Olivia Oliver-Hopkins Andrew Brodzeli Rachel Evans Dr Robert Austin Nathalie Camerlynck Riki Scanlan Felicity Ruby Dr Esther Klein Dr Lorraine Towers Robyn Backen Dr Madeleine Pill Dr Stewart Jackson Dr Ute Eickelkamp Associate Professor Ken Cruickshank Ms Gina Hawkes Natalia Maystorovich Chulio Associate Professor Dilip Dutta Dr Nadine Ehlers Nanda Jarosz Georgia Carr Supporters from other faculties Jason Tong Dr Jo River Dr Chi Pham Dr Jo River Rochelle Einboden Ms Stephanie Swanson Dr Meloni Muir Dr Rosemary O’Donnell Dr Lynette Riley Emeritus Professor Robert Boakes Luke Alexander Prof. Joseph Davis Associate Professor Nicole Graham Professor Simon Rice Miro Sandev Dr Nicole Watson Dr Louise Boon-Kuo Jodie Kell Dr Nicole Carnt Dr Carolyn McKay Dr Andrew Ross Sharon Chambers Professor Dee Carter Elen Welch Professional staff supporters Mark Johnston Marcus Miller Marijke Hoving Dave Burrows Christopher Albone Catherine Walsh Rosie Saul Kelton Muir de Moore Elizabeth Connor