[IMCnetwork] Thanks for your support to defend the IMC and pol sci @ ANU

[Nick Cheesman]

Dear IMC listserv

Thank you to everyone who wrote letters of support after we circulated an exceptional, urgent message in July about threats to the IMC and political science at the Australian National University because of restructuring and planned job cuts under the “Renew ANU” scheme (https://mailman.anu.edu.au/pipermail/imcnetwork/2025/000219.html)

Your letters had an effect. Following a concerted campaign by faculty, professional staff, students, our union, an independent senator, and with support of colleagues and academic associations from across Australia and around the world, the Vice-Chancellor who had staked her reputation on Renew ANU resigned earlier this month. 

The Provost who has taken up the role of Interim Vice-Chancellor has announced that there will be no more sackings of faculty or professional staff. Proposals for restructuring are now under review. Though a lot of damage has already been done, the most destructive plans (for the humanities, arts and social sciences in particular) have been averted. Chancellery has indicated that it is now willing to work with faculty, professional staff and students on the next steps. 

This is not how things usually go. It’s rare that a VC is pressured to resign, or for management of an Australian university to back away from restructuring and job cuts once they have been announced. It could not have happened but for concerted efforts to defend the ANU from outside and inside. So again, thank you. 

The governance crisis at the ANU over the last year has drawn attention to shortcomings not only in the management but design of our University. A group of faculty, staff and students have formed a group to make recommendations on changes to its design. You can find information on that group and its proposal for reform here: https://www.anugovernance.org/ 

The group aims not only to make concrete proposals for change at the ANU but also to work on a model that will be relevant for other universities in Australia, including by engaging with a Senate inquiry into university governance, which recently completed its interim report: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Education_and_Employment/UniversityGovernance48/Interim_report

The fight for higher education in Australia continues, as it does around the world. For now we have succeeded, with your support, in demonstrating that we can defend our institutions and their core values when we take a stand for them together. 

Best wishes
Nick