Mel Black, Brisbane
An alleged assault by Professor Richard Fotheringham, the University of Queensland's executive dean of arts, against a Green Left Weekly reporter who was observing a "Save Arts" forum at UQ on March 21, has added heat to the campaign against the restructuring of the UQ Bachelor of Arts degree.
UQ staff and students fear the restructure, which will cut 14 out of 57 BA majors, is further implementation of the Howard government's anti-education agenda, resulting in job losses, casualisation and a degree that is driven by economic needs.
The incident occurred in front of 150 people at the concluding stages of a student and staff forum held at UQ to discuss the proposed restructure. The meeting, which at its height drew close to 200 staff and students, had earlier heard from UQ education rights officer Nicholas Cooper, Fotheringham and National Tertiary Education Union UQ branch president Andrew Bonnell.
Fotheringham told the meeting the restructure was necessary to "improve students' chances of getting work" and "put structure into the degree". He was quoted in the March 15 Australian as saying "I can't give cast-iron guarantees that there won't be job losses".
Shortly before the meeting's conclusion, those present voted to discuss motions for action that had been circulated earlier. At that point, an agitated Fotheringham swore at the entire meeting, telling it that it could pass any motions it liked but this would make no difference.
In response, GLW reporter Paul Benedek, who was seated on the front row steps, called out to Fotheringham as he was leaving "Are you taking your bat and ball then?" Clearly enraged by this, Fotheringham turned and asked Benedek to repeat the question. When Benedek did, Fotheringham marched rapidly toward where Benedek sat, stood over him, grabbing and pushing him, causing Benedek's head to hit the steel seating fixture behind him.
Fotheringham then had to be restrained by staff and escorted from the room.
A shaken Benedek, escorted by witness Dr Clive Moore, head of UQ's history department, reported the incident to university security.
On March 24, after Fotheringham made a qualified "apology" in which he portrayed himself as the victim, claiming his actions were in response to being "personally insulted", Benedek brought a charge of serious misconduct against him under UQ's policies and procedures.
However, UQ registrar Douglas Porter hastily dismissed the charge. While accepting that Fotheringham "had brief physical contact with your forearm", Porter told Benedek, "university senior management has judged that Professor Fotheringham's conduct was not considered to be serious misconduct". However, "his conduct was judged to be unsatisfactory and he has received a formal warning and will be counselled".
Benedek responded in a written statement to the registrar: "Your decision not to proceed with a charge of serious misconduct, and instead issue the slap on the wrist of a warning, is lamentable. It appears you are closing ranks around Professor Fotheringham, despite his misconduct, as witnessed by many staff and students. This sends a message that UQ will not take physical assaults and confrontations seriously, and will protect those in high-ranking positions regardless of their actions."
"This is an ethics issue and there are those of us who refuse to bow down to the university administration", said lecturer Dr Renee Worringer, who witnessed the incident. "I do think they are restricting access to [the film footage] precisely because it would be incriminating." Worringer and others have sent letters of complaint to the UQ vice-chancellor.
"Fotheringham's aggressive actions against an individual are symbolic of his, the university management and the federal government's actions against arts staff and students", Jon Piccini from the Save Arts campaign told GLW. "Staff and students become little more than numbers, and education becomes merely a training ground for the corporate world. A decent education system would be controlled by staff and students, not aggressively dictated by the likes of Fotheringham and John Howard."
The Save Arts Committee is continuing to resist the restructure with a public forum on April 4 and is planning to hold student-staff rallies to coincide with the proposed adoption of the changes.
From Green Left Weekly, April 5, 2006.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.