91av

THE recent summary dismissal of molecular biologist Ted Steele by the
University of Wollongong raises two important issues. The first is the
procedural question of how universities handle dissenting academics. The second
is a growing concern about academic standards in the Australian university
system.

Most of the facts of the case are not in dispute. Steele supervised two
honours students whose theses were both marked by an external expert assessor,
Robert Blanden, professor of immunology in the John Curtin School of Medical
Research at the Australian National University. Blanden regarded both theses as
poor pieces of work. In one case his assessment said “unequivocally a Fail”, and
in the other, he saw “many serious flaws” and recommended a grade of 3rd class
honours. In each case, the departmental process whereby the mark from the
external assessor was combined with internal assessments and coursework grades
gave the student 2nd class honours.

Faced by this outcome, Steele made public criticisms of what he saw as the
lowering of academic standards. He was reported in the Sydney Morning
Herald (SMH) as saying that he had been instructed to upgrade the marks of
the students. The university managers responded in legalistic terms.
Vice-chancellor Gerard Sutton said in a letter to the SMH that the statements
attributed to Steele were “not supported by departmental records”, while
department head Mark Walker is reported to have told Steele he had “an essential
responsibility to correct the public record”. Steele responded by saying he had
“blown the whistle on a deeply flawed process of honours assessment”. Late last
month, Sutton wrote Steele a letter terminating his employment. Sutton said
Steele had made “knowingly false allegations” which endangered the university’s
reputation and undermined “the essential fabric of the employment relationship”.
Whatever the rights or wrongs of this argument, the university’s capacity to
sack its staff member summarily is now under question.

Steele is a controversial but important scientist. He co-authored the book
Lamarck’s Signature with Blanden and Wollongong computing lecturer
Robyn Lindley. The book presents evidence from molecular biology that some
aspects of immunity developed by parents during their lifetime can be passed on
to their children. This challenges a famous tenet of evolutionary biology,
Weissmann’s Barrier, the belief that developmental changes to our bodies cannot
become incorporated into the germ cells and passed on to offspring. If the work
of Steele and his colleagues becomes generally accepted, they will have
significantly advanced thinking about evolution.

It is a fundamental principle of universities that academics have tenure, or
secure employment unless they are shown to be incompetent or guilty of serious
misconduct. The freedom to be the conscience and critic of society was endorsed
nearly 50 years ago by an Australian Government inquiry into universities, known
as the Murray Report, which argued that tenure was necessary to ensure that
academics “seek the truth and make it known”.

Formal tenure statutes are now rare in the university system. But procedures
for considering charges of misconduct have been carefully negotiated to ensure
that whistle-blowers or those who hold unpopular views cannot be dismissed
capriciously. If the Wollongong decision stands, it will be a worrying
precedent.

The case also has increased concern about university standards. A report
released in January by the Australia Institute in Canberra claimed that, in
spite of poor results, some full-fee paying students are being passed by
universities that need the income from them. Sydney academic Alison Elliott then
wrote that universities have in recent years passed students who had failed
exams, missed exams or simply not met the minimum standards of English
expression. Labor senator Kim Carr said that several reputable academics have
given him formal complaints about “the payments of very large sums of money in
return for guarantees of academic outcomes”.

There are now too many complaints of this sort for the issue to be ignored.
Whether the problem is the financial dependence of universities on fee income or
the pressures on staff teaching more students with less resources, something has
to be done. The reputation of the university system and the willingness of other
countries to accept Australian graduates is at stake.