‘Western Civilisation’ – a dirty word?

Introduction 

The announcement at one minute past midnight on Monday, 17 December 2018, that the University of Wollongong would host the Ramsay Centre’s new undergraduate degree in Western Civilisation came as a surprise to many - both within and outside of the two institutions.[1] The news immediately raised howls of protest locally and nationally, alongside broad smiles amongst senior University of Wollongong administrators and academics, and members of the Ramsay Centre board.[2] As a ‘local’ historian and then employee of the University of Wollongong I was interested in the announcement, though somewhat bemused – and concerned – by the intensity of the subsequent debate. With my admitted left-wing biases, and having been the first member of the Australian Greens elected to the House of Representatives of the Federal Parliament in October 2002, I felt that the comments in May 2018 by my former parliamentary colleague, Ramsay board member, right-wing Liberal Party politician and former prime minister Tony Abbott had tarnished the degree at the outset. In an article published in the right-wing Australian magazine Quadrant, Abbott had proclaim, in part:

Largely missing, even from Catholic schools, was a deep focus on the Christian faith. The study of history was no longer narrative, starting with the cradle of civilisation and moving through Greece and Rome to the story of England and the birth of the modern world, its triumphs and its travails; but had become episodic. And every element of the curriculum was supposed to be pervaded by Asian, indigenous and sustainability perspectives. Almost entirely absent from the contemporary educational mindset was any sense that cultures might not all be equal and that truth might not be entirely relative. [3]

Of course Abbott's view itself was entirely 'relative' and at odds with progressive thinking in Australia in 2018. A copy of the full article is included below in the Appendicies section.

The decision by the Australian National University shortly after the publication of Abbott’s comments not to accept the Ramsey Centre initiative was also telling, in that it revealed a widespread revulsion and rejection of the concept.[4] Nevertheless, individuals more knowledgeable than myself – specifically academics expert in the fields covered by the degree, or those at Wollongong specifically excluded from the negotiations – led the ongoing debate and discussion, both on and off campus, in both support and rejection of the initiative. I read their pronouncements with interest, including those by former UOW academic and Indigenous Professor Bronwyn Carlson of Macquarie University, and the current UOW Professor of English, Leigh Dale.[5] Also helpful in my understanding what all the fuss was about was a viewing of the 6-part BBC television series of 2017 entitled Story of Europe, presented by an Australian academic employed by Cambridge University, Christopher Clarke and screened on SBS Television. That series covered the good, the bad and the ugly of the topic – on one hand applauding the achievements of European (aka Western) civilisation, whilst on the other hand pointing out the tragedies along the way and debts due as it chose a path of world dominance. For example, the important role played by Islamic and Nordic civilisations in regard to technological and cultural developments was revealed by Clarke, alongside the many atrocities associated with empire building in places such as South America, Africa, Asia and Australia, where Indigenous civilisations were decimated with genocidal urgency. ‘Other’ civilisations were denigrated and decimated in brutal and arrogant attacks which left millions dead as the victims of wars, introduced disease, slavery and neglect. If the story of Europe was the story of ‘Western Civilisation’ then it was a sad and sorry tale, amidst the evidence of progress and splendour which tends to dominate the discussion. There was, indeed, much to celebrate, just as there was also much to abhor. However, it was this bias towards the victors’ story, as opposed to inclusion of the victims’, that is problematic and has both distorted the historical record and poisoned current debate. As a result, it is an historical record demanding correction to address both distortion and omission. Which brings us to the the situation the University of Wollongong found itself in in 2019. Where did ‘Western civilisation’ stand, and what was to be the fate of a degree dedicated to that topic?

King, the US and White Supremacy

The University of Wollongong Ramsay Centre degree brought to the notice of many Australians the controversy surrounding the term ‘Western Civilisation’ – a term which had only recently become shrouded in controversy and was, as a result, now tainted.[6] It was brought to the attention of this author on 16 January 2019 in connection with commentary around the United States Republican Party’s decision to exclude Republican Representative Steve King from all new House (Congress) committees. This followed on King’s many years of controversy in regards to racist statements and anti-immigration rhetoric – much of which was being repeated by his accolite, President Donald Trump following on his election in 2017. Most notably, controversy arose out of a King statement published in the New York Times on 10 January 2019, whereby he asked:

“White nationalists, white supremacist, Western civilisation – how did that language become offensive? Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilisation?”[7]

King’s assertion that there was nothing wrong with these terms subjects caused outrage, even amongst Republican colleagues. He subsequently issued a clarifying statement saying that he was a “nationalist” and supporter of “western civilisation’s values” but rejected the “evil ideology” defined by the terms “white nationalism and white supremacy.” Needless to say, this was largely rejected by his long-standing critics. King had been making statements since 2002 about preserving “Western culture” or “Western civilisation”, with groups such as the Anti-Defamation League considering them buzzwords signalling support for white nationalists. As Lawrence Rosenthal of the Berkeley Centre for Right-Wing Studies pointed out:

“[King] uses the concept of either ‘culture’ or ‘civilisation’ to obfuscate that he’s talking about whiteness and race.” (Rosenthal 2018)

Emphasising this fact, back in 2016 King stated, whilst commenting live on television in relation to the then US presidential election:

“Where did any other subgroup of people contribute more to civilisation then Western Civilisation itself, that’s rooted in Western Europe, Eastern Europe and the United States of America and every place where the footprint of Christianity settled the world? That’s all of Western Civilisation.” (Steve King 2016)

This encapsulated his view of western civilisation and its status as the supreme example of the development of humankind. Such a view has been widely rejected in recent times. For example, in 2017 the University of Newcastle Dean of Arts Catharine Coleborne argued that the use of the concept of ‘western civilisation’ was now outdated in the academic environment. In Australia, for example, the debate since the Bicentennial of 1988 had focused on recognition of the Indigenous history of the continent and redressing the British bias in regards to civilisation and the so-called civilising, or assimilation, of the Aboriginal people since the invasion which commenced with the actions of Lt. James Cook at Botany Bay on 29 April 1770.[8] To proclaim one civilisation better than another was no longer accepted. To identify and recognise the differences was the way forward. 

Where to from here?

There is no doubt that, as it stands, the term ‘Western civilisation’ is tainted, especially in the minds of the Left. For many it represents the worst of times, and not the best of times as many would suggest. Vigorous debate therefore arose over the introduction of a bachelor degree at the University of Wollongong which appeared to build on the work of individuals such as Congressman Steve King, supported by right-wing nationalists and Australian politicians such as Tony Abbott and former Australian prime minister John Howard. Both Abbott and Howard sit on the Ramsay Centre board and were at the heart of negotiations to develop an Australian degree program. Of course, the program as ultimately delivered to students at Wollongong from 2020 would be toned down from the rhetoric of King and his presidential apprentice Donald Trump. The concern remained, however, that at its core the curriculum would be supremacist, if not racist and biased. These concerns, alongside the case in support of the degree, are outlined in detail below in extracts from those who publically engaged in the debate since the middle of 2018. Amongst those at the University of Wollongong on the opposition side was the late Anthony Ashbolt, a senior lecturer in History and Politics.

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Appendices

* Tony Abbott – Paul Ramsay’s vision for Australia, Quadrant, 28 May 2018.

An education-union shop steward has voiced his resentment that money bequeathed by Paul Ramsay to establish the Centre for Western Civilisation is not being doled out by the ANU’s academic board. Here, Tony Abbott explains what the undertaking is about:

Paul Ramsay was an unlikely billionaire. On his own admission, he was not a dominating personality; not an organisational expert; not an intellectual giant; not an impresario of ideas; and not a financial genius. Yet he founded a business from scratch and turned it into one of the world’s largest private hospital chains employing more than 50,000 people in a dozen countries. At his death, Forbes estimated his personal wealth at close to $4 billion; with $3 billion of that, his shares in the business he founded, dedicated to a range of good causes but, particularly, to the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation.

Paul was one of those rare businessmen who had almost no enemies. He once told me that this was because a deal that the other person would never care to repeat, however profitable it might have been for him, wasn’t worth the cost in bad blood. For Paul, the most important asset anyone could have was his character and the quality that mattered above all others was loyalty. He was loyal to his extended family; to his friends; and to his staff. “Loyalty is number one for me,” he once said; even “more than intelligence”. The most striking element of any lengthy conversation with him was always the expression of gratitude. Paul was immensely grateful to the parents who had raised him; to the country that had given him so many opportunities; and to the culture that had shaped his thoughts and formed his values.

He wasn’t a systematic thinker; at school, he was an ordinary student; and he dropped out of Sydney University within two years to work in his father’s property business. He knew, though, that nothing happens in a vacuum and that Australia worked as well as it did thanks to a set of values handed down from generation to generation. Paul’s gratitude extended far beyond the material blessings provided by a country such as ours, to the deeper cultural and spiritual heritage that’s necessary for a free market economy to work.

This was at the heart of the conversations that I started having with him from 2011. In Paul’s day, and still in mine two decades later, it was hard to pass though the education system without considerable immersion in the New Testament, Shakespeare and British history, where “freedom slowly broadens down from precedent to precedent”; in other words, without a fair grounding in the rudiments of the Western canon. Like Paul, I’d been taught by the Jesuits who, at least in those days, had hammered the idea that each of us should strive to be in some sense “a man for others”. What this current generation was missing, I put to him, was familiarity with the stories and the values that had made us who and what we are.

Largely missing, even from Catholic schools, was a deep focus on the Christian faith. The study of history was no longer narrative, starting with the cradle of civilisation and moving through Greece and Rome to the story of England and the birth of the modern world, its triumphs and its travails; but had become episodic. And every element of the curriculum was supposed to be pervaded by Asian, indigenous and sustainability perspectives. Almost entirely absent from the contemporary educational mindset was any sense that cultures might not all be equal and that truth might not be entirely relative.

Paul was especially conscious of the scriptural observation: to whom much is given, much is expected. So why not, I said, put the Ramsay fortune to work to give people a formation in the knowledge and the values that had once been taken for granted but were now at risk of being forgotten, even though no less necessary for our society to flourish? That was how our discussion developed over a quite a few dinners and breakfasts in the next few years, invariably involving Paul’s great friend Tony Clark, whom I’d come to know through John Howard at the beginning of my time in the parliament.

It’s a mighty presumption, of course, to tell a man—even a good friend—what he should do with his money when he’s dead. But I wasn’t just trusting on Paul’s good nature. By then there was a relationship of some forty years, dating back to the time Paul had driven some of his Jesuit brother Jack’s rowers to a regatta in Canberra in late 1973. And I was relying on my standing at that time as the leader of the political party that Paul had always supported and believed in. Even so, it was with much trepidation that I first made the suggestion that Paul should devote the bulk of his fortune to something like a Rhodes scholarship based here in Australia.

At first, Paul had listened with the indulgent humour that he always showed to the more outlandish ideas of his friends. But as time passed, he clearly warmed to the idea of doing something unique and making a difference in the future as well as in the present; of leaving a stand-alone legacy that could change our country for the better rather than simply making other people richer, and already existing institutions even better resourced. After all, if Cecil Rhodes, that other philanthropic bachelor, could help to create generations of “men for the world’s fight”, why shouldn’t he?

Rhodes became the philanthropist who most fascinated him because he’d invested his fortune in the leaders of the future. Rhodes’s scholars certainly needed to have “literary and scholastic attainments”, as his will stated, but it wasn’t just about getting ahead; it was about being of service. Rhodes wanted to nurture people with “moral force of character and instincts to lead” with “truth, courage, devotion to duty” and “energy to use one’s talents to the fullest”.

The project that crystallised in Paul’s mind had three purposes: first, to foster undergraduate courses in the Western canon at three leading Australian universities with scholarships for very bright young people who wanted to explore how our civilisation had grappled with life’s biggest issues and history’s greatest challenges; second, to provide post-graduate fellowships to outstanding scholars of strong character and a record of intellectual leadership; and third, to run lectures, seminars and summer schools promoting an understanding and appreciation of the high culture of the West.

In early 2014, before a lunch at the Ramsay family home in Bowral, there was a discussion with Paul and Robert Salisbury, a British peer Paul knew well, about the difference that could be made by small numbers of committed and capable people. Crucially, there was also a morning tea at Tony Clark’s home in Roseville where Paul commissioned Julian Leeser (now an MP, then a senior manager at the Australian Catholic University) to produce a substantial study on how these Ramsay scholarships might best work. In April 2014, at a dinner to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Ramsay Healthcare, Paul asked John Howard to chair the project he had in mind. And then, just a few weeks later, Paul died; with the vision well established but with the details largely to be worked out in conjunction with Clark, Michael Siddle and Peter Evans, the people he’d trusted for most of a lifetime and who believed in what he wanted to achieve.

In the light of how other scholarships had worked, Leeser’s brief was to consider how a Ramsay version could help shape future generations of Australian leaders who were well versed in “the best that’s been thought and said”. After months carefully studying scholarships such as the Rhodes and the Fulbright, and other programs such as the Churchill fellowships; and after looking at liberal arts courses in the United States and in the United Kingdom, in April 2015 he produced a blueprint for the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation.

A decent and sensitive man, Paul wasn’t oblivious to the deficiencies, the failures and the blind spots of our civilisation; but he was convinced that, on balance, it had been far more good than bad. To the question: “What has Western civilisation ever done for us?” he would have ventured: not so much, perhaps, save for the rule of law, representative democracy, freedom of speech, of conscience and religion, liberal pluralism, the prosperity born of market capitalism, the capability born of scientific rigour, and the cultivation born of endless intellectual and artistic curiosity. “The golden age,” he liked to say, “is before us, not behind us.”

The key to understanding the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation is that it’s not merely about Western civilisation but in favour of it. The fact that it is “for” the cultural inheritance of countries such as ours, rather than just interested in it, makes it distinctive. The fact that respect for our heritage has largely been absent for at least a generation in our premier teaching and academic institutions makes the Ramsay Centre not just timely but necessary. This is an important national project. It’s not every day, after all, that such a big endowment is dedicated in perpetuity to raising the tone of our civic conversation.

In preparing the Ramsay Centre report, Leeser was acutely conscious of “O’Sullivan’s law”, first formulated by the former editor (now international editor) of Quadrant, John O’Sullivan, namely that “every organisation that’s not explicitly right-wing, over time becomes left-wing”. This is a serious risk for the Ramsay Centre but I’m confident that this fate will be avoided: first, because the Ramsay Centre board (which includes Kim Beazley and Joe de Bruyn, as well as Howard, Leeser and me) is determined not to waste Paul’s legacy; and second, because even in Australian universities there is still a cadre of teachers for whom history can’t be re-written, facts are facts, and great books are still well worth reading.

Many of today’s best students are understandably and rightly fascinated with the lessons to be learned from other cultures. With the right stimulation, therefore, how much greater could their hunger be to explore their own culture with an “openness to the whole world, to new experience, [with an] adventurous spirit of discovery and curiosity, [a] desire to ‘strive, to seek, to find and not to yield’ and, yes, [the] capacity to criticise itself … [that] has distinguished this civilisation from others”?

As Professor Simon Haines, the Centre’s first CEO, went on:

its very variety of cultures and values, so often incompatible and conflicted, has also given [our civilisation] a hybrid toughness, a capacity to adapt and assimilate, to tolerate and include. Millions of non-Westerners (including some who think it is wicked) want nothing more than to live in it, while Westerners lucky enough to have it as a birthright take it for granted. How we would miss it if it really didn’t exist! It may not be a perfect model for a fully inclusive or genuinely liberal human civilisation, one neither repressive nor prodigal, but truly magnanimous. Still, it may be the closest we’ve yet come as a species.

The Ramsay Centre is close to finalising an arrangement with the Australian National University for a Bachelor of Western Civilisation degree to commence next year. The course will be an Australian version of the great-books courses taught at America’s leading liberal arts colleges. More than half the students will be on scholarships based on the Tuckwell model that’s now been operating at the ANU for some years. Teaching will be tutorial-based in the spirit of Oxford and Cambridge. A management committee including the Ramsay CEO and also its academic director will make staffing and curriculum decisions. It’s a near certainty that this course, and the comparable ones to come at two other campuses, will be a magnet to our best and brightest students, especially as there’s the prospect for double and post-graduate degrees.

I know my own debt to the mentors I’ve had and to the institutions that have shaped me: what an exhilarating prospect that upwards of a hundred bright young Australians every year might soon gain such inspiration. Person by person, the world does change. A much more invigorating long march through our institutions may be about to begin!

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* Robert Manne - Abbott, ANU and the decline of Western civilisation - How the Ramsay Centre’s degree stopped before it started, The Monthly, 18 July 2018.

In 2011 Tony Abbott began conversations with his friend Paul Ramsay, a conservative, childless healthcare billionaire, about the creation of a Western civilisation university program based around reading “the great books” of the tradition. Ramsay was convinced. He died in 2014, however, before the idea had taken final shape.

A new organisation was created, the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation (hereafter Ramsay). A board was formed, chaired by John Howard, including on the right Tony Abbott and, for balance, on the “left” Kim Beazley. The Ramsay bequest was to be used to fund generous scholarships at three of Australia’s most prestigious universities, and to employ dozens of academics to teach them in small Oxbridge-like tutorials. Simon Haines, a literature professor, was appointed CEO. Haines and his staff took residence in elegant Macquarie Street offices. Ramsay called for expressions of interest from the universities. The Australian National University was definitely interested. In early 2018 talks began. If outstanding problems were resolved, by 2019 ANU would offer a degree in Western civilisation.  Tony Abbott was blithely unconcerned about these problems. In April our former prime minister published an article in Quadrant that almost equalled in political ineptitude his decision to make Prince Philip a knight of Australia. Abbott argued that Ramsay was not “merely about Western civilisation but in favour of it”. It had been formed because of profound dissatisfaction with the fate of humanities in Australian universities. Abbott also made it clear that Ramsay was a right-wing organisation and would so remain, citing what he called O’Sullivan’s Law: “every organisation that’s not explicitly right-wing, over time becomes left-wing”. Abbott most likely had in mind the trajectory of the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, which had received considerable right-wing money – from the Howard government, Frank Lowy and Rupert Murdoch – but had become conspicuously mainstream, something the cultural warriors interpret as a drift to the left. Did Abbott not realise that an initiative of the Ramsay kind was certain to face fierce opposition at ANU? The opposition no longer had to prove Ramsay was a right-wing organisation. It had been so described by a member of its board. Abbott even made it clear that Ramsay’s ambitions were ultimately not educational but political. “[Differences] could be made by small numbers of committed and capable people … Person by person, the world does change. A much more invigorating long march through our institutions may be about to begin!” Abbott’s fantasy was that the hundreds of Ramsay scholars would form a cadre of the right-minded, capable of recapturing these institutions from the left.

At the time Quadrant published Abbott’s article, the negotiations between Ramsay and ANU had encountered certain difficulties. The ANU team suggested that the undergraduate degree should be called the Bachelor of Western Civilisation Studies. Ramsay insisted on the Bachelor of Western Civilisation. Both sides agreed there needed to be “health checks” on the subjects and the teachers. Ramsay insisted that they include the right to sit in on the tutorials and the lectures of the teachers it was funding, to ensure that it was not wasting its money on those it regarded as insufficiently enthusiastic about the glories of Western civilisation. In the memorandum of understanding, ANU included support for the idea of “academic freedom”. Ramsay refused to sign on. An organisation devoted to restoring respect for Western civilisation proposed spying on the teachers it funded and rejected an idea fundamental to the university, one of the West’s oldest institutions. Apart from these particular problems, ANU became concerned about the complexity of the negotiations – a 30-page MOU with 40 pages of annexes – which were quite unlike its dealings with all earlier donors. Ramsay was “micromanaging” its gift. That was why Abbott’s boast in his Quadrant essay – “A management committee including the Ramsay CEO and also its academic director will make staffing and curriculum decisions” – confirmed ANU’s worst fears. ANU believed that in exchange for an extraordinarily generous offering it was being asked to surrender its “academic autonomy”.

Five days after reading Abbott’s Quadrant article, ANU’s vice-chancellor, the Nobel Prize–winning astrophysicist Brian Schmidt, suspended team negotiations and began talking directly with Howard. According to Schmidt, these discussions resolved nothing. On May 24, perhaps aware of trouble, The Australian declared its support for the Ramsay Centre on the grounds that it would “disrupt the march of cultural Marxism”. It also reported the opposition to Ramsay from ANU’s academic union branch president, Matthew King, who was “very concerned that this would violate the core principles of academic freedom, integrity and independence” and the students’ association president, Eleanor Kay, who believed that the study of Western civilisation was frequently “a rhetorical tool to continue the racist prioritisation of Western history over other cultures”. These comments were recycled on dozens of occasions over the next six weeks. Several pro-Ramsay articles followed in The Australian. All in vain. On June 1, Schmidt formally withdrew from the negotiations, describing the Ramsay gift as a “sponsored program”. Howard told The Australian’s Greg Sheridan that ANU had abjectly surrendered to the left. Sheridan announced that ANU’s surrender was “a pivotal moment in modern Australian history”.

In the six weeks between May 24 and July 9, The Australian published 75 articles on the Ramsay issue and 110 letters to the editor. Almost all were hostile to ANU. Guy Rundle found the perfect description for The Australian’s regular culture-war campaigns: “Pravda style bore-a-thons”. The collective case took the following form. The leaders of ANU were cowards who had capitulated at the first sign of opposition. The teaching of humanities at Australian universities had fallen to neo-Marxists, postmodernists and deconstructionists who dreamt of destroying Western civilisation, which they regarded as nothing more than a sorry tale of slavery, genocide, class oppression, racism and sexism. The long march of the left through the key institutions of society had almost arrived at its final destination. As a consequence, the nation faced deadly peril. The Ramsay experience at ANU showed that it might already be too late.

Because Schmidt and his chancellor, Gareth Evans, believed that the negotiations with Ramsay were confidential and that outlining what had happened might imperil Ramsay’s discussions with other universities, they maintained a month-long gentlemanly silence. Eventually, they spoke out. The decision to reject Ramsay, they explained, had nothing to do with internal opposition or ideological hostility to a “great books” program. Claiming otherwise a hundred times did not make it true. Talks had broken down because no university worthy of the name could accept a gift from a benefactor who did not trust the beneficiary, who wanted therefore to micromanage its implementation, and who had shown during discussions that it respected neither the autonomy of the university nor the idea of academic freedom. ANU frequently accepted gifts but none with the kinds of strings attached by Ramsay. One agenda item of The Australian campaign was the hypocrisy of ANU leadership that had accepted money from Iran, Dubai and Turkey to support a Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies. Evans and Schmidt made it clear that if Ramsay had offered similar terms, an agreement could have been finalised in 48 hours. Despite a whimper or two, their calm intervention killed the controversy. The pivotal moment in modern Australian history had lasted precisely 34 days.

What conclusions can be drawn from this curious episode? There is need for a discussion over the teaching of the humanities in the contemporary Western university. This discussion should draw a clear distinction between the place of theory – neo-Marxism, deconstruction and postmodernism – and the place of judgements of value – the post-’60s identification of the dark shadows of the Western tradition. Racism, genocide, imperialism, patriarchy, class oppression and environmental degradation pose profoundly disturbing questions about our civilisation. In this controversy they were too often reduced to a shopping list affording an opportunity for the right-wing cultural warriors to sneer. On the other hand, the idea that studies in the humanities in Western universities have become ideologically conformist is not empty. Despite the fact that cultural warriors misuse the idea of political correctness daily, it is often an enemy of the open mind.

The discussion of the health of the humanities should take place primarily within the university itself, and in books and journals of opinion. In Australia, the Murdoch newspapers have ruled themselves out as serious or responsible participants. In the past few years I have taken a rest from the battles on the frontline of the culture wars I once examined closely. The extremity and stupidity of the contributions of some of the Murdoch columnists in the course of the Ramsay bore-a-thon took me by surprise. Jennifer Oriel told her readers: “If you want a reason to mourn freedom’s demise, observe Western universities destroying the Western mind.” Piers Akerman claimed that “to this day” students wore T-shirts bearing the image of Stalin. (The last time I saw an image of Stalin at a university was on an ironical Labour Club poster in 1968.) Because the university hosted the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies, the American neocon Michael Rubin pronounced: “The ANU is sick”. Janet Albrechtsen believed that taxpayers’ money given to the universities was “funding our downfall”. Maurice Newman, not to be outdone, believed that because the left had captured not only universities but also the judiciary and the army, Australia was already “a long way down Andrassy Avenue”, the Hungarian site of its fascist and Stalinist torturers.

Many years ago I was involved with John Hirst and John Carroll in the creation of a modest bachelor’s degree in Western culture (not civilisation) at La Trobe University. Lacking the Ramsay millions, or indeed any funding, it began promisingly but gradually collapsed. So long as it were not undermined by piety towards the “great books”, or by wilful blindness to the dark chapters of Western history, or by an arrogant hostility to the present members of the humanities faculties, I still believe that such a degree, concentrating on the seminal texts and artefacts of the Western tradition, could be a wonderful thing.

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* 16 December 2018 - Ramsay Centre and University of Wollongong sign Memorandum of Understanding. Press release.

STATEMENT FROM CEO PROFESSOR SIMON HAINES

As part of a philanthropic gift to the Humanities in Australia, the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation has today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Wollongong (UOW), to fund a new BA degree in Western Civilisation, and a related scholarship program.

This is the first university partnership for the Centre, which was created with an endowment from the late Paul Ramsay AO, founder of Ramsay Health Care. The Centre seeks to advance education through study and discussion of western civilisation, including through university partnerships. It is currently in discussion with several other universities, including within the Group of Eight.

Worth upwards of $50 million over 8 years, the partnership will also fund 150 undergraduate scholarships, and the hiring of world-class educators.

We are delighted to be partnering with the University of Wollongong. The negotiations have been conducted in a highly collegiate and mutually respectful manner over the last twelve months. Together we are excited about the wonderful opportunity for students in the Humanities this partnership presents.

The BA (Western Civilisation) will comprise 16 newly created subjects, leaving room for students to take an outside major or double degree. Students will study the great texts of western civilisation in small groups.

We have always said that the success of the degree would depend on the quality of the teaching and UOW attaches great importance to teaching standards and quality.

UOW’s Western Civilisation program will be directed by Professor Daniel Hutto who is a gifted and passionate educator, committed to hiring world-class scholars and teachers into the program.

Students will benefit from UOW’s emphasis on teacher quality and student engagement. In 2018 the Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (QILT) ranked UOW as the number one NSW university. It also ranked UOW as NSW’s best university in eight study areas including the humanities and law.

The University of Wollongong is a university on the rise, ranked equal 10th in Australia in the 2019 Times Higher Education World University rankings and 30th in the world in the Times Higher Education Young University rankings.

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* 16 December 2019 – Andrew Herring, UOW press release, Transformative degree to examine intellectual foundations of Western civilisation

UOW the first university to partner with Ramsay Centre. 

The University of Wollongong (UOW) will partner with the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation to deliver a new Bachelor of Arts in Western Civilisation that will provide students with a world-class liberal arts education.

Through a specially designed curriculum, students will engage directly with great works central to Western civilisation, asking and evaluating possible answers to some of the deepest and most abiding philosophical questions.

UOW is the first Australian university to sign an agreement with the Ramsay Centre and is expected to be one of a select group of universities nationwide to eventually offer a version of a Western Civilisation degree.

The University intends to create a new School of Liberal Arts within its Faculty of Law, Humanities and Arts, under the directorship of Senior Professor Daniel Hutto, who has led successful Philosophy programs in Australia and the UK. The School will be housed in a specially refurbished space on its Wollongong Campus and staffed by academics specifically recruited to teach the new degree.

The interdisciplinary curriculum will focus on a detailed examination of the classic intellectual and artistic masterpieces of the Western tradition that demand and repay careful philosophical attention.

The degree, to be taught in small classes, will encourage critical reflection and include opportunities for students to travel overseas to have first-hand experience of exemplars of Western culture, art and architecture.

The Bachelor of Arts (Western Civilisation) program has been designed to enable students to combine their studies with other disciplines or to complete the program as part of a double degree.

The Ramsay Centre will fund around 150 scholarships for students to undertake the program and the appointment of 10 academics to teach it.

Professor Theo Farrell, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts, who has led UOW’s engagement with the Ramsay Centre over the last 12 months, said: “This partnership will see a major investment in humanities and the arts at UOW, enabling us to provide an exceptional educational experience for our students by offering study opportunities not currently available in our Faculty.

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* 17 December 2018 – New Western Civilisation degree could shock UOW academics, Illawarra Mercury.

The mood among academics at the University of Wollongong could be a bit frosty on Monday morning. On Monday, the university announced it had accepted a bequest from The Ramsay Centre to offer a degree in Western Civilisation from 2020. The degree was the brainchild of one Tony Abbott, who convinced the late healthcare magnate Paul Ramsay to fund a tertiary course to study the “great books”. Despite the fact that western civilisation – especially white western civilisation  – has been studied at universities for decades already, Mr Ramsay decided it was a good idea. But not everyone agreed with him.

The Australian National University was offered the degree – fully paid for by the centre – but eventually knocked it back. Chief among concerns of those in charge at the ANU was a threat to academic freedom. They claimed the centre wanted to sit in on subjects to monitor was was being taught and have final say over staffing decisions – claims the centre has denied. The centre is also having issues getting its degree into the University of Sydney too, with hundreds of academics signing an open letter branding the potential offering as “chauvinistic”.

While these other universities were debating the issue, the University of Wollongong crept under the wire and became the first institution to sign up to deliver the course from 2020. Perhaps learning from the earlier controversies, the Ramsey Centre and UOW seemed to have kept their dealings very quiet. Until Sunday’s announcement, there had been no whispers of UOW being considered. Which makes you wonder whether the UOW academics are waking up this morning shocked at the news their institution has linked up with the John Howard-led Ramsay Care. Perhaps they didn’t know this was in the pipeline either. If the reactions of academics elsewhere are any guide, some of them probably won’t be too happy about it.

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* 18 December 2018 – Robert Bolton, Wollongong Uni staff want Ramsay Centre Western civilisation course axed, Financial Review.

More than 800 staff and students at the University of Wollongong have signed a petition calling for the new Bachelor of Arts (Western Civilisation) degree to be axed. The university signed a contract for the $50 million course, which was set up by the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation, part of the multibillion-dollar Ramsay Foundation, after negotiations that had been kept secret for more than six months.

"It's not a fait accompli. We will campaign against it. The university should not proceed with the degree," NSW state secretary of the National Tertiary Education Union, Michael Thomson, said.

"Our members are annoyed about the timing and the lack of consultation. The first idea most of us had that this was signed was when we got an email at two minutes past midnight on Sunday. If it's such a good idea why does the uni look like it's trying to hide something?" Mr Thomson said.

In an email to staff, the union claimed the Ramsay Centre board member and former prime minister Tony Abbott had made it clear the centre would be interventionist over staffing and curriculum. The union said this threatened academic governance and would embed a "blinkered curriculum".

A spokesman for the university said: "The ownership of the memorandum of understanding documents is shared by the signatory organisations and publishing them raises commercial confidentiality implications. This is similar to many other MOUs signed by the university each year.

"The Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation is still in discussions with other universities. Public release of our MOU would have implications for those negotiations," he said.

Wollongong University vice-chancellor Paul Wellings said the course would be run by a new school in the university.

"This means there will be no impact on existing staff, no impact on academic freedom by staff being asked to teach this program against personal objections, and no impact on other existing programs or courses."

Director of the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation, Professor Simon Haines, said he was negotiating with the University of Queensland and the University of Sydney.

Management at the University of Sydney has been heavily criticised by staff and students over the course and has been unable to speed up an approval process that has run most of this year.

The chancellor of the Australian National University, Gareth Evans, told a conference on academic freedom earlier in the month he thought "a great big Monty-Python foot should drop down on the heads of some of the academics at Sydney University".

ANU was the first university to reject the course, saying it had "too many strings attached".

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* 18 January 2019 – Andrew Herring, UOW press release, Progress apace toward new western civilisation degree

PVC (Inclusion & Outreach) appointed to advisory board. 

Since the December 2018 announcement of a partnership with the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation to deliver a new Bachelor of Arts in Western Civilisation, UOW staff have been busy over the Christmas/New Year period preparing to welcome students for the degree in 2020.

The School of Liberal Arts has been formally established in the Faculty of Law, Humanities and Arts, with Senior Professor Dan Hutto appointed as Head of School and preparations underway to recruit the school’s academic and professional staff.

Senior Professor Hutto, who designed the course proposed by UOW in its Ramsay Centre bid, has consulted with eminent academics from world-leading universities, foundations and Liberal Arts Colleges while making refinements to the curriculum.

Advisory board established

Executive Dean of the Faculty of Law, Humanities and Arts, Professor Theo Farrell, has directed the establishment of an independent advisory board for the new School of Liberal Arts, to be comprised of international liberal arts academics and scholars of high standing, selected local community leaders and other external advisers as required.

The board will provide an expert resource for teaching staff seeking advice on learning and teaching matters and help UOW benchmark its new course and school against similar long-established overseas schools and programs. It will also facilitate ongoing engagement with stakeholders.

“An independent advisory board is crucially important as we establish a new school and degree that, while unique in Australia, has several successful peers in other countries. We want to learn from their experience as we strive to deliver the quality program we envisage.

“Its membership and role are both global and local; specialised and diverse.

“As well as gathering advice from internationally acclaimed liberal arts academics, it will also provide a forum for local stakeholders, particularly the indigenous communities from regions in which UOW operates,” Professor Farrell said.

The Executive Dean said the University recognises there are many stakeholders who are interested in the school and eager to contribute to it and that the advisory board will facilitate consideration of their views.

“I am very pleased to announce Pro Vice-Chancellor (Inclusion & Outreach), Professor Paul Chandler, among the initial advisory board appointees.

“Although Professor Chandler has not been involved previously, I look forward to him providing a vitally important indigenous perspective and connections with multiple indigenous communities as we move forward.

“The board will also be engaging other local indigenous representatives as required to assist Professor Chandler, further strengthening the school’s connections with indigenous communities,” he said.

More advisory board appointments will be announced in the coming weeks.

Course marketing commences

Meanwhile, preparations continue to promote the new degree as a flagship program among UOW’s 2020 course offerings.

Because the partnership with the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation was not established until Friday 14 December 2018, finalisation of the course curriculum has had to be expedited to enable marketing of the new degree for next year’s Autumn Session student intake.

Staff acknowledged

UOW Vice-Chancellor, Professor Paul Wellings CBE, acknowledged the efforts of staff over the normally quiet holiday period.

“This is an outstanding opportunity for the University and I appreciate the significant work done by staff over the Christmas and New Year holidays, and which continues in early 2019, to bring this vision to fruition,” he said.

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* Anthony Ashbolt, 21 January 2019. Letter to fellow UOW academic staff following on a forum to discuss the Ramsay Centre initiative:

Dear Colleagues,

 “There is no document of civilisation that is not at the same time a document of barbarism”. (Walter Benjamin). 

Why is it that this quote from Benjamin captures so neatly the arrangement between the University of Wollongong and the Ramsay Board? For a start, this deal (as we were told in the misnamed “consultation” session on Wednesday, January 16) is commercial in confidence. Its essence, in other words, cannot be revealed. This makes any attempt to consult with academic staff here pointless. The terms are not open and accessible let alone subject to negotiation. What we were treated to in this consultation session was the antithesis of consultation. Rather, it was a meeting governed by what has become an elite version of the politics of consensus, whereby those being consulted concede the terms of debate to the executive and everything occurs within that framework of reference. Anything that might potentially disrupt this managed politics, such as a question about consultation with indigenous experts, is either swept away in condescending paternalist fashion (western civilisation at work yet again) or absorbed into the dominant frame. This frame is supposedly inclusive and flexible and not subject to the whims of the Ramsay Board. At least this is what Executive Dean Theo Farrell and Professor Dan Hutto would have you believe. The problem is that they have taken dissembling and disingenuousness to a level that is in accord with the politics of executive management in neoliberal democracies. Such a politics has, for example, taken us to war with Iraq under false pretences (to put it very mildly) and perpetuated distorted perspectives on a range of social policy issues while parading the politics of inclusion as its raison d’être. The Ramsay Board’s engagement with the culture wars is central and explicit rather than incidental. It thus comes as no surprise to see Theo Farrell extolling the virtues of Ramsay chair John Howard (The Australian, 16/01/2019). The feeling is no doubt reciprocated and questions about war criminals and their true place in the body politic are shoved aside. To be at the meeting on Wednesday was to witness a rather inept display of what Herbert Marcuse once termed “repressive tolerance”. This is particularly true of Dan “Nobody Tells Me What to Teach” Hutto. He danced clumsily around the commercial in confidence deal by outlining a curriculum that starts questioning the very basis of western civilisation. Taking his cue from Kwame Anthony Appiah, Hutto embraced the very sort of critical perspective hostile to the Ramsay Board. And he persisted with a line of “reasoning” that may actually have somewhat puzzled someone like John Howard had it been presented to him. Howard, I suspect, is unfamiliar with the dialectics of negotiation and absorption and consequent repression. Like most of the rest of the Ramsay Board he would be surprised to be told that his pet project is being subverted from within. Except, of course, it is not being subverted at all. Rather, terms of engagement have been established that exclude genuine alternatives by incorporating as many available alternatives as possible into the dominant frame. This incorporation is simultaneously repression just as civilisation is simultaneously barbarism. And yet both Hutto and Farrell appear to appeal to critical theory as a necessary weapon in the fight to defend the Ramsay deal. Yet this is a critical theory stripped of its theory and its critique. We need to be clear about the Ramsay deal – it is inherently corrupt. Questions about certain features of the curriculum, or the appointment process, or selection of students, might be important in regard to a new project without funding that is tainted. Sadly, however, they are irrelevant to this deal precisely because it is at heart corrupt and nothing can change that. The Ramsay Board made its intentions to wage a culture war clear. Executive management at this University has chosen to join them in this endeavour and thus embrace a politics that is reactionary rather than genuinely conservative. It is our job to say no, to reject entirely the prejudices and ideological commitments that underpin the proposed course in western civilisation.

Yours in solidarity

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* 21 January 2019 – Updated (public) Memorandum of Understanding signed between UOW and the Ramsay Centre.

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* 12 February 2019 – Public release of course curriculum and Memorandum of Understanding.

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20 February 2019 – UOW statement regarding the fast-tracked course approval process.

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20 March 2019 – UOW Academic Senate makes resolutions in regards to the degree and the manner in which it was implemented.

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4 April 2019 – Agron Latifi, Anti-gay sheikh at UOW event spruiking controversial Ramsay degree, Illawarra Mercury.

A fundamentalist Muslim sheikh who has slammed gay marriage and homosexuals will speak at a University of Wollongong workshop spruiking its Ramsay Centre degree in Western Civilisation. Sheikh Jamil El-Biza will speak at the 'Understanding others through narrative practices' event conducted by the new School of Liberal Arts, where the controversial degree will operate. The event on Friday is the first in a series of Liberal Arts Research Workshop Series and will include a number of speakers, including the man who designed UOW's Western Civilisation degree, Senior Professor Daniel Hutto. But it is the appearance of Sheikh Jamil El-Biza, the Imam of Masjid Assalaam Berkeley, which has riled some in the community. It was during the height of the gay-marriage debate in 2017 that the cleric used his own social media page to call gay marriage "evil" and homosexuals as "f- - -ts". The Mercury understands many staff in the Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts will boycott the "shameful workshop". Staff from many faculties the Mercury has spoken to did not want to be identified as they have been "pressured not to publicly express" their displeasure with the degree.

"This workshop is obviously propaganda to give some legitimacy to the Ramsay degree because of all the criticism it has received," one academic said. "This [workshop] is obviously to try to counter the critique within the university and outside the university. We are all very upset about the degree and all that has been happening, particularly after the Senate questioned the use of the fast-track approval process. Now we have this new school inviting a person who has expressed himself so horrendously against gay people and against same-sex marriage under the title of understanding the other. How can an intolerant person be invited to a workshop on tolerance? I think this captures what this degree and what the new school is going to be about."

In a statement UOW said Sheikh Jamil El-Biza was invited because of the position he holds as a local Muslim community leader. "The University of Wollongong is committed to upholding academic freedom and freedom of speech. UOW refutes any claims that staff have been pressured not to express their views about the new degree. UOW similarly condemns any attempts to undermine freedom of speech or academic freedom by attempting to 'silence' or 'de-platform' speakers on ideological grounds at any academic event." Sheikh Jamil El-Biza and Illawarra People for Peace founding member Judith Hurley have now withdrawn from the event program.

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* 4 April 2019 - UOW press release, ‘Understanding others through narrative practices’ academic seminar: UOW responds to Illawarra Mercury misreporting and assaults on free speech. 

The University of Wollongong refutes the incorrect assertions made by the Illawarra Mercury in its article Anti-gay sheikh at UOW event spruiking controversial Ramsay degree published at 12.24pm on Thursday 4 April 2019. This seminar was convened to engage with notions of peace, social identity, religion, culture and how they impact our understanding of others in a free society. The workshop was designed to bring together philosophers, researchers and community leaders in a respectful and open discussion. The event was organised and sponsored by the newly formed School of Liberal Arts in the Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts, as a genuine initiative aimed at fostering open and respectful discussion to foster mutual, cross-cultural understanding.

Contrary to the assertions published by the Illawarra Mercury, this event was not convened to “spruik” the Bachelor of Arts in Western Civilisation. Sheikh Jamil El-Biza was invited because of the position he holds as a local Muslim community leader. Judith Hurley was invited as a founding member of local association, Illawarra People for Peace. These invitations were not related to their personal views or any previous public comments in mainstream or social media.

The University of Wollongong is committed to upholding academic freedom and freedom of speech. It does not endorse or disendorse the diverse views of its academics, students or visiting speakers. UOW refutes any claims that staff have been pressured not to express their views about the new degree or the University’s agreement with the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation. Academic staff members have openly exercised their academic freedom through protests and public commentary. UOW similarly condemns any attempts to undermine freedom of speech or academic freedom by attempting to ‘silence’ or ‘de-platform’ speakers on ideological grounds at any academic event.

Both community speakers have withdrawn from the event program. The academic portion of the activity will proceed as planned. Future events will be scheduled as part of continuing efforts to bring together diverse views and foster respectful discussion and debate. The University also refutes the Illawarra Mercury’s description of the Bachelor of Arts in Western Civilisation as a “Ramsay Centre degree”. The Bachelor of Arts in Western Civilisation curriculum was entirely developed by the University of Wollongong and proposed to the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation in response to the Centre’s call for expressions of interest, to which several other universities also responded. The repeated description of this program as a “Ramsay degree” by the Illawarra Mercury ignores the University’s repeated public statements correcting this description.

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* Theo Farrell, Friday, 5 April 2019 8:07 AM. Engaging with non-western perspectives: our commitment

Dear colleagues, 

I am writing to inform you of a change to today’s workshop on “Understanding Others Through Narrative Practices,” that is being organised by the School of Liberal Arts. The purpose of the workshop is to explore differing social, religious and cultural identities and how these impact on our narrative understanding of others. Unfortunately, we have had to cancel the first session of this workshop, which was to have involved two external speakers offering local community perspectives on the workshop theme, with Judith Hurley from Illawarra Peace for Peace and Sheikh Jamil e-biza from Masjid As-Salaam Wollongong. The second component of the program, consisting of four presentations, from LHA colleagues and Professor Constantine Sandis, University of Hertfordshire, will proceed as planned from noon onwards. Not helping matters was a rushed, sensationalist, and incorrect report by Illawarra Mercury. For a response by the university correcting this report, please see the link below:

https://media.uow.edu.au/news/UOW257339.html

Our vision for the BA in Western Civilisation is to explore Western culture, thought and artefacts in a conversational context, and accordingly to encourage critical dialogue with non-Western thinking, histories and experiences. It is self-evident that some non-Western views and values may be confronting from Western perspectives, but it is only by engagement with authoritative representations of non-Western thought and cultures that we can contextually situate these and begin a critical dialogue with them. 

With this purpose in mind, LHA will not shy away from exploring challenging views and values, and supporting open and critical debate. We are committed to ensuring that there is space for critical and respectful engagement with such perspectives. And we will always strive for balance; where there is a speaker who offers a perspective that some may find challenging, we will ensure there is an alternative perspective. This is how we will prepare our students for success in a multicultural world, and promote inter-cultural understanding among our university body and local communities.

Best wishes, Theo

Professor Theo Farrell FAcSS, Executive Dean, Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts

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5 April 2019 – Staff of LHA hold an anti-racism meeting.

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5 April 2019 – Agron Latifi, Controversial Sheikh Jamil El-Bizah pulls out of UOW event, Illawarra Mercury.

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Dear Colleagues, The idea that I or anyone else in this University would seek to shut down free and open inquiry is absurd. The gutter press may like to trawl the sewers of this fair community but I prefer to stick to my principles. It is with these principles that I have crawled over lesser humans in pursuit of a career at the highest levels of the colonial office. And thus it is I find myself at the outer reaches of imperial glory, bathing in the sunshine of prejudice, spite and intolerance (otherwise known as inclusivity). We must keep the banner of western civilisation flying high against the onslaught of scholars, vagrants, faggots and mere journalists. Finally, the allegation that our degree in Western Civilisation has anything to do with Ramsay, Kellogs or Deloitte Economics, is outrageous. It is purely a product of our enlightened world view that embraces difference in order to crush it. Yours sincerely…

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* 10 April 2019 – Theo Farrell to staff of LHA.

Subject: Freedom of Speech in Higher Education

Dear Colleagues,

I appreciate that the last few months have been a difficult time for many in the faculty as strongly held views reflecting a diversity of perspectives have been expressed over the new BA in Western Civilization degree (how it was developed, its content, the relationship to the Ramsey Centre, and most recently the workshop held last week). I have previously sought to address the many different concerns raised.  Consequently, I was unhappy to learn that recently some of the correspondence may have been misread to suggest support for particular negative perspectives with respect to hate speech.  That was, of course, very far from my goal and my own personal views.  Unfortunately, some misunderstandings are always possible given the subject is so complex, especially so within the context of free speech in higher education. Indeed, last week the government released The Report of the Independent Review of Freedom of Speech in Australian Higher Education Providers. The review was led by the former Chief Justice of Australia, the Hon. Robert French, AC. He notes and understands that the higher education sector is particularly challenged by these issues, as universities are “open institutions where academic freedom and freedom of speech are fundamental to their functioning; where debate, challenge and dissent are not only permitted but expected, and where controversial and offensive ideas are likely to be advanced.” (p 47, quoting from a Universities UK report). Understanding and developing approaches to manage the inevitable conflict associated with passionate but opposed and sometimes confronting viewpoints is the fundamental goal of the Report.  While the Report’s treatment of the difficult subject is outside the scope of this email, I do wish to note one of Justice French’s points in his conclusion - that “[f]reedom of speech is bounded by law but the law is generally interpreted in favour of the freedom to the extent that its words allow. . . . As a general proposition, no higher education rule or policy should make it more difficult to exercise the freedom on campus than off it.” (p 108). While still digesting the Report, I believe that it likely provides a very useful guide for our Faculty as we champion freedom of speech, and embrace opportunities to explore perspectives, ideas and beliefs that are different and even confront our own. Though, I concede it is clearly a complex issue that will itself excite strongly divergent views, unfortunately also causing upset. Indeed, on that last point - I do take very seriously that some of our colleagues may have been upset by the recent debates, dialogues, activities and developments surrounding the Western Civilisation degree. So, in the coming weeks we will arrange for a meeting for colleagues who wish to meet with me to discuss the issues in person. In the meantime, I do recommend reading Justice French’s report, for, as I said, it includes much that we as a faculty may embrace as we stretch our teaching and research into ever more challenging fields and issues. Best wishes, Theo

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* 30 April 2019 - Paul Wellings to UOW staff

Dear Colleagues

 Over recent months you will have read some commentary about our university's decision to establish a new degree - a BA in Western Civilisation (BA WCiv).  I am writing to you to set out some of the background to the evolution of this course, the way it will operate, and how it fits with UOW's vision, values and goals.

The Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation (RCWC) is a philanthropic organisation seeking to promote studies and discussion associated with the establishment and development of western civilisation; partly in partnership with universities. UOW joined a number of other universities in responding to RCWC's call for expressions of interest in late 2017. The RCWC and the University concluded a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in mid-December 2018 which sets out a number of key features to protect values which all of us in UOW hold dear. Academic freedom is a value shared equally by both RCWC and UOW and was accepted as a fundamental principle underpinning any arrangements moving forward. We are committed to ensuring that our arrangement with RCWC in connection with the new course guarantees the protection of our institutional autonomy, controls, and academic freedom.  The MOU also recognises that the curriculum for this new course will be designed and approved using our processes. A new School of Liberal Arts (within the Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts) was established as a home for the new degree, and to give our university the opportunity to create additional research and teaching activities in the Liberal Arts in years to come and to integrate these with our strengths in the humanities and elsewhere. The approach taken by the Faculty ensures that colleagues working in other Schools in our university are not required to teach any subjects specific to the BA WCiv, and are able to maintain their teaching and research activities without having to make adjustments for the new degree.  This is a distinctive UOW strategy which differs from the approach currently being taken at other universities where the degree has been conceptualised as a new major. The BA WCiv is an opportunity to expand our course offerings, demonstrate our widely recognised capability in high quality teaching and learning, and attract great students from our catchment and beyond. I approved the new course on 17 January 2019 under UOW's long-standing fast-track course approval process. The fast track process has existed for over 20 years and has been used to both create and discontinue courses and subjects, as well as to generate academic activities in new locations. 

The NTEU and one member of staff have challenged the legality of the decision to approve the course. As this matter is now before the Court, I am constrained about providing further details regarding the decision, save to say that the university is defending the lawfulness of the decision and is supportive of the introduction of the course in time for the 2020 autumn intake. Following extensive discussions at Council, the Chancellor has publicly stated her support for the course and our future relationship with RCWC. Academic Senate noted the creation of the Bachelor of Arts in Western Civilisation as well as five new joint degrees at its meeting on 20 March 2019.  At the same time, it noted that five degrees and diplomas were to be discontinued elsewhere in the University. In the same meeting, the Senate also registered its objection to the use of the fast-track process in this instance and called for the process (not this specific decision) to be included in the scope of an upcoming procedural review. These resolutions have been advised to the University Council in keeping with our established governance processes. During 2018, we launched our 2030 and Beyond Vision: https://www.uow.edu.au/2030vision/index.html, which sets out values which are at the heart of our university: intellectual openness, excellence and dedication, empowerment and academic freedom, mutual respect and diversity, and recognition and performance. These are values which we can all embrace in respectful and considerate discussions as we bring this new course to life. I understand and respect that recent actions of protest may have been motivated by deeply held personal convictions and genuine desires for what individuals consider to be in the best interests of the institution.  However, I reassure you that the new degree is framed around many significant 21st century issues, in particular, the development of multicultural understanding, and will demonstrably strengthen the work of our university. UOW's $50 million funding over eight years from the RCWC is a major opportunity for humanities scholars. Here at UOW it will generate 10 positions and fully fund about 30 students a year, each for five years.  This is one of the largest donations for the humanities in the history of Australian universities and will give UOW a distinctive platform for the future. I expect that up to three universities will receive philanthropic support in this way from RCWC. It is a testament to the hard work of colleagues in LHA and elsewhere in our university that we have been able to generate such an outstanding offering in such a short period. I encourage you to take some time to read for yourself all the information about this new degree (including commendations of the course by leading Liberal Arts scholars around the world) available on our frequently asked questions page:

https://media.uow.edu.au/news/UOW254901.html

and share our positive perception of this initiative.

With Best Wishes

Professor Paul Wellings CBE

Vice-Chancellor

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30 April 2019 – Theo to LHA

LHA Open Session on BAWCiv

Dear colleague,

I am writing to invite you to attend the Faculty open session this Wednesday at 12.30, at which we will be discussing the BA in Western Civilisation and Ramsay Centre support for this new course. I understand from speaking with colleagues that these remain matters of concern for many staff. However, only 12 staff have registered to attend this session, with most of these being from professional services.

The open session will also be an opportunity for us to discuss the events surrounding the workshop on “Understanding Others Through Narrative Practice,” hosted by the new School of Liberal Arts. It is evident that aspects of this workshop were distressing for some colleagues, as was my email following the workshop concerning the importance of free speech to our learning community. My email was not, in any way, intended to suggest that those raising concerns were against free speech, nor to belittle the importance of recognising and indeed celebrating LGBTIQ+ rights. If any colleagues took away such impressions from my email, or in any other way were distressed by it, then you have my most sincere apologies.

Myself, Dan, and other staff who have worked on the BAWCiv project, have done so with the best of intentions. We share with all colleagues in LHA a driving concern with providing the best education opportunities for our students, with designing exciting programs of study that will nurture inquiring minds, and with attracting the best student and staff talent we can to join our Faculty.

We are trying our best to navigate with integrity through some complex terrain. In so doing, we are guided by the core values articulated in UOW’s 2030 Vision: intellectual openness, academic freedom, mutual respect and diversity, and academic excellence. I’m the first to admit that we have and will continue to make missteps along the way. It is inevitable as situations are bound to arise where there is tension between these values. I am hoping through open dialogue with colleagues that we can reduce such missteps and the distress these may cause for some colleagues.  Please do join us for lunch on Wednesday, as I would really like for as many staff as possible to contribute this dialogue.

With many thanks,  Theo

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* 5 June 2019 - Rachael Knowles, ‘You don’t matter.’ First Nations outrage over UOW degree in Western Civilisation, National Indigenous Times.

[Image]

Dr Marlene Longbottom and Aunty Barbara Nicholson were among the speakers at a 'Free uni in the pub!' session in Wollongong last month.

Two prominent First Nations women have expressed their concern over a controversial $50m deal between the University of Wollongong (UOW) and the Ramsay Centre. The deal will see UOW offering a Bachelor of Arts in Western Civilisation from 2020. UOW tempts prospective students with the opportunity to embark, ‘… on a unique philosophical adventure through the major periods of intellectual and artistic change in the West.’ Thirty scholarships worth $27,000 for students undertaking the degree will also be up for grabs.

Yuin woman and Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr Marlene Longbottom spoke at the end of May at a ‘Free uni in the pub!’ session about First Nations’ perspectives on Western civilisation. She told NIT that the timing of the deal’s announcement—during the 2018 Christmas period—made it look as though staff were shut out of discussions. “The announcement happened just before Christmas. It was the last week, just before we all went on holidays. It was very daunting for me. The staff were in the dark about it. It looked like a closed deal and like we were shut out of those discussions,” Dr Longbottom said.

Wadi Wadi Elder and Honorary Doctor of Laws Aunty Barbara Nicholson has a relationship with UOW that spans two decades. She was troubled by the news. “It took a little while for the significance of what had happened to sink in. As we started to put all the pieces together, it just seemed more and more like a despicable act,” she said. “It’s a sense of: you don’t matter. It doesn’t matter what you think. This is what we are doing and what we want. In 2014, UOW awarded me an honorary doctorate, one of the highest awards the university can bestow. There’s a lot of integrity when you receive it. But when you hear news like this—it diminishes that integrity.”

Contrary to reports that the First Nations community was consulted, Dr Longbottom said First Nations people weren’t included in the discussions. “To find out through the grapevine, that really set up things for the dialogue. We could have had a better dialogue if we were included in the discussions. We should have been included from the start,” said Dr Longbottom. Aunty Barbara fears the degree’s content will whitewash history. “That degree, as it stands in the Ramsay model, will totally wipe out any reference to Aboriginal people whatsoever … we are not Western, and therefore, we would fall outside the scope

[of the degree],” she said. “You are going to have a course on the campus that is so exclusionary. As an Aboriginal woman, I just think about the truth of Western Civilisation—about barbaric actions and colonisation.” “Will these things be taught? Will they be teaching all of the truth?” Despite objections to the degree by UOW staff and the broader community, with a Memorandum of Understanding in place between the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation, the University of Wollongong and the Ramsay Foundation, it looks like all systems go for 2020.

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* 24 June 2019 – Paul Wellings to UOW academic staff.

Dear Colleagues

At its meeting on Friday, 21 June 2019, the University of Wollongong Council gave its seal of approval to the Bachelor of Arts in Western Civilisation and associated double degree programs due to commence in 2020.  The Council independently resolved to use its legislative authority as our governing body to approve the degree to remove any uncertainty about its commencement at UOW in 2020. In coming to its view, Council was satisfied with the academic quality of the degree and the rigour of the academic assessment process and its compliance with the Australian Qualifications Framework. Under the University of Wollongong Act 1989 (NSW) and the University of Wollongong By-Law 2005 (NSW) the University Council has broad-ranging powers to act in all matters concerning the University, and to ?provide such courses, and confer such degrees? as it thinks fit? In using its legislative powers to approve the degree and associated double degrees, the Council was mindful of the tight timeframes involved in preparing to begin teaching the degree in 2020 and the potential impact of any uncertainty regarding the course’s approval status on student applications. As you would be aware, in April this year the National Tertiary Education Union initiated legal action in the NSW Supreme Court challenging, on procedural grounds, my approval of the Bachelor of Arts in Western Civilisation in January. The University Council continues to support the validity of my use of delegated authority, but considered it to be in the best interests of the University to independently and additionally approve these courses.  In doing so, Council emphasised its respect for the University’s academic process, particularly the role of the Senate. The Chancellor has also indicated the University’s willingness to continue with its legal defence of my decision if required.  The University is today advising the NTEU of these changed circumstances and has invited the NTEU to withdraw its challenge of my decision to approve the degree. I join with the Chancellor in appealing to the whole University community to unite in a shared commitment to our University’s legislative objectives of encouraging the dissemination, advancement, development and application of knowledge informed by free inquiry? and the provision of courses of study across a range of fields. If you have not already done so, please take the time to read the course curriculum information for yourself and consider the multiple perspectives and traditions from which students will be challenged to consider western civilisation in this academically challenging degree. For more information about this degree please visit the School of Liberal Arts website at: https://www.uow.edu.au/law-humanities-the-arts/schools-entities/liberal-arts/ 

Yours sincerely, Professor Paul Wellings CBE

Vice-Chancellor

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* 5 July 2019 – Paul Wellings to UOW staff

On Friday 5 July the National Tertiary Education Union advised the University it was withdrawing its legal challenge to the approval of the Bachelor of Arts in Western Civilisation.  This decision was also announced publicly. The decision was in response to the University Council's use of its legislative authority on Friday 21 June to independently approve the degree in order to remove uncertainty created by the Union's legal challenge to the degree's previous approval under the Fast Track Process in January 2019. I welcome this decision. The Chancellor has previously stated the University's willingness to continue defending my use of delegated authority in this case but hoped that would not be necessary.  The NTEU's decision means the spend of valuable member funds on this challenge can cease. This outcome also means the University can continue making rapid progress establishing this new degree. I acknowledge and respect that there will be different views on this outcome. However, the University has confidence in the academic quality of the Bachelor of Arts in Western Civilisation. I am proud to see it being offered in the newly-created School of Liberal Arts in the Faculty of Law Humanities and the Arts. Now is the time for us all to unite in a shared commitment to open inquiry as we prepare to welcome the first cohort of students for the new course in 2020.

Professor Paul Wellings CBE

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* 16 September 2019 – Anthony Ashbolt to UOW staff

An Open Letter to the Executive Dean Professor Theo Farrell, 16/09/2019

Dear Professor Farrell,

Tony Abbott, prominent member of the Board of Directors of the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation, has recently been in Hungary sharing his enlightened views with the Prime Minister Viktor Orban. As reported by Nick O’Malley (Sydney Morning Herald 16/09/2019), Abbott specifically congratulated Orban for attempting “to boost Hungary’s flagging birth rate” and for being “the first European leader to cry ‘stop’ to the peaceful invasion of 2015”. Abbott was making clear Orban’s adherence to the Replacement thesis, a doctrine at the centre of far right terrorist manifestos like that of Christchurch mass murderer Brendan Tarrant. Orban himself referred explicitly to the Replacement thesis, “to a process in which the European population is replaced”. These words are chilling but so are Abbott’s paeans of praise.

In my Open Letter to the Academic Senate soon after the Christchurch massacre, I pointed to the ideological connections between mainstream and far right discourse about politics. The Replacement thesis had not, at that stage, entered mainstream language specifically but I noted the shared phraseology of “cultural Marxism” and the left’s supposed “long march through the institutions”. As I pointed out, Abbott had made his position clear about the Ramsay course:

 “A much more invigorating long march through the institutions may be about to begin”, suggested Abbott in writing about the Ramsay degree course. He had already observed that this was a course “in favour of western civilization”.  Need it be put more plainly?

I also suggested:

While the Head of the Ramsay Centre, Simon Haines, has been at pains to distance himself from Abbott’s words he has not condemned them. Moreover, Abbott has not been asked to withdraw his comments and he remains on the Board. He is, to put it bluntly, the centre of the Ramsay Centre. Given this and given his effective endorsement of the Replacement thesis, Mr. Abbott’s shadow looms large over the Ramsay degree. I call on Professor Farrell to provide assurances to the University of Wollongong that Mr. Abbott will have no role – in any capacity whatsoever – with regard to the degree in western civilisation at the University of Wollongong.

Yours sincerely, Anthony Ashbolt

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* 18 September 2019 – A UOW response to the Ashbolt letter stated, in part, that:

• Just as the Ramsay Centre was not involved in the design of the Bachelor of Arts in Western Civilisation course, it will not be involved in its delivery. 
• The Ramsay Centre may appoint two academic representatives (i.e., Board Members) to the selection panel for academic staff.
• The Ramsay Centre may not be involved in the Bachelor of Arts in Western Civilisation student admissions process in any capacity.
• The Ramsay Centre may appoint academic representatives to form a maximum of one-third of the selection panel that awards the UOW Ramsay Scholarships to students.  This is in keeping with the composition of many UOW scholarship panels.

From time to time the School of Liberal Arts (SOLA) will hold public events to which Board Members may choose to attend. Ramsay Centre academics and Board members will be invited to visit UOW to view the SOLA school presence. For further information [refer the] FAQs page which includes a link to the MoU between UOW and the Ramsay Centre:

https://www.uow.edu.au/law-humanities-the-arts/schools-entities/liberal-arts/faqs/

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References

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[1] Simon Haines, Ramsay Centre and University of Wollongong sign Memorandum of Understanding, The Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation [website], 16 December 2018. Available URL: https://www.ramsaycentre.org/ramsay-centre-and-university-of-wollongong-sign-memorandum-of-understanding/; Bachelor of Arts in Western Civilisation: your questions answered – UOW responds to Ramsay Centre partnership, Media Unit, University of Wollongong, 20 December 2018. Available URL: https://media.uow.edu.au/news/UOW254901.html.

[2] Simon Haines, Why Steel town is right for Ramsay’s Western degree, Sydney Morning Herald, 17 December 2018. Available URL: https://www.smh.com.au/education/why-steel-town-is-right-for-ramsay-s-western-degree-20181216-p50mjv.html. ; Jordan Baker, Staff left ‘betrayed’ as university reveals Ramsay Centre deal, Sydney Morning Herald, 18 December 2018. Available URL: https://www.smh.com.au/education/staff-left-betrayed-as-university-reveals-ramsay-centre-deal-20181217-p50msp.html; Agron Latifi, University of Wollongong academic resigns, others may follow to protest controversial Ramsay Centre deal, Illawarra Mercury, 18 December 2018. Available URL: https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/5818040/uow-academic-resigns-others-may-follow-to-protest-controversial-ramsay-centre-deal/.

[3] Tony Abbott, Paul Ramsay’s Vision for Australia, Quadrant, 24 May 2018. Available URL: https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2018/04/paul-ramsays-vision-australia/.

[4] Michael McGowan, University explains why it walked away from western civilisation degree. The Guardian, 6 June 2018. Available URL: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jun/06/university-explains-why-it-walked-away-from-grant-for-western-civilisation-degree.

[5] Bronwyn Carlson, Western Civilisation degree arrives at UOW amidst lean investment in Indigenous Studies, NITV, SBS, 23 December 2018. Available URL: https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2018/12/23/western-civilisation-degree-arrives-uow-amidst-lean-investment-indigenous-studies. ; Leigh Dale, Ramsay degree promises debate – but not about itself, Sydney Morning Herald, 19 December 2018. Available URL: https://www.smh.com.au/national/ramsay-degree-promises-debate-but-not-about-itself-20181218-p50mz2.html.

[6] Fatima Measham, ANU right to be wary of ‘supremacist’ centre, Eureka Street, 7 June 2018. Available URL: https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/anu-right-to-be-wary-of--supremacist--centre.

[7] Gabriel, Trip, Before Trump, Steve King set the agenda for the Wall and Anti-Immigrant policies, New York Times, 10 January 2019.

[8] Catharine Coleborne, The concept of ‘western civilisation’ is past its use-by date in university humanities departments, The Conversation [website], 21 November 2017. Available URL: https://theconversation.com/the-concept-of-western-civilisation-is-past-its-use-by-date-in-university-humanities-departments-87750.

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Michael Organ, Australia (Home)