A growing controversy at the Queensland University of Technology has made the front page of today's The Courier Mail. Although this is a matter I would like to express a strong opinion about on this blog, I must confess that the story means I have concerns about commenting one way or the other. So instead, I will simply let the stories speak for themselves ...
This is the story that was on the front page of The Courier Mail today:
Academics stunned at ban
TWO QUT academics who objected publicly to a PhD thesis called Laughing At The Disabled have been suspended without pay for six months.
Creative industries faculty senior lecturers John Hookham and Gary MacLennan criticised the thesis in a newspaper article in April.
Late Friday afternoon they were suspended, had their work emails disconnected and were barred from the university premises. Six months salary effectively amounts to a fine of $35,000 to $40,000 each.
QUT vice-chancellor Professor Peter Coaldrake, said yesterday he was responsible for the penalty after a committee, chaired by former Industrial Relations commissioner Barry Nutter, unanimously upheld complaints made against the two men.
These had come from thesis author Michael Noonan and two academics.
Professor Coaldrake said controversial research needed to be balanced with legal obligations and ethics. "Academic freedom is a great privilege and it should not be used to denigrate or ridicule people with vastly different ideas," he said.
UQ disability expert Lisa Bridle also criticised the thesis.
Dr MacLennan and Dr Hookham were reluctant to speak publicly yesterday, other than to admit they had needed medical help to cope.
"I'm gobsmacked at the level of brutality," said Dr MacLennan, 64.
Queensland Advocacy director Kevin Cocks said the penalty "seems quite severe for two people who have tried to express concerns around vulnerable people".
In their article in The Australian, the two academics objected to a film part of the thesis, which put two disabled men in social situations "in which they could only appear as inept".
Dr Bridle, the mother of a 12-year-old boy with Down syndrome, said it appeared the two men were used as "props".
Dr Bridle and Mr Cocks wrote to Professor Coaldrake in April that they were alarmed by the project.
"This project is a very ethically sensitive one and it should not proceed without external scrutiny," they wrote.
Mr Noonan confirmed yesterday that the name of the project had been changed to Laughing With the Disabled.
Read it here. The Courier Mail also had this editorial:
Free speech in peril
CONTROVERSY always has been, and always should be, part of university life.
Be it stem cell research, a thesis that Jesus was gay, or comedy about disabled people that "confronts, offends and entertains", those involved can always expect passionate, even strident opposition. This is why the suspension without pay for six months of two QUT academics after an article in The Australian will send shudders through academics who put their opinions out in the public arena. Worse, it will make them think twice. Launching the Right to Know campaign last month, News Ltd chief executive and chairman John Hartigan pointed to 500 legal prohibitions to the free flow of information in Australia, but said an even bigger concern was public complacency about free speech.
Now is the time to be very alarmed.
Read it here.
Read more about the background here and/or watch this video, Freedom of Speech disabled at QUT:
At least you aren't trying to hush the issue up or say that choosing either side would limit someones "freedom" in an unethical way. It would be unfair of the academic community to ask you to put yourself in contempt of the Vice-Chancellor without a firm conviction either way.
Posted by: Peter | Monday, 11 June 2007 at 04:37 PM
Blogs are good for every one where we get lots of information for any topics nice job keep it up !!!
Posted by: PhD Thesis Download | Wednesday, 24 December 2008 at 03:16 PM