THE AGE http://www.theage.com.au/daily/990421/news/news12.html Wednesday 21 April 1999 Academic loses e-mail after criticising uni By CHRISTOPHER RICHARDS - HIGHER EDUCATION REPORTER Victoria University of Technology has disconnected the e-mail of an academic who criticised the decision to take a $100,000 corporate box at the new Docklands stadium. Staff held a protest meeting yesterday, while the National Tertiary Education Union described the university's action as censorship. Ms Cathy Caruso, the union's state secretary, said union members believe the action was taken to stop further questions about spending on corporate boxes at a time when the university has contracted out mailroom operations to save money. She warned that staff would consider industrial action if Professor Allan Patience and two other staff members involved in an unrelated case did not have e-mail reinstated. The union has told the vice-chancellor, Professor Jarlath Ronayne, that denying Professor Patience access would impede a professional project. Professor Patience, a lecturer in political science and Asian studies, and a commentator on social issues, attended a meeting of the university council on 29March. Later, in an e-mail to staff, he criticised a ``detached management structure ... in this university''. The memo said the vice-chancellor had mentioned that the university had decided to take a corporate box. ``This will enable us to entertain `clients' (it would probably be unwise to read `students' here),'' the memo said. It said the vice-chancellor told him the cost of the box would be about $100,000 a year. The next day, he received a call from the chancellor, Mr Peter Laver, and on 12April, he found he could not send or receive e-mails. Professor Patience was told that before e-mail was reinstated, he would need to give ``certain undertakings''. These are to be discussed in a meeting next week. Professor Ronayne said later in a global e-mail that use of the university's e-mail ``to harass, intimidate, denigrate or defame any members of the university community, whether staff, student, or member of a university body, such as council, will not be tolerated''. The university said yesterday that e-mail access was withdrawn because of the ``possibility of the university being held liable for defamation''. ************************************************************************* This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
