[csaa-forum] re. Mees et al

[Jonathan MARSHALL]

It would be good to get some more detailed and reliable information than
that which these Age reports offer before making any definitive comments
on this specific case.

Julian Burnside's comments are, as ever, perhaps the best:

"Liberty Victoria president Julian Burnside said it was not clear if
this was a case of academic freedom under attack.

"'To say that his defence of truth should be dismissed could mean that
there was no truth to what he said,' Mr Burnside said. 'Certainly his
comments are intemperate.'

"'But the question that needs to be answered is whether any part of the
university's thinking in this matter was that they have a working
relationship with the department?'"

To say in a public forum that someone deserves to be placed in jail is a
pretty serious allegation, so one might want to be sure that actual
illegal action which had allegedly been taken by those accused before
venturing such a comment and/or defending the right to make such a
comment --- whether one is an academic or not. At this point, it's not
altogether clear if actual criminality is in fact at issue, or if Mees
was using less than the best language to imply that he was alleging
something closer to gross incompetance, spin and/or questionable (but
not actually illegal) liasons between those accused and interested
parties who could potentially benefit from such liasons.

Similarly, while one could perhaps construct an argument that anyone ---
academic or not --- does not necessarily have a blanket right to make
such a comment, esp. if representing the insitution which employs them
when making such a comment, if such a comment itself is highly
"intemperate" or even potentially actionable, the issue is whether it
was specifically this which was the basis of Melb Uni's decision, or
simply pressure from interested parties (government) is key. This too
does not seem clear at the moment, but the suggestion that this could
have been a very significant factor in the decision is highly alarming
and a dangerous precedent.

Nevertheless, some of the other articles would suggest that this was not
an isolated incident, but rather the final of many between the uni and
Mees. Here too there may be other reasons involved, including Melb Uni's
disatisfaction with Mees' "intermperance" --- or not, Mees' own standing
as a long term whistleblower. Not, mind you, I would ever suggest using
strong language is outside an academic's purview. I would however simply
remind us all as cultural critics that the debate could in fact be as
much about language (Mees allegedly using a highly emotive tone vs the
patrician restraint of the 'old school' style academic and/or critic) as
it might be about the alleged content of Mees' pronunciations ---
something like a fight between whether unis should adopt a critical
voice akin to "The Age" itself, as opposed to that of say John Laws et
al. All in all, Id be keen to know more as information becomes
available.

Jonathan Marshall
Edith Cowan Uni, Perth



Jonathan Marshall, PhD, MA,
Research Fellow,
Western Australian Academy
of Performing Arts,
Edith Cowan University,
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Mt Lawley, WA 6050
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FAX: +618 9370 6665
jonathan.marshall at ecu.edu.au
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contributing editor,
"RealTime Australia"
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