|
|
ACADEMIC FREEDOM
DOWN UNDER University
professor banned Sydney
academic banned from teaching
Canadian-born Associate Professor Andrew Fraser was last week cautioned by Macquarie University over a letter he wrote to his local suburban newspaper, claiming Australia was becoming a Third World colony by allowing non-white immigration. Prof. Fraser, a lecturer at the university for 29 years, claims African migration increases crime, believes HSC results point to a rising ruling class of Asians, and wants Australia to withdraw from refugee conventions. In a detailed
public statement, the lecturer rejected the university's offer to
bring his retirement forward from July 2006. "His comments have elicited such a strong response from students, staff and the public that it is affecting the university's ability to operate effectively," Prof. Yerbury said in the memo. "In response to these difficulties, (human resources director) Tim Sprague, after discussion with senior management and the Dean, has informed Drew Fraser that it will not be appropriate for him to teach until further notice." Prof. Fraser said he rejected the offer to retire early because the university was essentially buying his silence. "The university is offering (me) the academic equivalent of a dishonourable discharge," Prof Fraser said in a statement. "To accept its terms would amount to an admission that (I) had somehow brought the university into disrepute." He reiterated his refusal to personally apologize for his comments. "(My) argument that the white Australia policy was fundamentally sound and that it was a mistake to abandon it falls squarely within (my) area of expertise and is an academically defensible view shared by a great many other Australians," Prof. Fraser said. He criticized Prof. Yerbury's "appalling display of intellectual cowardice". By apologizing to African leaders on behalf of the university she had "sacrificed the time-honored traditions of academic freedom to the illegitimate demands of ethnic pressure groups and political extremists", Prof. Fraser said. In defense, Prof. Yerbury said she apologized because she was "distressed and embarrassed" that the university had been associated with the "repugnant" comments. The university was committed to free speech, but Prof. Fraser should not have attached his title to his comments, she said. "It is one matter for Drew Fraser to be able to express his views, which he is doing at every opportunity and can certainly continue to do," the vice-chancellor said. "But (it's) another to associate the university by attaching its name and the title of one's appointment when doing so on matters outside the academic area which an academic is appointed to teach and research." |
| |
