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campusreview.com.au
The MUP board in 2017. Adler is third from left. Image: MUP
Sinking ship?
After mass resignations, concern about
Melbourne University Publishing spreads.
M
elbourne University Publishing chief Louise Adler
has resigned. Her decision came after the university
announced it would change its focus from commercial
to academic publishing. Adler has been hastily followed out by
chairman Laurie Muller and directors Bob Carr, Gillian Triggs,
Tony Peake and Danny Gorog.
“I was appointed CEO and publisher of MUP in 2003 as a
consequence of the university having accepted a review led by the
doyenne of Australian publishing, Hilary McPhee, AO, which was
to furnish the blueprint for the vibrant business MUP has become
today,” she said, following her exit.
Triggs and Carr were more forthcoming about their reasons
for leaving. Both made unfavourable, public statements about
the change.
Rank obsession
Singapore academics criticised university rankings.
Then their quotes disappeared.
A
sian rankings darlings the National University of
Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University
are suffering internal tumult after 10 professors openly
criticised them.
An article published in Singaporean newspaper Today detailed
how several high-profile academics in non-STEM fields left or were
considering leaving the universities because of the institutions’
rankings obsession.
2
The publisher, which until now focused on popular nonfiction,
will be reorienting its efforts towards “being a high-quality scholarly
press”, the university said, adding that “the new focus will ensure
the university press is aligned to the strengths of the University of
Melbourne and its globally recognised academic and research
fields.” Literary journal Meanjin will remain with the publisher.
Triggered by a review of MUP, the change was not only
unwelcome to MUP insiders, but by the National Tertiary Education
Union, which expressed concern about editorial independence.
“We would resist any move to erode such an important principle,”
said its Victorian vice-president (academic) at the University of
Melbourne, Professor Christian Haesemeyer.
Haesemeyer is further worried that MUP’s shift to publishing
academic works will limit the university’s role as a place of public
debate. On this point, the university sought to allay fears. Pro
vice-chancellor (engagement) Su Baker said the institution would
ensure “high-quality works are made available to broader and
general audiences”.
When asked about the substance and outcome of the review,
the university did not offer any answers. It also did not respond to
a request for comment on the NTEU’s concern about the loss of
editorial independence.
In her departing statement, Adler noted MUP’s varied and many
successes during her tenure. They include Stuart Macintyre’s
The History Wars, Jenny Hocking’s “forensic biography” Gough
Whitlam: His Time, and most recently Louise Milligan’s Cardinal:
The Rise and Fall of George Pell. ■
They said this resulted in a narrow view of education,
with an emphasis on hard sciences, and that it constrained
academic freedom.
Headlined ‘Opaque Policies, Fixation with KPIs, Rankings: Why
Arts and Humanities Academics Quit NUS, NTU’, the online
article soon disappeared. Yet, like a magician’s vanishing trick,
nothing on the internet is ever truly gone. Parts of it resurfaced on
various websites.
Today explained that it was removed due to legal challenges.
NUS was the source of one of these, as declared in a statement:
“[The article in Today] fell significantly short of our expectations.
It also did not adequately represent NUS’s position on the matter.
“Ranking is not a driver of change at NUS.
“[It] has unfairly affected the reputation and standing of NUS
locally and internationally.
“Hence, NUS is seeking legal advice regarding these allegations.”
Five professors quoted in the article stand by it, as outlined in a
Facebook post. “We believe that freedom of expression and active
public debate are foundational to scholarly excellence,” they wrote.
“We are unaware of situations where media reporting responsibly
on the opinions of faculty have been subject to legal challenges
from a university. We are saddened by this apparent intolerance.”
While Westerners have lambasted it, until lately there has been
little local, public opposition to Singapore’s rankings-driven
educational strategy. A 2017 op-ed by Singaporean economist
(now professor emerita at the University of Michigan) Linda Lim,
also one of the professors quoted in the Today article, and Pang
Eng Fong, a professor of strategic management at Singapore
Management University, however, comprehensively critiqued it. ■