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. .: o .~ CO -U .~ VOL 6 NO 20 :Q •• p Il. !Xl 13 NOV. 80 ...>. o tlI 8~ Q) Newsletter for -CO The University of Newcastle U., CO 0> .: Journey to Fame .~ 0; o Arriving at the examinations Il. room was a sudden change of en­ vironment for Grant Long, Mechanical Engineering II stud­ ent. A day before he returned to Australia from the World Windsurfing Championship at Freeport in The Bahamas, in Ihich he won the title in the \avyweight Division. Grant, who is a trainee engineer with Australian Wire Industries Pty. Ltd .• is the first Australian to win the world Heavyweight title. Before beginning his Uni­ Irsity course Grant was a stud­ _~t at Newcastle Technical High School. The World Windsurfing Championships were inaugurated 1n 1977 in Sardinia. They are held annually in heavyweight, light-heavyweight. medium weight and lightweight divisions. Grant, who is Captain of Belmont Bay Windsurfing Fleet, attempt­ ed to win titles in Mexico in 1978 and Greece last year with­ out success. Grant, who is 20, was Aust­ ralian Heavyweight Windsurfing ""ampion in 1979 and this year. ) narrowly beat a French oppon­ ~nt to first place at the titles in The Bahamas. The titles consisted of seven heats with the competitors .,selecting their best five resul- i Grant had to beat his I rench rival in the final heat to give him the necessary points margin. He finished with 26.7 to the Frenchman's 28.7 with former world title-holder Andus Foyen. of Norway. in third place. Grant shifted from sailing 470 class boats to windsurfing three and a half years ago. Grant Long windsurfing in BeLmont Bay. Photo: NewaastLe HeraLd. ely of gentlemen who tend to be is silent .. Th~ reason for this Letters to Editor preoccupied with matters other is that our salaries are deter­ than our University affairs. mined federally by the Academic Real power is in the hands of a Salaries Tribunal currently I wish to comment on Professor very few men whose opinions and Bach's letter in UniVBPsity News meeting under the chairmanship decisions assume undue weight of Mr. Justice Ludeke. of October 30. Let me say. in this part-time company. When first of al1~ that I sympathise The Draft Agreement on Professor Bach refers to the im­ Condltions of Employment, copies with some of the sentiments ex­ portance of the goodwill of pressed there. Professor Bach of which were circulated to all Council he is actually pointing staff and the University Council refers, with unmistakable nost­ to our dependence on the large­ a1g1a. to the old ideal of the earlier ;n the year, contains sse of a very small group. And clauses which set out the exist­ 'civitas academical, the self­ when he talks about the 'preser­ governing community of free and ing regulations of the Finance vation of this University as an I and Personnel Handbooks that equal scholars whose internal autonomous academic institution' relations are determined by, as have been agreed to by both the he is really talking about the University and UASA (NSW). It Professor Bach says, 'goodwill. continuation of the autonomy of co-operation and consensus'. I should be remembered that orig­ this kitchen cabinet. inally the Vice-Chancellor was must confess that I share this This 'rule by the few ' has nostalgia - even to such an ex­ prepared to recommen~ to Council led, as it invariably will, to that the document be signed. tent that two years ago I too. an emphasis on the formal legit­ Interestingly one of the unres­ with a great many other of my imacy of decisions rather than colleagues, voted against the olved issues is the question of consensus, on hierarchy rather tenure. a matter raised so trau­ proposal to sep.k an award. It than equality and on bureaucrat­ seemed to me then that there matically by the Senate document ic secrecy rather than openness. S63:80. It is precisely because wasn't sufficient reason for Small wonder then that many the administration of this Uni­ this academic community to y.ield people feel excluded from vital versity seemed to be discussing to the seemingly inexorable decisions affecting their lives, the possibility of unilaterally principle of change, which that and that they become increasing­ nineteenth century scholar Sir altering conditions relating to ly enthusiastic in their support tenure in its discussion of re­ Henry Maine summed up in the for contractual forms, such as words 'from status to contract' the University industrial award. dundancy, termination of appoin~·~ I have changed my mind on How Professor Bach can ascribe ments in financial emergency or J, for unsatisfactory service, and ~ thts and so, obviously, have a these attitudes to 'hysteria' great many others in this Uni­ the possibility of early retire­ versity. In contrast to what is beyond me. They seem very ment, that it seemed to the happened two years ago, when rational to me! Executive and, as the vote on the vote on this matter result­ October 21 demonstrated to the ed in the barest possible maj­ A. BRAND, vast majority of members, that ority in favour of seeking the Department of Sociol09Y. the previously existing goodwil' ~ award, now more than gO per cent between the Administration and , V staff was being seriously erod- of those who voted showed them­ ed. selves convinced that ·this mea­ In his letter published in t h e Of even greater signific- sure should be postponed no long­ Newa October 30. Professor Bach ance was the fact that after er. Why this change? has uncharacteristically depart- having conducted two exhaustive Professor Bach comes up ed from the normal canons of and extensive reviews which made with the proposition that it is historical scholarship. Where recommendatiohs of a general due to 'a sense of fear and 1n­ we might, and do normally, ex- kind, the Senate had placed be- security' deliberately aroused pect a balanced, fair and dis· fore it a document canvassing by those who believe that 'co~­ passionate treatment of an issue precise specifics of what is flict is the basis of all soc1al we have in this case unfortunat- alleged to be an over staffing realtionships'. It is because ely and regretably a largel~ crisis. Moreover there is no of this, says Professor Bach. emotive and emotional react10n. truth in Professor Bach's assert- that we have lost all reason The irony of this is that it ion that granting of an award and are rushing into the 'self­ represents an instance of the. would reduce the gap between / destructive madness' of seeking very thing Professor Bach clalms university employment conditior ) a contractual form for our re­ to oppose. and those (I presume lesser) of lationship with this University I shall not comment on the the average employee. It would as an employer. thinly veiled insinuations that seem from the logic implied that Generalising from my own unfortunately he allows to ob- Professor Bach is nostalgic for 'conversion' over the last few scure his principal point. the days when the gap between years I would like to suggest It would seem that Profess- university staff and the outside that ~nother interpretation of or Bach is concerned that seek- world was cavernous. Unhappily this vote is possible - one which ;ng to have conditions of employ- harsh realities have intruded t j does not depend on the assumpt­ ment of academic staff register- dispel the fanciful memories of ion that those colleagues who ed in the Industrial Commission those who not only study the do not share Professor Bach's of New South Wales somehow re- past, but seek to live in it. feelings are either sinister sults in that body dictating to agitators or people prone to us how we should go about our ROBERT MACKIE, 'hysteria'. normal working activities. VICE-PRESIDENT, UASANSW and It has become increasingly This is simply not so, as some clear, especially.in the present investigatory reading into the Secretary Newcastle Division. climate of competltion for scar­ structure and history of indust­ ce resources, that the structure rial relations in this State V of our University government would reveal. The Industrial (and from this point of view the Commission has arbitral and This term, we have had "The personal qualities of the people dispute settling functions. It Short Report" on finance and functioning in it are really has before it two principal "The Short Memorandum" on re­ quite irrelevant) is s~mply not dundancy. In these documents, conducive to the creatlon of tasks: certain powerful members of the 'goodwill, consensus or co­ to keep the industrial peace University propose a revolution­ operation'. Professor Bach • and settle disputes. and ary transformation of its structures. talks of Council as of some • to make salary determinations mysterious Higher Power which in those areas that fall They propose that the we should take care not to off­ within its jurisdiction. academic staff as presently end, but he must know that this constituted should be abolished 'governing body' consists larg- On this latter point of and replaced by two bodies. course the proposed agreement The first is to be a $partiate of all-powerful, untouchable Professors. The rest of us, from Associate Professors down, will be a body of subservient, easily removable, virtually rightless Helots. As well as these two barb­ arous documents, there has been another in which a very Senior, very powerful member of the University sneers at academic freedom as "a nebulous concept" and proposes the abolition of Faculty Boards. All this evidence of Goths within the gates and Vandals in high places should (so it seems to me) warn anyone who regards our University as a studying community and not as an arena for silly power-games that this is a time for keeping one's powder dry and one's sword-arm free.

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