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https://www.abc.net.au/religion/anu-has-meritocracy-gotten-the-better-of-our-universities/105773082>
"It’s not every day that the students and staff of an Australian university
succeed in forcing a vice-chancellor from office. But that’s what happened last
week at the Australian National University (ANU). After a year of determined
efforts both on and off campus to deter chancellery from doggedly pursuing
goals that everyone from a former chancellor to a virtuoso violinist, as well
as at least one federal senator, have agreed are arbitrary and destructive, the
vice-chancellor announced in a short written statement that she was stepping
down.
It is obvious that the vice-chancellor would not have had to resign but for the
increasingly organised revolt against ANU management by thousands of academics
and their pupils, along with administrators and facilities staff. A
union-organised vote of no confidence in both the chancellor and
vice-chancellor created early momentum. Staff and students who spoke to
journalists, addressed the Senate and made confidential documents public
inspired others to do the same. A trickle of open letters, petitions and
rallies became a deluge.
Less obvious is the answer to a question that somebody posed in a town-hall
meeting called by the chancellor, who has refused to concede that she also
ought to step down, marking this uncommon occasion. Why, that person asked, had
it taken so long to get to this point when it was clear for months that change
was necessary? The question went unanswered. Yet, it is worthy of an answer,
for at least two reasons: first, it is a question that carries the weight of
the many months in which staff have been needlessly brutalised, and students
treated like chumps; second, the answer has a bearing on the order of things at
universities around Australia.
In lieu of an answer from the chancellor, here I want to offer one of my own
devising. My conjecture is that a partial explanation might be found in a set
of beliefs about the relationship between talent and effort that is
encapsulated in the notion of meritocracy. My supplementary question that
follows from this conjecture is: has meritocracy gotten the better of our
universities?"
Via Muse.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
