Essay by Eric Worrall
Perhaps a reputation for trampling academic freedom has consequences.
James Cook University to cut 130 jobs to combat dramatic drop in student enrolment
ABC North Qld / By Lily Nothling and Jade Toomey
A North Queensland university is planning to slash 10 per cent of its workforce as student enrolment continues to plummet.
Key points:
- JCU plans to cut 130 jobs, about a tenth of its workforce
- It hopes to claw back millions of dollars lost by a drop in student enrolment
- The university said more redundancies could be offered in coming years
James Cook University (JCU) has revealed a proposal to cut about 130 jobs from its pool of 1,300 staff at its Townsville and Cairns campuses.
Vice Chancellor Simon Biggs said JCU had experienced a 25 per cent reduction in domestic students in past five years.
He said the job cuts would allow the university to claw back $11 million in salary costs annually.
“Simply put, our student load has been declining for some years and universities in Australia are paid according to the number of students they teach, but our staff load has not declined in the same period,” Professor Biggs said.
…
The impact on staff;
15 SEP 2022 4:11 PM AEST
James Cook University wants to slash 10 per cent of professional jobs
James Cook University has released a radical proposal which would slash 10 per cent of professional staff positions.
The Change Management Proposal (attached) puts forward cutting 130 out of 1313 professional staff jobs at the university.
The plan would make 78 staff redundant and scrap 52 unfilled positions.
A three-week consultation period closes on Friday 7 October, with a final Change Plan to be released three weeks later on 27 October.
Quotes attributable to NTEU Queensland Secretary, Michael McNally:
“This will be devastating to those people who have found out that their position is proposed to be made redundant. It is likewise devastating to those colleagues who remain behind who face the double whammy of losing friends and colleagues and having to pick up the work that is inevitably left behind.”
…
Read more: https://www.miragenews.com/james-cook-university-wants-to-slash-10-per-855365/
Why is James Cook University having such problems attracting students?
Part of the reason might be a widespread perception of JCU hostility towards academic freedom. Peter Ridd is not the first academic James Cook University was publicly accused of mistreating. Before Ridd was Bob Carter, a professor emeritus who even had his library pass stripped, apparently because of his climate skepticism.
Peter Ridd’s alleged mistreatment caused such public outrage, a new federal law was passed, to boost protection for academic freedom.
What impact to these high profile public scandals have on student perceptions? If JCU has no hesitation mistreating well known tenured professors, how do they treat junior professors and students who fall afoul of university management? People who do not yet have the stature to draw public attention to their situation? You don’t have to be a climate skeptic, to worry that one day it might be your turn to draw the attention of JCU management.
Perhaps JCU is not as diabolical as I believe – I am not a member of the JCU faculty, nor have I ever been a student there. Perhaps there is another explanation for the drop in enrolments, like difficulties finding a job in fields JCU specialises in teaching.
Whatever the truth, the optics are not good. Alleged mistreatment of professors, falling student numbers, and a new federal law to uphold academic freedom, apparently a direct response to JCU’s behaviour, do nothing to enhance James Cook University’s reputation as a good place to study or work.
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Clearly maths isn’t their strong point or they’d realise that getting rid of 52 unfilled positions won’t save them a cent.
Two academic events of interest.
https://louisianaradionetwork.com/2022/09/12/heritage-foundation-ranks-louisiana-in-top-ten-states-for-educational-freedom/
https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/In-lawsuit-UT-Austin-professor-accuses-Texas-A-M-17438036.php
Civitas Institute, originated in North Carolina.
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/06/13/ut-austin-liberty-civitas-institute/
Bob was yet another distinguished scientist to discover how merciless and petty the Big Climate enforcers can be when you cross them. A third of a century at James Cook University ended with them taking away his office, his unpaid adjunct professorship, and eventually his email address and library card. JCU’s subsequent treatment of Peter Ridd has been utterly deplorable.
These days a uni degree means nothing more than you have 4 years of Marxist training in political correctness.
I guess there are limits to demand for careers in agenda science and abusive labor practices in a hostile administrative environment.
I’m just glad I could retire from McGill U in 2012 when the wokeness was getting into an exponential phase.
Not to step on any toes, but if JCU was experiencing a shortage of students for years it is reasonable to think that Peter Ridd singled himself for culling with his unorthodox and controversial views. He was an easy target in the current environment. Not that I agree with that, but it would not make sense to fire first all the ones that agree with the consensus.
Sense and university governance being applied at the same place, same time?
When has that ever happened?
James Cook deserved to get a better university named after him than this one.
It was 1963 IIRC, that I enrolled in the Queensland University College at Townsville, joining the first group of students at this new college. It later became James Cook University. I was in the Science faculty.
In those days, I cannot recall any students being involved in social issues. It was a matter that a lot of work had to be done, so we pitched in. Second year undergrads like us volunteered to tutor first year, no fees. We were friends with our lecturers, all of mine were guests at our 1964 wedding. We mourned the loss of Jim Power, chemistry lecturer in a light plane crash. We did not know or want to know that there were exalted positions like Vice Chancellor except for their signatures on our graduation certificates.
My classic standards, we did not receive top quality degrees like Oxford grads like to skite about. Our emphasis was about the Scientific Method, honesty, attention to detail, the importance of replication and an inquiring mind. Challenge the dominant wisdom of the day, with careful evidence.
It seems that a change of some importance overtook the top of the pile at JCU. The treatments of Professors Robert Carter and Peter Ridd at the hands of people with administrative bent (but with questionable scientific ability, to judge) have been widely criticized.
Townsville was always a big country town with slow growing population. I was surprised by the experiment to create a university there. The region did not have a history of intellectual contributions.
It was not even red brick, more fibro sheet.
Sadly, its administrators have not advanced it’s stature.
Geoff S
“People who do not yet have the stature to draw public attention to their situation?”
Some of those released will probably have some interesting tales to tell.
It’s due to Global Warming….
Time for some research on the change of climate in university education?
97% of students agree.
Using a simple projection common in the CAGW community, when the student population drops to ZERO, there will still be 60% or the administration requiring pay!
I live in Cairns and my kids will not go to this so-called university and my mates kids are the same. Its local reputation is garbage.
I really doubt it’s about the Ridd situation, there may be some who wouldn’t go there because of that, but the lack of mainstream media coverage of that situation tells me most students wouldn’t have a clue about it (without actually looking into it). There has however been significant advances (outside of JCU) around online courses. I myself live 3 hours from the JCU Townsville campus (1.5h from their Cairns campus) but am enrolled at a Uni 26 hours away because it’s easier. JCU are stuck in the past, their online offerings are pathetic and no school leaver old wants to leave home anymore, it’s just too expensive.
On top of that, they really do have a focus on overseas students, and if the tourist market is anything to go by, overseas people don’t want anything to do with Australia at the moment.
Additionally, if it was due to the treatment of faculty, wouldn’t they be scrambling for faculty members, rather than having to let them go?