The University of Queensland branch of the National Tertiary Education Union has told the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation it isn’t welcome at St Lucia, except on conditions the union approves of.

Not that Ramsay has asked, it is said to be waiting for the University of Sydney to decide whether it wants to welcome it. But the union leadership at UoQ has laid down terms just in case, specifically “threshold principles of university autonomy and academic freedom” must be agreed when any negotiations begin.

The union also specifies the university must make appointments and programmes must be approved by Academic Board.  And in particular Ramsay would not allowed to vet anything or anybody; “any suggestion of surveillance of teaching or ideological monitoring of staff’s teaching or research is completely unacceptable and in violation of principles of academic freedom. No agreement should be entered into that allows for such inhibitions of academic freedom.” As to why this is all necessary; “US universities which have entered into sponsorship arrangements with outside donors who have sought thereby to exercise an ideological influence over the institutions have suffered serious reputational damage.”

Good-o, but as UoQ readers point suggest, does the NTEU really think management would not have worked out these deal-breakers itself.