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Tertiary education union accuses Murdoch Uni of ‘shooting the messenger’
The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) has “condemned” Murdoch University for suing a whistle-blower who spoke out during the controversial ABC Four Corners ‘Cash Cows’ program on international students at Australian universities
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I regard it as completely unacceptable for a University to sue its own Academics for doing nothing more than speaking the Truth. Universities are supposed to be bastions of Free and Inclusive Speech, and their Academics are supposed to monitor the well-being and preparedness of their students in courses, and to speak the Truth without fear or favour.
I personally know the three Academics who were interviewed by the Four Corners programme, and two of them are my close friends and colleagues. I personally vouch for their Honesty and Integrity, and I know that their concerns for the well-being of their students are genuine and well-founded. I have nothing but respect for these Academics, as people and as scholars of international standing, and I applaud their Courage and their Honest Concern for the well-being of other people.
I call on the University to drop this legal action, which seems to me to be purely punitive, and to accept its own share of responsibility in this matter.