{"id":137902,"date":"2025-09-12T14:47:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T14:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/137902\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T14:47:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T14:47:13","slug":"disagreement-over-way-forward-for-australian-national-university-after-genevieve-bell-resigns-as-vice-chancellor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/137902\/","title":{"rendered":"Disagreement over way forward for Australian National University after Genevieve Bell resigns as vice-chancellor"},"content":{"rendered":"

The resignation of Australian National University (ANU) vice-chancellor Genevieve Bell has sparked furious debate over whether it constitutes enough of a “reset” for the institution after months of controversy.<\/p>\n

Some have called for calm and stability from now on, while others have argued a true reset cannot happen while chancellor Julie Bishop remains in her role<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Professor Bell’s resignation prompted Ms Bishop to tell reporters there were “no grounds” for her to step aside.<\/a><\/p>\n

She has rejected bullying allegations levelled at her, and has committed to overseeing the hiring of a new vice-chancellor.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Genevieve Bell resigned as vice-chancellor of the Australian National University after a period of controversial cost-cutting decisions. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

For second-year ANU music student Connor Moloney, the resignation of Professor Bell<\/a> brings little comfort.<\/p>\n

“Bell stepping down is a huge win for us but our degree is still not safe, we still don’t know what next year looks like,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It has been super stressful, we are all really tired \u2026 there is a lot more to be done.<\/p>\n

“ANU is a school that I always thought about coming to, it was always a bit of a dream. I don’t really feel proud to say that I am at the ANU at the moment.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Connor Moloney is in the second year of a music degree at the Australian National University. (ABC News: Adam Kennedy)<\/p>\n

He said the proposal for change at the School of Music, which would see it absorbed into another department, has students worried.<\/p>\n

“Everyone is looking at other unis. I know a lot of people just put in auditions for Monash last week to try and transfer for their last year or their last two years,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It is quite disheartening to see that after we spent so long building such a beautiful community that people are now having to move because the education we are here for isn’t being offered.”<\/p>\n

How one of the world’s most prestigious universities fell from grace<\/a><\/p>\n

The prestige of the Australian National University is fast fading.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Australian National University Students’ Association (ANUSA) president Will Burfoot said the resignation of Professor Bell was welcome but more needed to be done.<\/p>\n

“Most people are able to acknowledge that the issues at this university are not contained to one person, they are far deeper than that,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Over the past year, we have seen the quality of our education decline and we have seen a real culture of fear and anxiety on campus.<\/p>\n

“People love this university, the ANU is an incredibly important institution, but the sense among students is one of betrayal and disappointment that the university we are currently studying at isn’t what we thought it would be.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Will Burfoot says there has been a culture of fear and anxiety on campus. (ABC News: Adam Kennedy)<\/p>\n

He said governance issues at the university needed to be urgently addressed.<\/p>\n

“Our governance arrangements are broken and they need to be fixed,” he said.<\/p>\n

“People don’t have confidence that students are being involved in the decision-making process, that their voices are being heard.<\/p>\n

“‘I think the critical decisions that are going to take place over the next couple of weeks need to focus on bringing the community together and rebuilding trust.”<\/p>\n

More needed to be done for ‘reset’, former school head says<\/p>\n

Peter Tregear, a former head of the ANU’s School of Music, said he did not believe Professor Bell’s departure would be enough to force a “reset”.<\/p>\n

He said he had “concerns” about Ms Bishop remaining as chancellor.<\/p>\n

\"Peter<\/p>\n

Former ANU School of Music head Peter Tregear has criticised the plan to dissolve the school. (Supplied: Peter Hislop)<\/p>\n

“I think at some point it behoves people in these governance positions to take personal responsibility,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I think it would hardly be controversial to say the ANU is in a bit of a mess and I do think that it does need a bit of a reset and a refresh.<\/p>\n

“You would say that her position [Ms Bishop’s] is certainly questionable and I think we’re at the point now where the institution does need a kind of reset.”<\/p>\n

He said the challenges and issues at the ANU were not “a one-person problem with a one-person solution”.<\/p>\n

“There’s been a bit of a flip over the last 10, 20, possibly even 30 years where the sort of economic drivers have become, in effect, the mission of the university sector,” he said.<\/p>\n

ANU needs to work with staff, students: Nixon<\/p>\n

Former Victorian police commissioner Christine Nixon investigated the now-disestablished ANU College of Health and Medicine and found a dysfunctional culture of bullying, sexism, unfair workloads and nepotism.<\/p>\n

She said today that staff and students must have a say in plans to improve the university’s future.<\/p>\n

“To go forward and then think through, collectively, I think will be the most important part \u2014 how to achieve the goals and how to get it on a more steady place,” she said.<\/p>\n

“You do have to recognise how incredibly smart the students are, the staff are.<\/p>\n

“And you’ve got to really work with them, offer them opportunities to be part of everything.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Former Victorian police commissioner Professor Christine Nixon says she hopes Genevieve Bell’s resignation will serve as a “reset” for the university. (ABC News: Margaret Burin)<\/p>\n

ACT independent senator David Pocock has also called on the federal government to intervene in the situation at the ANU, but Professor Nixon said that was already occurring.<\/p>\n

Among other things, the ANU is under investigation by the higher education regulator, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA), over concerns about the university’s operations.<\/p>\n

Bell’s resignation unlikely to satisfy calls for ANU leadership change<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite Chancellor Julie Bishop saying the ANU has “turned a page” with the resignation of vice-chancellor Genevieve Bell, many argue that will be impossible if she stays.<\/p>\n

“Well, I think what the Commonwealth is already doing is having a review with TEQSA,” Professor Nixon said.<\/p>\n

“There’s a financial review for the audit office. So, in that sense, I think the federal government is doing that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The other issue about the federal government is their power \u2026 they don’t really have power actually, except the idea of the public interest for them to step in.”<\/p>\n

She said it was time for the interim vice-chancellor, deans and unions to work together on a “plan for the future”.<\/p>\n

Professor advises critics to ‘redirect’ anger at government<\/p>\n

Professor of International Security Intelligence Studies John Blaxland said he thought it was “understandable” that Professor Bell had stood down after months of pressure.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Professor John Blaxland says Genevieve Bell did not deserve the backlash she received for overseeing the ANU’s cost-saving measures. (ABC News: Mark Moore)<\/p>\n

“The pressure has been really quite inhuman really. It’s been building and so it’s understandable that she’s made the call,” Professor Blaxland said.<\/p>\n

“Genevieve Bell was given what is effectively a poisoned chalice \u2014 she faced a perfect storm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The university had spent half a billion dollars renovating it, then suffered a hailstorm from hell worth another half a billion dollars.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It then suffered a catastrophic loss of student revenue with COVID, which was then perpetrated further with the government caps on foreign student recruitment.”<\/p>\n

He called for more investment from the federal government into the university, arguing it had taken a “completely hands-off approach” to resourcing the sector.<\/p>\n

He also called for “calm” and said the “emotional tone” that had been lent to the public discourse was “really unhelpful”.<\/p>\n

“Redirect your energies, folks. Redirect it at the people who aren’t funding the university sector properly,” he said.<\/p>\n

But federal member for Canberra Alicia Payne said the university had been “poorly managed”.<\/p>\n

“The ANU is in crisis at the moment and clearly a reset was required,” she said.<\/p>\n

“The ‘Renew ANU’ process has been poorly managed and it’s having an impact on the reputation of ANU, this incredibly important national institution and institution within our Canberra community, but with really devastating impacts on people and also capacity of the university that’s been built up over many, many years.”<\/p>\n

Ms Payne said it would be “wrong” for one person to bear all the responsibility.<\/p>\n

“There needs to be further work done to build trust within the ANU community,” she said.<\/p>\n

Labor ministers have sought a meeting with Ms Bishop, she said, to ask about the next steps “to fix this situation”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The resignation of Australian National University (ANU) vice-chancellor Genevieve Bell has sparked furious debate over whether it constitutes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2666,17704,64,63,40586,40316,2667,16850,61887,180,49870,49871,2668,44,59645,8688,11457,5327,94763],"class_list":["post-137902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-act","tag-anu","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-national-university","tag-bullying","tag-canberra","tag-cuts","tag-genevieve-bell","tag-jobs","tag-julie-bishop","tag-liz-allen","tag-local-stories","tag-news","tag-resignation","tag-resigns","tag-staff","tag-students","tag-vice-chancellor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}