Page 2278 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 9 May 2012
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announcement about belt tightening across the whole institution to the tune of $40 million. On 1 May the Canberra Times reported:
Professor Young yesterday wrote to staff saying efficiencies would be sought in administration over the next two years and he was seeking job losses through natural attrition, early retirement and voluntary redundancies.
The article went on to say:
… Professor Young said he had listened to what the university community had told him and decided to change his approach.
The article quoted Professor Young as saying:
That’s why you have a consultation process—if you’re not going to listen to people, there is no point in having one …
Having lulled ANU staff and students, not to mention the general community, into a false sense of security, it was just two days later, on 3 May, that we read:
Approximately 32 staff have been left in limbo and their positions declared vacant at the Australian National University’s School of Music as the university announces a major restructure of the school and the Bachelor of Music degree aimed at cutting costs.
This is a clutching-at-straws strategy. First it is announced that the ANU will slash and burn to save $40 million. Then that is withdrawn. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief. Then an announcement is made that the slash and burn will be directed at only one element of the ANU.
Let me outline, perhaps to enlighten Professor Young, some of the things the ANU School of Music does. Firstly, and most obviously, it is a music educator—and not just any music educator; it is one that is highly regarded across the world. In 1988, for example, the then Canberra School of Music was host to the 18th world conference of the International Society for Music Education. Fifteen hundred musicians and 1,500 delegates came from all over the world to Canberra for a 10-day conference that included concerts, master classes, lectures and a range of other music education activities. All were open to teachers, students and the general public. Many venues around Canberra were used for the purpose.
That conference was one of the most successful conferences ever run by the International Society for Music Education. It was financially successful, being the first ever to return a surplus, enough to pay capitation fees to the international body, but also to make a contribution to the local organisation to enable it to extend its contribution to the local music community.
More importantly, the 18th conference of the International Society for Music Education was successful scholastically and publicly. As well, the School of Music was lauded widely by some of the world’s top educators as one of the globe’s premier music schools. Its world-class facilities, courses and teaching all drew unqualified
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