Melbourne Uni Lost Funding After Only Giving Honorary Doctorates To White Men Since 2019
"This event is not a true reflection of who we are as a university," the University has responded.
Melbourne University has lost one of Australia’s largest donors in medical research after all six honorary doctorates handed out at a ceremony last month were awarded to white men.
The Snow Medical Research Foundation — which has donated $24 million to the university in recent years — pulled the funding, noting that the university’s “outcomes on gender equality and diversity do not align with the values of Snow Medical”.
The decision to scrap the university’s funding also includes revoking $16 million worth of fellowships that had already been pledged. “Unfortunately, last week the University of Melbourne awarded their most prestigious award, their honorary doctorate, to six white men,” Snow Medical said in a statement.
In an internal email seen by Junkee, Vice-Chancellor Duncan Maskell argued that “degrees were also to be conferred on three women and an Indigenous man, but these eminent people were unable to join us for this event”.
Snow Medical noted that part of the reason for the funding being pulled is because honorary doctorates have only been given to white men for the last three years.
“Further, in the last three years, not a single honorary doctorate has been awarded to women or someone of non-white descent. This is unacceptable,” Snow Medical said in a statement.
Melbourne University clarified to Junkee that, in 2019, three women and three men were awarded honorary doctorates, and stressed there were no awards handed out in 2021 due to COVID.
In a lengthy internal email sent to staff on International Women’s Day, the university noted that it is not immune to “gender bias and discrimination” but is “committed to taking on these issues robustly in our community so that diversity is highly valued and celebrated”.
Throughout his email, the Vice-Chancellor argues that the decision to award the honorary doctorates at this particular ceremony exclusively to white men does not reflect the university’s views on diversity and inclusion. “We acknowledge the fact that all the recipients at this particular ceremony were men, giving a signal that we did not intend and one that does not reflect our aspirations in diversity and inclusion,” said Maskell.
“It was also the catalyst for the Snow Medical Foundation’s much-publicised decision to suspend the University from its Fellowship program. This Foundation’s response does not recognise the work happening across the University, by so many committed and hard-working people, to create a more diverse and inclusive culture.
“Examples of this work include the introduction of the Athena SWAN STEP mentoring program for academic women, the University’s own leadership development program: Academic Women in Leadership, and the numerous faculty-based initiatives designed to advance greater diversity and inclusion at the University.”
Throughout the internal email, Maskell asserts that “cultural change is slow, difficult, and at times can even appear not to be happening at all.”
“There is still much more to be done and I acknowledge that the outcomes don’t yet match our aspirations in all areas,” said Maskell.
The University of Melbourne provided the following statement on its website:
“We were advised of the decision by Snow Medical yesterday to suspend support to the University under the Snow Fellowship program. While we acknowledge the areas where we need to improve, Snow Medical has made their decision on the basis of a single honorary doctorate event. This event is not a true reflection of who we are as a university and the steps we are taking, and continue to take, to build a diverse university community, reflective of broader society.”
Photo Credit: University of Melbourne