tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/university-of-sydney-2336/articlesUniversity of Sydney – The Conversation2023-07-21T09:21:20Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2101352023-07-21T09:21:20Z2023-07-21T09:21:20ZVirginia Woolf’s copy of her first novel was found in a University of Sydney library. What do her newly digitised notes reveal?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538690/original/file-20230721-19-grm0uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=32%2C8%2C5431%2C3628&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Virginia Woolf's own, marked up, copy of her first novel: newly digitised.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">The University of Sydney/Stefanie Zingsheim</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of just two copies of Virginia Woolf’s first novel, <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-voyage-out-9780141919850">The Voyage Out</a> (1915), annotated with her handwriting and preparations to revise it for a US edition, was recently rediscovered in the <a href="https://www.library.sydney.edu.au/collections/rare-books/">Fisher Library Rare Books Collection</a> at the University of Sydney. </p>
<p>Purchased in the late 1970s, it had been misfiled with the science books in the Rare Books collection. Simon Cooper, a metadata services officer, found it in 2021 and immediately understood the value of his discovery.</p>
<p>The Sydney copy, which is the only one available for the public to view, has now been digitised. It’s <a href="https://digital.library.sydney.edu.au/nodes/view/13658">available online</a> – allowing scholars and readers to study and consider Woolf’s editorial interventions. </p>
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<span class="caption">Virginia Woolf’s annotated copy of The Voyage Out is one of two in the world, and the only one publicly available.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The University of Sydney/Stefanie Zingsheim</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>The Voyage Out follows Rachel Vinrace and a mismatched collection of characters embarking on her father’s ship to South America. Woolf’s story grapples with self-discovery and satirises Edwardian life.</p>
<p>It almost finished her writing career. She struggled through years of drafts, eventually abandoning the first version in 1912: it was titled Melymbrosia, named after the food of the Greek gods. Woolf’s ideas on colonialism, women’s suffrage and gender relations were considered too dangerous for a first-time novelist.</p>
<p>Over the next three years, she composed the (retitled) novel we have today, published by her half-brother <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Duckworth">Gerald Duckworth</a> in London in 1915. At this pivotal moment, she began her diary and suffered a significant mental breakdown, losing the rest of the year to illness.</p>
<p>In preparation for the novel’s first US edition, published by George H. Doran in New York in 1920, Woolf carried out a series of revisions to her text. Two copies of the first UK edition of the novel contain the evidence of this process, with Woolf’s handwritten annotations and typed page fragments pasted into each book.</p>
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Read more:
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<h2>Why revise?</h2>
<p>What motivated Woolf to revise her text? She made revisions in the aftermath of her breakdown, and after her literary career was revived with her second novel, <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/night-and-day-9780140185683">Night and Day</a>, published in 1919.</p>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Virginia Woolf(Picture: George Charles Beresford)/Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
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<p>Scholars have suggested she wished to place some distance between her own psychological stresses and the anguish of her primary character, Rachel Vinrace. Both Woolf and her chief protagonist had domineering father figures, had lost their mothers at a relatively young age, and were denied a formal education – instead being schooled at home. Laying out her character’s mental life so starkly caused Woolf some discomfort. A new edition may have provided an opportunity to reconsider.</p>
<p>This is a plausible theory. But does the evidence in Woolf’s corrections bear it out? There are two main places in the text where the majority of changes are indicated: both are pivotal moments in the narrative.</p>
<p>The first set of changes occurs in Chapter XVI, where the conversation between Vinrace and Terence Hewet – the pair occupying the romantic plotline of the novel – is altered to reduce access to Rachel’s inner thoughts. Entire paragraphs are replaced by typed text pasted directly onto the page, where the narrator studies Rachel without the guarantee of understanding her.</p>
<p>This has the effect of diluting some uncomfortable autobiographical elements in the text, but also marks a significant shift in the way narration accesses the minds of characters. </p>
<p>The narrator is bounded by the limits of character itself: the depths of Rachel’s subjectivity are unknown even to her. This bears the mark of modern psychology and <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-dangerous-method-in-defence-of-freuds-psychoanalysis-5989">Freud’s theory</a> of the unconscious, in the years before and during the composition of the novel.</p>
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<h2>A modernist revolution</h2>
<p>This innovation signals a profound shift in modernist fiction, which began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is characterised by a self-conscious break with traditional ways of writing. </p>
<p>The unknowability of Woolf’s characters begins with the dark regions of the mind. No longer in the realm of realism, where thoughts and actions are knowable (and often transmitted by an omniscient narrator), instead the narrator provides a portrait of the complex modern person, who responds to the world in ways not fully accountable by reason.</p>
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<p>The other significant set of revisions in the Sydney text arise in Chapter XXV, in which Rachel and Terence attempt to navigate the future of their nascent relationship – which also marks Rachel’s descent into fever and her decline, ending in death. </p>
<p>Long passages are marked for deletion (although none were actually deleted in the first US edition). They are largely concerned with Rachel’s fevered consciousness and Terence’s attitudes towards romantic love and its effects on an artistic life.</p>
<p>Woolf again may have wished to put distance between the narrator and the intimate thoughts of her characters, invoking instead a space of ambiguity, where words and gestures are to be interpreted by readers rather than analysed in full light by a knowing narrative consciousness.</p>
<p>Woolf’s first novel straddles the conventions of realism inherited from the 19th century and the new, experimental fiction of the 20th. The Sydney text tells an important part of this story. </p>
<p>It shines a light on Woolf’s developing technique and its evolution into the free indirect style for which she became famous in later novels such as <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/mrs-dalloway-9780143136132">Mrs Dalloway</a>, <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/to-the-lighthouse-vintage-classics-woolf-series-9781784870836">To the Lighthouse</a> and <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-waves-vintage-classics-woolf-series-9781784870843">The Waves</a>.</p>
<p>Woolf was at the centre of the revolution in the novel form during the time of modernism. The evidence is there in her annotated copy of The Voyage Out.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210135/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Byron has been the recipient of one Discovery Grant and two fellowships from the Australian Research Council, most recently a Future Fellowship from 2017 to 2020.</span></em></p>A Sydney librarian recently discovered a misfiled lost gem in the stacks: Virginia Woolf’s own copy of her first novel, with handwritten notes for revision. An expert explores what they tell us.Mark Byron, Professor, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1500862020-12-29T20:41:53Z2020-12-29T20:41:53Z‘A world view that sees people rather than nations’: the legacy of Sydney Uni’s International House<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370630/original/file-20201122-21-4b0or2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=890%2C70%2C2200%2C1605&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gregory Houseman</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The end of an era is something of a cliché, but it’s the only way to describe the <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/international-house/news/2020/06/04/update-on-the-future-of-international-house.html">closure</a> of Sydney University’s <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/international-house/">International House</a> at the end of this year.</p>
<p>Prominently <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/a2hryqaDC3cANDUg6">located</a> on the corner of City Road and Cleveland Street, in Darlington, Sydney, it’s been home to many thousands of university students, both international and local, <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/international-house/news/2018/07/17/a-brief-history-of-international-house.html">since 1967</a>. </p>
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<p>One of those local students was me. International House was my home for three years during the 1970s. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373716/original/file-20201208-19-kafzue.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373716/original/file-20201208-19-kafzue.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373716/original/file-20201208-19-kafzue.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373716/original/file-20201208-19-kafzue.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373716/original/file-20201208-19-kafzue.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373716/original/file-20201208-19-kafzue.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373716/original/file-20201208-19-kafzue.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373716/original/file-20201208-19-kafzue.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The author (right) relaxing with friends in a resident’s room in 1975.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gregory Houseman</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>My career as an academic led me to jobs in the US, Australia and eventually Leeds in the UK, but I still have fond memories and many friends made at Sydney IH.</p>
<h2>A home away from home</h2>
<p>The accommodation model of residential halls like International House provides the opportunity to socialise daily with a broad spectrum of people from different countries studying different courses.</p>
<p>The friendships made by those who have lived there are of enormous value to both the individual and society. What you learn from interacting with the kind of diverse population living there can equip you for living in a globalised world, better than anything you learn in class.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-countries-should-leverage-universities-as-a-new-force-in-global-diplomacy-138717">Why countries should leverage universities as a new force in global diplomacy</a>
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<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CDdtQAVhGCP","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>International House at Sydney University has its origins in a different era, when the <a href="https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/white-australia-policy">White Australia policy</a> was only recently discarded.</p>
<p>The federal government was only then getting around to constitutional amendments that protected the rights of the original Australians. International students were relatively few.</p>
<p>Some high-profile initiatives such as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/colombo-plan-an-initiative-that-brought-australia-and-asia-closer-3590">Colombo Plan</a>, an intergovernmental program designed to strengthen relationships within Asia and the Pacific, were in place and Australian universities had begun to attract privately funded foreign students.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/colombo-plan-an-initiative-that-brought-australia-and-asia-closer-3590">Colombo Plan: An initiative that brought Australia and Asia closer</a>
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<p>The universities saw the many benefits that could accrue from attracting foreign students, in particular the opportunity for students from other countries to interact with Australian students and to learn about each other’s cultures and attitudes.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373530/original/file-20201208-24-1dukca6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An international group of people dressed in traditional Greek costumes." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373530/original/file-20201208-24-1dukca6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373530/original/file-20201208-24-1dukca6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373530/original/file-20201208-24-1dukca6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373530/original/file-20201208-24-1dukca6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373530/original/file-20201208-24-1dukca6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373530/original/file-20201208-24-1dukca6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373530/original/file-20201208-24-1dukca6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Times gone by: meet the ‘Greek’ dancers on one of the International Night celebrations at International House.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of Sydney</span></span>
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<p>International House was an initiative to support that goal. It allowed foreign and Australian students to share the university experience at a deeper level than is possible when you only meet other students in formal lectures and tutorials. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/international-house/alumni-and-community/alumni-association.html">alumni of International House</a> are testament to the many life-long friendships formed in this environment.</p>
<h2>It started in New York</h2>
<p>The idea of an International House came originally from Columbia University in New York in the 1920s. It was <a href="https://www.ihouse-nyc.org/about-student-housing-in-ny/our-history/">conceived by Harry Edmonds</a>, a far-sighted man who resolved to overcome the barriers and isolation faced by foreign students in New York.</p>
<p>As Edmonds <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1979/07/08/archives/harry-edmonds-who-established-international-house-is-dead-at-96-a.html">told the New York Times</a> in 1979:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>One frosty morning [in 1909] I was going up the steps of the Columbia library when I met a Chinese student coming down. I said, ‘Good morning.’ As I passed on, I noticed he stopped. I went back.</p>
<p>He said, ‘Thank you for speaking to me. I’ve been in New York three weeks and you are the first person who has spoken to me.’</p>
<p>With my wife’s insistence, I agreed I had to do something.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The support of prominent philanthropists like John D. Rockefeller junior helped Edmonds <a href="https://www.ihouse-nyc.org/about-student-housing-in-ny/our-history/">transform his idea of an International House into a reality</a>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The first International House in New York (meet the Australian at 3'33").</span></figcaption>
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<p>The International House model has influenced the lives of many thousands of students, first at Columbia University but later in many cities around the world where the concept was adopted and thrived. </p>
<p>At Sydney University in the 1960s, the then deputy principal, <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/arms/archives/media/me_objects/264">Wilson Harold Maze</a>, <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/international-house/news/2018/07/17/a-brief-history-of-international-house.html">championed the concept</a> but it was only realised with major sponsorship from Rotary International.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373531/original/file-20201208-15-127ega4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Harold Maze and four other people looking at a model of a building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373531/original/file-20201208-15-127ega4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373531/original/file-20201208-15-127ega4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373531/original/file-20201208-15-127ega4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373531/original/file-20201208-15-127ega4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373531/original/file-20201208-15-127ega4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373531/original/file-20201208-15-127ega4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373531/original/file-20201208-15-127ega4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Harold Maze (centre) and guests with an early model of International House in 1965.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of Sydney</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Award-winning architect <a href="http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bunning-walter-ralston-9623">Walter Bunning</a> designed the distinctive buildings, and the house officially opened its doors to students in 1967 under director Graeme de Graaf. </p>
<h2>Where the world comes together</h2>
<p>International House is more than just a student dormitory. Going to live there opened my eyes to a world view that sees people rather than nations, and cuts away much of the baggage associated with nationalism.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373727/original/file-20201208-13-s7e5te.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A group of people sitting and laughing." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373727/original/file-20201208-13-s7e5te.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373727/original/file-20201208-13-s7e5te.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373727/original/file-20201208-13-s7e5te.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373727/original/file-20201208-13-s7e5te.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373727/original/file-20201208-13-s7e5te.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373727/original/file-20201208-13-s7e5te.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373727/original/file-20201208-13-s7e5te.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some of the early residents at International House in 1967.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of Sydney</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Meals were taken together in a common dining hall where any resident could talk daily with others from around the world who were taking courses in anything that the university offered.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/B4vt3pspNxf","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>This daily give-and-take provided for me the essence of the university experience. One of the things you learn in a place like International House is that people basically have the same range of needs, wants, capabilities, problems and potential, wherever they come from.</p>
<p>At a time when populist politics too easily leads people to label others as different, or threatening, or somehow less good or less deserving, such institutions are more important than they have ever been.</p>
<p>Without this kind of environment, a foreign student can feel completely isolated, or fall too easily into the habit of mixing socially only with students who have come from the same country. They then never really experience what the host country has to offer.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-love-australia-3-things-international-students-want-australians-to-know-139857">'I love Australia': 3 things international students want Australians to know</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CFf5f9UhY2A","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>If you go to university with the objective of just learning the dry technical details encapsulated in the course you enrolled in, you miss a huge opportunity. </p>
<h2>So what happens next?</h2>
<p>Why then is International House <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/international-house/news/2020/06/04/update-on-the-future-of-international-house.html">closing</a> on December 31 2020?</p>
<p>Those award-winning buildings now have some serious maintenance issues and are too small for what is required to keep residence fees at a competitive level. A redevelopment of the site is planned.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VAxbvK56Vds?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A candlelight and closure ceremony held at International House in November.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We expect to see in coming years a new, larger complex on the same site. It should further develop the essential role of International House, providing a home and learning environment to many future generations of students who will end up working in Australia and around the world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150086/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gregory Houseman is Emeritus Professor of Geophysics at the University of Leeds. He is an alumnus of Sydney University International House (1975-77). Since 2018 he has also served on the Council of Sydney University International House, and is currently deputy Chair of that Council.</span></em></p>The residential hall for international and local university students equipped them for a globalised world, more than anything they could learn in a class.Gregory Houseman, Emeritus Professor of Geophysics, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1280522019-11-29T04:57:18Z2019-11-29T04:57:18ZBrilliant creature: Clive James spent his salad days in good company<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/304393/original/file-20191129-45193-1lbkcbs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=18%2C7%2C1691%2C1487&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The University of Sydney in the late 1950s was full of bright young things who'd go on to shape Australia's cultural scene.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">UTS</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many remember Clive James as the wry television presenter, but long before his small screen success, he honed his performing and writing skills at the University of Sydney. </p>
<p>Arriving as a 17-year-old fresher in 1957, James found himself surrounded by an exceptionally talented group of young people including, among others, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/i-held-clive-s-hand-and-he-said-we-ve-known-each-other-for-60-years-20191128-p53f2e.html">Bruce Beresford</a>, <a href="https://www.bellshakespeare.com.au/about-us/history/">John Bell</a>, <a href="https://belvoir.com.au/john-gaden/">John Gaden</a>, <a href="https://www.portrait.gov.au/people/leo-schofield-1935">Leo Schofield</a>, <a href="http://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/st-john-madeleine-13361">Madeline St John</a>, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0924103/">Richard Wherrett</a>, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/ken-horler-man-of-theatre-civil-libertarian-and-barrister-20180921-p5055e.html">Ken Horler</a>, <a href="http://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/hughes-robert-studley-17325">Robert Hughes</a> and, soon after, <a href="https://ethics.org.au/big-thinker-germaine-greer/">Germaine Greer</a>. </p>
<p>As James himself recognised, they were the lucky beneficiaries of a generous Commonwealth Scholarship Scheme: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Menzies educated the whole generation that would later on vilify his memory. That made all the difference as we were all at university. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>It was right time, right place, and these students revitalised drama on campus, drawing the attention of mainstream critics with their stylish productions of the classics, and some of the most innovative contemporary drama from England and Europe, in addition to the irreverent, political and satirical annual university revues they themselves wrote and staged.</p>
<h2>In revues</h2>
<p>James was a prolific writer, contributing a steady stream of articles, poems and reviews to the student newspaper, Honi Soit. He documented the torrent of productions, including the world stage premiere of Beckett’s radio play All That Fall, Leo Schofield’s somewhat subversive production of HMS Pinafore, and he especially loved Ken Horler’s direction of Capek’s satirical Insect World, singling out Rosaleen Smyth as “a star” in the making. </p>
<p>“I can think of no other thing to say about her that could convey the way I see this actress,” wrote James, although as he was well known to be smitten with Smyth, his journalistic objectivity was shaky at best. </p>
<p>By 1958 he had launched himself into writing for the university revues: his skits were so good that they were recycled in revues for years to come. </p>
<p>His funny take on the Helen of Troy myth featured in the 1960 revue. In it actor Jenny Towndrow burst onto the stage (“like a nuclear explosion” according to Honi Soit), as Cassandra, singing:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Zippy de do dah</p>
<p>Zippy de eh</p>
<p>I’ve had a hint of a horrible day</p>
<p>Hordes of destruction heading our way</p>
<p>Zippy de do dah</p>
<p>Zippy de eh… </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Having completed her calamitous prophesy she skipped off again, and Priam and Hecuba deadpanned:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Priam: She’s a gloomy girl.</p>
<p>Hecuba: Never liked to play with the other children.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Inherent vice</h2>
<p>In 1961, James not only directed the revue, Wet Blankets, but also wrote eight of its 14 skits. He had, according to his contemporaries, very clear ideas on how his work should be performed – indeed, some believed he wanted to perform <em>all</em> his own work himself.</p>
<p>James was keenly aware of the powerful lure of the stage. The previous year the Sydney University Players staged an ambitious season of plays, with profits being donated to the Sydney Opera House Building Fund. </p>
<p>Schofield directed the Australian premiere of Brecht’s Good Woman of Setzuan, and Horler (later one of the founders, along with Bell, of the Nimrod Theatre) created a highly acclaimed production of Twelfth Night, starring Bell as Malvolio and Gaden as Sir Toby Belch. But the season kicked off in a city theatre, with Lysistrata. </p>
<p>In this classic Greek comedy, set in the Trojan Wars, the womenfolk deny their fighting men sex as a strategy to end the wars. This “sex theme” attracted the attention of the state censor, who two years later would ban one of Bruce Beresford’s early student films, It Droppeth As the Gentle Rain, for obscenity. </p>
<p>Two policemen dutifully attended the first performance of Lysistrata but no further action was taken. On the second night of the season, with the vice squad safely out of the way, James bounced on stage as a Spartan herald – with a large, rolled scroll strategically angled under his very short Grecian tunic. James revelled in the audience’s delighted reaction. </p>
<p>One-time girlfriend Jill Kitson (who became an ABC broadcaster), was also in the cast, and vows this was the moment from which James set out to publicly perform as part of his brilliant career. Writing decades later, Schofield reflected that those who had seen the production “recognised early two … of Clive’s ruling passions, sex and showbiz”.</p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">James was among the Brilliant Creatures who led the cultural revolution of the 1960s.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Lasting legacy</h2>
<p>The friendships and collaborations formed while television was in its infancy have flourished for over six decades and enriched cultural life in Australia and beyond.</p>
<p>In an interview for our <a href="https://www.currency.com.au/books/history-and-criticism/the-ripples-before-the-new-wave/">book</a> The Ripples Before the New Wave: Drama at the University of Sydney 1957-63, James modestly told Robyn Dalton and myself he was convinced: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>One day we’ll all be remembered, if we are, because we once knew Madeleine St John. She was the genius; we didn’t know it at the time. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>St John, the first Australian nominated for the Booker Prize, wrote a series of sparkling novels James loved. Her book Women in Black follows the lives of a group of department store employees in 1959 Sydney and includes a main character based on another of James’ university friends. James recommended it to Beresford who optioned the film rights. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/304397/original/file-20191129-95221-1rnsvcm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/304397/original/file-20191129-95221-1rnsvcm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/304397/original/file-20191129-95221-1rnsvcm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304397/original/file-20191129-95221-1rnsvcm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304397/original/file-20191129-95221-1rnsvcm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304397/original/file-20191129-95221-1rnsvcm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304397/original/file-20191129-95221-1rnsvcm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304397/original/file-20191129-95221-1rnsvcm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The character of Lisa (Angourie Rice) in Ladies in Black was based on Colleen Olliffe (Chesternan) – a university friend of James, Beresford and St John.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6684884/mediaviewer/rm1313174016">IMDB</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Beresford’s acclaimed 2018 film, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6684884/">Ladies in Black</a>, is a loving tribute to the era when this group of young people were taking their first steps in their adult lives. </p>
<p>James’ contributions then, and since, will ensure that he too, will be long and fondly remembered.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/128052/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Ginters received grants from the University of Sydney, the Australasian Drama Theatre and Performance Studies Association and the Chancellor's Committee (University of Sydney) which contributed to the research and publication of The Ripples Before the New Wave (co-written with Robyn Dalton), on which this article draws.</span></em></p>Clive James’ brilliant career began as an undergraduate at the University of Sydney in 1957, where he first honed his skills as a performer and writer.Laura Ginters, Senior Lecturer, Department of Theatre and Performance Studies, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/664842016-10-05T19:16:31Z2016-10-05T19:16:31ZWhy do we still hand out honorary academic titles?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140433/original/image-20161005-15896-puv7wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Is it time to do away with honorary titles?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dan Himbrechts/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There was a big kerfuffle at Sydney University last week, when former Prime Minister John Howard was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/sep/28/john-howards-honorary-doctorate-from-sydney-university-scandalous">awarded an honorary doctorate</a>. </p>
<p>Some people feel that handing out doctorates to people who do not earn them devalues the degrees people do earn. In the case of John Howard, some argued that if honours are to be granted, they should be given to people with a better public record.</p>
<h2>What is an honorary doctorate, anyway?</h2>
<p>Honorary doctorates are just one of the many honorary degrees that universities can award, though they appear to be the one everyone likes best – possibly an honorary Bachelor of Arts (BA) seems a little shabby. </p>
<p>An honorary degree acknowledges someone who a university committee deems worth honouring, by offering them a special (albeit mostly symbolic) position, in the university community.</p>
<p>A degree that is awarded <em>honoris causa</em> (because Latin boosts snootiness) has never conferred the right to use the degree. </p>
<p>The public can rest assured that there are not medical doctors, veterinarians, accountants or lawyers plying their trade without actual qualifications. </p>
<p>This need for the public to trust university degrees is important. It means that it is considered a shocking <em>faux pas</em> to call oneself a “doctor” on the basis of an honorary doctorate. Don’t expect to see anyone refer to “Dr John Howard” anytime soon. </p>
<p>This does not make it impossible. A handful of honorary doctorate holders have attempted to actually use their title, including one of the Founding Fathers of the US, Benjamin Franklin, who was <a href="http://forumonpublicpolicy.com/summer08papers/archivesummer08/ruck.pdf">awarded his honorary doctorate in 1756</a>. </p>
<p>When this happens, the scholarly community averts its gaze in embarrassment. That may not sound like such a terrible fate, but for the types that are awarded honorary degrees, it kind of is.</p>
<h2>How did these come about?</h2>
<p>Universities have been giving honorary degrees for more than 500 years. </p>
<p>It started out as a form of mutual patronage, offering privileges to those who might return the favour to the institution through funding or political support. As was perhaps obvious at the University of Sydney last week, this late-medieval system is pretty much still intact.</p>
<p>It is surprising that universities have retained this wanton display of partiality. </p>
<p>Historians and philosophers say that, for more than 200 years, universities have done what they could to hide their tendency to make subjective judgements in support of their own vested interests or in the interests of their class. </p>
<p>The belief that universities embody objectivity gives them authority in society. The idea that degrees are only awarded on the basis of merit is central to the legitimacy universities claim. Honorary degrees seem to contradict all that.</p>
<p>Perhaps it is for this reason that in recent years, universities have given more extensive justifications for honorary degrees. </p>
<p>They argue that honorary degrees acknowledge public goods of the type they also claim universities embody. The type of recipients granted honorary degrees sometimes supports this claim – but sometimes, they do not.</p>
<h2>Who gets honorary doctorates?</h2>
<p>Crikey has made a terrific <a href="https://www.crikey.com.au/2005/07/01/the-great-honorary-doctorate-list/">list</a> of people who have received honorary degrees in Australia. </p>
<p>The list includes a range of domestic and international political figures, some who have evidently been honoured in exchange for political or financial favour. </p>
<p>There are also sporting heroes, prompting a number of quips from university types wondering when one of our lot will be awarded a reciprocal Honorary Brownlow Medal. </p>
<p>By contrast to some of these perhaps questionable decisions, some honorary awards seem truly inspired. </p>
<p>At my graduation, an honorary doctorate was awarded to the violinist, Richard Tognetti. At the University of Western Australia, the honorary doctorate given to Tim Minchin was rewarded with possibly the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoEezZD71sc">best graduation speech</a> in a millennium of university history.</p>
<figure>
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</figure>
<h2>Should this practice be discontinued?</h2>
<p>Beliefs about honorary degrees reflect the contested ways that the university is perceived. </p>
<p>Those who claim that honours go against “the idea of the university” forget that there has never been just one idea of the university. </p>
<p>Old traditions with Latin names make it seem that the university’s values are eternal and universal, but they are not. </p>
<p>Those who like tradition and appreciate esteem will love the habit of giving honorary awards. People holding radically egalitarian views on merit will not. </p>
<p>Some who oppose Howard’s award claim that the university is for the public good and that honorary degrees should reflect this. </p>
<p>I share their wish that universities focus on the public good, though a thousand years of university history suggests that even when they do work for the common good, elite institutions will often look to their own vested interests first.</p>
<p>Honorary degrees expose all this messiness, which may be the last thing left in their favour.</p>
<p>•<em><strong>Correction: the piece incorrectly stated that Benjamin Franklin was a US president. This has been changed to “one of the Founding Fathers of the US”</strong></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66484/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hannah Forsyth does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The decision to award former Prime Minister John Howard an honorary doctorate was criticised. So what are honorary titles - and why do we still have them?Hannah Forsyth, Lecturer in History, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/427472015-06-05T03:53:16Z2015-06-05T03:53:16ZCurriculum reform at Sydney uni - separating the glitz from the grit<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84028/original/image-20150605-3387-1pca72j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The big news here is the changes to culture and curriculum, not degree length. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dylansworld/16980212029/">Dylan's World/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The University of Sydney has announced an overhaul of its undergraduate teaching. A <a href="https://intranet.sydney.edu.au/content/dam/intranet/documents/news-initiatives/strategy/Strategy-Discussion-Paper-Education.pdf">discussion paper</a> proposes reducing the number of degrees, increasing the length of degrees, and a host of other curriculum and cultural reforms. If achieved, some of these reforms could be revolutionary, but much of the media attention has focused on the less important aspects.</p>
<p>That there’s a domestic and international marketing element to this is without question — <a href="http://sydney.edu.au/news/84.html?newscategoryid=15&newsstoryid=15056">Vice-Chancellor Michael Spence has talked about</a> “restoring” the university’s “historic” position as “indisputably the best university in the nation”. He referred to Sydney as one of the two best universities in the country. Coming from the University of Melbourne, I naturally assume he is referring to Melbourne as the other, but I’m not sure how Australia’s other universities, notably the other Group of Eight members, would feel about that assessment.</p>
<p>Is this symptomatic of a university seeking to differentiate itself within a sector under pressure? Well, yes, and from one point of view, that’s not a bad thing. But is this an interesting new riff from an established performer, or just an upbeat cover of an old song?</p>
<h2>Fewer, longer degrees?</h2>
<p>The headline act, so far as much of the media coverage is concerned, is the reduction in the number of degrees. This was the main aspect of reports by the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-02/sydney-university-looks-to-cut-undergraduate-degrees/6514194">ABC</a>, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3107583/Sydney-Uni-considering-ditching-100-degrees-make-students-employable.html">Daily Mail</a> and <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/sydney-university-to-introduce-fouryear-degrees-and-reduce-double-degrees-20150601-ghe5f7.html">Fairfax media</a>.</p>
<p>Reducing the number of degrees offered may offer efficiences from the administrative and marketing points of view, but the impact on students of this change at least is likely to be minimal. At best, the new system will be less confusing (perhaps if only from the outside) and maybe more flexible if you change your mind about your study interests part-way through your degree. Otherwise, this proposal will likely have little impact on the student experience.</p>
<p>The change in degree length will lead to “more expensive” degrees, according to the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-02/sydney-university-looks-to-cut-undergraduate-degrees/6514194">ABC</a>, and “better employment outcomes”, according to the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Education), Pip Pattison. </p>
<p>The discussion paper <a href="https://intranet.sydney.edu.au/content/dam/intranet/documents/news-initiatives/strategy/Strategy-Discussion-Paper-Education.pdf">presents some data</a> that shows a four-year degree probably doesn’t have a negative effect on international enrolments.</p>
<p>A student has more opportunities for meaningful educative interactions with a university in four years than three. However, given the high numbers of students who previously went on to Honours study, and that an Honours equivalent will be more or less embedded within the four years, this won’t change much for a lot of students.</p>
<p>What does potentially change the cost burden for students is an increased focus on vertical degree structures - having generalist undergraduate degrees, followed by professional postgraduate degrees. Increasing the number of postgraduate degrees financially supported by the government would be necessary to avoid an increased financial burden for aspiring professionals whose accrediting degrees have been shifted from undergraduate to postgraduate.</p>
<h2>Curriculum change</h2>
<p>For the sector, though, this might be one of those nights out where the supporting acts are more interesting than the headline.</p>
<p>What <em>is</em> worth watching in all this are the more fundamental changes the university is proposing for its classroom experience and culture. An elite program for high-achieving students would be almost unique in Australian higher education. It could be a good drawcard for prospective gifted students here and internationally.</p>
<p>The university also proposes offering professional skill-building and industry-based experience in the final year in some courses. This would also be valuable considering graduate employability is never far from people’s thoughts. </p>
<p>Perhaps even more importantly, Dr Spence <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/sydney-university-to-get-a-major-makeover/story-e6frgcjx-1227380173810">calls</a> the university a “white bread institution” with “old, white and male” leadership. The discussion paper suggests that staff believe not enough is done to attract and support promising students from a diverse range of social and cultural backgrounds.</p>
<p>Confronting and changing the relative lack of diversity and issues (or at least perceptions) of privilege and background that still afflict a lot of the universities, particularly the Group of Eight, would be a remarkable achievement, if it were achieved.</p>
<p>The discussion paper also proposes some <a href="http://www.itl.usyd.edu.au/graduateAttributes/policy_framework.pdf">changes to the university graduate qualities</a>. Graduate qualities are (often vague) statements about the attributes students should possess upon graduating, like “depth of disciplinary expertise”, “critical thinking and problem-solving skills” and “cultural competence”. </p>
<p>The new graduate qualities are actually quite similar to the current set. What <em>would</em> be revolutionary is if the university uses these proposed changes as an opportunity to embed these attributes in a meaningful, assessable and quantifiable way.</p>
<p>Until now, universities have been more or less left to their own devices in training graduates to an appropriate standard. Some industry groups have input into course content via accreditation, but the public has had to take on trust that graduates have their supposed qualities.</p>
<p>If graduate attribute statements are ever to be more than just aspirations, or more than just marketing nonsense - and they should be, as a key part of the contract institutions make with students and society - universities need better processes to evaluate and ensure the standards of their graduates.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the sector’s ability to do that is still in its infancy. If the University of Sydney can develop clear and concrete measures of graduate qualities, one would think that there would be significant commercial advantage for them in producing that evidence and marketing it to prospective students. That would be a show worth seeing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42747/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ryan Naylor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The University of Sydney has announced an overhaul of its undergraduate teaching. If achieved, some of these reforms could be revolutionary, but much of the media attention has focused on the less important aspects.Ryan Naylor, Lecturer in Higher Education, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/371082015-02-12T03:24:51Z2015-02-12T03:24:51ZUniversities are (slowly) feeling their way forward on divestment<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/71734/original/image-20150211-25700-11mukql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C2%2C797%2C594&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The University of Sydney is hoping to chart a path to climate-safe investment.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of Sydney</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Another Australian university has outlined plans to reduce the exposure of its investments to climate change, and is taking a contrasting approach to the Australian National University’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/anus-resources-blacklist-social-activism-or-the-shape-of-things-to-come-32803">high-profile divestment plan</a> announced in October. The University of Sydney on Monday <a href="http://sydney.edu.au/news/84.html?newscategoryid=9&newsstoryid=14575">released plans</a> to reduce the carbon footprint of its investment portfolio by 20% over three years.</p>
<p>That will see the university reduce its carbon footprint to <a href="http://sydney.edu.au/news/84.html?newscategoryid=9&newsstoryid=14576">20% below the average</a> of Australian, international and emerging markets, rather than divesting from a particular sector such as the coal industry. </p>
<p>The stated rationale for this is that “divesting entirely from all companies with an interest in fossil fuels could result in divesting from companies that are also committed to building renewable energy sources. In addition, there are many companies that do not produce fossil fuels who are nonetheless heavy emitters”. This is an approach which the London-based <a href="http://aodproject.net/">Asset Owners Disclosure Project</a> (AODP) acknowledges. </p>
<h2>Universities exposed to climate risk</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://aodproject.net/images/docs/AODP_GUI.pdf">Global University Index</a> recently released by the AODP ranks and rates 278 universities on their efforts to disclose their investments exposed to climate risk. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://aodproject.net/">Project’s</a> objective is to protect members’ retirement savings from the risks posed by climate change. It does this by seeking improvements in disclosure and raising the bar on what is considered best practice. The AODP claims to examine “how asset
owners are preparing for the repricing of climate-exposed assets and the physical impacts on climate change” (see page 20 <a href="http://aodproject.net/images/docs/AODP_GUI.pdf">here</a>). </p>
<p>This is indeed a serious issue. </p>
<p>I struggled somewhat to work out what was done by the AODP, how it was done and what the various ratings mean. All but the top five universities were rated D (meaning that their climate change risk management is “poor”, see page 5 <a href="http://aodproject.net/images/docs/AODP_GUI.pdf">here</a>) or X (no information disclosed by any means). </p>
<p>The top 12 places were taken by US universities, with Charles Sturt being the top Australian University, ranked 13th. The University of Sydney, which was ranked before it unveiled its current plans, is ranked equal-28th and scores a D rating. </p>
<p>A Vice Chancellor (who provided a comment on the basis that it would be anonymous) from a British university with a strong reputation for innovation and commitment to sustainability, but which received an X rating in the index, told me: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>this seems a rather pointless league table, when most universities aren’t in it and of those that are almost all are harangued for not meeting even the basic criteria for the table. In reality while I guess universities recognise that climate change will have investment implications, and indeed may be looking at their investment portfolio in this context, as we are, the logical link from climate change via investments to future pension funding (which is what this organisation is focused on) is fairly obscure in the strategic priorities for most universities.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Time for action</h2>
<p>Of course, the issue is broader than universities, although this does not get universities off the hook. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.accaglobal.com/content/dam/acca/global/PDF-technical/sustainability-reporting/tech-tp-ca.pdf">Research</a> published by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and the Carbon Tracker Initiative has found that companies don’t typically disclose information on climate change risk that impacts on investors. </p>
<p>Simon O'Connor, CEO of the <a href="http://www.australiansustainability.com.au/home/">Responsible Investment Association Australasia</a> told me:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Much of the discussion around investors managing climate risk has focused narrowly on the largest of Australia’s super funds. But beyond the large super funds, there are pools of capital across the economy that need to be considering the risks from a changing climate, and subsequent shifts in policy and technologies. </p>
<p>Universities are a case in point, as are a long list of public sector pools of capital - federal, state and territory- as well as funds managed by charities, corporates and individuals. In reality, too few investors are taking this issue seriously enough, as highlighted by the responses to the AODP universities survey.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There is no doubt that universities, like many other sectors, ought to be doing more. In the case of universities, it is ultimately likely to be students and staff who push for the leadership required to drive the significant change which will inevitably come. </p>
<p>If the AODP is to be a driver of change, I would suggest that it needs to state exactly what it is that universities should do and disclose, and to consider rewarding public commitments that are an important, not to mention difficult, step along the way. </p>
<p>The challenges are abundantly clear from the <a href="https://theconversation.com/divestment-backlash-shows-companies-need-to-improve-sustainability-reporting-33079">criticisms</a> directed at the Australian National University, including from Prime Minister Tony Abbott, over its divestment decision. The University of Sydney’s approach cleverly sidesteps a backlash from the coal industry and its backers.</p>
<p>Last year, the University of Glasgow became the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/08/glasgow-becomes-first-university-in-europe-to-divest-from-fossil-fuels">first in Europe</a> to divest from fossil fuels. This is not an easy decision for an ancient institution (founded in 1451) with a range of stakeholders who will inevitably have diverse views. </p>
<p>But the University of Glasgow’s commitment is not reflected in its D rating (poor) by the AODP. Points were awarded points for “actual performance”, not commitments – even, apparently, where these commitments have been made public (a form of disclosure, I would argue). </p>
<p>Given the slow pace of change in integrating sustainability and climate risk in universities, it seems unlikely that Sydney University was influenced by its AODP rating. Its approach is a good example to follow. Continued slowness by universities leaves them exposed to reputation risk as well as climate risk.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/37108/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carol A Adams is a former Professor of Accounting and current visiting professor at the University of Glasgow and a part time professor at Monash University.</span></em></p>Another Australian university has outlined plans to reduce the exposure of its investments to climate change, and is taking a contrasting approach to the Australian National University’s high-profile divestment…Carol A Adams, Professor, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/109202012-11-23T03:16:38Z2012-11-23T03:16:38ZWhy a solution to the St John’s scandal lies with Barry O’Farrell<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/17875/original/7knxh59z-1353475779.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C19%2C4211%2C2809&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">NSW premier Barry O'Farrell needs to reform the law to give Sydney University more responsibility for its colleges.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Alan Porritt</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Why is the University of Sydney powerless to stop bullying behaviour in what the public sees as “its colleges”? This has been a constant refrain in recent weeks as the controversy <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/meet-the-pride-of-st-johns--the-untouchables-20121105-28u8d.html">surrounding the behaviour of students</a> at St John’s college has made headlines.</p>
<p>This week NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell gave the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney George Pell <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/pell-to-appoint-st-johns-college-council/story-fn3dxiwe-1226521107589">the power to appoint</a> St John’s governing council, after he ordered his priests to resign from the board, effectively leaving the college without a council. </p>
<p>But the changes, introduced into the parliament on Wednesday, are just a band-aid solution to resolve the current emergency. The bigger problem lies in the complicated legislative relationships established between the University of Sydney and the churches more than 150 years ago. </p>
<p>It’s time for O'Farrell to introduce major legislative changes that update these relationships and clarify who’s responsible for the colleges.</p>
<h2>Shaky foundations</h2>
<p>A prime concern of the University of Sydney’s founders was to establish a secular university based on religious tolerance. In the words of primary founder, William Charles Wentworth the university was to be “open to all whether they are disciples of Moses, of Jesus, of Mohamed, of Vishnu, or of Buddha”. </p>
<p>To ensure the secular and educational authority of Sydney University, parliament enacted legislation to establish Church-run colleges in ways that would not challenge the university’s authority. The <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/spca1854195/">St Paul’s College Act (1854)</a> was the first and became the model used for the College Acts that followed, including St John’s College. </p>
<p>But the legislators were so concerned with minimising church interference in university business that little was done to describe the nature of the affiliation between the university and the colleges. The word “affiliation” and the phrase “a college of and within the university” were tossed around in the legislation, but their meaning was never pinned down. </p>
<p>This legislative oversight now haunts the modern university. College business remains college business, and the university can only rattle the gates. </p>
<h2>Arcane laws and modern universities</h2>
<p>Both St Paul’s and St John’s are still governed by what is largely 1850s legislation. There have been some modern amendments, but there is still no legal place for the university in the affairs of either college, and no consideration of how a college-university relationship might work.</p>
<p>At St John’s, the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney is designated by the St Paul’s Act as the “visitor”, a role that provides some external oversight of college affairs. This is why Cardinal Pell recently intervened in College matters. But there is no similar right for the university at St John’s, nor at St Paul’s, Wesley or Sancta Sophia colleges. </p>
<p>By contrast, from the beginning, <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/num_act/wcuea1889n21439/">the Women’s College Act (1889)</a> provided a place for the university through senate appointments on its council and made the university chancellor a “visitor”, which, arguably, allowed for some university scrutiny of college business. It also required at least four women on council showing unusual foresight for the time.</p>
<p>St Andrew’s, officially opened in 1876, repealed its founding Act in 1998 and, among various changes, made the university chancellor a visitor and specified what this meant. The chancellor can tell the college council there is a problem in the “manner in which the college is conducted” and, presumably, keep telling them until something is done. But they can also advise the council when that is needed.</p>
<h2>Legal rangle</h2>
<p>Still, is a 19th century concept of “visiting rights” really sufficient to consolidate a meaningful legal relationship between the university and the colleges in the 21st century?</p>
<p>The St Andrew’s Act also cleaned up many inconsistencies that still exist in the legislation of other colleges including Sancta Sophia and Wesley College. It modernised language and updated references rather than rely on 19th century conceptions of the university, students and their studies. </p>
<p>With arcane legal language and references one wonders how useful these governing acts are to members of college boards wanting to know the basis of their authority. The public understandably sees a close relationship between colleges and the university, and it is probably time for that relationship to be given a firmer basis. </p>
<h2>Wider reforms</h2>
<p>In light of recent events, the university should have a say in the governance of the colleges, and in return it might offer the colleges a voice on the university senate. </p>
<p>A closer working relationship between the university and the colleges could be mutually advantageous. As a major public institution the university could offer the colleges much in the way of advice on financial sustainability, risk mitigation, social inclusion, and even the prevention of bullying.</p>
<p>As for colleges, many have successful academic mentoring and student support programs that might be coordinated to include the broader student population and thereby create new, constructive relations with the university.</p>
<p>If Premier O’Farrell is serious in his offer to overhaul the St John’s legislation, he should widen the net and establish a joint college-university-parliamentary working party to examine the legislation governing the six colleges along with the University Act itself. </p>
<p>The aim should be to revisit what 19th century legislators never properly tackled — the relationship between the university and “its colleges”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/10920/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julia Horne is co-author with Geoffrey Sherington of SYDNEY THE MAKING OF A PUBLIC UNIVERSITY (Miegunyah Press, 2012) which has recently been shortlisted for a NSW Premier's History Award.</span></em></p>Why is the University of Sydney powerless to stop bullying behaviour in what the public sees as “its colleges”? This has been a constant refrain in recent weeks as the controversy surrounding the behaviour…Julia Horne, University Historian and Senior Research Fellow, History, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.