Dr Jason Toynbee, Lecturer in Media Studies, Open University suggests a letter which could be sent to the Federal Minister For Education, Julie Bishop, at
julie.bishop at dest.gov.au CC: CandDS at ministerial.qld.gov.au, complaintsinfo at humanrights.gov.au, l.stedman at qut.edu.au, adult.guardian at justice.qld.gov.au, kevin at qai.org.au
BEGINS
Dear Minister,
I am writing in connection with the case of John Hookham and Gary MacLennan, lecturers at Queensland University of Technology. These two educators wrote an article published in The Australian (April 11, 2007) in which they reported on the work of a PhD candidate, Michael Noonan, at the university. Noonan had made a film in suppport of his doctoral thesis entitled Laughing at the Disabled: Creating Comedy that Confronts, Offends and Entertains. Hookham and MacLennan have now been summoned by QUT to appear at a disciplinary hearing on 28 May, 2007. A key part of the charge levelled by the university authorities is that in the article for The Australian Hookham and MacLennan 'misrepresented Noonan's work [as] presented to the candidature confirmation hearing'. The principal point at issue concerns a single scene (one among several described by the writers) which the PhD candidate had apparently said would be excised from the final version of the film.
I would simply make two points about this. First there seems to be an attempt to shift the issue from the PhD film project and extracts as presented at the candidature hearing to a new version which may actually take on some of the criticisms made by Hookham and McLennan. Clearly, the two academics should be judged in relation to the film as it was actually presented rather than any post-hoc revision.
Second, and more importantly, there is the substantive issue of the right, indeed the duty, of academics to blow the whistle on unethical practices. The very title of Noonan's project - Laughing at the Disabled - at the very least begs the question of why the QUT ethics committee and faculty supervisory staff allowed this project to go forward when prima facie it involves the exploitation and lampooning of cognitively impaired individuals.
I am extremely concerned about the threat to academic freedom and the ethical conduct of higher education which the present case represents. I hope then that you are able to intervene, as your brief permits, to ensure that justice and sound policy prevail.
Your sincerely
ENDS Alternatively, it could be signed and sent to Karen Soldatic <kazzak at bigpond.com>, who is organising a petition to be delivered today. She writes:
Hello - If you are interested, we are sending this letter to the Min of Education, Julie Bishop, as a petition.. pls add your name to the bottom and send back to me asap if you are interested. The University is convening 'right now' to take disciplinary action against the academics who spoke out about the project. Would appreciate your support.. Karen
Dear Minister Bishop
We are writing to you regarding the PhD project that was recently approved by the University of Queensland: Laughing at the Disabled and the disciplinary action taken by the University against those professors, Dr Gary MacLennen, who have stood for the rights of people with disabilities.
As you are aware, Australia was one of the first nations to sign the United Nations International Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. This treaty outlines clearly the role of nation states and its governing and educational institutions in furthering and protecting the human rights of Australians with disabilities. When applying these international standards, to which Australia is a signatory, it is clear that this project not only denies the right to treatment with dignity and respect of those young men directly involved, but also, directly contravenes the general principles (Article 3) & obligations (Article 4.1b, 4.1c, 4.1d, 4.1l & 4.3) of nation states and its institutions in addition to those human rights standards outlined in the treaty governing areas of scientific research (Article 15) and the promotion of public awareness and understanding of disability (Article8.1b, 8.2b).
Further, considering that the approved PhD project appears to directly contravene Articles 15 & 16 (16.1 & 16.5) of the Treaty, it is beyond comprehension that those academics such as Gary MacLennen, who were attempting to uphold and protect the rights of Australians with disabilities should be required to face disciplinary action by QUT, rather than the academic staff who approved such a project.
As an Australian citizen whose government is a signatory to this Treaty, we would hope that the Minister for Higher Education would see the necessity to uphold the Internationally agreed standards and ensure that appropriate action is taken by the University to support those academics who have acted within the Treaty's framework. For the Australian Disability Community, the Minister's intervention would send a clear sign of the Australian Government's commitment to not only its citizens with disability but also its commitment to our nation's international obligations.
Thus, we the undersigned, encourage the Minister for Higher Education, to undertake a thorough investigation into the PhD proposal and the approval process that granted ethical clearance for this study. To undertake the investigation, the suggestion by Queensland Advocacy Inc to appoint an independent guardian to the young men involved would be a vital component to ensure that the investigation is transparent and protects the interests of these young men.
As outlined by Mr Cocks, Director, Queensland Advocacy Inc., portraying people with disabilities as inept is not just offensive or confronting. This representation of people with disability as objects of ridicule is a form of disability vilification and directly denies people with disabilities treatment to dignity and respect. The role of government institutions is to develop the capabilities of all its citizenry so that they may participate on par with other citizens as equal members of the community. We hope that as Minister for Higher Education you understand and accept the need to intervene in this case to protect the rights of Australians with disabilities, and to protect those citizens, such as Dr Gary MacLennen, who have acted in accordance with our international and national obligations to all Australian citizens.
Regards
Karen Soldatic WA Disability Collective, kazzak at bigpond.com
Helen Errington, WA Disability Collective, helonwheels at iinet.net.au
Beth Marchbank, WA Disability Collective, bmarchba at bigpond.net.au
Joanne Griffiths, PhD Candidate, University of Western Australia, jgriffit at cyllene.uwa.edu.au
Dr Janaka Biyanwila, Research Assistant, University of Western Australia, janaka at biz.uwa.edu.au
Jasmine McDonald, PhD Candidate, University of Western Australia, jazmike at iinet.net.au
Robin Cordin, PhD Candidate / Research Assistant, University of Western Australia, cordro1 at student.uwa.edu.au
Sandy Morgan, M. Special Education, University of Western Australia, smoran at arach.net.au
Dr Myra Taylor, University of Western Australia, myratayl at cyllene.uwa.edu
Elaine Lopes, EdD Candidate, University of Western Australia, elainelopes at hotmail.com
Matthew Kohler, Project Manager, University of Western Australia, matthew.kohler at uwa.edu.au
Justin Wood, postgraduate student, Murdoch University, upasaka at gmail.com
Dr Karl Maton, Department of Sociology & Social Policy, Faculty of Arts, USYD, matonianuk at yahoo.co.uk
Dr Gunter Minnerup, Director, Centre for European Studies, School of History and Philosophy, UNSW, g.minnerup at unsw.edu.au
************************
We attach a public petition urging you, as Federal Minister for Education, to intervene. A serious ethics controversy has arisen at QUT, Brisbane. Two senior academics Drs Hookham and MacLennan have argued that an unethical research project is taking place at QUT involving men with an intellectual disability. As a result of publishing a feature article about this in the Higher Education Supplement, Australian, 11 May, the two academics concerned are now facing charges of misconduct.
There are two things at stake here:
1) the right of Drs Hookham & MacLennan to speak out against what they see as the ethical mistreatment of research participants and in this particular case, two men with an intellectual disability, and;
2) the university's determination to continue to make a TV series for commercial purposes, which involves placing the two men with an intellectual disability in situations where they are exposed to ridicule, mockery and vilification.
* *
The originators of the project will no doubt appeal to their right to academic freedom (while at the same time QUT denies it to McLennan and Hookham) , yet freedom in research in universities is always constrained by the ethics process through which research proposals such as the one in question must go. Universities including QUT, base these ethics approvals on the guidelines set out by the National Health and Medical Research Council, which explicitly forbids projects which will contravene principles of respect, justice and beneficence. In the case of people with intellectual disability, some universities forbid projects which will diminish their self-respect, shame or embarrass them. And as you will know, these constraints are based on the United Nations treaties to which we have referred to in the attached letter and petition.
We urge your immediate intervention into this matter to ensure that both the research participants and the whistleblowers of this case are granted adequate protections and to ensure ethical research practices are upheld in the future. ***********************
Comradely, James Daly