Astrophysicist Brian Schmidt conceded he failed to address the harassment and bullying that occurred during his eight years as vice-chancellor of the Australian National University.
But he told the National Press Club last week that he believed he had done everything he could in his years leading the university until early 2024, and apologised to those affected.
“The hard reality is, with 20,000 students and 4000 staff members, you do not get everything right all the time,” he said.
The comments came as an independent review by Professor Christine Nixon into the culture at ANU’s former College of Health and Medicine outlined entrenched patterns of racism, sexism, discrimination and exploitation of students and staff. Professor Schmidt said the review had clearly “shined lights on problems at the ANU while I was vice-chancellor” and made difficult reading for him.
After interviewing 83 former and current staff and students and 67 written submissions, Professor Nixon concluded that the school’s culture was “deeply dysfunctional,” marked by “territorialism, bullying, entitlement, and resistance to change.” She also noted a “remarkable tolerance for poor behaviour and bullying.”
Professor Nixon came across issues like supervisors not understanding it’s inappropriate to start sexual relationships with students and their supervisory authority, and spoke of people resigning from positions they loved due to the toxic culture they encountered there. One student spoke about the “dehumanising” process of repeatedly asking for help against harassment.
All this, at what was once considered one of the country’s top medical schools, where some of the brightest in the country hoped to begin and progress their careers in some of the most necessary and impactful fields of work possible.
But worse, it’s apparent the stench of this toxic culture prevailed for years, if not decades.
Nixon found that the culture at the ANU school had been in place “for many years” with “no effective steps” taken to address failures on sexism and racial discrimination.
She noted a number of internal reviews of the culture, one as far back as 1978.
How do such cultures survive, in this case, through some of the biggest technological and demographic revolutions of our time?
Is it because leaders ignore the warning and issues that come up, do not consider them important enough, or do not understand the full extent of them?
Is it from leaders pursuing “good intentions” in hoping to address issues, over implementing clear accountability and follow-up actions that identify whether improvements have actually been made?
Is it merely a result of the numbers? That with thousands of students and staff bad things are due to happen?
Schmidt says he acted “on every single issue I was aware of” and regularly went across campus looking for problems and trying to create easier ways for them to be reported. He said they went through “comprehensive changes to the way we act on sexual violence, on harassment, gender diversity, racism and Indigenous inclusion.”
“I can honestly say I personally took no shortcuts, and I did absolutely everything with my ability,” he told the National Press Club.
This independent review was commissioned by Professor Genevieve Bell (pictured above) who took over from Professor Schmidt in 2024. She said at the time she was “determined to address the behaviours that fall short of our community expectations.”
ANU has welcomed all 17 of Professor Nixon’s recommendations following the report, describing them as “a robust and actionable roadmap.” Some have already been implemented, while others will take more time. ANU has also published the full report.
“We’ll be appointing an external investigator to review those allegations, and where there are findings of serious misconduct, the range of things at the disposal of the university, including firing people,” Bell told ABC Radio Canberra.
Asked if she was angry toward her predecessors regarding some of the issues that have come up, Professor Bell said she had gone through the report’s findings with Schmidt, and he had reflected on how hard it is to change institutions, as well as the work he did and the work still to be done.
“I’m sad for anyone who has had to live in that culture. For me, this is about what changes we make now to help us move forward. My predecessors did all things they did in the university to help change the culture,” she said.
It’s notable that Schmidt was not at the Press Club to discuss these findings; rather, he was there with economic professor Richard Holden, sharing a strong message that Australia must invest more in university research, including research vital to our national interests. He noted that government investment in sovereign research capability was 50 per cent higher 15 years ago as a fraction of GDP.
These are essential calls. But the success of institutions leveraging such funding will only be as good as the cultures they create to ensure the health, safety, and inclusion of students and staff. That must be what happens now across every school at ANU and every university in Australia.
Human rights lawyer Prabha Nandagopal shared more on the findings of the ANU report here.