Our petition to stop the proposed change plan that would cut 32 academic positions at ACU is still building momentum. We just passed the mark of 3,000 signatures and more are being added steadily. We are now about halfway through the consultation period on the draft change plan and there are still several days left to add more names to the petition, so please continue to spread our message through your networks. By way of update, we offer the following points:

1) It is important to recognise that, as noted in the original petition, this is an attack not just upon the three humanities institutes at ACU but also the faculties. Specifically, 13 positions that are being proposed to be cut are based in the Faculty of Education & Arts and the Faculty of Theology & Philosophy, representing 40% of the jobs that are at risk, so this is not a simple story of teaching faculties versus research institutes, as some are casting it.

2) The administration is feeling the heat and is now objecting that they do not intend to eliminate all teaching and research in the humanities at ACU. This is of course true but beside the point. The plan does leave a number of jobs intact but proposes eliminating 32 positions, of which 29 are scholars who work in the humanities. This will inevitably mean that ACU will have a much reduced focus on teaching and research in the humanities, should the change plan go ahead. Moreover, the inevitable reputational damage inflicted by the change plan will mean that those who remain will be hampered in their ability to attract students, research partners, and external funding in these fields.

3) The administration is saying that only feedback addressed to the dedicated email address for the change plan will be considered. If you have already contacted the administrators listed on the petition, can you please resend your comments to Change@acu.edu.au to ensure that it is recorded as part of the formal consultation process? The final list of signatures from this petition, along with all comments, will be sent to the above email address on 26 September.

Thank you again for your support!