University of Adelaide law professor and Christian pro life campaigner Dr. Joanna Howe is claiming a victory for academic freedom at a key moment for Australian universities after announcing that she has won her “stop bullying” application against her employer with the industrial umpire at a time when campuses are being engulfed by cancel culture and pressure to protect students from any content they may find offensive.
“I am delighted to share with you the news that I have won my case against the University of Adelaide through the conciliation process at the Fair Work Commission!” she announced on social media.
“Since 2019 I have endured six workplace investigations because of my advocacy and research on abortion and in every investigation I have been cleared of misconduct. The most recent investigation, which began on 24 January this year, found me innocent of any breach of the Australian Code for Responsible Research. Yet the university saw fit to impose corrective actions on me: instructing me to do a Research Integrity Course so that I could learn how to do “unbiased” research and mandating a performance chat with my line manager.”
“I refused to do these corrective actions and I fought back. I appealed four times within the university and was unsuccessful. However, through an extensive process of conciliation at the Fair Work Commission, I am pleased to report that I have now won my case. The university has agreed to lift the corrective actions imposed on me and to a process that gives me greater certainty going forward.”
“In our settlement document, we have agreed on the following statement for public release:”
Professor Joanna Howe and the University of Adelaide have reached agreement through a process of conciliation in the Fair Work Commission. The University has accepted Commissioner Platt’s recommendation for the University not to require Professor Howe to comply with the corrective actions and that no further action will be taken in this matter. The Parties have agreed on a process regarding the investigation of complaints moving forward. The University of Adelaide supports academic freedom, as reflected in its Enterprise Agreement 2023–2025 and its Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom Policy.
“This is the outcome I wanted: the lifting of the unfair corrective actions imposed upon me by my employer. This is an important victory for academic freedom and free speech, but it’s a fight I never should have had to take on. No one should have to go through what I have been through just to fight for the freedom to research and speak. It should not have taken me six months … and nearly $100,000 in legal costs to clear my name,” Professor Howe declared..
“I appealed internally on four occasions and was never given any reason for why my appeals were rejected or corrective actions were imposed. My appeals raised serious concerns with the university’s failure to follow its own procedures, including the requirement to dismiss complaints that were made vexatiously or in bad faith. Every time my appeals fell on deaf ears.”
Following the resolution of the dispute Professor Howe has launched a fresh campaign to have a new process for the dismissal of bad-faith complaints adopted more broadly across the nation’s universities. She sees the reform as a key instrument for the defence of academic freedom.
The Australian reports that in a letter sent to Universities Australia chairman David Lloyd, she writes that the “ability to research and speak out in areas that are unpopular or controversial benefits the whole community in our pursuit of truth. While I accept that complaints are par for the course if one is researching in an area of controversy, what I do not accept is the choice by universities to investigate complaints that are made vexatiously or in bad faith. This choice, as I know all too well, places researchers under an unfair and unreasonable spotlight and distracts them from pursuing their research.”
“I am requesting that Universities Australia work with the sector to introduce a new, specific requirement to mandatorily dismiss complaints which are made vexatiously or in bad faith about the research or conduct of academics. This simple yet significant reform would help free scholars who research in areas of controversy, from the threat of being under constant scrutiny and investigation.”
Since 2017, Professor Howe has researched abortion in Australia including its different methods, the regulation and incidence of sex-selective abortion, the regulation and incidence of abortion after viability – known as late-term abortion – and the regulation and incidence of babies born alive after an abortion. Her research has subjected her not only to criticism of her work, but also personal attack over several years – including the release by activists of her place of work and her family, including five children.
Professor Howe’s primary field of research has been at the intersection of labour law and migration law — a field in which the Rhodes Scholar with a doctorate from Oxford University is regarded as one of the nation’s leading experts. In 2022, she was hand-picked by the Albanese government to help lead a migration review.
Photo: Facebook – Joanna Howe
