There has been significant community backlash against the latest ANU change proposals for the College of Arts and Social Sciences and the College of Science and Medicine. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
The consultation deadline for change proposals concerning the ANU’s College of Arts and Social Sciences and College of Science and Medicine has been extended by two weeks.
Both the CASS and CoSM feedback deadlines were due to close tomorrow (24 July), but an email to all Australian National University staff just after midday today (23 July) stated that the extension had been made following feedback from the community.
“We understand that it’s important for staff to be able to consider how these change proposals interact to be able to provide informed feedback,” the joint email from senior vice-president Professor Rebekah Brown and chief operating officer Jonathan Churchill said.
“Consultation on the CASS and CoSM change proposals will now close at 12 pm, Thursday, 7 August 2025.”
Consultation on the research and innovation portfolio closed today.
The National Tertiary Education Union also sent out an email to all ACT members, stating there had been many people who felt the change proposals would make more sense if staff could also see the Academic Portfolio change proposal.
“The new consultation period deadline is to allow for overlap with the consultation period for the DVC (Academic) Change Proposal,” the letter from ACT division secretary Dr Lachlan Clohesy and ANU branch president Millan Pintos-Lopez stated.
“We expect that change to affect every college.”
The change proposal for the Academic Portfolio is due before the end of the month.
The union email said the CASS and CoSM proposals should have never been released without the Academic Portfolio plans as staff were “entitled to see how the pieces fit together”.
“The way this change process has been approached by ANU leadership has been completely unsatisfactory and damaging to the university and its people,” it stated.
Community outrage at the CASS and CoSM change proposals has been particularly loud.
Our ANU Group has been publishing online staff feedback on the proposals, which they said was an effort to make the process more transparent, rather than just receiving “high-level” summaries of feedback.
One claimed the proposals showed the ANU executive staff and council had a “total lack of understanding” about how the affected colleges, schools and institutions functioned.
“Despite the outright lies from the executive staff, there has very clearly been no real consultation or even attempt to understand staff roles, duties or the appropriate level of staff needed within these spaces, which has unsurprisingly resulted in a change proposal that not only makes zero logical sense but also threatens the future of accredited medicine at the ANU, not to mention the reputation of the entire university,” they wrote.
“Putting logic and reason aside, the continued harmful and frankly traumatic atmosphere these change proposals imposed upon ANU staff and the wider community are destructive and entirely suffocating.
“Overall, these proposals are at their best irrational and, at worst, callous.”
Another staff member specifically spoke to the CoSM proposal, which is made up of roles that had been moved into the college when the School of Medicine was dismantled last year.
“A significant number of positions in the School of Medicine and Psychology have been left out of the proposal and separated from their existing teams,” they wrote.
“The college general manager has indicated that these positions are to be in a future change proposal, likely being impacted in the … Academic portfolio. However, there is no confirmed release for this proposal.
“There is also planned to be a third change proposal impacting this area later this year, when SMP [School of Medicine and Psychology] and JCSMR [John Curtin School of Medical Research] staffing is examined. There is also no confirmed date for this proposal.”
This person claimed that the change proposal contained many incorrect job titles and job descriptions, and that an HR representative had acknowledged the errors yet proceeded with the process.
“This has significantly damaged trust in the process. These impacts could easily have been avoided if the authors of the change proposal had taken the time and care to do it correctly, rather than secretly,” they wrote.
School of Music students are preparing to hold an overnight concert, from 8 pm tonight to 8 am tomorrow, to protest the change proposals.
No Cuts at ANU has invited anybody to bring an instrument to Llewellyn Hall to show their support.
