Vice Chancellor Genevieve Bell will resign today, according to sources close to the ANU council. The Sydney Morning Herald reported this morning that VC Bell has tendered her resignation to the ANU council following a brief, yet controversial, term in the role.
For many, the biggest surprise is that it took this long. In March, the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) vote of no confidence delivered a resounding rejection of Bell’s leadership. Five of six college deans more recently gave an ultimatum to the council that it was ‘her or us’, after which Bell’s resignation seemed all but guaranteed.
The resignation of a senior university executive this early into their term is rare, demonstrating just how untenable her position had become following staff and student outcry at the Renew ANU plan’s sweeping cuts to courses, services, and residential college life.
Whether this resignation will prompt Chancellor Julie Bishop, who faced allegations in the Senate of bullying and harassment of ANU Council’s staff representative Dr Liz Allen, is unclear. What is clear is that students’ fight against the ANU’s attacks on our education cannot end with the Vice Chancellor stepping down.
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