University of Newcastle Students' Association rally raises concern about appointment of Mark Vaile as new chancellor

About 50 students, staff and alumni attended the University of Newcastle Students' Association's Friday morning rally, which called for Mr Vaile's appointment to be reversed and for greater transparency and consultation on major University of Newcastle Council decisions.

Student and UON Chess Club president Zack Schofield said the council meets in closed sessions and he was concerned the process to appoint Mr Vaile had not been democratic.

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"We don't know exactly how the appointment was done because the dissenting council members are bound by non disclosure agreements," Mr Schofield told the audience.

"I don't know any board, any government, any organisation that can claim to be practicing good governance behind closed doors."

Outgoing Chancellor Paul Jeans told the Newcastle Herald last week the chancellor selection committee - chaired by the deputy chancellor - followed the "long established" procedure for appointing the chancellor.

This procedure involves the committee meeting with a shortlist of potential candidates, identifying a preferred candidate and preparing a selection report for the council's consideration.

Once this candidate has formally indicated their willingness to accept the position, the council confidentially considers the recommendation for the preferred candidate and selection report and elects a chancellor.

Mr Jeans said all council members voted in favour of the appointment. Two have since resigned.

The rally audience applauded when Mr Schofield urged them to email and call council members and the secretariat to "demand the minutes of the meeting where Chancellor Vaile was appointed".

"If they do not provide this, and I don't think they will, I have been looking into perhaps making a complaint with the tertiary regulatory authority for failing to provide good governance, but we need to make an internal stand on this first."

Mr Schofield told the Herald he would also like to know who else was considered for the role and what factors were taken into account when selecting Mr Vaile.

PhD candidate Sarah Gurr said Mr Vaile's appointment would drive people away from UON and it "deserves better".

"I don't understand how Mark Vaile as chancellor of this university is going to attract any high quality PhD candidates, any high quality researchers, any high quality students broadly who are interested in environmental and sustainable education," she said.

"I don't know how anyone is going to take the research that comes out of this university seriously with that man as our figurehead."

She said Mr Vaile had spoken about his commitment to commercialising research at the university.

"Anyone in the humanities should be terrified," she said. "He is just a figurehead.... but that speaks volumes."

Mr Schofield said Mr Vaile's appointment was at odds with UON's Environmental Sustainability Policy, which "supports environmental sustainability through ethical decision making".

The policy also said "demonstration of a visible commitment to environmental sustainability by university leaders" was a principle "embedded" across the university.

UON alumna and Greens candidate Sinead Francis-Coan outlined Whitehaven's record of breaking mining and environmental laws.

"Mr Vaile has emphasised the potential of a collaboration between someone coming from a fossil fuel industry background and research supporting a transition," she said.

"Well, this has been happening at this university for a long time, we have had different research institutes that have focused on future technology and ways we can transition, so we don't need Mark Vaile for that."

Student Mitch Whaley said Mr Vaile was on the board of the Asian Pacific arm of private education provider GEMS Education, which he said has been criticised for "profiteering" during COVID-19 and had "advocated for paying educators and teachers less, as we have reached what they called 'peak efficiency' in richer countries like ours".

"This behaviour and Mark being associated with this company is completely at odds with what the university is and should be," he said.

"Mark has absolutely no business being near a university in my opinion and this would only serve to further facilitate the growing influence of privatisation in higher education."

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