NSW: UNSW VC defends Hall's punishment

AAP General News (Australia)
02-10-2004
NSW: UNSW VC defends Hall's punishment

SYDNEY, Feb 10 AAP - The vice-chancellor of the University of NSW has defended the
penalty given to a rogue academic, amid a revolt by the man's colleagues.

Professor Rory Hume described as "serious" the punishment doled out to UNSW medical
researcher Bruce Hall, who was found guilty of misconduct after misrepresenting data and
using it to apply for a government grant.

Professor Hall was not dismissed after the incident, despite concerns from academic
staff that severe and irreparable damage had been done to the university.

But the matter has gone on his permanent record and he will not be able to hold administrative
positions in the university. Further, any future grants will be closely examined.

Prof Hume today defended the university's handling of the case and said there was a
lot of misinformation surrounding the matter.

He said he would meet academic staff who had written to him warning about the damage
done to the institution.

"Certainly there have been concerns expressed by a number of medical academics and
that's quite appropriate," he told ABC radio today.

He said Prof Hall's misconduct was serious but his behaviour did not warrant him being sacked.

"What he did was serious but not serious enough for him to be dismissed," he said.

"It's on his permanent record ... he can't hold administrative positions in the university.

"His grants will be looked at with enormous scrutiny from here on and if he transgresses
again ... then he will be dismissed."

Prof Hume said he was keen to clear up any misinformation about the case but lawyers
had advised against releasing the Brennan inquiry report because it could be defamatory.

"The advice we've received from our lawyers is (to) be very careful about this," he said.

Prof Hume said universities needed better procedures to deal with complex allegations
such as those levelled against Prof Hall.

"I recommend that nationally we look for ways to assist universities with these difficult
matters better than we're doing now," Prof Hume said.

Yesterday, the national whistleblowers association called for a public inquiry into
what it said was a crisis of management and administration at the university.

Whistleblowers Australia claimed that at least six separate allegations of malpractice,
bullying, fraud or misconduct had been ignored by UNSW's higher administration, from the
office of the Vice Chancellor down.

AAP sal/sd/nf/jv/jlw

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