As the Vice-Chancellor has previously stated, the University is consulting staff in relation to the possibility of a Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation philanthropic gift to the University. While specific detail of the possible gift is not clear at this stage, the purpose as defined so far can be broadly described as financial support for a program within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) that studies key texts associated with the Western canon.

Since FASS already offers a breadth of units of study in the disciplines key to the Western canon, the University of Sydney has expressed interest to the Ramsay Centre in entering into discussions about possible philanthropic funding of this type. The MOU that you are invited to comment on is intended to provide a solid platform on which to advance those discussions.  You are invited to offer your thoughts as to whether the current draft of the Memorandum of Understanding represents a suitable basis upon which to continue discussion with the Ramsay Centre.

This survey can be completed by those who have a staff email address (i.e. all staff), and allows for one submission per email address. For those staff who opt not to have their comments attributed, responses will be extracted from the system by an administrator without your name or work area attached. The responses will then be posted on the intranet. For those who opt to have their responses attributed to them, the responses will be posted alongside their first name, surname and work area.

The administrator will be extracting the data solely for the purpose of publishing it on the intranet. Other than for the purposes of this administrative step, no staff will see any data from the survey, other than that which is published on the intranet.

Throughout the consultation so far there have been staff who have been comfortable engaging in debate in public fora, but there have also been significant numbers of staff who have expressed a view, but who have not been comfortable expressing that view in a public forum. In order to make it as fair a consultation as possible, the option of a non-attributed response has been developed. It is entirely optional as to whether your comments are attributed to you or are recorded anonymously. Obviously, all colleagues can decide whether they wish to submit a response at all.

Staff are encouraged to give their honest feedback to the questions asked. Staff are expected to give feedback in a manner that is consistent with our Code of Conduct and the University’s commitment to ‘disagreeing well.’ In the unlikely event that any responses are not consistent with our values about respectful debate, they will be removed from the staff intranet.

Staff have been prioritised as the group most appropriate for this formal consultation process, not least because staff will be required to contribute to or support the delivery of the units of study that would be supported by any possible gift. Other stakeholders such as students and alumni can provide feedback through the normal ways available such as the Student Consultative Committee or via [email protected].

The MoU was drafted by the University leadership team working on the consultation process. That includes the Dean of FASS, the Provost and the Vice-Chancellor. The current draft was discussed at the FASS Faculty Board on 10 September and will also be discussed again at the University’s Academic Board on 2 October. 

At this stage it is unknown whether a discussion with the Ramsay Centre will actually lead to the offer of a philanthropic gift. If it does, the acceptance of such a gift is subject to the University’s existing governance framework for gift acceptance. Please see the relevant question below for further information.

All of the feedback will be reviewed by the University leadership team. This includes the Vice-Chancellor, the Provost and the Dean of FASS. The Vice-Chancellor will prepare a summary report of the feedback that will be provided to Senate and that will draw out the key themes most commonly recurring throughout feedback. The MoU will be reviewed in light of that report and, if required, changes will be made to the current draft. The MoU will then be submitted to the Ramsay Centre for consideration and feedback. Should the MoU be acceptable to the Ramsay Centre, it is envisaged that negotiations with regard to a possible philanthropic gift will proceed. Consistent with the ongoing commitment to transparency, the Vice-Chancellor will communicate with staff during the process.

The acceptance of philanthropic gifts is determined by the University’s Delegations of Authority, Administrative Functions. In this case, it is likely that the delegation will be retained by the University’s Senate.

This is currently unknown. There has been no agreement between the Ramsay Centre and the University of any dollar figure of any proposed philanthropic gift. 

No, if the University of Sydney enters into an agreement with the Ramsay Foundation, the terms will be strictly those of a donor and recipient. All funds received from the Ramsay Foundation would be donated to the University and imply no proprietorial rights.

Yes, from Ramsay Health Care, Ramsay Hospitals Pty Ltd and the Ramsay Hospital Research Foundation. More than ten gifts have been accepted by the University for a range of purposes, particularly in areas of medical research. The Ramsay Foundation is a separate entity from the above, and the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation is a sub-entity of the Ramsay Foundation. The University of Sydney has not previously received financial support from the Centre for Western Civilisation.

No. As far as is known, this is the first time in the University’s history a consultation of this type has been initiated about a possible philanthropic gift. Most philanthropic gifts do not give rise to a diversity of views across the University community as has been the case this time, so consultation is not usually required. All philanthropic gifts are subject to the Gift Acceptance Policy and Procedures. Since the policy first came into effect, more than 40,000 gifts have been successfully accepted by the University and hundreds of millions of dollars of philanthropic money have been put to work in funding research and education across the institution.

No. This MOU was drafted by the University of Sydney and bears no relationship to the terms on which negotiations occurred between ANU and the Ramsay Centre. The University has developed this MoU on the basis of how this University, not others, would propose to engage with Ramsay.

The MOU has not yet been submitted to the Ramsay Centre for discussion, so it is unknown whether the Ramsay Centre will support the terms of the MoU. The University will not submit the MOU for discussion until it has gathered feedback from across the staff community.