Professor Brady Exonerated
Professor Anne-Marie Brady has not breached the University of Canterbury’s policy or the Education Act, the university says.
While this is a great victory there is a lot more to be done. Our group will now focus our attention on influencing legislators around the globe to protect the rights of journalists and academics in their respective nations. We also plan to help Cinese Human Rights dissidents facing persecution or trial within China. We believe that you should be protected from baseless and spurious attempts to silence the critics of the most powerful totalitarian regime in the world, China. We can’t do any of this without our Donors support and this is as much a victory for them as it is for Professor Brady.
The following is a report published from the
New Zealand university dismisses complaints against China expert Anne-Marie Brady co-authored a report on links between universities and Chinese military Share on Twitter (opens new window) Share on Facebook (opens new window) Share on LinkedIn (opens new window) Share Save Jamie Smyth in Sydney 2 HOURS AGO 1 Print this page A New Zealand university has dismissed complaints against one of its China experts after ordering a controversial internal review that sparked international concerns over academic freedom and Chinese influence.
Four complaints were made to the University of Canterbury by staff and students at rival institutions about a report co-authored by Anne-Marie Brady, which highlighted the links between New Zealand universities and Chinese military institutions. The complainants challenged certain “assertions and inferences” in the report titled “Holding a Pen in One Hand, Gripping a Gun in the Other”, which was part of a parliamentary submission highlighting concerns about Chinese Communist Party influence in New Zealand. The University of Canterbury’s decision to review Prof Brady’s work, rather than ask the complainants to publish their concerns in an academic paper of their own, sparked a global outcry. More than 120 China scholars published an open letter in October calling for the university to apologize to Prof Brady and criticized its decision to establish a review. The University of Canterbury said on Friday that the review concluded that Prof Brady and her co-authors met the responsibilities of the college’s policy and procedures, as well as New Zealand’s Education Act. “The committee noted that Professor Brady’s work was based on a lengthy period of research and cites extensively from other sources,” said the university. “The University of Canterbury affirms its support for ‘the freedom of academic staff and students, within the law, to question and test received wisdom, to put forward new ideas, and to state controversial or unpopular opinions’.” However, the University of Canterbury said given that the report was intended for parliamentary submission and succinct, they recommended that some phrases could be amended to provide clarity.
Prof Brady welcomed the end of the review process, noting neither her lawyers nor herself could see anything to justify the complaints or the gag order. “Staff and students at the complaining institutions, Victoria and Auckland universities, have as much at stake as me in knowing that their Vice-Chancellors will also stand up for academic freedom,” she said. “They asked UC to suppress my academic freedom against a Parliamentary submission.” Recommended News in-depth university of Cambridge Cambridge caught in the crossfire of US-China tech war One of the complaints was submitted by Jennifer Dixon, deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Auckland, who claimed several “assertions and inferences” made about one of the academics named in the report — Wei Gao, a professor of materials science and engineering — were inaccurate.
Ms. Dixon has oversight of the Confucius Institute in Auckland and is chair of the New Zealand Centre at Peking University’s advisory board. Richard McGregor, an analyst with the Lowy Institute, said the decision by the University of Canterbury was good news, as Prof Brady had a lot to contribute to the China debate in New Zealand and elsewhere.
New Zealand, a member of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network with the US, UK, Canada and Australia, has been criticized by security analysts and China experts for not acknowledging that people and organizations with links to the Communist party have sought to influence domestic politics and society. Peter Mattis, a former CIA analyst, has told a US congressional commission that New Zealand’s participation in the Five Eyes should be reconsidered due to its close links with Beijing.