Attn. Ms Julie Lewis, Required correction to the article by Ms Daniella White
From: Manuel Graeber <manuel.graeber@professoriate.org> (Professoriate)
To: jlewis@smh.com.au
CC: smhopinion@smh.com.au
Date: 25/04/24 11:30
Dear Ms Lewis,
I would like to request that you publish a correction to the article written
by Daniella White titled “Whistleblower professor accused of ‘serious
misconduct’ sues Sydney Uni” due to factual errors. The article is being
distributed in Western Australia as well. Alternatively, I am willing to write
an opinion piece.
Ms White’s article contains several misleading statements resulting from
factual errors that require correction. The most important ones are summarized
below and must be addressed:
– Ms White incorrectly claimed that “a senior brain researcher who accused a
Sydney University academic of attempting to bribe and blackmail another staff
member” made the allegations. In fact, the claims were about a manager and not
an academic colleague.
– Furthermore, I would like to clarify that this claim was actually made by a
senior academic colleague who approached two other senior professors and me,
all of whom subsequently testified to audit.
– As President of the University of Sydney Association of Professors (USAP)
and in accordance with my duties as an employee of the University of Sydney, I
filed a public interest disclosure (PID). This was both the required and
proper action to take. The decision to treat the allegations as a PID was made
by audit.
– Therefore, Ms White’s introduction statement is not only factually incorrect
but highly misleading as is the tone of the article. Management’s defence is
cited as fact when no proof has been provided at this stage of the
proceedings. I categorically rejected management’s false claims in my written
response to Ms White.
– I am aware that Darren Goodsir, a former editor-in-chief of the Sydney
Morning Herald, currently serves as chief-of-staff at The University of
Sydney. Kate McClymont, a journalist with close ties to your publication, was
also on the Senate of our university for many years but failed to respond to
colleagues’ or my concerns regarding gross management misconduct at our
university, such as:
https://www.manuelbgraeber.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Letter-to-USYD_Senate-15-June-23-no-reply.pdf
I am looking forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards
Manuel Graeber
Professor Manuel B. Graeber MD PhD FRCPath
President, University of Sydney Association of Professors (USAP)
Vice-President,
Australian Association of University Professors (AAUP)