Independent supporters of the Australian National University's School of Music have openly criticised university management over the sudden loss of esteemed head of school Peter Tregear, pointing to wider issues of poor administration at the university.
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In particular, the committee of the Friends of School of Music has pointed to administrative failures and "obfuscation" within the College of Arts and Social Sciences over financial support of music students, which were suggestive of wider cultural issues at the university that made it almost impossible for Professor Tregear to manage the school successfully.
Committee members are independent from the ANU and work on a voluntary basis to support the school, its students and academics through performance excellence and community outreach.
President of the Friends of the School of Music Committee Tony Henshaw said the committee was deeply saddened by the loss of Professor Tregear, who was ousted from his role last week.
Last week The Canberra Times reported that the school had descended into industrial unrest and that there was widespread concern among academics and students regarding Professor Tregear's shock departure – some 18 months before his contract expired.
While ANU management denied Comcare was involved at the school, The Canberra Times confirmed that Comcare is currently monitoring the school while it corroborates evidence from a number of individuals relating to a toxic workplace culture.
Professor Tregear refused to comment on whether Comcare was investigating his own treatment by university management while working there.
In a public statement, the Friends committee also alluded to wider systemic issues at play and said their hopes for the future of the School of Music now rested with the departure of Vice-Chancellor Ian Young and his replacement by Nobel Prize winning scientist Brian Schmidt, in January.
Mr Henshaw said Professor Schmidt had been explicit in his desire for the ANU to operate a viable School of Music "and we hope a different leadership team will enable this to happen," he said.
"Peter's efforts to enable the School to recover from the disastrous situation he inherited in 2012 have been remarkable and unstinting. However, it appears that his plan was not supported by many in his management chain," Mr Henshaw said.
"Since Professor Tregear's appointment in 2012, the Friends have worked constructively with the ANU to support his strategic plan for the School. Unfortunately, staffing and resourcing issues have not been addressed quickly enough to make his plan effective."
The Friends committee had experienced "many instances of delay and obfuscation in their own dealings with the university management to whom Professor Tregear reported, including extended delays in the processing of grants and prizes to students and slowness in the approval of awards, to be made from funds the Friends have entrusted to the University's Endowment for Excellence."
"These difficulties are symptomatic of the lack of support experienced by Professor Tregear during his tenure," Mr Henshaw said.
Delays in the delivering of scholarship money raised by the Friends committee had included students receiving scholarship and award money in 2014, not being paid until April of this year.
Following several representations from the Friends committee that the 2015 scholarships were also well overdue, money was delivered by the College just last week for distribution to students.
"If these sorts of delays are indicative of the environment in which Peter had to work, then it is not a good look in terms of the support the school was receiving from management."
Mr Henshaw said the Friends committee and wider Canberra community now expected "an outstanding appointment to replace Professor Tregear" and a real commitment "to adequate and rapid staff recruitment and retention" from all levels of university management.
"Without this, further decline in the standing of the School and, with it, the ANU, is inevitable," he said.
A spokesman for the ANU said that "administrative arrangements led to some delays with payments for grants and prizes from the Endowment funds. ANU has worked with the School of Music and Friends of the School of Music to resolve the issues and to ensure payments are processed in a timely manner, and in line with university guidelines."
