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Massey University Vice-Chancellor Caught in a Web of Deceit

David Farrar at Kiwiblog has publicly exposed Massey University's Vice-Chancellor, Jan Thomas as lying to Professor Sally Morgan, Chair of Academic Board, Massey University.

Readers will recall that VC Thomas recently painted herself and Massey University in deep purple hues of ignominy when she cancelled by fiat a public event organized by students to which Dr Don Brash was invited to speak.  Thomas used the reason of a likely public affray caused by of Brash's speech as the reason for her cancellation order.  She was trying to protect lives, don't you know, along with the precious petal sensitivities of Massy U. students. 

Now, however, courtesy of the Official Information Act, it becomes clear that Thomas has lied all along.  She took an active interest in denying the free speech rights of the Massey Manawatu Politics Club and Don Brash under the pretext of a likely public disturbance.  You can read the details now publicly exposed by the Official Information Act releases.

Prof Sally Morgan met with VC Thomas and the latter assured her that she was worried about public disturbances, and for that reason shut down Brash's speech. This was a baldfaced genuflection, otherwise known as a lie.   Here is Prof Sally Morgan's account of her meeting with VC Thomas in which Thomas paints the picture of civil disturbance as the reason she cancelled Dr Brash's speech, yet her actual e-mail trail shows this to be nothing more than a pretext:

Distinguished Professor Sally Morgan Chair of Academic Board Meeting with the Vice-Chancellor. In light of the public accusations that Massey University is not committed to the Principle of Free Speech, I asked to meet with the Vice-Chancellor in my capacity as Chair of Academic Board, to gain reassurances that this is not the case, and to discuss the recent controversy caused by the cancellation of the Don Brash lecture which was to be hosted by the Students Political Club. I did this because I wanted to fully understand the facts of the case and what, if any, impact it might have on the business of the Board. I was not finding the public debate and the emotional speculation on social media and in the press very helpful and needed to know more before I could happily form an opinion.

The Vice-Chancellor agreed to meet me and to answer my questions. She began by assuring me that she was committed to free speech and the notion of the University as well-informed and scholarly, Conscience and Critic of Society.

I asked the Vice-Chancellor how long she had been aware of Dr Brash’s proposed lecture before she took the decision to cancel the lease of the room to the students. She told me that she had been aware of the event for many weeks and had been invited to attend. The students had also informed her that their planned programme of talks would include politicians from all New Zealand’s major political parties.

My understanding from what Professor Thomas told me, is that she had not considered cancelling the event at any point during that period, because she had no pressing reason to do so. She did not deny that she does not agree with Dr Brash’s views, but she pointed out that she had not at any stage banned him from campus nor insisted that the students disinvite him.

Professor Thomas told me that the situation changed when she was shown a thread on social media where there was a discussion of a plan to violently disrupt the talk, making mention of bringing a gun. I can confirm that I have seen a screen-capture of the comments. A gun was indeed mentioned. It was not something that I, if I found myself in her position, would be able to take lightly. The Vice-Chancellor told me that, in the light of the concern for the physical well-being of the community, her office arranged a meeting with the Police. The Police were not able to respond as quickly as the Vice-Chancellor had hoped and so she took the decision to cancel the lease on the room in order to ensure the safety of students and staff, and indeed Dr Brash himself. At the end of my discussion with the Vice-Chancellor I felt reassured that the Brash talk was cancelled for legitimate safety reasons, not as a deliberate suppression of free speech, and Professor Thomas’s decisions were made with integrity, based on the information she had to hand at the time. I came away thinking that Professor Thomas did not find herself in an easy situation, and that her decision was not an unequivocal assault on free speech as it has been characterised. I felt that the worst that might be levelled at her was that she had been over-cautious in the face of threats of violence. This seems to me to be an operational matter, not an academic one.

The statements in bold are a deliberate deception--a lie.  VC Thomas's e-mail trail shows that from the time she first heard of Brash being invited to speak she was manoeuvring, politicking, and pushing to shut the event down.  The e-mail trail also confirms that she was doing so because she did not approve of Brash's positions.  In other words, Thomas was clearly and self-consciously attempting to remove free speech rights from Dr Don Brash because she did not approve of his views.  She then lied to the Chair of the Academic Board, claiming it was due to a matter of public safety.

You can read the e-mail trail published at Kiwiblog which shows how partisan she is on the matters, how much she detests Don Brash, and how determined she was to prevent him speaking at Massey University.  The alleged security concerns were nothing more than a trojan horse.

Jan Thomas--enemy of free speech rights.  Her personal and professional mana has shrivelled to the size of a desiccated poisonous toadstool.  The damage she has done to the reputation and mana of Massey University is incalculable.