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Mapping the gains of multiculturalism IF a stranger to this country were toscan the contents page of an issue ofthe Journal of Intercultural Studiesthey would soon grasp the meaning ofAustralian multiculturalism.Take the first issue of Volume 10,published earlier this year: it includes astory on the treatment of German nationalsin Australia between 1939 and 1947; oneon Chinese communities here; and adescriplion of the problems faced bysecond-generation Italian women inAustralia seeking their own identity.The journal is one of the more visibleresults of the work of the university's Centrefor Migrant and Intercultural Studies.For 15 years (it celebrated an anniversaryin October) the centre has been investigatingthe progress of Australianmuhiculturalism, from the services providedto newly-arrived migrants to thebenefits of SBS Television.One of the oldest research organisationsat Monash, the centre has always relied ona fraying shoestring for its operation andthe goodwill of a core of committedacademics for its survival.When Professor Michael Clyne was appointedits first chainnan in 1974 the centre'sannual budget was $400. which wasused to cover the costs of visiting speakers.By 1987 the budget had "ballooned" to$2650 - and there it remains.Multiculturalism itself may not be quiteso static, but it seems unlikely the issuewill ever capture the public's imaginationas it did at the height of the Whitlam era,when the term was first coined." People at the time were conscious of achanging and maturing national identify. "Professor Clyne said...It was a time of pressure groups andlobby groups. We used to get up to 120people attending our regular Monday nightseminars."These forums were a catalyst for agreat deal of social change at a time whenthere was a policy shift from assimilationto multiculturalism."The seminars produced some interestinginteraction between researchers,practitioners and ethnic politicians, whowere just beginning to make their presencefelt."This all happened within two years ofthe election of the Whitlam Government."POlicy-makers met those who were puttingpolicy into action. And when new initiativeswere introduced the centreevaluated them .Some of the issues it looked at in thoseheady days were migrants in theworkplace, the teaching of English as a secondlanguage. the ethnic press, ethnicmusic. and the ethnic aged.Tooay multiculturaliam only comes tothe fore when people feel threatened, suchas by cuts to migrant education or the proposedmerger of SBS and ABC Television.Professor Clyne said."People nowadays are more secure withchanged aUilUdes and new policies. andthere are more forums in which they candiscuss ideas."There isn't the same idealism tooay asthere was when the centre was establ ished.There is no longer the need for slrugglenow that many of the original initiativeshave been accepted ...Although multiculturalism was a fact oflife in Australia. the gains made in the past15 years are constantly under threat. ProfessorClyne said. "Therefore, it is imperativethat such an organisation exists toreview the initiatives and ensure that theycontinue...As well as hosting prominent visitingscholars. the Centre for Migrant and InterculturalStudies also publishes the influentialJournal of Intercultural Studies.First published in 1977. it provides aninternational forum on ethnicity.multiculturalism, multilingualism andmigration. by drawing on disciplines suchas sociology. anthropology. linguistics.politics. education and social work.As the scope of its journal suggests. thecentre is truly inlerdisciplinary in nature.even its budget. Each of the five participatingfaculties - Arts. Education,Economics and Politics. Medicine andLaw - contributes to its upkeep. (TheFaculty of Arts provides the centre with aroom. equipment and a part-timeadministrator.)Professor Clyne said an interdisciplinaryapproach has given people 31tached to thecentre an opportunily to broaden theirfocus. with plenty of cross-fertilisationfrom different disciplines and perspectives.One of its most important and enduringroles has been to provide a link betweenacademia and the ethnic communities.The present chairman. Associate ProfessorPeter Hanks of Law. said: "There isa high level of support in the communityfor the centre's work. providing as it doesboth speakers and academic advice.• ASSOCiate Professor Peter Hanks"lts good profile was built up originallythrough working with bodies like theEthnic Affairs Commission, the Federa·tion of Ethnic Community Councils andthe Office of Multicultural Affairs. as wellas with individual ethnic groups ...The centre was one of the first inAustralia to establish its own graduatediploma. although it has not been offeredsince 1986. (A noted graduale is the chairmanof the Australian Advisory Committeeon Languages and Multicultural Education.Joe Lo Bianco.)While its resources may be minimal,there is a need to reintroduce postgraduateteaching in the area of crossculturalstudies, Associate Professor Hanks said."Now is the appropriate time to draw oncourses, subjects, and units in a range ofdisciplines and blend them into an MA orgraduate diploma." At the moment we' re pushing towardsestablishing a teaching program if theFaculty of Ans can be persuaded to give acommitment to co-ordinate teaching."In order to give the program legitimacyit would need to include a core subject,such as the methodology of interdisciplinarystudies, or multiculturalism aspublic policy in Australia ...Monash needsmore dialogueDECISION making and communicationsat Monash is not all fine anddandy.If we stroll down memory lane a bit. thestaff at Monash used to feel that we formeda "community of scholars". Problemswere discussed widely and decisions weremade collectively.Typically. a proposal of general interestwould originate at some level in thesystem. it would be referred 10 facuhiesand departments. and decisions would bebased on the flow of opinions from departmentsto faculties to Professorial Board toCouncil.No longer is that the case. Now. imporlantdecisions are made at the levels of theVice-Chancellor, Deans, and/or ProfessorialBoard and are then transmitted toCouncil. The decisions are then announced(often first) in the Age and then confirmedor contradicted in SOUND.Depanments and faculties have had nosay in such important matters as whetherMonash should amalgamate with some orall of Gippsland, Chisholm, Victoria College,Canberra CAE, Melbourne orLaTrobe Universities. the PoliceAcademy, or Playbox Theatre. And ifdepartments have no say. that means thesub-professorial staff have no say.There was a special Science FacultyBoard meeting on 19 October called todiscuss the merger with Chisholm. Recommendationsfor the meeting were formulatedby a working group, on the morningof the meeling. and tabled for discussionat the meeting. So much for carefulconsideration!The dean ruled out of order any discussionof whether the merger should takeplace, on the grounds that the matter hadalready been decided by the ProfessorialBoard. This. in spite of the fact that of sixScience Faculty departments which hadpreviously voted on the matter, all six wereoverwhelmingly against the mergerbecause of its lack of any educationalbasis.At a meeting on 12 September with someAns and Mathematics staff, the ViceChancellor was challenged with the complaintthat communications with both theacademic and general staff were bad. Hisreply was to the effect that the output ofSOUND had been doubled, and that on thetwo occasions the main committee on theChisholm merger had met. it immediatelyproduced a newsletter.He also asked for a majority of staff tosupport him on the Chisholm merger, andin his plan to tum Monash away from aBritish model towards an American mooelof a university. (If there is an Americanmodel for what has been decided forMonash. I have yet to hear of it!)What is now missing at Monash is a twowayflow of information. The administrationcannot expect a majority of academicsto support a policy about which they havenot been consulted and for which norationale has been produced. And the problemsare not confined to the academicsonly. The administration has notnegOli
The law targets nuclear arms IF the seeds planted at a recentmeeting of international la~yers bearfruit, Professor Christie Weeramantry'sworld vision of a future free ofnuclear weapons may come closer toreality.Professor Weeramantry. the Sir HaydenStarke chair of law at Monash. has justreturned from the inaugural world congressat The Hague of the InternationalAssociation of Lawyers Against NuclearArms, lALANA.As IALANA vice-president, ProfessorWeeramantry is hopeful that a case beingprepared by the organisation will lead tothe outlawing of nuclear weapons.Through the agency of the United Nations.[ALANA is hoping to push for anofficial judgement from the InternationalCourt of Justice.Professor Weeramantry describes thecurrent altitude of countries suspected ofpossessing nuclear weapons as "you say itis illegal - you prove il.""There is no comprehensive treaty thatmakes them illegal ... there is no documemhaving the force of law which saysthat nuclear weapons are illegaL" ProfessorWeeramantry said."We extract these principles fromcustomary international law but we don '{have a treaty or a judgement which saysthat one of the sources of international lawis treaties, and another is judgements...The congress resolved to work for thedeclaration of the illegality of nuclearweapons.According to Professor Weerarnantrythere are several grounds on which theorganization can make a strong case to theInternational Coun of Justice."Under the principle of proponionality,you cannot use weapons that cause damagewhich goes far beyond the purposes ofwar, so weapons that cause a dispropor- .lionate amount of damage would thereforestand outlawed by that principle," he said.The principle which forbids causingdamage to neutral states who are not in thewar would also prohibit nuclear weapons,as their use would result in devastation tocountries other than those at war with eachother.A third principle is the prohibition ofanyaction or weapon which causes unnecessarydamage and suffering."This principle outlaws any weaponswhich would cause more destruclion Ihanis necessary in a war (as nuclear weaponswould)," Professor Weeramantry said.Professor Weeramantry's case wouldalso argue for Ihe outlawing of storingnuclear weapons for use as a permanentdeterrent.He said there was a growing view thatwe need to conserve the ecosystem of ourplanet. and the use of nuclear weaponswould destroy the life suppon systems ofthe earth and constitute a crime againsthumanity - another argument forIALANA's proposed case for the InternationalCourt of Justice.Professor Weeramantry has long beeninterested in the responsibilities of scientistsin regard to the development ofnuclear weapons. He is the author of abook entitled Nuclear Weapons andScientific Responsibilities, which hassparked off a debate in the United Statesdrawing in scientists who advise the Pentagonon nuclear weapons.Albert Langer's chern partner makes news THE name Albert Langer is one mostpeople associate with Monash's turbulentpast - but these days it's hischemistry prac partner from those earlyuniversity days who makes news.Carol Austin is the director of Public Affairsfor BHP. one of Australia' s biggestcompanies, and enjoyed her laboratorywork with Mr Langer during her sciencecourse in the 1960s...Albert had a brilliant mind and was avery interesting fellow student. Thosewere the days of the Vietnam wardemonstrations so there was a lot going onaround me at university that added colorand interest to my student days," she said.But was Ms Austin a radical student?"I was only involved on the peripherywasn'(one of the student radicals orheavily involved in the SRC."I listened to the lunchtime discussion aswe all did and participated in the debates inthe interminable coffee breaks we had, butI was by no means a student radical!"Ms Austin's extra-curricular interestslay more in the fine ans area, and she wasinvolved in getting a pottery studio oncampus.Following her graduation in science inI 969,'she set offwilh her new husband forPapua New Guinea, where she worked forthe local Bureau of Statistics.She then became involved in trade andeconomic policy, which was what sparkedher interest in economics. leading to adegree in the field from Australian NationalUniversity.While her husband studied for hisMaster's degree at London University, MsAustin worked with the British Depanmentof Trade and Industry.Following her economics degree atAustralian National University on herreturn to Australia from Papua NewGuinea in 1978, Ms Austin worked as aresearch economist for the Reserve Bank,and then with the Australian IndustryDevelopment Corporation.If Ms Austin's face looks familiar, it'sprobably from her role as an economiccommentator on the now defunct CarletonWalsh Repon on ABC television.• The Sir Hayden Starke professor of law, Professor Christie Weeramantry.IALANA has been developed as a resultof several recent writings on the illegalityof nuclear weapons, inclUding ProfessorWeeramantry's book.The association receives strong supportfrom the American Lawyer's Committeeon Nuclear Policy, the Procurator Generalof the Soviet Union (who is also presidentof the Soviet Lawyers' Association), and• Carol AustinOn the communications side, she saysbusiness does not always understand thedifference between providing informationand communicating -something that herinfluential members of the Swedish Parliament.The first world congress attracted200 lawyers from 30 countries.With this committed global membership,Professor Weeramantry is confident thatthe organization's long-term goal of completelyoutlawing the development, storageor use of nuclear weapons will beachieved.Monash honorsfire heroineFIRST year engineering student,Tanya Redfern, received a copy ofJohn Monash: A Biography, recentlyfor a courageous act.Tanya saved 20 elderly people from afire which extensively damaged 'an agedpeople's home at Murrumbeena inSeptember. She was working as a relievingnight supervisor at.the home and was theonly employee on duty when the fireSlane
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