Sir, - As one of the signatories to the letter which was commented upon by Mary O'Donovan (June 25th), may I be allowed to explain a little more the thrust and import of the original letter? It was written as a reminder of the increasing power of the Government in university affairs under the outgoing administration. In fairness to that Government, the abolition of university fees only accidentally brings about more government control, by having the State's pay-master functions dramatically increased through the payment of fees on behalf of the students. Nonetheless, the Minister for Finance can now effectively "regulate" the universities' fee income in line with budgetary - in other words, political - considerations.
The recent Universities Act, passed into law by the outgoing Government, while including in its final draft a laudable recognition of the academic freedom to teach and to engage in research in the light of one's intellectual convictions, also greatly increases the presence and power of the Minister of Education in the university sector, and specifically grants power to the Government to dissolve a university's governing body for up to a year. The Act even presumes to tell university presidents how to conduct meetings of the governing body (Third Schedule, para. 12) indicative of a mindset that if left unchecked ends in rule, not representative democracy.
Your correspondent accuses us of trying to turn back the clock. She may be interested to know that I keep on my desk the famous lines of Lucretius, saturated with images of time, past, present and future:
"Some come, some go, some wax, some wane,
And in short time the generations change,
And like the athletes pass the torch of life."
For an Irish academic, handing on the best to the new generations means in part keeping a critical eye on and speaking out against the potentially dangerous erosion of university autonomy, that has taken place in Ireland this year. - Yours, etc.,
Dalkey, Co Dublin.