Page 16 - IB August 2024

Special Report Special Report

MOUNTING DISCORD AT USP

ACADEMICS WARN OF ‘TOXIC’ ATMOSPHERE DAMAGING THE
REGION’S LARGEST UNIVERSITY

Growing discord within the ranks of the University of the
South Pacific (USP) escalated further this month with the
summary dismissal of a mid-career academic. With USP’s
two unions having already voted to go on strike in March
this year over what they claimed to be unresolved pay and
staffing issues, the dismissal of Dr Tamara Osborne-Naikatini
has added more fuel to the fire. Her PhD students added
their voices to the heightening chorus of discontent at the
University as staff voted to go on strike demanding Vice-
Chancellor, Professor Pal Ahluwalia’s removal.
Aisha Azeemah reports that with Fiji’s education ministry
being asked to intervene, there is now a growing sense that
the USP Council, as the governing body of the regionally
funded body, needs to act. Senior academics, as well as
sources from within the Council have told Islands Business
that the situation at USP is becoming toxic.
Loggerheads
When Dr Tamara Osborne-Naikatini stepped into the role Illustration: Albert Rolls
of Acting President of the Association of the University of the
South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) in January this year, she had been
with USP for 12 years, and was Lecturer in the discipline of
Biological and Chemical Sciences. She had also been Discipline researchers having access to multiple experts, they say that
Coordinator since mid-2023. She was elected to the position Osborne-Naikatini, as a Pacific Island technical expert, is the
of President at the union annual general meeting in April. backbone of their efforts.
At that point, AUSPS and the Administration and Support A representative of the group said: “Do we have specialist
Staff Union had already been at loggerheads with the students, Pacific Island graduates? Those of us who plant,
University for a year. Citing the management dragging its uproot and eat that crop ourselves and understand the
feet over a growing number of vacancies and the subsequent importance of our research aims in preserving that plant.
workload on staff, as well as unresolved salary grievances, That’s the important thing. We need those kinds of people.
both unions voted via secret ballot to go on strike in March. “I do not doubt the knowledge of the other people on my
Within a few weeks of the strike vote, Osborne-Naikatini supervisory team. But that is the beauty of having a principal
found herself directly in the line of fire. She was accused of supervisor who’s a Pacific Island expert,” the representative
“gross misconduct” for speaking to Islands Business about the said. “Even when we run the data, we can follow all the steps
details of the Council’s process in granting Vice-Chancellor, online. But does that make ecological truth on the ground? Is
Professor Pal Ahluwalia a new, two-year contract at the this result true for Fiji? Is this true for Tonga? That is the thing
Council’s meeting last November. The University claimed that only a Pacific Island biologist or ecologist can verify;
she had breached the confidentiality of the USP Council by somebody who knows the plants and animal species. That’s
publicly sharing sensitive information. She was notified of the why we all go to her.
allegations in late April. “As Discipline Coordinator, Tamara consistently met with
In July, she was handed a notice of summary dismissal, specialists, regional NGOs, local NGOs, SPC, Nature Fiji, and
throwing her into the centre of a new controversy gripping she would align our courses to the output that the region
the University. currently needs to answer that call for the regional agenda.”
Her students launched an online campaign petitioning The petition says that as the Discipline Coordinator, she
for her reinstatement, gaining almost 500 signatures from oversaw 20 courses across regional USP campuses, while also
students, staff and others. supervising 12 postgraduate students in the Master’s and PhD
They asked management to consider the impact of her programs.
removal on the wider Pacific landscape. “Her abrupt removal has left students without the essential
According to the petitioners, there is a dire need for guidance and support needed to complete their programs.
experts from the Pacific in biology, ecology and related Given the already severe shortage of qualified staff in the
sciences, to further the students’ goals and preserve local School of Agriculture, Geography, Environment, Oceans, and
and regional ecosystems. Despite each of these early-career Natural Sciences (SAGEONS), this decision affects students

16 Islands Business, August 2024