One of several letters voicing concern at the establishment of the University’s new US Studies Centre published in the Autumn 2007 issue of the Sydney Alumni Magazine in response to the article below which was published in the University of Sydney’s Sydney Alumni Magazine Summer 2006 (photos omitted).
Sydney to host US Studies Centre
Commonwealth pledges $25 million endowment; opinion survey to measure our attitudes to the US.
The University of Sydney has been selected to host Australia’s new US Studies Centre. The new think tank, which will be Australia’s leading centre for research into American political, economic and cultural issues, will be based both at the University’s Camperdown campus and in the heart of Sydney’s central business district.
The chairman of the American Australian Association, Malcolm Binks, announced the decision on November 14 at the association’s fund-raising dinner attended by the Prime Minister, John Howard (LLB ’61), the chairman and chief executive of News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch, NSW Premier Morris Iemma (BEcon ’84) and other business, political and academic leaders.
In a statement issued soon after, Prime Minister John Howard said:
“During my visit to the United States in May this year, I announced, as a joint initiative with the American Australian Association, that the Australian Government would contribute $25 million towards the establishment of a United States Studies Centre at a prestigious Australian university. “I would like to congratulate the University of Sydney on its selection by the American Australian Association to host the Centre. “The University of Sydney has an excellent standing, both in Australia and overseas, and its links with institutions in the US will complement and provide leadership on current Australian- United States educational endeavours.”
It is anticipated that the NSW Government will also provide financial support for the centre. Additional funds have been raised from the private sector. Donors include Malcolm Turnbull (BA ’77, LLB ’78) and Lucy Turnbull (LLB ’82), News Corporation, and the Lowy family.
“We are very excited to be working with the University of Sydney,” said the AAA’s Malcolm Binks. “The centre will make a vital contribution to the enhancement of the already outstanding relationship between our two countries.” The new centre, which will have its own governing board of directors, has been established with the specific purpose of deepening the appreciation and understanding of American culture, its political climate and government, and with strengthening the relationship between the two countries.
University of Sydney Vice-Chancellor Professor Gavin Brown said: “This is a centre for all of Australia. The University of Sydney is honoured to host it.” As well as a strong academic program including postgraduate research studies at Masters and PhD level, the centre will run an active executive education and outreach program which will include short courses, debates, public lectures and forums.
The first year’s agenda
Highlights planned for the first year of the US Studies Centre include:
• A national opinion survey measuring what Australians think about the United States
• A national summit on US studies which will include an academic conference and public forum including lectures and workshops
• A classic American film festival run in cooperation with University of California, Los Angeles’ School of Theatre, Film and Television which has the world’s largest university-held collection of motion pictures and broadcast programming.
Key scholars in American studies
Many of Australia’s key scholars in American studies are currently at the University of Sydney.
They include:
• Professor Shane White (BA ’79, PhD ’89), one of the world’s leading authorities on African-American culture;
• Professor Jennifer Hill (BA ’87, LLB ’79), an expert on corporate governance;
• Professor Helen Irving (PhD ’87, LLB ’01), who holds the Harvard Chair in Australian studies;
• Professor Ed Blakely, an urban planning expert who has advised US administrations after major disasters; and
• Professor Alan Dupont, one of Australia’s foremost thinkers on international security.
The University’s submission was made after consultation with academic and business advisers in the United States and Australia who identified core themes for the centre. These included power and democracy; wealth creation and rights protection; and American thinking, focussing on US social, cultural and media studies.
Heavyweight support for US initiative
Concerns about Australia’s perception of America fuelled the US Studies Centre idea, as Valerie Lawson reports.
Reprinted with permission from the Sydney Morning Herald.
Rupert Murdoch’s reaction to a poll revealing Australia’s negative feelings about the United States was the spark that led to an A-list benefit dinner hosted by the American Australian Association on November 14. Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corporation, who was honoured at the dinner as “a quintessential American Australian”, was horrified at last year’s Lowy Institute poll that showed only Indonesia, the Middle East, Iran and Iraq generated fewer positive feelings than the United States.
The poll found that of the 39 per cent of Australians who felt negatively towards the US, almost all thought Australia paid too much attention to Washington’s views. Murdoch asked Malcolm Binks, chairman of the American Australian Association, and Michael Baume, its patron, what they were going to do about the survey result. The two men then raised the idea of a United States Studies Centre with the former minister for education, Brendan Nelson, and received the enthusiastic backing of Baume’s friend the Prime Minister, John Howard.
It was announced at the November 14 dinner that the University of Sydney would host the centre, a joint initiative between the association and the Australian Government.
Murdoch commented on the “strained relationship” between the US and France. He said “none of us wants to see America and Australia share the same fate”. “First and foremost, Australians must resist and reject the facile, reflexive, unthinking anti-Americanism that has gripped much of Europe. Recent surveys have shown such sentiment to be more prevalent than ever, and perhaps even on the rise …
“This is not to indict the current government for this problem. During Prime Minister Howard’s premiership the working relationship between Canberra and Washington has arguably never been stronger.”
The new centre would conduct research, raise awareness, dispel myths, groom new leaders and increase ties between the two countries, Mr Murdoch said.
Prime Minister Howard attended the dinner as a special guest, along with Gough Whitlam, Malcolm Fraser, Andrew Peacock, Frank Lowy, Sol Trujillo,Murdoch’s son Lachlan and his wife, Sarah, and their friends Collette Dinnigan and Baz Luhrmann. Also present were the NSW Premier, Morris Iemma, and his predecessor Bob Carr. The dinner, for which guests paid up to $35,000 a table, also raised money for the fellowship program for Australian and US postgraduate scholars to study in both countries.
The American Australian Association Ltd, formed in Australia this year, is an affiliate of the 58-year old US-based American Australian Association Inc. Murdoch’s links to the US association began when he bought into the US media in 1973, 12 years before he became a naturalised US citizen. His father, Sir Keith Murdoch, was one of its founders.
