Australian National University (ANU) executives have come to the defence of their embattled vice-chancellor and accused staff of orchestrating leaks to ¡°paint a false picture of the university¡¯s culture¡±.

In a joint statement to the ANU community, 11 senior leaders professed their full support for the strategic direction of vice-chancellor Genevieve Bell and the university¡¯s governing council. The move followed a series of?Australian Financial Review?(AFR) reports about the leadership style of Professor Bell, a renowned cultural anthropologist and former Silicon Valley executive, and the ¡°culture of fear¡± she presided over at ANU.

¡°These articles are based on misrepresentations of institutional information,¡± the statement says. ¡°We are all trusted to keep such information confidential. Failing to do so is not only unprofessional, it affects many of our colleagues who¡­have had their character, integrity or performance brought into question.

¡°We are concerned for our colleagues that have been personally named. The task is not an easy one but as leaders we are fully committed to¡­collectively reshaping ANU to ensure it is financially sustainable.¡±

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Earlier, the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) said staff had ¡°lost confidence¡± in Professor Bell over the reports and her planned A$250 million (?126 million)?budget cuts.

¡°Staff are distressed and scared for their livelihood as a result of¡­poor governance, financial mismanagement and a damaged workplace culture,¡± said the NTEU¡¯s ANU branch president, Millan Pintos-Lopez. ¡°The vice-chancellor needs to spend less time hunting staff who speak up and more time working with us.¡±

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The?AFR??Professor Bell had told a leadership meeting that if anyone leaked information she would ¡°find you out and hunt you down¡±. Professor Bell told the newspaper she could not recall saying those ¡°precise words¡± but stressed the importance of ¡°appropriate hygiene around who has access to data and who doesn¡¯t¡±.

¡°Making sure that when information flows, it flows responsibly, is a hallmark of a good organisation,¡± she reportedly said. ¡°When I first became vice-chancellor, there was a tremendous lack of controls on how information was distributed¡­there was information sitting in places that it probably shouldn¡¯t, and I¡¯ve been working to fix that.¡±

According to a subsequent?AFR?, three ANU deans were summoned to change management meetings and told that the governing council had lost confidence in them. The joint leaders¡¯ statement also expresses support for the deans.

The NTEU has been particularly outraged by Professor Bell¡¯s request that staff?forgo a scheduled 2.5 per cent pay increase?to help minimise job losses. The union campaigned vigorously against this proposal and said 88 per cent of staff had voted against it.

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Both Canberra-based universities are undergoing leadership and financial crises with a combined?800 or more?job cuts predicted across the two institutions. The University of Canberra has its fourth leader inside a year, after interim vice-chancellor Stephen Parker lost confidence in the governing body and?departed abruptly.

NTEU president Alison Barnes said an urgent parliamentary inquiry was needed into the ¡°national university?governance crisis¡±.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com