By Dylan Voyles
Voting is open for two academic staff seats on ANU Council.
Whoever wins will help select the University’s next Vice-Chancellor, weigh in on amendments to the ANU Act and decide how the University will act on the findings of the Auditor-General’s report into Renew ANU. The results of the elections will be announced on Monday 7 September, with successful candidates taking their seats from 30 September for a two-year term.
There are two categories on the ballot this year. The Academic Staff (Institute) member seat, which is reserved for a staff member with a predominantly research-focused role. This seat drew only one nomination, Professor Sasha (Alexander) Mikheyev, who was elected unopposed.
The Academic Staff (Faculties) member seat, for someone whose tasks combine teaching and research, is being contested by three candidates: Associate Professor Elise Klein, Dr Jessie Moritz and Associate Professor Bryan Wang.
The Observer interviewed all candidates.
Professor Sasha (Alexander) Mikheyev
Professor Mikheyev, who is completing a casual-vacancy term and returns for a further two years without opposition, points to the Council’s information problem as the objective he wants to fix next.
“Council’s core problem is information: too much of it, too little time, and almost all of it arriving through the executive. You can’t govern well on those inputs.”
He wants the Council to hear directly from staff and students, not just from information assembled by the executive, arguing that this is exactly the structural gap that let Renew ANU through without adequate scrutiny.
“When the executive controls the entire narrative pipeline, Council misses the warning signs. Fixing it is… a reflection of problems we had in the recent past.”
On the accountability issue, he notes the Auditor-General found that the Council approved Renew ANU “without a clear understanding of the problem, the options available, the implementation risks, or the expected impact on the university’s purpose and its people,” and states that the Council has since accepted every recommendation from the review, but that the real assessment is “whether we can demonstrate that those recommendations have changed how decisions get made, rather than simply being accepted”.
His other goal is to try and maintain the Council’s ‘elected memory’, as all four elected staff seats on the Council turn over within months of each other, while appointed members do not face this discontinuity. He would like to see this fixed through the Council’s own statute.
Associate Professor Elise Klein OAM
Klein is an Associate Professor of Public Policy at the Crawford School. Her platform statement leads directly with the Auditor-General’s finding that the Council approved Renew ANU’s $250 million savings target “without clear evidence it was needed, achievable, urgently required, or likely to have the intended impact”. Klein argues that the university is still living with the fallout.
On the topic of why she’s running, she points to her involvement in analysing the ANU Governance Project’s survey data.
“I analysed the initial survey results for the ANU Governance Project. I read every one of the 589 entries that colleagues shared from across the university. I felt, acutely, the disappointment, the betrayal and the distress expressed across the University. But I also was inspired by the passion, ideas and brilliant initiatives that colleagues championed.”
Her platform commits to five things if elected: defending academic freedom, improving jobs and working conditions, pushing council to measure whether administrative systems work, campaigning to amend the ANU Act so that staff and students hold a permanent majority in university governance, and working to make campus car parking more affordable.
On what has gone wrong, Klein states:
“Staff and students are the university and the management has not adequately listened or valued its staff and students… The Auditor General found that ‘debate was discouraged’ on Council. I will be a voice that is never silenced.”
Dr Jessie Moritz
Dr Moritz designed and led the ANU Governance Project, a community-led initiative involving more than 600 ANU staff, students and stakeholders that produced a report on the university’s governance failures. She frames her candidacy as continuing her work from inside the Council rather than outside it.
“I started the Gov Project because I knew that you [students], academic staff and the university community, have the knowledge to fix our university. There’s been so much focus on the problems at the ANU; I’ve been helping to build solutions.”
When asked why staff should vote for her, she points to three outcomes she’s already helped deliver: getting the non-confidential portion of council meetings livestreamed, organising a National Forum where nearly the entire council answered staff questions publicly, and lobbying that contributed to the Minister for Education’s recent announcement that the ANU Act will be reformed by the end of 2026.
On what’s gone wrong, she argues the structural problem predates any individual decision.
“Council appointed itself, investigated itself, and held itself accountable… a recipe for poor governance. Those doing the core work of the university… have been structurally shut out of decision-making, and key information from frontline academics didn’t flow upwards.”
Her priorities for the Council include faculty input on decisions that affect working conditions and research support, a strengthened Academic Board and a new university senate, a transparent selection process for senior appointments and greater financial transparency for faculty. She says her first move, if elected, would be establishing transparency in the process for selecting the next VC and appointed council members.
Associate Professor Bryan Wang
Professor Wang, a mathematician who has been at the ANU for over twenty years, is standing for council for a fourth time. He frames his qualities around institutional experience and a disciplinary habit of scrutiny.
“ANU has been my academic home for more than twenty years. I have made substantial contributions through research, teaching, HDR supervision, international collaboration and university service, and I care deeply about its future.”
Rather than drawing contrasts with his opponents in the election, Wang says he’d rather let the candidates’ records speak for themselves, instead bringing a description of the mindset he would bring.
“Mathematics teaches you to question assumptions, identify gaps, test arguments and follow evidence wherever it leads. That is precisely the mindset I would bring to Council. I will listen carefully, do the homework and exercise independent judgment in the best interests of ANU.”
On what has gone wrong, he points to Renew ANU and the Auditor-General’s findings, but finds the deeper issue in the council’s culture.
“Council must encourage questioning rather than groupthink and expect evidence rather than assurances… Council must govern, not rubber-stamp.”
On how he’d hold management accountable, Wang described a standard he’d apply to every major proposal: that management “should be able to explain clearly what it proposes, why it is necessary, what it will cost, what alternatives were considered, what risks exist and how success will be measured”.
“[Accountability] means supporting good decisions while having the independence and courage to challenge poor ones.”
If elected, his first question to the Council would be a direct one.
“What have we actually changed to ensure that the governance failures of recent years cannot happen again?”
Voting closes at 5pm on Friday 4 September. Results for the Academic Staff (Faculties) seat will be announced on Monday 7 September.
More to come.
Graphics by Anushkaa Ahuja
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