Edward J. Steele - Dismissal and Dispute

Dismissal and Dispute

In January 2001, Steele made several allegations to the media in regard to 'soft' marking resulting in the upgrading of full fee paying international students. Steele was summarily dismissed by UoW's Vice-Chancellor Gerard Sutton, stating that the university's reputation was "placed at a serious and imminent risk as a result of Associate Professor Steele's claims." Steele declared his dismissal unfair and instituted legal proceedings.The case received wide media coverage In August 2001, the Australian Federal Court found that the University of Wollongong had breached its staff enterprise agreement and did not following correct conduct and dismissal procedures in Steele's case. Following the verdict Steele expressed publicly that he wanted his job back.

On 5 April 2002, UoW Vice Chancellor Gerard Sutton acceded to NTEU demands and reinstated Dr Ted Steele to his position within the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Wollongong. It was made public that Steele's reinstatement was unconditional and involved backpay. President of the National Tertiary Education Union, Dr Carolyn Allport announced the importance of the victory and precedent that the court's ruling set. "The NTEU has said all along that Dr Steele was dismissed illegally. The union's position has been completely vindicated by the findings of four judges of the Federal Court and Dr Steele's subsequent reinstatement. The reinstatement comes after a 15 month legal and political campaign by the NTEU. It is a victory for all NTEU members because it clearly demonstrates that university staff cannot be dismissed without a proper and fair hearing. This requirement is the fundamental protection of intellectual freedom in Australia's universities and the successful campaign to reinstate Dr Steele has reaffirmed that protection for all Australian university staff and for the community that our universities serve."

The University of Wollongong subsequently appealed the court's decision, but again lost and was ordered to pay Steele's court costs (estimated to be approx. A$40,000). The University set out with further investigations into the allegations of soft marking in an effort to legitimately incriminate Steele, however there appeared to be a conflict of interest with Steele's former line manager being promoted to Dean, and chair of a subsequent enquiry. This led to Steele describing the UoW arbitration system as a 'Kangaroo court'.

The unfair dismissal issue was resolved on 6 July 2002 when Steele and the University of Wollongong came to a confidential agreement. Although little is known in regard to the settlement, Steele did not return to the University of Wollongong. Further reading.,