Academics at Australian university QUT speak out against a PhD Thesis project entitled "Laughing at the Disabled" and are hauled up before a disciplinary hearing for publishing their views in the national press. Students speak out.
QUT international post-graduate student Ben Chua, from Singapore, expresses concern regarding QUT, an Australian University, where two academics were recently suspended for 6 months without pay after publicly criticizing the content & author of a PhD project entitled: "Laughing at the Disabled: Creating Comedy Which Confronts, Offends and Entertains."
Censorship is alive and well at QUT it would appear with student websites being targeted. Student comments and debate on the fate of favored lecturers Maclennan and Hookham have been removed by the university authorities
An American academic (UCLA Professor of Philosophy, Calvin Normore) expresses grave concern about QUT's recent behavior - in particular the decision of Vice-Chancellor Peter Coaldrake to suspend two academics for speaking out publicly about a PhD thesis entitled "Laughing at the Disabled." Normore believes this sets a dangerous precedent for universities in general.
