The UTAS Blog

UTAS Blog and logo for sale

2011-07-28T06:50:11Z

Check it out at GoDaddy,

all offers considered!
...

Prof Carey Denholm: Egg or Chicken?

2011-01-03T07:16:00Z

Tonnes of "confidential" stuff to upload to wikileaks and they incur the wrath of the USA... Oh well, we still have a few contributors who want to make UTAS a better place.

So the question is: Is Carey Denholm an egg or a chicken?

A recent email to us might be taken to suggest he's a chicken. The ripped-off PhD student tells us that Denholm happily let a rubbish supervisor kick the table while the student was detailing legitimate grievances!

The student is quite clear. Their supervisor was physically kicking the table while the student was speaking. Denholm's attention was drawn to this and he did nothing. Obviously it's not in the minutes of the meeting but as the student says: "You couldn't make it up".

So, on this basis alone Denholm is a chicken. Not a result of deviant UTAS culture, but a true corporate psychopath.

Carey Denholm remains the person of interest in several infamous UTAS episodes.
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Still kicking

2010-11-14T07:39:00Z

Hi, it's been an amazing 234 days since the last update to the site!

We've been busy on other fronts but can now say we've got a package ready for wikileaks.

The University of Tasmania can go for a lovely Christmas break in the knowledge that we care. And have got the documents to prove it too.
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UTAS Blog: The Visitors 2

2010-03-25T07:08:00Z

All the visitors from the last two days. Followed by selected visitors from the last week.

A new visitor from Melbourne, Victoria arrived from Google Australia by searching for "nude utas" and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A new visitor from Perth, Western Australia arrived from Google Australia by searching for "corporate psychopath characteristics" and landed on "The UTAS Blog: Corporate Psychopaths: Any nominations?".

A returning visitor from Hobart, Tasmania arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog: Corporate Psychopaths: Any nominations?".

A new visitor from Hobart, Tasmania arrived from Google Australia by searching for "utas sucks" and landed on "The UTAS Blog: Research Higher Degrees: Bad Experiences".

A new visitor from Lindisfarne, Tasmania arrived from Google Australia by searching for "how do i write a formal complaint about my supervisor" and landed on "The UTAS Blog: Research Higher Degrees: Bad Experiences".

A new visitor from Melbourne, Victoria arrived from Google Australia by searching for "utas nursing stories experiences" and landed on "The UTAS Blog: Research Higher Degrees: Bad Experiences".

A new visitor from Hobart, Tasmania arrived from Google Australia by searching for "university of tasmania blog" and landed on "The UTAS Blog: University of Tasmania: Not a brick wall, more like a moral vacuum. UPDATED".

A new visitor from Delhi arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog: Common knowledge proves to be correct (again)".

A new visitor from Delhi arrived from Google by searching for "add comment "sexual harassment" blogs ".aspx"" and landed on "The UTAS Blog".
****those visitors are spammers who search for blog entries open for comment and then advertise their business in a comment****

A new visitor from Hobart, Tasmania arrived from Google Australia by searching for "carey denholm" and landed on "The UTAS Blog: Prof Carey Denholm: Person of Interest".

A new visitor from Melbourne, Victoria arrived from Google Australia by searching for "bad reviewr comments on a phd thesis" and landed on "The UTAS Blog: Research Higher Degrees: Bad Experiences".

A new visitor from Hobart, Tasmania arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A returning visitor from Hobart, Tasmania arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A returning visitor from Hobart, Tasmania arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A new visitor from Hobart, Tasmania arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A new visitor from Australia arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog: UTAS Blog: The Visitors".

A new visitor from Auckland arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog: Research Higher Degrees: Bad Experiences".

A new visitor from Hobart, Tasmania arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A new visitor from Hobart, Tasmania arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A returning visitor from Hobart, Tasmania arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A new visitor from Seattle, Washington arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A new visitor from Hobart, Tasmania arrived from Google Australia by searching for "blogs utas" and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A new visitor from Hobart, Tasmania arrived from Google Australia by searching for "utas blogs" and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A new visitor from Launceston, Tasmania arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog: Corporate Psychopaths: Any nominations?".

And special visitors from last week.

A new visitor from Launceston, Tasmania arrived from Google Australia by searching for "is anyone having trouble getting the UTAS web page?" and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A new visitor from United States arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog: Monthly Archives for December 2008".

A returning visitor from Hawthorn, Victoria arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A new visitor from Zürich, Zurich arrived from Google Switzerland by searching for ""ABC australia" out of body experiences" and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A returning visitor from Perth, Tasmania arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog: UTAS Whistleblower stuff.".

A new visitor from Melbourne, Victoria arrived from Google Australia by searching for "tasmania vivisection" and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A new visitor from Sydney, New South Wales arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A new visitor from Lismore, New South Wales arrived from Google Australia by searching for "my PhD supervisor is a bully" and landed on "The UTAS Blog: Research Higher Degrees: Bad Experiences".

A new visitor from Melbourne, Victoria arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog: UTAS Blog: The Visitors".

A new visitor from Melbourne, Victoria arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A new visitor from Beverly Hills, California arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog: Research Higher Degrees: Bad Experiences".

A returning visitor from Melbourne, Victoria arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A new visitor from Szentes, Csongrad arrived from images.google.hu and landed on "The UTAS Blog: BMW K100 motorbikes and UTAS don't mix?".

A new visitor from Aberdeen, Aberdeen City arrived from [edited].com and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

Top marks for the person who searched for "nude UTAS"!

UTAS Blog: The Visitors

2010-03-04T07:24:00Z

We try to be as truthful as we can here at the UTAS Blog, and when we said that we get some data we weren't kidding.
Here's a list of some of this weeks visitors and what they were interested in.

***NOTE*** we only get info about what people are interested in and their rough geographical location.

A new visitor from Sydney, New South Wales arrived from Google Australia by searching for "http://www.utas.com/consulting.htm" and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A returning visitor from Richmond, Indiana arrived from search.comcast.net and landed on "The UTAS Blog: Research Higher Degrees: Bad Experiences".

A returning visitor from Hobart, Tasmania arrived from Google Australia by searching for "carey denholm, australia"

A new visitor from Hobart, Tasmania arrived from Google Australia by searching for "carey denholm" and landed on "The UTAS Blog: FOI: think again Denholm"

A new visitor from Hobart, Tasmania arrived from Google Australia by searching for "utas blog" and landed on "The UTAS Blog: University of Tasmania: Not a brick wall, more like a moral vacuum. UPDATED".

A new visitor from Hobart, Tasmania arrived from Google Australia by searching for "utas blog" and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A new visitor from Brisbane, Queensland arrived from Google Australia by searching for "doctoral bullying supervisor" and landed on "The UTAS Blog: Research Higher Degrees: Bad Experiences".

A returning visitor from Kuching, Sarawak arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A returning visitor from Ross, Tasmania arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog: Monthly Archives for August 2008".

A returning visitor from Ross, Tasmania arrived from Yahoo! by searching for "utas blog" and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A returning visitor from Kuching, Sarawak arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A new visitor from Sydney, New South Wales arrived from Google Australia by searching for "UTAS is shit" and landed on "The UTAS Blog: UTAS Whistleblower stuff.".

A returning visitor from Kuching, Sarawak arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A new visitor from Hobart, Tasmania arrived from Google Australia by searching for "lecturer student relationship utas" and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A new visitor from Brisbane, Queensland arrived from Google Australia by searching for "How do I deal with a bad PhD supervisor" and landed on "The UTAS Blog: Research Higher Degrees: Bad Experiences".

A returning visitor from Kuching, Sarawak arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A new visitor from Beverly Hills, California arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog:

A returning visitor from Kuching, Sarawak arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A returning visitor from Sibu, Sarawak arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A returning visitor from Brisbane, Queensland arrived from Google by searching for "utas blogs" and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A returning visitor from Brisbane, Queensland arrived from Google by searching for "how to blog utas" and landed on "The UTAS Blog: University of Tasmania: Not a brick wall, more like a moral vacuum. UPDATED".

A new visitor from Dhaka arrived from Yahoo! by searching for "www.pose-nude.com" and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A returning visitor from Coburg, Victoria arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A new visitor from Brisbane, Queensland arrived from Google by searching for "utas blog" and landed on "The UTAS Blog: University of Tasmania: Not a brick wall, more like a moral vacuum. UPDATED"

A returning visitor from Sibu, Sarawak arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A new visitor from Northampton, Massachusetts arrived from Google by searching for "www.utas.ws" and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A returning visitor from Semenyih, Negeri Sembilan arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

A returning visitor from Kuching, Sarawak arrived from a bookmark or by typing in your URL and landed on "The UTAS Blog".

Corporate Psychopaths: Any nominations?

2010-03-04T02:08:00Z

In any large corporation like UTAS around 3% of the members could be classified as psychopaths.

These people are not your normal every-day psychos! They're smart, intelligent and often hold positions of power like, say, the chair of the Board of Graduate Studies by Research as a random example of a position of power.

They misuse their position to derive dysfunctional gratification.

No prizes for who we think fits this picture.
...

University of Tasmania: Not a brick wall, more like a moral vacuum. UPDATED

2009-12-06T06:13:00Z

In this new entry we'll be publishing emails we send to UTAS that don't get a reply.
If you have any ideas send them in!

PS our Google ratings are excellent with a really good number of OS hits. So please keep checking back.

UPDATE: First email not answered. (10 Dec 2009)

"Dear Media Office,

Hi, We run the UTAS Blog which has support from the Student Union at the University of Tasmania.
Recently, we have been deeply disturbed by what seems "outrageous" behaviour by Prof Carey Denholm when he was in charge of the Board of Graduate Studies by Research. We have emailed the present chairperson of the BGSR giving them the right-of-reply to the astounding accusations we have received. They declined to respond. Indeed, there was no response at all, and as such we don't even know if they got our email.
In our 2.5 years we have had 16 students email us with detailed complaints about the University of Tasmania. Surely it's in every-ones interest to make UTAS a better place to study and work? The UTAS Blog gets many overseas visitors, and we'd really love to show them that UTAS is a great place.
It's best that these accusations of personal bias, and negligence are dealt with.

Best Regards
Admin
(UTAS Blog,

UPDATE: Resent the above email that wasn't answered. (21 Jan 2010). We know UTAS read it because we had the "return receipt" box checked and we got the confirmation that it did arrive and was read...

"Dear Media Office,

Hi, blah lah blah etc

Best Regards
Admin "

We've sent a further email to the Vice-Chancellor and we'll let you know if they respond.

Prof Carey Denholm: Person of Interest

2009-10-12T21:33:00Z

Carey Denholm features prominently in some of the reports we've got here at the UTAS Blog. Given that the Blog started life as a vehicle for Postgrad discussions this is not unusual.
In this entry we want to highlight two "incidents"(?) that Denholm was personally involved in. They appear elsewhere in the blog but are buried in comments and such like for the most part. They involve one student and we've emailed them to clarify these issues. This is the response.

UPDATE: We sent the following email to the Dean of the Board of Graduate Studies by Research (and several other UTAS people) more a week ago. Still no response or even acknowledgment that they received the email.

"Dear Prof Frappell and others.

We run the Utas Blog (http://utas.ws) and lately have been very interested in the performance of the Board of Graduate Studies by Research when Prof Carey Denholm was Dean.

One of our main "contributors" has sent us information detailing their complaints and interactions with the Board and Prof Denholm. It seems to be pretty damning stuff, but there are always at least two sides to a report. If you would like to make any comment we can publish it or whatever part you would like published verbatim, although we reserve the right to comment.

Also, we're moving out of Tasmania soon and are looking for some-one to run the UTAS Blog.

Best Regards
Admin (The UTAS Blog)

1. Prof Carey Denholm: Personal Bias, It sure looks like it.
    If you're naive enough to get to the third level of complaints at UTAS, you're in for a big surprise. Basically, your complaint has dwindled or been whittled more like, to "Personal Bias on the part of the Complaint Investigator". Well, it just so happened that this student thought that they had a reasonable case on these grounds. Obviously it was rejected out of hand.
   What do you think of these documented circumstances?
   The student initially gave Carey Denholm a list of 12 (twelve) complaints against their PhD Supervisor taken straight from the Rule Book. So, for example, a complaint might read "1) My supervisor did not notify me that he was going to be absent (ie on holiday) prior to and during the submission of my thesis without informing me as is required by RHD Handbook Rule X.YZ".
   The student did not provide any evidence of this as they fully expected the Dean of the BGSR Carey Denholm to discuss the complaints and allegations with the student.
   Carey Denholm aka Dean of the Board of Graduate Studies by Research did not discuss with the student any of their 12 complaints. The student tells us that Denholm took the two A4 sheets of complaints and the next the student heard was that all the complaints had been dismissed.
   In marked contrast, documents we have obtained show that Carey Denholm spent nearly two hours with the student's supervisor discussing the allegations and then gave the supervisor a week to "produce" evidence to support his position. We're sure the irony of the word "produce" won't escape many people.

   Is it biased for the investigator Prof Carey Denholm to spend so much time discussing the allegations with the supervisor and none at all with the student? We think so. UTAS doesn't.

2. Carey Denholm: Offer of a degree and scholarship withdrawn after further complaint proceedings.

In this section we'll detail how Prof Carey Denholm offered the "wronged" student a Masters Degree but when the student took the advice of the Secretary of the BGSR to say "not accepted/not declined" Carey Denholm subsequently refused to allow the student to take a Masters degree.

We have since obtained the hard copy of this. Carey Denholm advised the BGSR to offer the student a Masters degree and a 9 month scholarship. The students took the advice of the Secretary of the BGSR to not accept this offer. The suggestion was that by accepting the lesser degree the student would be acknowledging their thesis was of that standard. BTW, when we say secretary we're not talking about a blonde with a perm and fingernails, this one had a PhD.

The student wrote back to the BGSR to say they would like to not accept or decline this offer. It seems they wanted to see how their complaints went at higher level. Well, the complaints went nowhere, and so did the legal action after more than $8000. (Why don't lawyers know the law? $8000+ to say you can't sue your supervisor because of his poor supervision?). When asked the University of Tasmania said they would not offer any degree to the student.

They hadn't withdrawn the offer...

International Students

2009-10-07T07:20:00Z

A quick note to say we'll be contacting education people in India to learn first-hand what their concerns are with sending students to Australia.
...

Hello, is there anybody in there?

2009-10-07T06:54:00Z

There's been a bit of the old paranormal activity around UTAS of late.
Things going bump in the night, weird noises from some schools, and strange vomit-like ectoplasmic pools around the bar and the Engineers "hangout".

But enough about that. We got a message from some keen young paranormalists here at the UTAS Blog asking if they could check out the old Bio-Med Library, which as everyone knows was well spooky.
We set them up with The Mercury, and they did a "shoot".
The University, however is like some graveyard. All quiet. Except for the vast amounts of money flowing, mist-like into various pockets.
We sent this polite and considerate email to UTAS.

Hi Media Office,

We've had a request at the UTAS Blog (http://utas.ws/) from the Australian Paranormal Investigation Unit (A.P.I.U) (http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=132071260450&ref=ts) to facilitate an investigation by the APIU into a "haunted" University of Tasmania building. APIU have investigated sites such as Willow Court and Franklin House.

The APIU has a history of thorough investigations and this would make a great story, especially if they find something! And if they don't at least uni students will be able to study in the building in confidence that their pens won't disappear. The UTAS bio-med library has been renovated since any reported "occurrences" (http://utas.ws/2008/08/29/paranormal-university-of-tasmania-2.aspx) but we all hope an investigation can take place.

This would make a great little story showing some unique features of Tasmania, and we hope we can get coverage in The Mercury. The UTAS Blog has contacted the Mercury with details of this exciting project.

What would this research entail? Basically, the APIU would like to have a few hours, after hours, in which to conduct their investigation. Upstairs would be great, but downstairs might be more acceptable to UTAS.

This is a great opportunity to show that the University of Tasmania is not just a hot-bed of Union dissatisfaction, but a modern, and progressive University.

Best Regards
Admin UTAS Blog

Straight into the black-hole that is the University of Tasmania's age-old tradition of dealing with anything that is "different".

Anonymity, or how to say what you think without getting screwed...

2009-08-08T10:49:00Z

Are UTAS going to track you down and fail you or discriminate against you if you comment on the UTAS Blog?
Most likely, if they can get access to your info...

This site is registered in the USA, with the biggest domain managers there and likely in the world. And what's more we have a private registration so (hopefully) UTAS can't find out who we are. Go to WHOIS and check out UTAS.WS (that's us), you'll find out not much.

We encourage anonymous comments. Obviously, suggestions that the Dean of Science is a Blood-Sucking Vampire will be treated as such. That is "batty".

Having said all that, when you do post a comment we get your IP address. Now a really concerned person might worry that we are in fact the University of Tasmania and basically a honey-trap set-up. And why not? The University of Tasmania would sell it's grandmother for vivisection and then hold her down while she was cut open if it meant a profit. So what can you do?

The answer is in anonymous surfing. We use and recommend Anonymouse. (http://anonymouse.org/anonwww.html)
If you want to comment really anonymously here, you go to anonymouse type in UTAS.WS and when you comment,your comments go to anonymouse in Germany, your IP gets lost, your comment comes here but we (or the UTAS if this is a set-up) don't get your IP!

Open for Comments

2009-08-08T10:44:00Z

If you can't find an entry that fits you, feel free to comment here...
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BMW K100 motorbikes and UTAS don't mix?

2009-05-21T10:23:00Z

Well, just when we thought there was nothing new under the sun.

A former student has sent us a photo of his BMW in a student "cubicle" and the story of how it got there!
Does life get more exciting than this?

Here it is, a BMW K100 motorbike inside a UTAS building!

Our informant tells us that although BMW are quiet motorbikes that seem rather loud when you have to ride past a meeting of "busy work" people at 6pm on New Years eve.
Also it took a 32 point turn to get it into that cubicle.....

FOI: think again Denholm

2009-03-26T21:38:00Z

From the ABC

"The Federal Government wants to introduce sweeping reforms to modernise Freedom of Information (FOI) laws, in a bid to pro-actively disclose more information to the public.

Special Minister of State John Faulkner today released exposure drafts of two bills designed to make obtaining information easier.
He says the draft bills are the most significant overhauls to the FOI Act since its inception in 1982 and will enhance accountability and transparency in government.

The proposed bills would establish a new independent office of the information commissioner and two new statutory positions to help with FOI applications.
Under the reforms, access to archive documents would also be brought forward and FOI application fees would be abolished"

We'll be emailing the student who wasn't able to access all his records. Although the UTAS lawyers had approved the release of the documents, Prof Denholm removed at least several of them.

No reason was given and the student was not allowed to know what documents
were removed. Or how many.

No comments for "What you think I made this up?"?! Well try this...

2009-03-06T00:43:00Z

More sad but seemingly true details from that failed-PhD student.
He's emailed us with a few extracts from his complaint proceedings.

We'll put them up verbatim later but the gist is he complained that his supervisor went on holiday without informing the student and didn't read the completed thesis. Both these "crimes" are detailed quite clearly in the RHD Handbook.

Prof Carey Denholm's decision was that it wouldn't have made any difference.

The students thinks that this is meant to imply that the student wouldn't have done anything or maybe not done any of the corrections that his supervisor required. Yet the student tells us that in the minutes of a subsequent meeting his supervisor states that he is "happy" to work with the student.

It just doesn't seem to "add-up" as the student puts it.

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"What?! You think I made this up?"

2009-02-10T21:20:00Z

Well, that's the modified response from one of our commenters when we asked him if he had any physical evidence of UTAS mistreatment. After abject apologies from us it turns out that he does have at least some real evidence. This is the note his PhD supervisor wrote to him after the supervisor had read his revised thesis.

The original thesis had got quite disparate marks, a "B" from the International expert: "Correct the errors I've listed below to your Head of Departments satisfaction and I advise that the degree of PhD be awarded". A "B" grade is the second highest possible, an "A" being "no errors, award degree". An "A" grade is rarely given, there are always errors if only typos in a several hundred page document.

The Australian marker didn't like the controversial thesis at all. He gave it a "D" grade: "Re-write it as a Masters Degree" We'll discuss this marker in more detail in a later post.

The student was told to correct the errors and re-submit the thesis for adjudication. He did this and gave the thesis to his supervisor to read. The supervisor did so and returned the revised thesis with this note on the front cover.

The student was obviously quite happy with this and so had the thesis bound and re-submitted it for adjudication.

The adjudicator FAILED the thesis entirely. He gave it an "F" "No PhD, no Masters degree to be awarded"

UTAS Blog: Five months in and we are still shocked... and ashamed

2008-12-19T10:26:00Z

This from the ABC 7:30 Report. This report was about discrimination of disabled students. This is an absolute disgrace, UTAS really does suck!

BH complained that Lecture notes etc weren't really helpful when you're blind... UTAS hits (a blind person) back.

JUDY TIERNEY: When BH first went to the Launceston campus, he knew getting around the sprawling grounds would be awkward. Coping with leg braces, orthopaedic boots and crutches and carrying a backpack, made him sweat.

BH: Although I pride myself on being able to manage, I can't get away from the fact that having to do it everyday, it's quite exhausting and it really does take it out of someone.

JUDY TIERNEY: Acting on a complaint, the disability office had told BH his body odour made him a very unpleasant person to be near.

BH: I couldn't reply at the time. I was quite shell-shocked and um, it upset me quite badly. I just didn't know who my friends were. I just felt, I thought, well, you know, 'I just can't continue with this'. And it just put me off my studies.

(http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2002/s460046.htm)

The UTAS response to this report was

"The university is aware of the complaints and, through its solicitors, has warned the 7:30 Report the publication of those allegations could amount to defamation. The university has appointed a barrister to carry out an independent investigation into the claims made in the statutory declarations.
The university has also written to each student making a complaint warning them of potential defamation."

The University of Tasmania has so much to hide... we think UTAS sucks

What's new at the UTAS Blog

2008-12-16T07:13:00Z

Two new developments for the UTAS Blog. The first involves one of our more prolific commenters and the second is about a UTAS student who dared to have an opinion.

Firstly, we were asked to represent an ex-PhD student in an application to the Ombudsman (www.ombudsman.tas.gov.au). The ombudsman declined our request and indicated that the person concerned would "find a complaint form on my website". Not a particularly auspicious start. However, as usual we'll do our best. We've contacted the ex-student concerned and suggested that all documents submitted and received from the ombudsman be posted here. This would be in the interest of promoting a clear and transparent complaints process.

Secondly, we've received an email from a gifted third year student at UTAS. The complaint was detailed and included much backing evidence. According to the student UTAS basically refuses to deal with this issue. The UTAS Blog has not obtained permission yet to publish this students problems but we hope to bring you the whole report soon.

University of Tasmania Complaints Committees. (You're joking? They said that?)

2008-11-25T00:58:00Z

We have obtained about 4' of documents related to complaints procedures from former PhD students.

Some of these were obtained under Freedom of Information, several requests for documents were refused by Pro-Vice Chancellor Carey Denholm.
As an aside the Uni Lawyers had OKed the release of those documents but Denholm blocked the release, no grounds were given.

Please forgive the delay, it's just that it turns out there is life after failing your PhD. Having said that though, the University of Tasmania still sucks.

Thanks to Anonymous, that format sounds about right.

Common knowledge proves to be correct (again)

2008-10-16T07:19:00Z

The following from ABC Australia

"Figures released today show female students are outperforming males at Australia's most established universities."

It's great that women are doing so well at Uni.
Especially as we've heard so many reports of sexual harassment at UTAS.
...