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The University of Wollongong, in Australia, has agreed to offer a privately funded Western civilization degree that another major university there rejected because of what it characterized as the donors' desire for excessive influence in the curriculum, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
The degree will be supported by the Ramsay Center for Western Civilization, which is funded from the estate of the late health-care magnate Paul Ramsay and has ties to some of Australia's best-known conservative politicians. Australian National University walked away from discussions about offering the degree last summer, citing concerns about the integrity of the degree given the center's demands for involvement in shaping the curriculum.
Officials at Wollongong, though, told the Sydney newspaper that they had learned a lot from the center's discussions with other universities. "Whether some academics or representatives from some unions think we have done enough I think will be a point of debate, but we are sure we have [dealt with] issues that were problems elsewhere," Vice Chancellor Paul Wellings told the newspaper.
