Bob Edlin: Massey remains mute on the matter of science money....

Massey remains mute on the matter of science money, mysticism and a kumara patch

A week ago, the Taxpayers Union was being bombarded with emails on its exposé of the $156,132 “science challenge” which resulted in the establishment of a kūmara patch, funded through Massey University.

Not a big kumara patch – just 3 by 3 metres, the union reported.

David Farrar: Not much academic freedom at Massey

Go read the story of Dr Paul Crowhurst. The short version is:

David Lillis: New Initiatives at Massey University

The Massey University Curriculum Transformation Discussion Paper

Massey University has just circulated a discussion paper for comment - Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa - Massey University Curriculum Transformation Discussion Paper.

There is much to applaud here. It says that to meet the various challenges facing the university, it must focus on the curriculum, what it teaches, how it teaches, how it assesses learning and how the university supports students to be successful. It states that the university must shift from the curriculum as discrete blocks of disciplinary knowledge, to a coherent organising framework for the entire student experience. These initiatives are very positive. However, in this article we focus on current moves to indigenize the university because enforced indigenization must be open for public debate.

Point of Order: Marsden Fund boosts Mātauranga Māori projects

But how many researchers will survive the money malaise at Massey?

Massey University chiefs obviously were chuffed that seven Massey research projects – two Fast-Start grants for new and emerging researchers, and five Standard grants – secured a total of $4,948,000 from the Marsden Fund Awards 2023.

Karl du Fresne: Three thoughts for today

■ If Michael Wood deliberately sat on his shareholding in Auckland Airport despite knowing it represented a flagrant conflict of interest, he was guilty of ministerial impropriety bordering on corruption.

If, on the other hand, he simply didn’t get around to selling his shares despite being constantly reminded that he should, presumably because he was preoccupied with other things, he was guilty of inexcusable procrastination, rank incompetence and shockingly bad judgment. This should automatically render him unfit for any ministerial portfolio.

So he is either dodgy, hopelessly disorganised, or perhaps both. Either way, the case for Wood’s dismissal is overwhelming. Chris Hipkins is playing for time because he’s running out of cabinet ministers, but Wood’s situation is hopeless. You can hear the Death March playing.

Lindsay Mitchell: Article Four Activism

Massey University created a draft Tiriti O Waitangi Policy in May 2022 to staff, students and stakeholders which expresses its "commitment to uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi and its associated principles". It was prepared by the Office of the DVC Māori (Deputy Vice Chancellor Māori) to update an existing document, issued recently and remains under consultation.

In 2012 the policy was a relatively brief, comprehensible statement:

The overall aim is that Massey University should be:

Point of Order: Applying Maori knowledge (and Govt funding) to the demystification of whale strandings and the heavens

Matauranga Maori just keeps on giving, providing a regular supply of grist for the mill of scientists such as Jerry A. Coyne, Emeritus Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago and publisher of Why Evolution is True.

It is also a belief system which keeps on receiving from New Zealand taxpayers via state funding systems for research provided by a benevolent government – millions of dollars are being provided for programmes that would not be regarded as scientific overseas.

Thanks to the widespread disinclination to challenge the Government’s fusion of matauranga Maori with science, except for a few brave dissidents who stick their necks above the parapet, Coyne has given up on us. He recently wrote: