Brash stunned by Massey vice-chancellor ’s ‘scheming’
Don Brash has questioned whether Massey University vicechancellor Jan Thomas should stay in the job after emails revealed a push to ban him from speaking on the Palmerston North campus.
Brash, a former National Party leader, was supposed to speak at a Massey University Politics Society event last month but Thomas cancelled the venue booking. She publicly cited security concerns at the time, but internal emails obtained under the Official Information Act by blogger David Farrar show she didn’t want ‘‘a Te-Tiriti led university be seen to be endorsing racist behaviours’’.
In an email to university staff, Thomas said Brash’s leadership of Hobson’s Pledge, an organisation whose views she characterised as ‘‘close to hate speech’’, was also an issue for ‘‘a Tiriti o Waitangi-led organisation’’.
Emails were exchanged between Thomas and university staffers a month before the event. As early as July 9, she wrote: ‘‘Would be good if we can cut off at the pass some how.’’
Brash said he was surprised by the length of time Thomas was ‘‘scheming’’, trying to prevent him from speaking. ‘‘It is astonishing she was preoccupied for weeks and weeks. Whether it’s a shocking look for the university depends on what the [Massey] council does now,’’ he said.
‘‘The vice-chancellor made her position almost untenable.’’
The university has maintained its stance that a security threat led to cancelling Brash’s visit. Massey spokesman James Gardiner said the emails showed the vice-chancellor was first advised of the event several weeks beforehand.
‘‘It was when a security threat was raised that professor Thomas made the decision to cancel the booking. Despite what others have claimed, the concern about the threat was genuine.
Brash has been invited back by the politics society to speak on October 17.
The original speech was to be about his career in politics, and was part of the student club’s series of speakers on the past, present, and future of New Zealand’s main political parties.