A publicly funded faith-based university, which has purged researchers amid a financial crisis, paid more than A$1 million (£517,000) to remove its newly recruited law dean in the wake of criticism of her previously expressed views on abortion.

The Australian Catholic University (ACU) paid A$1.1 million to terminate Kate Galloway’s position as dean of its Thomas More Law School and reappoint her as a “strategic professor”.

ACU reassigned Professor Galloway, an expert in property law and legal education, shortly after she took up the deanship in January.

Her peer-reviewed journal articles include scant references to abortion. However, reports published by her former employer, Bond University, including a 2018 submission to the Queensland Law Reform Commission, express her support for “reproductive justice” and her view that abortion should “properly be regarded as a question of women’s health” governed by “medical ethics” rather than social or religious norms.

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In January, a letter from an ACU alumnus sought the revocation of Professor Galloway’s position “with immediate effect”. The letter said that she was “quite obviously not suitable to hold the position” and that her appointment was “insulting to the many students…who chose the school for its Catholic identity”.

A Change.org petition initiated by a  also sought a review of the appointment.

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ACU has insisted that Professor Galloway “was not dismissed as dean of law” but was instead reassigned “as part of ACU’s strategy to enhance the profile” of the law school.

But multiple sources have confirmed reports, which first appeared in newspaper, that ACU vice-chancellor Zlatko Skrbis wrote to Professor Galloway stating that the university “wishes to explore with you the possibility of reaching a mutually acceptable agreement with you for the termination of [your] contract”, adding: “Please let me reaffirm…how sorry I am that circumstances have arisen which have led to the very difficult discussions over the last few days.”

A separate document describes part of the payment to Professor Galloway as a “separation payment”.

Questions have been raised about , while the university is now reported to have on the matter.

That probe is understood to be being conducted by the law firm Clayton Utz – which, Times Higher Education can reveal, is the employer of the ACU alumnus who wrote the January letter seeking Professor Galloway’s removal.

ACU did not answer detailed questions from THE on matters including the probity of contracting an independent investigation from a firm whose employee had helped spark the issue under review.

In a statement, the university said that publicly airing “the employment arrangements of any staff member” would be a “serious breach of confidentiality”.

“We reserve the right to investigate any circumstance where someone’s privacy may have been breached. We would be fully expected by the impacted staff member to do so. This is a standard practice in any organisation.”

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Clayton Utz said it had “strict procedures and policies regarding the identification and prevention of conflicts of interest, and we are confident in the rigour of these”.

Like much of the Australian sector, ACU faces financial turmoil. It posted deficits of A$36 million last year and A$8 million in 2022. The international education crackdown could cause more financial pain for the university, which last year earned a record A$80 million – 14 per cent of its revenue – from overseas students. Seventy-three per cent of its income came from the federal government.

ACU’s abolition of about 20 history, philosophy and political science positions last September attracted worldwide criticism and contributed to more than 200 job losses last year, according to the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU). Former provost Belinda Tynan left in January 2022 after a year in the job, while longstanding chief operating officer Stephen Weller departed in March.

Leah Kauffman, the NTEU branch president at ACU, said the 2022 and 2023 deficits had exceeded senate approvals. She said the university had “lost more senior leaders in the last two years” than in the previous 13.

Dr Kauffman said Professor Galloway had made no attempt to hide her two papers on abortion. “She submitted a CV with the articles on it. Someone just needed to read it,” she said.

Dr Kauffman said that union members were “concerned about leadership decisions and lack of transparency”.

“It doesn’t vest a lot of confidence when it costs us a million dollars because we made a recruitment mistake, and then we spend more to expose staff who can’t be trusted not to keep secrets,” she said.

ACU has  a 2019 model code requiring universities to uphold their staff’s academic freedom. Its current registration expires next July.

The higher education regulator, Teqsa, declined to say whether it was investigating Professor Galloway’s reassignment.

The university’s  contains no reference to Professor Galloway’s stint as law dean and the announcement of her appointment to this position has been erased. According to her LinkedIn profile, which contains no reference to ACU, she has been a freelance consultant lawyer since January 2024. THE unsuccessfully sought comment from Professor Galloway.

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john.ross@timeshighereducation.com