Calls for ANU vice-chancellor to resign after second paid job revealed

The Australian Financial Review reported Professor Bell kept a part-time role at the technology company after leaving to join the university in 2017.

She held the role in the research division of Intel until November 15 this year.

Professor Bell took a 10 per cent cut to her $1.1 million salary as part of a suite of budget-cutting measures to reduce ongoing costs by $250 million by early 2026.

A university spokeswoman said it was common for academics to work with external parties in their field of expertise.

"Professor Bell's work with Intel is no secret, the source of media reporting on this is the university's own website," she said.

"The arrangement was disclosed through our conflict processes in the normal way and was known by the Council."

The National Tertiary Education Union said the university council should act to remove the vice-chancellor to prevent further damage to the institution.

If she remains in the job, the union will conduct a vote of no confidence in Feburary.

The union cited job cuts, staff overwhelmingly voting against giving up their 2.5 per cent pay rise, doubts over the seriousness of the financial situation and reports of "a culture of fear and intimidation" as reasons for the need to change leadership.

ACT division secretary Dr Lachlan Clohesy said the vice-chancellor's position was untenable.

"This farce has gone on long enough. The vice-chancellor's position is clearly untenable and ANU council needs to act to stem the bleeding and mitigate the damage the vice-chancellor is doing to this great university," Dr Clohesy said.

"If ANU council fails to deal with this situation, it would be a clear abrogation of their responsibility to the university community.

"ANU staff who are found to have two jobs are normally fired for serious misconduct."

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Doubts have been raised about the university's financial position in light of its AA+ credit rating and large portfolio of assets.

The spokeswoman said the university had a responsibility to use taxpayers' money wisely.

"The analysts are right, the university does have assets and can pay its debts - but it's important to realise that analysts look at organisations from a credit risk perspective.

"For us to sell assets to continue running operational deficits would be very poor practice, and one of the key reasons we've been able to retain a strong credit rating is because ratings agencies can see we are committed to getting our budget back in order."

The council met on Friday and is due to hold its next meeting on February 14.

Last week, 11 senior executives wrote in support of the vice-chancellor after a week of intense scrutiny.

The executives took aim at staff who had spoken to the media about three college deans being hauled into meetings with the head of people and culture and the provost.

There were also reports the vice-chancellor said in a meeting "I will find you out and hunt you down" if any of the senior staff present leaked information about a plan to cut $250 million in spending.

"As leaders of ANU, we fully support the strategic direction of council and the vice-chancellor and are grateful for their leadership through this period," the executives wrote.

Professor Bell took over the vice-chancellor from Professor Brian Schmidt at the beginning of the year.

The cultural anthropologist was the first director of the ANU School of Cybernetics and has two decades of experience working in Silicon Valley.

NTEU ANU branch president Millan Pintos-Lopez said it was time for a change of leadership.

"The vice-chancellor appears to have alienated staff through all levels of the workforce," he said.

"Our members have no confidence that she is the right person to lead ANU during these challenging times."