On March 21, the Returning Officers for the 2024 Arc Board elections notified Alex Neale via email that his nomination for Arc Board was rejected. This email claimed this decision was made by the Arc Board, taking on the Returning Officers’ recommendation to reject him. However, there has been no Arc Board meeting this year.
An Arc spokesperson told Honi that Returning Officers sometimes make recommendations to the Board about a candidates eligibility and “The Board then assesses the recommendations and votes on whether to rule on the RO’s recommendations.”
The spokesperson confirmed the Board, in Neale’s case, voted to support the Returning Officer’s recommendation.
The email sent to Neale claimed he breached three sections of Arc’s Code of Conduct, and two sections of Arc’s Social Media Policy. The email provided no further specificity as to Neale’s prior action which led to his nomination’s rejection.
According to Neale, these policy documents are not publically available and therefore he could not access them to understand the alleged breaches. Arc staff members can only locate these documents on Arc’s Sharepoint.
The Arc spokesperson told Honi that “Arc’s Code of Conduct is accessible to all staff, affiliates and consultants. Arc’s Social Media Policy is available to Arc’s staff and affiliates.” The spokesperson also said they were provided based on “usual processes”
Neale understands that the alleged breaches relate to his whistleblower activity last year, where he leaked Arc documentation to Honi and filed a formal report with Arc. These leaked documents highlighted editorial constraints on Tharunka by Arc and tensions between the student newspaper and the institution. According to Neale, he went to Honi before filing a formal report because Arc’s Whistleblower policy bars whistleblowers from speaking to the media while the matter is under investigation. Despite this, Chair of the Arc Board Arthy Mukunthan gave comment to Honi while a formal investigation was underway in which she was involved.
The Arc spokesperson declined to comment on specific cases, citing “privacy” concerns. The spokesperson said “Arc is conscious of the need to treat whistleblowers with procedural fairness and respect for what is often a courageous step.”
All whistleblower claims, according to Arc, are internally assessed to determine whether whistleblower status should be awarded. If the individual complaint does not apply, the spokesperson said that “Arc will assess and deal with the information in a prudent and responsible way considering the individual circumstances of the complaint. “
Neale posted a statement to his public Instagram account, stating that the two Returning Officers who recommended his nomination’s rejection are current Arc employees and report directly to Arc’s CEO. The statement postures that “there can be no trust in the legitimacy or integrity of these elections” while these employees conduct the election.
The Arc spokesperson told Honi “the CEO abstained from taking part in any decisions on the nomination matter.”
Neale’s statement also frames this as a “clear-cut case of whistleblower victimisation”, for which he is “evaluating [his] legal options”.
