Australia's largest medical research foundation says it is suspending the University of Melbourne from its multi-million-dollar fellowship program because the university has only awarded honorary doctorates to men over the past three years.
Snow Medical Research Foundation said it was cutting ties with the institution until the university could prove a commitment to gender and cultural diversity.
The foundation is one of the largest philanthropic donors in Australia, donating $90 million to the sector, including $24 million to Melbourne University.
But it decided to pull future donations to the university after a photo of six Caucasian men receiving the honorary doctorates, along with a press release detailing their achievements, was sent to media last week.
Snow Medical said after awarding honorary doctorates exclusively to men in 2020 and not awarding any last year, the university had once again only conferred honorary doctorates to male recipients so far this year.
In the press release, which accompanied the photograph of the men, the University of Melbourne said that "three women and an Indigenous man" would be awarded honorary doctorates in the future, but the university did not name the recipients or publicly acknowledge their achievements.
Responding to the funding freeze, the university said that Snow Medical's decision was based on a single event, which was "not a true reflection" of the university and the steps it was taking "to build a diverse university community".
Chair of Snow Medical Tom Snow said the situation and the message the university had sent was unacceptable.
"Over the last three years, and they've had three years to think about this, they've only been able to find white men who are able to turn up to the ceremony," Mr Snow said.
"This award is not just about rewarding amazing things that these people have done. It's also about sending a signal and being an inspiration to people.
Culture must change from the top
The University of Melbourne board, made up of the university's most senior figures including the chancellor and vice-chancellor, decides who will receive the honorary doctorates.
Since 2019, five of the six most recent senior leadership appointments within the university's executive team were women.
Mr Snow said the board's decisions represented a "cultural issue".
"Clearly there is a cultural issue if not one person stopped to say, 'hey, what will this look like to have six white men awarded this, and what effect will this have on women and people of colour?'," he said.
In a tweet, co-founder of Women in STEMM Australia Marguerite Evans-Galea said the Foundation's action puts the rest of the sector on notice.
"Snow Medical's leadership on this issue sends a clear message to the entire sector, and importantly, sets a new standard for organisations in driving positive change for under-represented leaders in STEMM, including women," Dr Evans-Galea wrote.
Mr Snow said the foundation was committed to working with the university to achieve meaningful change before they reinstated the fellowships.
"I'm sure they wish this wasn't happening," Mr Snow said.
In response, the University of Melbourne acknowledged it had room for improvement, but said Snow Medical had made the decision based on a single event that was not a reflection of the institution as a whole.
"This event is not a true reflection of who we are as a university and the steps we are taking, and continue to take, to build a diverse university community, reflective of broader society," the University of Melbourne said in a statement.
The university pointed to a Diversity and Inclusion Strategy published last year, which "supports a vision to create a thriving, fair and diverse university community."
In return, Mr Snow acknowledged his own foundation's need to improve its diversity and inclusion.
Their fellowship committee is chaired by a woman, with the remaining positions filled by one more woman and three men. None are people of colour.
"We all have improvements to make, and we can all do better," Mr Snow said.
"Though we work really hard to get a diverse board, we still need to improve. I'm not hiding from that."
