Mr Phil Glendenning
Photo: Mr Phil Glendenning
Australian Catholic University (ACU National) awarded human rights activist Phil Glendenning with its highest honour, Doctor of the University (Honoris Causa), at its annual Canberra graduation ceremony held at Parliament House on 30 March 2007.
More than 180 students from ACU National’s Canberra Campus (Signadou) graduated with degrees in education, social work, arts, theology and postgraduate and doctoral studies at the ceremony, and Mr Glendenning gave the occasional address to graduates.
ACU National Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Sheehan AO said Mr Glendenning had “shaken the moral compass of Australian society” for his longstanding dedication to improving the lives of poor, Indigenous, politically dispossessed and suffering people both in Australia and worldwide.
“Phil Glendenning is unafraid of criticism of his work for the disadvantaged, and there has been much of this, especially from politically and socially powerful people,” Professor Sheehan said. “Indeed, he takes this criticism as a sign that others have noticed what he and his colleagues have wanted to achieve for those most in need of advocacy.
“Phil Glendenning remains a person who gives all of his mind and energy to the needy, especially those weighed down by unjust treatment – and for this reason ACU National is delighted to bestow its highest honour, Doctor of the University, upon him.”
Mr Glendenning is Director of the Edmund Rice Centre, a Sydney-based organisation that conducts research into the causes of poverty and inequity in Australia. He is also co-founder and former National President of Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation, which coordinated the 2000 Reconciliation Walk, a 250,000-person march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge in support of Indigenous rights and reconciliation. More recently, he has been the catalyst behind the Let’s Talk Project and the Deported to Danger report, both of which alerted the Australian and worldwide community to the plight of refugees forcibly expelled from Australia.
