Donor breaks ties with University of Melbourne after ‘six white men’ awarded honorary doctorates

The University of Melbourne later amended a press release to note recipients absent from the ceremony, including ‘three women and an Indigenous man’. Photograph: James Ross/AAP

One of Australia’s largest philanthropic donors to medical research has suspended ties with the University of Melbourne after last week’s awarding of honorary doctorates to six white men.

The Snow Medical Research Foundation informed the University of Melbourne on Monday that it had suspended the institution from its Snow Fellowship program, as its “outcomes on gender equality and diversity do not align with the values of Snow Medical”.