Sydney Sparkes Orr (6 December 1914 - 15 July 1966) was Professor of

Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

at the University of Tasmania and the centre of the "Orr case", a celebrated academic scandal of the 1950s. Born in Belfast in 1914, Orr achieved a first-class-honours BA in Philosophy and received an MA with special commendation at

Queen's University Queen's or Queens University may refer to: *Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario, Canada *Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK **Queen's University of Belfast (UK Parliament constituency) (1918–1950) **Queen's University of Belfast ...

before commencing his teaching career at the University of St Andrews and the University of Melbourne. In 1952 he was appointed to the chair of philosophy at the University of Tasmania, after falsifying his academic record in his application. In 1955 the University dismissed him for sexual relations with an undergraduate student. He denied the accusation but his appeals to the Tasmanian Supreme Court and the

High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises Original jurisdiction, original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Constitution of Australia, Australia's Constitution. The High Court was established fol ...

were unsuccessful. Many academics believed Orr had been denied due process and his position was declared "black". Many also thought that Orr had been made a scapegoat due to his openly challenging the University authorities.E.g., Martin B
Knowledge and Power in Academia
' Honi Soit 6 August 1991, p. 10 Orr died in 1966, shortly after reaching a monetary settlement with the university of .

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*W. D. Joske
Orr, Sydney Sparkes (1914? - 1966)
',

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

, Volume 15, Melbourne University Press, 2000, pp 543–544. *W. H. C. Eddy (1961) ''Orr'', Jacaranda Publishers, Brisbane *John Polya and Robert Solomon (1996) ''Dreyfus in Australia'', Privately Published, Sydney, NSW. *Clyde Manwell and C. M. Ann Baker (1986) ''"Not Merely Malice": The University of Tasmania Versus Professor Orr,'' in Brian Martin, C. M. Ann Baker, Clyde Manwell and Cedric Pugh (eds.), ''Intellectual Suppression. Australian Case Histories, Analysis and Responses'', Angus and Robertson, North Ryde (NSW) pp. 39–49 *Cassandra Pybus (1994) ''Seduction and Consent: A Case of Gross Moral Turpitude'', Mandarin, Port Melbourne *J. Franklin (2003) ''Corrupting the Youth: A History of Philosophy in Australia'', Macleay Press
ch. 3
*

'(1957) 100 Commonwealth Law Reports 526

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