But the lucrative donation was mired in controversy. In April the former prime minister Tony Abbott – also a member of the Ramsay Centre board – published an article in the conservative publication Quadrant stating that the Ramsay Centre was “not merely about western civilisation but in favour of it”.

In the article Abbott criticised contemporary university education, writing that “every element of the curriculum … pervaded by Asian, Indigenous and sustainability perspectives”.

“Almost entirely absent from the contemporary educational mindset was any sense that cultures might not all be equal and that truth might not be entirely relative,” he wrote.
That sparked a backlash against the degree from the National Tertiary Education Union and students over fears about its academic independence of the degree. There was concern from within academia about the influence the Ramsay Centre would have over the curriculum and fears that it would push one narrow view of history.

via University explains why it walked away from western civilisation degree | Australia news | The Guardian