In 2018 Australia's leading national university, the Austrailian National University (ANU), decided to break off consultation with the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation over a bequest to fund a course on Western civilisation. It is not every day that a university decides to turn down a $3 billion bequest to fund a humanities program (Groch, 2018). The issue of academic autonomy has been raised as a reason, but this is, the author believes, ostensible. He suspects the 'autonomy' issue is a red herring. He believes the real reason for the decision seems to hinge on the notion of 'Western civilisation'.