Education (Public Affairs): Your Education, Your Voice!
The Education Public Affairs office has a proud and vibrant history of activism and standing up for the student voice. From the Vietnam moratoriums to campaigning against VSU, the Education office has always been proactive in progressive campaigns both on campus and around the country.
Tertiary education has been left crippled by the Howard years, with over $6 billion stripped from federal funding to universities, and the introduction of Voluntary Student Unionism. And yet Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has not returned much-needed funding to universities, and has continued with the VSU legislation, which has seen a full third of student unions around the country collapse.
VSU threatens our ability to defend our education, to have spaces like the Queer space and the Women’s room and access to services and facilities the union provides. Rudd’s `solution’ to the debilitated student unions around the country is not the repealing of VSU, but the proposed compulsory services fee.
Labor has been adamant that no funding will go to student unions for broader political campaigns such as fighting for gay marriage, standing against wars that happen on a distressingly high frequency, and more generally, challenging sexism, racism, homophobia and inequality that the student union is in a vital position to do so. We must be clear that we reject this attempt to silence us, and we will not stand by while atrocities take place every day.
One of the things the Education Public Affairs office has been involved in already this year has been the establishment of the cross campus group Students for Gaza. In only 22 days in January, over 1300 Palestinians had been slaughtered, and over 5000 wounded, in a brutal assault by the Israeli army. Students for Gaza formed in outrage of this most recent attack, but also demands that the blockade of Gaza, which has denied Palestinians access to food, water, medical supplies and electricity for over 18 months now. The Education Public Affairs office will continue to stand up for Palestinian rights.
The University of Melbourne’s `Melbourne Model’ has decimated the Arts faculty, removing many critical thinking subjects, as well as those on apartheid South Africa, Gender studies and rolling many Asian cultural and historical subjects into one subject, `Asia’, to name a few. The tailoring of our access to education to the demands of industry has removed vital subjects from the curriculum, and replaced them with `breadth’ subjects which students are forced to study.
We stand opposed to the blatant commodification of education that is occurring under the guise of such initiatives—and see it as an important part of our role to defend our education from further encroachments by the corporate world. We’re committed to defending our right to education for education’s sake.
The Education (public) office is also opposed to the ways the University treats International students. The hugely exorbitant fees which international students are forced to pay, while receiving the same education as domestic students, is downright racist. On top of this, international students are denied basic student rights such as public transport concession cards, and decent affordable housing. The Education office stands firmly on the side of international students, and demands that they be allowed the same access as domestic students to lower, deferrable course fees and concession cards.
The Education (public) office wants to see a strong independent student union, and an overall increase in government funding to higher education. We therefore plan to continue to put pressure on the federal Labor Party to repeal VSU and fully fund our education, and hold the Melbourne University Administration to account for their continuing attempts to slash courses, sack staff and increase fees.
National Union of Students: http://unistudent.com.au/home
Victorian Trades Hall Council: http://www.vthc.org.au
Students for Gaza: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?/group.php?gid=60552120358&ref=ts
Marxism 2009: http://www.marxism2009.com
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Posted Wednesday 12 December, 2007. Updated Tuesday 26 May, 2009.
