On Wednesday 16th April, the Save Arts Campaign stepped up a notch, with students rallying in Cussonia Court to protest staff cuts in the Arts Faculty. Around a hundred students, staff and curious onlookers showed up to see what all the fuss was about.
Students getting into the spirit of the action.
The protest began with a mock auction of the Faculty of Arts. History & Philosophy of Science, Gender Studies and others were up for grabs to the highest bidder — Melbourne Uni doesn’t want them any more, after all. The Dean of Arts, Mark Considine, was unfortunately pulled from the auction floor at the last minute (He’s sold out already). The Faculty itself was for sale, and fetched a high price. We hope that the proceeds will go towards making Arts an even more streamlined funnel into professional courses.
Ash the Auctioneer (Yes, someone bid a shoe!)
Following the fun of the auction, activists heard representatives from the University of Melbourne Student Union (UMSU), the Postgraduate Association (UMPA), the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) and the National Union of Students (NUS).
The speakers covered the nature of the cuts and the costs which they would exact on students, teaching and administration staff. Simply enough, less staff means more work for each staff member. Allegra Reinalda, UMSU Welfare Officer, gave us the revelation that this means a lower quality of education for students and less research which might benefit the broader community. Steve Curry, Academic Vice-President of the NTEU Melbourne Uni branch, pointed out the problem with cutting staff to cut costs: he asked whether (since apparently they’d make more profit with less staff) the faculty administration believed that they would make the most profit with no staff at all.
Tammi Jonas, President of UMPA, and Ruth, a Postgraduate tutor, spoke about the problems posed to Postgraduate researchers and tutors. What worried this Officer was the fact that lecturers are not paid for either attending lectures or for consultation hours. Ruth singled out the Head of the School of Political Science, Criminology & Sociology, as having decided that lectures and tutorials are totally unrelated. This revelation was met by boos and cries of “shame!” from the crowd.
Bree Ahrens, President of UMSU in 2007 and an NUS Office-Bearer, capped off the speak-out by drawing a link between this most recent attack on the Arts Faculty and the current trend of seeing higher education in terms of “productivity” and economic value. She called for students across the country to challenge this trend and demand an education that’s not for profit.
Delegate to the Youth 2020 Summit UMSU President Libby Buckingham explained that Higher Education wasn’t going to be on the agenda at the “Real” 2020 Summit and instead lumped in with something called “Productivity”. Dean of Arts Mark Considine was a delegate to the summit and Vice-Chancellor Glyn Davis was chair of the Summit’s Steering Committee. We should contact them and tell them we Demand a Better Future with Fully Funded Universities!
The 2020 Summit took place on 19-20 April, but it’s not too late to have your say. Contact Mark Considine at m.considine@unimelb.edu.au and Glyn Davis at vc@unimelb.edu.au and demand that higher education (especially the Humanities) be kept on the national agenda!
Another way you can help is to contact your lecturers, tutors and Faculty staff and give them your support. Tell them you don’t want them to go, tell them you know what they’re going through, tell them that they’re valued.
To get involved in the campaign to Save Arts and Demand a Better Future, come to the Education Action Collective at 1pm on Wednesday. Graham Cornish A, Level 2 Union House.
See you there!
(Photos courtesy Mairi Neil and Goldie Pergl)
