Library campaign: three rallies and a partial victory
By Alex Bainbridge and Rebecca Hensley
NEWCASTLE — On April 11, Newcastle University Council agreed to review its decision to close the Huxley Library, after hundreds of students protested three times in one week.
There are two distinct campuses of Newcastle University. The Huxley Library is on the east campus. Closing it would disadvantage many students, particularly those in faculties like nursing, education and visual arts.
There has been student opposition to the closure since it was first proposed in 1995.
Nursing students organised a protest march on April 8, initially calling only for the closure to be postponed until the end of this year. Approximately 200 people turned up. The majority wanted to demand that the library stay open indefinitely.
Students took the initiative of marching through the bar and to the chancellory, where they held a peaceful sit-in at which Vice-Chancellor Roger Holmes answered questions.
The next day, a forum in the cafeteria courtyard on east campus organised by the students' association (NUSA) drew several hundred people. This time students made it clear that they wanted to tell the VC that the closure was not acceptable.
A motion was passed unanimously at the forum calling on the VC to take student concerns to the April 11 University Council meeting.
After the forum, a meeting of 30 students decided to protest at the council meeting. Publicity began immediately: students painted banners, made posters and sent out media releases. In only two days, 300 students were mobilised.
The VC's announcement that he supported a review of the library closure was a victory (albeit partial). Students are gearing up to continue the campaign to ensure that both libraries stay open with full funding and services.
NUSA has set up a working party to examine funding options for the library, and is calling for education funding to be restored in the May budget and for the VC to publicly campaign for increased education funding.
A statement distributed by Resistance on April 11 explained the importance of these demands: "If it is true that the federal funding cuts are forcing the library's closure, then the vice-chancellor should be demanding more money from the government ...
"Further, the university should demonstrate opposition to the cuts by refusing to implement them — contracting loans if necessary. The university could then play an effective role in a public campaign to increase funding to education."