By Maurice Sibelle
MELBOURNE — The Student Representative Council (SRC) at Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE (NMIT) Student Union launched a concerted effort to regain funding at its October 10 council meeting. The NMIT Student Union is Victoria's largest and oldest in TAFE, established in 1989.
The Student Union's budget was frozen by the Institute management on August 21 after the SRC produced a leaflet which correctly explained to students that the administration had cut the Student Union's budget from $200,000 to $50,000. NMIT management claims it was responding to a "campaign designed to damage the standing of the institute". In an open letter to students it said it did "not wish to see the demise of the Student Union". It also claims that it is only acting to comply with Voluntary Student Union (VSU) legislation.
The Victorian government introduced the Tertiary Education Amendment Act in 1993. The act, which became known as VSU legislation, requires that Institute administrations must not require students to be members of student organisations. It also requires that compulsory non-academic fees — student union fees — are spent only on specific services and amenities listed in the legislation. The legislation does not allow fees to be spent on "political activities" such as newspapers, honorariums, administrative support for representative functions or election of office bearers.
NMIT management is not, however, driven by a desire to comply with VSU legislation. It simply wants to smash the Student Union.
"The Student Union at NMIT has always agreed to comply with the act", said Student Union president Earl Henderson, "however, the SRC has always disputed the management's narrow interpretation of the act. It has legal advice to show that nothing that it has done or proposes to do contravenes VSU legislation."
The act only requires that management does not require compulsory membership. The act has no jurisdiction over the functioning of a student union. Henderson explained: " Technically, we have 100% membership. Our constitution recognised all enrolled students of NMIT as members of the Student Union. On June 24, the Institution Council [the governing body of NMIT] changed our constitution to recognise only those students who made a conscious decision to join. They changed our constitution without any consultation. No meeting of the NMIT Student Union ever voted for such a proposal."
Henderson explained that the Student Union had made every attempt to give students the choice to be members or not. Management refused proposals to place a question on the enrolment form, to distribute a membership form produced by the union at enrolment, and to allow staff to collect the form when students took it upon themselves to distribute it.
"We have never said we will not change the membership clauses in our constitution to include students who had made a conscious decision", Henderson said. "However, we will only do that if there is a simple mechanism for students to indicate their preference. The law places the onus on the management, not the student union to ensure that students make a conscious decision. Our position is backed up by a memo from the Office of Training and Further Education." OTFE is responsible for ensuring the implementation of VSU in the TAFE sector.
NMIT Student Union had two staff in 1995. When both resigned, management refused to replace them. Since the union has had no staff for most of 1996 it has been almost impossible for students to return the membership forms. Nevertheless, some 500 of the 20,000 NMIT students managed to fill in forms in the first month of the academic year, and another 500 have joined since. NMIT management cut the union's budget because it claimed that membership was low and the union was in a mess, but with no staff and no mechanism for students to join, this isn't surprising. "I think we have done well to get 1000 members", Henderson said.
Management has now decided to set up a student advisory group to meet with the student services department of the Institute to "advise" it on how the $150,000 taken from the student union will be spent. This body is not elected, will have no power, and no-one will have to make a conscious decision to join it.
The SRC is holding a rally at Preston Campus on October 24 at 12 noon to demand the restoration of full funding to the union. A benefit concert is also being held at the Retreat Hotel on October 26. For more information phone 015 309 935.
[Maurice Sibelle is coordinator of the Victorian TAFE Students and Apprentices Network.]