By Francesca Davidson
Three hundred students stormed the Chancellery Building at the Australian National University on Thursday, September 15, while thousands of other students held mass rallies around the country in protest at proposals to introduce up-front fees. More than 100 students remain in control of the Council rooms at ANU and plan to remain there until the vice chancellor agrees to their demands.
The No Fees campaign began seven weeks ago in response to the proposal to charge fees for legal workshop, the most common way in which law students in Canberra complete the practical component they need to practise their profession. The university administration decided to charge a fee of $5000 for the course. It also plans to discuss a proposal for a minimum up-front fee of $4000 for postgraduate students at the next Council meeting.
Until now, university administrations have been barred from charging up-front fees for first professional courses. This was amended in a recent paper by the Department of Employment, Education and Training and the Higher Education Council. Now a number of universities are planning up-front fees for postgraduate and undergraduate courses.
ANU student and Resistance activist Sarah Stephen said on Thursday, "This is just the first step in the introduction of up-front fees for all courses. The process of privatising education is under way. If this gets through in Canberra, fees will be introduced across the country. I think we have made it clear that students will fight for the right to a free and accessible education for all."
The national day of action, called by the National Union of Students, proved to be one of the most lively and well-attended students actions on education in a long time.
In Brisbane, 400 students marched and rallied in anger at proposed up-front fees. The rally was addressed by a representative from NUS; a law student; Murray Watt, student union president from the University of Queensland; and Nikki Ulasowski from Resistance.
"Students were already angry at the overcrowding and under-funding of education. The proposal of up-front fees was just the final straw", said Ulasowski.
"We need to continue to fight against attacks on our education, regardless of whether it is a Labor or Liberal government in power. We need to build a broad and united campaign to stop further erosion of the education system.
Follow-up rallies are planned to continue the campaign.
In Sydney, around 400 students rallied outside the ALP offices, demanding an increase in funding to education and protesting at the ALP's lack of commitment to free education. Students spoke of their courses being discontinued because of lack of funding and rejected a return to the " education for the elite" of the pre-Whitlam era. The vocal march ended up at the Department of Education, Employment and Training, chanting, "Education for all, not just the rich".
Two hundred students mobilised in Melbourne. La Trobe education officer Lynda Memory spoke of the need to see the government's latest proposals in the context of its history of attacks of tertiary education. Marching to the office of DEET, the crowd chanted, "No cuts, No fees, Free Education for all".
The protesters ended up on the steps of parliament, where Sally Habick from the Student Unionism Network spoke on the importance of having strong fighting unions to campaign against the federal government's cutbacks.
In Adelaide, 750 students from the three main campuses marched to state parliament. An earlier student meeting had voted to "oppose any form of user pays system for education" rather than the initial NUS proposal of "retention of HECS and no up front fees". Anti-ALP sentiment was strong, as the protesters chanted that the ALP had sold out students and demanded that the costs of education be paid for by industry not students.
Students at Flinders University chose to work outside the framework of NUS, essentially an ALP-dominated union, and held a student general meeting to discuss a plan of action rather than joining the demonstration. Two hundred students attended, focusing on the need to build a campaign outside the framework of the ALP. A further meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 21, at the Student Association to plan the ongoing campaign for free education.
One hundred students from the Northern Territory University in Darwin held a spirited march and rally in the city. After they briefly picketed the office of Warren Snowden (ALP MLA), one of his staff agreed to address students. He assured students they had the full support of Snowden, but that the imposition of fees was an "economic reality". When asked why the ALP supported further moves to up-front fees, he said, "I can't explain that".
Student union president Donacha Denneny addressed the rally and stated that vice president Mandy Ey, a member of Territory Young Labor, was pressured not to speak at the rally. Cate Buchannan, NTU delegate for NUS, criticised ALP politicking within the union. She said people should not be afraid to come out in broad daylight and criticise the ALP's regressive policies.
The real hub of the campaign has been in Canberra. There have been several large demonstrations at ANU over the past few weeks, including a strike by law students and sympathetic lecturers.
As part of the national day of action, 500 people gathered for a demonstration in Union Court at ANU on Thursday. The angry crowd voted to march to the vice chancellor's office. Three hundred students occupied the building for most of the day. When the vice chancellor failed to agree to meet with students, 150 students prepared to remain overnight.
The occupation continued into Friday and is now the central organising point for the campaign. Media, publicity and trade union liaison groups have been set up. Messages of support have come in from Student Representative Councils and organisations across the country and from as far away as Canada.
The campaign has also gained support from the ACT Trades and Labor Council, the ACT branches of the Community and Public Sector Union, the National Tertiary Union and the Health Services Union of Australia.
Recognising the need to build the campaign as broadly as possible, the students occupying on Thursday afternoon voted to extend their support and solidarity to the trade union campaign against the further privatisation of public assets.
The students have demanded: that the vice chancellor reconvene the University Council to reconsider the legal workshop fee and oppose and vote against its introduction; that the vice chancellor oppose the introduction of postgraduate fees and issue a press release stating that students and the vice chancellor together oppose the adoption of any of the proposals in the DEET paper and call for increased funding for tertiary education.
A meeting with the vice chancellor at 4pm on Friday went for three and a half hours. He agreed to publicly oppose the DEET paper, but would not do so jointly with the students. He also said he would pressure the university administration to consider a HECS form of legal workshop fee rather than an up-front one.
According to Alison Dellit, one of the activists in the occupation, the vice chancellor's proposals were unanimously rejected by the students, and more than 100 students continued the occupation on Friday night.
A statement released by the students on Friday evening said: "Whatever happens with the occupation we have been staging, all of us are clear that this is only the beginning of the campaign, that we need to build it much bigger and much broader, drawing in more people and more public support. Students are confident that we will win this fight against up-front fees, as part of the broader fight against the policies of the major parties to erode all the gains we have made."