Kiraz Janicke, Perth
Student anger erupted on April 26 as the University of Western Australia's senate met to vote on a 25% HECS increase. More than 200 students rallied at the doors of the meeting in opposition to the fee increase.
Although the vice-chancellor initially agreed to allow students to attend the senate meeting, he refused a request by the UWA student guild to move the meeting to a larger venue, which would have allowed greater student attendance. Instead, the VC stated that he would only allow twenty students in.
Outraged, the students surged into the building chanting "all in or none in". The senate was forced to adjourn and, at a secret meeting hours later, voted 14-6 to increase HECS.
Resistance member and Education Action Network activist Blake Pope told Green Left Weekly: "There was an amazing atmosphere on the day. The senate can no longer ignore student demands. They may have passed the 25% HECS increase but it's not over yet — not by a long shot."
Activists have made it clear that they reject the right of the senate to make such a decision, calling for the HECS increase to be rescinded. Still on the agenda at UWA is the issue of full up-front-fee paying places, which the university senate is set to discuss at its June meeting.
Of the UWA senate's 21 voting members, only four are staff and three are student representatives. The other fourteen members are comprised of corporate representatives, with links to BHP-Billiton, Woodside Petroleum and Alinta Gas. One member is the former chief executive of the WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
UWA has an operating budget of around $380 million per year, with a $3 million surplus last year. The 25% HECS fee hike will increase the university's funding by less than 1%.
The following day, the UWA guild council passed a motion moved by Resistance member Fred Fuentes, which stated: "That the UWA Guild notes the success of the rally on Monday April 26th, which was the biggest and most vibrant rally on UWA in recent history. The rally was a clear sign, along with the 2228 letters, that UWA students oppose any fee increases at UWA. The Guild condemns the decision of the UWA senate to not move the meeting venue as requested by students and their representatives."
The guild also condemned the decision of the senate to increase HECS and endorsed the EAN's call for a rally at 1pm on May 12, the day after the federal budget is released. The National Tertiary Education Union has already agreed to address and support the rally. The action will demand: "Rescind the 25% HECS increase", "No full up-front fee paying places at UWA" and that the federal government fund universities.
[Kiraz Janicke is a UWA Resistance club member and the Socialist Alliance candidate for the seat of Perth in the upcoming federal elections.]
From Green Left Weekly, May 5, 2004.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.