BY VIV MILEY
SYDNEY — The dean of arts at the University of New England in Armidale has agreed to "sell" the department of modern Greek studies and its students to the University of New South Wales for $2 million.
Head lecturer of modern Greek studies Ruth Machalias told the February 25 Sunday Telegraph that the "over-riding reason for the decision to close the UNE modern Greek department was an accumulated debt of $2 million in the faculty of arts incurred by the entire faculty".
UNE management charged Machalias with misconduct for contacting the Telegraph.
Professor Randall Albury, UNE dean of arts faculty dean at UNE, has dismissed the Telegraph article claiming it was one-sided, misleading and inaccurate. He also dismissed claims that students were sold to UNSW or that they were being forced to transfer.
Albury told Green Left Weekly that while most of the Greek department's staff were obviously not going to support the decision to close, because it would mean the loss of their jobs, some were in favour. The decision was approved by the academic board, he said.
Albury said that there were 16 reasons for the closure, but cited the accumulated faculty debt and the fact that Greek was the smallest language department at UNE and therefore "unviable".
Last year, however, the modern Greek studies course at UNE had more than 90 students enrolled, while the course at UNSW only had around 25. UNE has the second largest Greek language course in NSW and the third largest in Australia.
Officially, the students are not being sold. The Greek department at UNE is being phased out while simultaneously a distance education course in modern Greek studies is being introduced at UNSW. UNE Students wishing to study first or second year modern Greek studies must now do so by distance education from UNSW.
Cuts to subjects and services have been a sore point at UNE. In May students, occupied the university administration building in protest; they were also incensed at university decision-making procedures.
There has been little or no consultation with students. Anna King, a third year modern Greek studies student at UNE, told Green Left Weekly that the first students had heard of the proposal was in September when the administration sent out a letter telling them that the proposal was going ahead.
Albury backs his case for the cuts with the results of a survey sent to students last year, which found that 50% of students surveyed said they would have no difficulty in studying the course from UNSW. But the survey also found that 90% of students wanted to study second and third year modern Greek at UNE in 2001, and 86% wanted to study third year modern Greek at UNE in 2002.
"Why did Professor Albury bother to send out this survey to us when he clearly chosen to ignore the findings?", asked King.
King has been heavily involved in the campaign against the decision to axe the UNE Greek department, taking on the role of class delegate. Last year, a petition against the proposal was circulated and was signed by 1800 people. King has also begun a letter-writing campaign, with letters being sent to the NSW university ombudsman, NSW Labor premier Bob Carr and state education minister John Aquilina. None have responded adequately, she said.
When King wrote to Albury to ask why modern Greek was taking the fall when the debt was accumulated by the entire arts faculty, she was threatened with legal action.
"I have been in communication with at least 50 students involved", King told Green Left Weekly, "and [we] believe that UNE has an obligation to allow us to finish our modern Greek course at UNE, with the highly qualified and experienced staff, rather than be sold to the highest bidder."