Stuart Munckton
& Sarah Alamein, Sydney
"Why do we need a brand new garden bed? I just want access to courses!" said University of Western Sydney (UWS) student Melissa Abram to 100 cheering students on September 8 at a speak-out against course cuts at the UWS Bankstown campus.
Students had gathered to hear UWS assistant vice-chancellor Robert Coombs attempt to justify the current university restructure which will result in a large number of courses and subjects being cut or transferred off campus. Students are also angry at the privatisation of Student Association services and the planned introduction of a $50 car-parking fee.
The meeting followed an occupation by students of the student services office the previous week, at which they demanded the university administration receive their demands.
Acknowledging that students "might not like the [administration's] answers", Coombs told students: "Under Nelson, we are one of the worst treated [universities]." He pointed to the fact that UWS had decided not to raise HECS fees and said that the funding short-fall had to be made up in other ways.
In response, students pointed out that while the administration was claiming poverty, it could afford "frivolities", including two garden refurbishments.
Luciano Vaccaro received an enormous response when he attacked the six-figure salaries for top UWS administrators, declaring: "We will pay the car parking fee if the people at the top take a pay cut!"
Andrew Viller insisted that "the poverty of UWS should not be pushed back onto the students, who are already poor!" Viller called on the administration to join the campaign to oust the Howard government.
Azaden Etminan summed up the frustration students felt at the way the administration was refusing to gave concrete answers to questions on how it spends its funds by declaring: "We want the finances to be open to students and for students to control the decisions!"
Greens NSW MP Sylvia Hale also spoke, declaring the situation was the "responsibility of the federal government, but also of the university administration — and those making these decisions benefited from free education".
Vaccaro reminded the crowd that in 1999 "students occupied [student services] for 14 days and we won 29 demands. We can win. This is just the start. We will do whatever we need to win."
The students then marched to the university bar, which has been closed for over a year as a result of attempts by the administration to take it out of the hands of the Students Association. They agreed to put out an open letter to Labor leader Mark Latham asking him to promise to reverse funding cuts to UWS if elected.
UWS Bankstown education officer Megan Conner told Green Left Weekly that the "university has failed to meet a single one of our demands, so clearly, the campaign continues". Conner, who is a member of the Resistance socialist youth organisation, added: "If the administration is so poor, then let students and staff see their finances and let us vote on what to do. UWS was set up to serve the community. Let the students for whom the university was established decide what to do with the money there is."
[Stuart Munckton and Sarah Alamein are members of Resistance.]
From Green Left Weekly, September 15, 2004.
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