Two Sandstone V-Cs Tell the Federal Government Axing Compulsory Student Union Fees Will Mean the Australian Sports Commission's Elite Athlete Friendly Universities Network Won't Get Out of the Blocks. (May 26, 2005)

    Gavin Brown, Sydney University's Vice-Chancellor and Glyn Davis, Melbourne University's V-C have told the Coalition government that forcing their universities to move student union fees to a voluntary basis will reduce their resource base for subsidising sports facilities by $6.3 million.  According to Professor Brown, "That capacity [to become a member of the Elite Athlete Friendly Universities Network] is heavily dependent on the expertise and resources we have available to us at Sydney University Sport, an organisation that will feel the full brunt of this legislation."

As The Sydney Morning Herald points out, "The network, established by the Government just seven months ago, aims to help elite athletes balance sport and study." Now the two vice-chancellors have stood up and told the government that it can't have it both ways. The Executive Director of Sydney Sports, Greg Harris, told the Herald, that if voluntary unionism was introduced, up to 15 full-time positions at Sydney would go. "I don't see how we'd be able to offer the sort of support deserving of the athlete-friendly tag."

Now that two of the most influential of Australia's vice-chancellors have gone public, the Herald reports that "More universities are expected to join the boycott, including Macquarie, the University of NSW, the University of Technology Sydney, the University of Queensland, Monash and the University of Western Australia."

What sort of a compromise the Minister  for Education, Science and Training, Brendan Nelson, will propose, or will be allowed to propose, with regard to voluntary student unionism will be interesting to see.