News & Views item - June 2006

 

 

Voluntary Student Unionism Appears to Attain the Desired Goal. (June 28, 2006)

    Two articles by Lisa Macnamara in today's Australian indicate the desire of the Coalition Government's to reduce student activism to a minimum by outlawing compulsory student unionism is succeeding.

 

In addition it is effecting the diversion of millions of dollars of university funds to provide some of the services that have until now been subsidised by student union fees.

 

 

 

The change over to voluntary student unionism (VSU) is July 1.

 

"Students want to be part of a campus where there is access to a life beyond the classroom, (which) encourages active participation in university life," Melbourne University vice-chancellor Glyn Davis told Ms Macnamara, and added, "Now a host of activities that make university life vibrant - sport, clubs and societies, dental, legal and advocacy services, student representation - are being seriously threatened by the introduction of VSU. It is important to protect these activities."

 

Melbourne University has allocated $6 million to compensate for projected loss of student fees in order to maintain what are considers to be essential services for its students.

 

ANU vice-chancellor Ian Chubb told Macnamara, "I'm interested in providing a quality experience for students who choose to come to the ANU and that does mean you have to invest in facilities and services and provide additional support," and ANU has earmarked $1 million "to ensure the future of its student union and a number of services, including legal representation."

 

Macnamara also dropped by the Melbourne headquarters of the National Union of Students. The peak body for student representation its president Rose Jackson says, "[The NUS will become] a pretty small organisation which essentially represents students to the media and to the government via submissions, and co-ordinates campaigns in a pretty abstract way."

 

And Ms Macnamara adds, "At its peak [the NUS] represented about 70 organisations with a combined membership of 650,000. Its offices in the Victorian Trades Hall, once a hub for radical campus reform, are now virtually empty."

 

As for the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, "More than 170 full-time and casual jobs at RMIT have been cut or are scheduled to go as a result of VSU, despite the university committing more than $900,000 to carry on some services, such as child care and sports, for the rest of the year.

 

John Howard and the similar minded can congratulate themselves on a job well-done.