Guild blocks education campaign at UNSW

By Melanie Bull

SYDNEY -- The education campaign on the University of NSW has run into a major obstacle: the student guild. Late last year a position paper, “Options 2000”, released by the UNSW Vice-Chancellor John Niland, outlined extreme proposals such as the abolition of faculties and schools, up-front fees and the closure of St George campus, in Sydney's southern suburbs.

This attack on education coincided with the election of the Everybody Team as a majority on the student guild. Everybody ran a supposedly “non-political ticket”, yet its actions contradict this.

In response to “Options 2000”, the guild launched a “Merit Not Money” campaign. It focused on the likely effects of up-front fees on UNSW's prestige and standing.

The guild demanded that the vice-chancellor recommend to the university council that undergraduate fees not be charged. When the initial deadline was ignored by the VC, the guild extended it another two weeks.

The Merit Not Money campaign has been built at the expense of a grassroots movement and the national campaign. The guild did not support the NUS national day of action on March 26. The occupation of the University of Technology, Sydney, which followed the March 26 demonstration is being used by the guild as a pretext for not supporting the national day of action on May 8.

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