Student protest shuts down meeting

Student protest shuts down meeting

By Jo Williams

MELBOURNE — Sixty angry students occupied the Law building at Melbourne University on March 3 and shut down a university council meeting. The meeting was set to vote on the university's recently released operational plan, which includes up-front fees for domestic undergraduate students in 1998.

Chanting "No Fees for Degrees!" and "Education for all, not just the rich", students demanded that the meeting be cancelled. The success of the demonstration, organised over only a few days, and on the first day of term, indicates the student opposition to up-front fees.

Inspired by a similar success at University of Technology, Sydney, the week before, students said that the demonstration was an example of what to expect nationally, as administrations attempt to implement the policies which allow universities to "sell" degrees.

When students blocked the entrances of the venue, and the meeting was postponed, members of the council decided on a new, secret venue. This second venue was not disclosed even to the elected student representatives on the committee.

However, after following council members to the secret venue, students again made it impossible for the meeting to be held. Declaring the meeting officially cancelled, Vice Chancellor Professor Alan Gilbert stated that they had decided, "It would be better to meet without student representatives".

Students angrily shouted that the decision was another blatant indication of the university's utter disinterest in student input.

Professor Gilbert has since called for a postal vote to pass the plan. Students have vowed that they will continue to disrupt and stop meetings, voicing their opposition to fees regardless of attempts to further reduce student input.
[Jo Williams is education officer of the Melbourne University student union.]

From GLW issue 266