UWS fine arts next on Howard's chopping block?

Shelly Dahl & Fred Fuentes, Sydney

Recent academic and technical staff retrenchments have cast doubts about the future of the fine arts course at the Penrith campus of the University of Western Sydney (UWS).

As a result of the Howard government's starving of universities of funding to open them up to the "free market", numerous courses are being shut down across the country as universities try to balance their budgets.

Already this year, a large part of the arts faculty at the University of Queensland and the political economy department at Sydney University have come under the hammer.

"Over the last six months staffing levels have been cut in half and UWS management is exploring alternative uses for the purpose-built fine arts facility at Penrith campus", student representative Thomas Hungerford told Green Left Weekly.

The UWS Penrith campus's fine arts, electronic art and performance courses will all go next year as part of this savage attack. This month, a technical officer who operated the tool shop at Z block and the head of the printing department were made redundant. This has meant the printing room is only open two days a week and students are having trouble getting work completed for the graduation exhibition, which is held each year.

Similarly, the hours the shop remains open have also been cut drastically and many students are having to bring tools like as Stanley knives and screwdrivers with them from home.

GLW was told by a number of academics who asked to remain anonymous that staff have been threatened with losing potential voluntary redundancy payments if they speak out against the cuts.

On September 21, student representatives, fine art students and Resistance members held a speak-out on the campus, collecting several pages of signatures on a petition against these cuts.

From GLW issue 685