BY SUSAN PRICE
MELBOURNE — The ALP-controlled Melbourne University Student Union (MUSU) on August 31 succeeded in scuttling a student general meeting scheduled for September 1 to overturn the MUSU's decision to outlaw support for the September 11 protests at the World Economic Forum (WEF).
At the 11th hour, the union announced that a petition had been received which called for a referendum to consider the exact motions that were to be put to the general meeting. The document, supposedly signed by 50 part-time students, was not made available. This was a blatant manoeuvre to prevent the union's opposition to the S11 protests being reversed until after the protests were over.
Undeterred, students went ahead with a democratic meeting, attended by more than 350 students. The meeting overwhelmingly passed motions to allow student union resources to be used to build S11, to make union premises available as dormitories and meeting places during the protests, to donate $5000 to the S11 campaign and to support protests in support of indigenous people's rights at the Olympics by donating $7000 to fund transport to Sydney for protesters.
If the meeting had been a legitimate student general meeting, these motions would have been constitutionally binding on student union officers.
According to Ray Fulcher, a member of the Melbourne University S11 Club and the Melbourne University Resistance club, "the turnout demonstrates that students have strong opinions in favour of the protests against the WEF and want their student union to support the protests. The meeting represents a moral victory for students against the conservative and undemocratic ALP-led student union."
To emphasis their opposition to the antics of student union president Ben Cass, students voted to march to his office and hold a sit in. More than 150 students crowded into the offices. Cass was nowhere to be seen.