Students march to defend education
Fifteen hundred students marched on March 22 in a national day of action called by the National Union of Students (NUS). The students called for an end to cuts in staff, a livable income for students, the restoration and increasing of the Abstudy allowance, no up-front fees, a fully publicly funded education, no vouchers for postgraduates and the abolition of the GST.
Simon Butler reports from SYDNEY that 300 students and staff rallied at the University of Technology, Sydney, and then marched to the University of Sydney.
Students rallied outside vice-chancellor Gavin Brown's office and inside the library, and then moved to occupy the Student Centre.
The protesters put forward a long list of demands, including:
- a cap on tutorial sizes, at 15 per class;
- no overcrowded classes: one seat per student;
- a reversal of funding cuts to all libraries and the reopening of closed libraries;
- at least one copy of each compulsory reading to be held in the library for every ten students in each course;
- abolition of library fines;
- an end to attacks on staff pay and conditions;
- abolition of up-front fees for all undergraduate and postgraduate students;
- Gavin Brown to publicly support free education and pressure the Howard government to commit to free education;
- course notes to be provided free on demand;
- free 24-hour computer and internet access for all students;
- no cuts to courses;
- improved security on campus;
- increased funding to faculty administration to end long queues;
- 50 scholarship places to be awarded to East Timorese students;
- the university's budget to be opened for public scrutiny; and
- that Gavin Brown meet with students to discuss the demands.
A few hours after the occupation began, police and university security cordoned off the area, preventing more students from joining the action. After police threats to forcibly remove the protesters, half agreed to be escorted out of the building. Forty students who vowed to occupy the Student Centre overnight were later removed.
Two hundred students met the next day to discuss future plans for the campaign. A rally will be held on March 30 to demand that Brown respond to students' demands.
From ADELAIDE, Lisa Lines reports that 300 angry protesters gathered on the steps of parliament house, demanding that education minister David Kemp be sacked and that the government provide increased funding to education.
Representatives from NUS and the National Tertiary Education and Industry Union (NTEU) spoke. Demonstrators then marched on the Adelaide Stock Exchange.
Resistance member Maria Voukelatos explained that the stock exchange was "an important symbolic target for students. The government is cutting education, health and welfare while giving more and more handouts to business. We should be demanding that education funding be provided through increased corporate taxation."
Protesters occupied the foyer of the building, after which a representative of postgraduate students and the Australian Education Union addressed the rally.
Catherine Smith and Arun Pradhan report from MELBOURNE that 400 students who gathered at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology chanted "burn, Kemp, burn" as a metre-wide effigy of the education minister's head went up in flames.
Two hundred students met at the University of Melbourne to protest the recent sell-off of student housing. Students also demanded that Melbourne University Private, the private arm of the university, be closed down.
Students from over five universities and many TAFE campuses then converged on the GPO. Anthony McMullen, chairperson of the Victorian TAFE Students and Apprentices Network, told the crowd that some TAFE students have been banned from classes because they cannot afford the compulsory administrative fees.
Angela Luvera reports that in BRISBANE 70 people met at the Roma St Forum. Barb Rosendale, an indigenous student from Griffith University, spoke of the lack of control that students had over their education, and said that it was "time to say 'no' to the cuts to Indigenous education, time to say 'no' to the cuts to education altogether".
Other speakers included a representative of students with disabilities, the Queensland Council of Unions, the NTEU and NUS.
Against the wishes of the police, protesters then marched on the office of the Department of Education, Training, and Youth Affairs.
In CANBERRA, Ruth Ratcliffe reports, 60 students and staff gathered at the Australian National University. Students used the day to launch a "log of claims" on the university for improved campus conditions.
Students' demands included that the university absorb the increased cost of photocopied course work, one seat per student in every class, more lecturers and more funding for student services.
Doug Kelly from the NTEU told those gathered that unless a campaign was fought to improve education funding, conditions would continue to fall.
The crowd responded well when Keara Courtney from Resistance gave solidarity greetings from the National Student League for Democracy (LMND) in Indonesia, which is organising a campaign against cuts to education subsidies which will lead to an increase in tuition costs of 300%.
At the University of Canberra leaflets are being distributed letting students know about new fees being introduced for internet access. Students were concerned that the Students Association had not adequately informed them about the fees or organised a campaign.
Chris Latham reports from WOLLONGONG that, despite gloomy weather, 100 people met at Wollongong University. Students are planning to conduct a survey about campus conditions, and use the results to formulate a log of claims of their own.
Andrew Stanton from the University of Western Sydney spoke of the experience of students at the university's Bankstown campus in 1999, when a campaign of this type won many of its demands.
The protest heard greetings from the LMND and passed a motion of solidarity with the struggle of Indonesian students against rising university fees and cost living.
Jane Armanasco reports that 300 people rallied at the Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs in PERTH. Students were particularly angry at plans by Murdoch University to cut between 45 and 70 of the university's 99 undergraduate courses by July. Students marched on Liberal Party headquarters.
Rohan Pearce reports that around 70 people met in HOBART at the University of Tasmania. In LISMORE 100 people gathered at Southern Cross University.