Stuart Munckton
With Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life" booming from the sound system provided by the Reclaim the Streets collective, 700 students stormed into the main building of the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) on March 31. The protest was part of a national day of action organised by the National Union of Students (NUS) against attacks on higher education.
Angered by their expectation that the UTS university council will join other university administrations across the country in increasing Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) fees by 25%, as allowed by government legislation, students attempted to occupy the Chancellory.
Police proved too quick however, keeping students out of the office with capsicum spray. A number of students were left in agony after being sprayed by police in the eyes, and two students were arrested. Both students were later charged with trespassing, and one also with malicious damage.
James Crafti and Marcus Pabian report that Melbourne's students succeeded where their Sydney counterparts failed, as 200 people at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) broke through police lines to occupy the central administration office for over six hours.
With TV cameras rolling, RMIT Vice-Chancellor Ruth Dunkin debated the demands of the occupation with the students' representative, RMIT student union northern campus coordinator Heidi Claus, a member of Socialist Alternative. The vice-chancellor refused to comment on fee increases or the demand for a campus referendum on the issue.
The storming of two university buildings was the culmination of a day where around 3500 students took to the streets across Australia. The day of action was called in response to the legislation passed by the Coalition government in December, which opened the way to significant increases in fees and more full-fee paying places.
The majority of university councils that have met so far this year to discuss the legislation have hiked up HECS fees by the full 25% that the legislation allows. Since it came to power, the Coalition government has ripped $5 billion of funding from the sector, giving the vice-chancellors their excuse.
The largest of the protests was in Sydney where students converged on the two central campuses, Sydney University and UTS. Bronwyn Powell reports that 1000 students gathered at Sydney University, including a bus load each from the University of NSW, University of Western Sydney Nepean, and a contingent from UWS Bankstown.
At UTS, 300 students gathered and roared with approval when rally chair, Carolyn Vu from the New South Wales branch of the NUS, declared, "If this university wants to increase fees, then they can get fucked!"
Students chanted, danced to music and were entertained by radical cheerleaders. Representatives from the UTS Students Association, the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), and Resistance spoke to the crowd. The ALP's promise to overturn all university-decided 25% HECS increases was welcomed by the crowd.
Chanting "Education for all, not just the rich" and "they say 'cutback', we say 'fight back!'", the Sydney University rally marched to join the UTS crowd. UTS Student Association President Rebekah Doran related how a student occupation at UTS in 1997 helped the campaign against up-front fees for Australian undergraduates. She urged students to take similar action and students streamed into the building to attempt an occupation of the Chancellory office.
Around 200 students ignored pleas to join the protest inside UTS, where the University Council is expected to vote for fee increases when it meets on April 19, instead marching to Belmore Park.
Having failed to occupy the Chancellory, around 500 students occupied the UTS Great Hall, discussing the next steps in the campaign against fees.
The students voted to return for a bigger protest on April 19, aiming to shut down the planned council meeting. Students also voted to support a second national day of action on May 12, after the federal budget is announced.
In Melbourne, 1000 students converged at the State Library. La Trobe University NTEU president Bill Deller, and the Australian Education Union women's officer Catherine Davis both spoke offered solidarity to students fighting against fees.
Students then moved to occupy the RMIT administration building. Zoe Kenny, a Resistance member involved in the occupation, told Green Left Weekly that students immediately organised working groups to run the occupation.
"We held a mass meeting and we voted unanimously to demand that the vice-chancellor speak with us, that the vice chancellor refuse to increase fees, and that students and staff be allowed to hold a referendum to decide if they wanted the fee increases", said Kenny.
The demand to hold a referendum on any fee increase was later voted down by a much smaller group of occupiers.
Support for the occupation came in from the Greens, the Socialist Alliance, the Democrats and the state secretary of the Electrical Trades Union, Dean Migell.
The occupation ended after 10pm when police began forcibly removing students.
About 40 students joined protests at the University of New England (UNE) in NSW, 300 rallied in Adelaide, 200 in Brisbane and 150 in Canberra and Newcastle. Protests were also held by students in Wollongong, Hobart and Perth.
In Perth, visiting Indonesian student leader Gigih Guntoro, general secretary of the National Student League for Democracy (LMND) addressed the crowd, pointing out that the attacks that students face in Australia, like those in Indonesia, are "symptomatic of neoliberal globalisation". He called on students around the world to unite for a free education for all.
UNE and Melbourne University councils are set to meet to vote on fee increases in early April, and both can expect large blockades to attempt to prevent the meetings from going ahead.
Students on Sydney University also made plans to attempt to close down their next university senate meeting, despite the it having already voted up fees.
Expect to see student protests against fees continue and grow.
[Stuart Munckton is the national coordinator of the socialist youth organisation Resistance, and a member of the Socialist Alliance.]
From Green Left Weekly, April 7, 2004.
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