Macquarie students organise against cuts
By Lachlan Malloch
More than 200 Macquarie University students at a general student meeting on March 18 voted to condemn proposals to charge fees for basic services. Planned fees include $25 to have a course prerequisite waived, $150 to appeal a grade and $5 for lecture tapes.
The meeting was initiated by the Education Collective, whose activists have collected 4500 signatures on a petition. A group of 40 students succeeded in forcing the item off the agenda of a university council meeting on February 28.
Four motions drafted by the Education Collective and endorsed by Students' Council were passed rejecting the proposed charges, calling for no funding cuts to child-care on campus, condemning the federal government's proposed common youth allowance, and calling for the Sydney Institute of Business Technology to be kicked off Macquarie University. SIBT is a private business which charges tuition fees while using publicly funded space on campus.
A delegation of 70 students then occupied the university administration office to present the students' demands. Despite denials by Vice-chancellor Di Yerbury, student action has forced a back-down on lecture tape fees.
According to Nick Harrigon, a member of Students' Council, the right-wing Labor leadership of the council "displayed a conciliatory attitude towards the administration" and even "downplayed the importance of student and staff protest in overturning the lecture tape charge".
The campaign has showed the ability of student action to force delays and retreats on the introduction of extra fees and charges.