BY KIERAN PHILLIPS
DARWIN — Students at the Northern Territory University have many questions and complaints about catering on campus: the outlets are often shut, the food and beverages are very expensive and of low quality and there is no student discount. Major events such as the First Years Cocktail Party are no longer held in campus venues. What's going on?
The short answer to these questions is that the cafeteria, bar and coffee shop are run by a private company, Nationwide, who are contracted by NTU management. Like all private companies, Nationwide's first concern is profit.
Nationwide also possess a virtual monopoly on the provision of food and beverages on campus: the only other provider is a cafe which is quite expensive for students on low to non-existent incomes. This itself is due to the actions of NTU management who, by their contract, have prohibited the sale of food and beverages in competition with Nationwide.
If these facilities are shut, if you can't stomach the food or if you can't afford the exorbitant prices, you go off campus or you go hungry. Try getting education and training on an empty stomach. Try getting to Casuarina Shopping Centre and back in your ten-minute break.
The long answer is a little more complicated, so sit tight and watch the plot thicken considerably.
The sad and sorry state of catering on campus is a relatively new phenomenon. The current arrangements have only been in place since the beginning of 1999. Before this the catering on campus was provided by the NTU Students Union.
Under the Students Union management, catering was run by and for students. The cafeteria was open from 7am to 7pm, the food and beverages (particularly the coffee) were of a far superior quality and there was a 10% discount on all products provided to every student.
Why do we then find ourselves in the current appalling situation?
The truth of the matter lies, as it so often does at NTU, with the contemptuous, disdainful and malicious way in which NTU management conducts its relations with the student body.
The Students Union's decision to sell the catering business to the university was the culmination of a number of threats made by the university, in particular by the pro-vice chancellor, Kevin Davis, which put the very existence of the NTU Students Union in grave doubt.
The NTUSU had incurred considerable expenses setting up and running the catering operation: not least amongst them the exorbitant $180,000 rent the University charged for occupation of the building.
This figure is in stark contrast to commercial relationships university management currently has with Nationwide, commercial radio station Top FM and the child care centre (to name but a few) — all of which do not pay a single cent in rent.
It is also at odds with the recent decision by NTU management to grant exclusive use of 4000 square metres of bushland on the Palmerston campus to a private company, ASI Solutions, for the construction of a computer factory and call centre. Despite the fact that the bushland is used by students and staff for academic purposes, ASI Solutions was granted the land for the grand total of $100 a year (a "peppercorn rent").
Such a policy, which charges students through the roof for the enormous privilege of being provided with food and drink, but treats private companies like the prodigal son, is but one example of the contempt harboured against students by those responsible for the management of the NTU.
To finance the considerable expenses incurred in setting up and maintaining a catering service which was tailored to the needs of students, the NTUSU borrowed $450,000 from the university.
This sum covered things such as rent, capital and infrastructure for the first three years of operation out of the new commercial building. After meeting substantial start-up costs, the NTUSU was confident of trading its way out of this deficit.
Instead of supporting the NTUSU to provide a valuable and necessary service to the NTU community, management instead chose to threaten to call in all debts if the operation was not handed over to them. Subsequent protracted negotiations resulted in the purchase of the catering operations by NTU from NTUSU for the price of the outstanding debt. This transaction was made under considerable duress.
A tender process (deserving of an article in itself) ensued, the result of which was that NTU management preferred to put faith in the vague assurances of Nationwide rather than award the contract to the Students Union. The result has been nothing short of an unmitigated disaster.
In the last year in which the Students Union ran the bar, coffee shop and cafeteria the accumulated loss was $150,000.
Compare the performance of the Students Union with that of Nationwide.
The Students Union provided: a cafeteria open from 7am to 7pm, a 10% discount on all food and beverages for students, a subsidy of $15,000 to cover the catering at the Palmerston campus, a subsidy of $15,000 to cover the staff social club, $180,000 worth of rent (paid to NTU). Students' amenities fees contributed to these costs.
Nationwide provides: a loss of $250,000, without contributing a single cent towards rent of the building, a huge increase in prices (with no student discount), dramatically reduced trading hours (the cafeteria is open from 9am to 2pm), a fall in the quality and range of food and huge waiting periods to get served (as long as 20 minutes).
The fact that NTU has spent $250,000 in the last year alone (and about $1 million overall) propping up Nationwide is a complete and utter disgrace.
Students are continually told that funding constraints are the reason that management fails to adequately resource the NTU. In an environment where lecturers are being made redundant, the library struggles to resource students, administrative support is grossly inadequate, faculties don't have the funds to employ enough staff to run smoothly and some of the basics, such as computers and software, are not available to students who can't study without them, every single dollar counts.
The truth of the matter is that financial mismanagement of NTU has severely compounded the funding crisis.
As if this was not bad enough in itself, NTU management and Nationwide have refused to welcome opportunities to make inroads into this deficit.
The First Years Cocktail Party has always been on campus. It generates revenue upwards of $15,000. This year the Students Union was informed by both Nationwide and NTU that they would be more than happy to see the event held elsewhere. Apparently throwing another $250,000 down the drain is of no concern to them whatsoever.
The Students Union is fighting to get decent food, at a decent time, at a decent price, at decent locations, back on campus. We are fighting to get a venue on campus that will hold student events. The best way you can help to get the services and amenities that you deserve is to support the union.
Together we will win. Students are the reason this university exists. Let's get back control of our campus. Fight for your rights!
[Kieran Phillips is the president of the Northern Territory University Students Union. This article first appeared in Delirra, the NTU's student newspaper.]