Thursday, March 31, 2005

Voluntary Student Unionism (VSU)

Last week the government introduced legislation that will mean the end of University life as Australians have known it. The students of the future will have a much-diminished University experience. As we saw in the late 1990s when Western Australia experimented with Voluntary Student Unionism, without a universal service charge academic support, childcare facilities, sporting clubs and student societies, representation, student newspapers and welfare services will collapse.

In the last few days the public have had a chance to see the truth about student services and student organisations, to see what actually goes on at our Universities other than lectures and tutorials. Despite the Government's best efforts to portray the issue as one of 'freedom of association', and all the usual vitriol about political activism, their policy doesn't seem to have washed with the public.

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