30 August 2013

Revolting ANU Arts Students

| johnboy
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This just in:

On Wednesday the 28th of August at the Student Forum, the ANU Education Action Group presented a list of demands to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Marnie Hughes Warrington and the Dean of the College of Arts and Social Sciences Toni Makkai.

With School Staff being excluded from vital educational decision-making processes by the CASS administration, and the Chancellery treating the National Tertiary Education Union with outright contempt, the students of the ANU EAG cannot sit idly by as the ANU continues to prioritise:

– Profit over education

– Research over teaching

– Bottom-lines over staff working conditions

– Pedagogical standardisation over academic autonomy; and

– Centralised bureaucratic power over School independence.

Therefore, the ANU EAG demands that the ANU make a public commitment to:

1. KEEP TUTORIALS

Ensure that every course that runs tutorials this year – later year courses as well as a first year courses – continues to offer tutorials next year with a maximum of 15 students per tutorial, and that financial resources for this be guaranteed.

2. RESPECT ACADEMIC AUTONOMY

Provide staff with the support they require to deliver courses in the manner that they deem best suits the needs of their courses and their students.

3. VALUE POSTGRADUATE TEACHERS

Support paid Higher Degree Research teaching experience and guarantee that it remains a priority into the future.

4. GENUINE CONSULTATION WITH STUDENTS

Develop a consultation policy for educational changes, through a Committee of Council that has broad representation from students and staff, including ANUSA, PARSA and the ANU EAG.

5. FAIR PAY AND FAIR WORK LOADS FOR STAFF

Agree to the 4.5% pay rise for Staff as put forth by the National Tertiary Education Union.

If ANU cannot make a public commitment to these demands by 5pm Friday 30 August, then we as students must respond. We will feel ethically obliged to stand up for our education, for the academics who nurture our minds and for future students. Hence, if ANU cannot agree to these demands, then we will be compelled to make ANU’s position known at the ANU OPEN DAY on the 31st of August.

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Hey, c_c, you might want to dial down the over-blown emotive language, it’s really not warranted in this case. Protesting about everything, regardless of how good you are at it or how well the rest of the community supports you, is one of the signature experiences of being a university student. We should celebrate all protests, as a sign that the student community still lives, and not get all narky at them.

As we gear up for Open Day, I for one will make sure that the copies of Woroni remain in a prominant location in in our building foyer, not because I ever agree with what they write, but because I want prospective residents to see that slice of student community which is about questioning everything and getting angry at the world. We need more of it at ANU, not less of it.

Try to use a bit of context. Not referring to club and society affiliation, but to whether their efforts and representations are affiliated with the efforts of student organisations like ANUSA or NUS on these issues.

It’s one thing when groups like those two, who at least have some legitimacy (elected by 8% of the student population) go and do something. It’s quite another when a tiny group (less than .5 % of students based on FB likes) do something of this scale.

I think that deranged reply pretty well sums up the calibre of people behind this, and that list of demands above. It’s deplorable.

I COULDN’T AGREE MORE c_c. Those crazy ass students with their “demands”. As you rightly point out, there are serious concerns about education at the moment. Students are being too active about this, and as you say, they should stop breathing. Except for those students from the student’s association who want to give students food. Whatever. The main points are: students should definitely neither breathe nor eat.

Since they have clearly taken over the media now (and they are in fact an ANUSA affiliated group – it’s even worse than you thought c_c!) probably some kind of public mob is in order to shut this crazy “education” group down.

“Letting the administration know just how sick and tired we are, of being, you know basically, having, having, our needs and our wants ignored.”

One of the petulant brats from the Action Group on Win News tonight talking about the demands above and protest.

Could barely spit out the words, and what words were conveyed weren’t worth listening to.

Absolutely offensive. There are genuine arguments to be made about the future of higher education. Students don’t need crackpots stealing air and making us look like selfish, needy fools.

magiccar9 said :

If the ANU students spent as much time studying and completing their work as they do protesting and crying about issues beyond their control maybe they’d be out of the place a lot sooner.

Seriously, if you have enough time to bitch and moan about this sort of stuff you are obviously able to increase some workload and finish your classes/units in a shorter timeframe.
Either that, or move to a different university if you don’t like it. Then you might see how lucky you currently are!

The ANU Education Action people are planning a protest at the Open Day. They’re a disgusting minority who are neither affiliated with formal students groups nor do they attempt to represent the views of students.

And even the protests organised by the official student groups only get a modest attendance. In fact one recent protest march had ANUSA bribing students to turn up with lunch vouchers for the ANU Bar.

There are over 10,200 undergraduate students at ANU, another 8,000 or so graduate students.
Don’t judge them all by the action of a small but vocal minority whose outlook on achieving change is to act like toddlers.

The most galling thing is that all the politicians, university personnel and pretty much everyone involved in making things so much harder for students, is that they all got to go to Uni for free or next to nothing, have used their education to gain influential positions and are now using that influence to make sure young people these days don’t get the same opportunities they did.

magiccar9 is right. Goddamn those lazy students! It’s the students who are the real criminals of the university. I mean if they would just shut up about the fact that they are going into more debt each year while their courses are cut and degrees restructured, we could all get some rest. The sooner that students learn that really university is just a temporary stop on the train to working life, the better. What do they think, we should value education for education’s sake or something? Get a grip students.

The title made me think this was going to be a rant about the personal hygiene of uni students.

Unpleasantly surprised.

One thing you can say about lentils is that they never get boring.

If the ANU students spent as much time studying and completing their work as they do protesting and crying about issues beyond their control maybe they’d be out of the place a lot sooner.

Seriously, if you have enough time to bitch and moan about this sort of stuff you are obviously able to increase some workload and finish your classes/units in a shorter timeframe.
Either that, or move to a different university if you don’t like it. Then you might see how lucky you currently are!

veg said :

Vegetable rights and peace

Peas are vegetables and have rights too you know!

Vegetable rights and peace

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