ARTICLE 3, IS IT A PHILOSPOPHICAL POSITION?? The crime? The collection of universal student fees.
The punishment? The indirect and gradual destruction of our university.
As
many students will know by now, the Howard government is imposing V.S.U onto
all universities nation wide. Philosophically as students
we all believe in our democratic rights of freedom of association. This
is a philosophical stance that I doubt any student would refuse to support.
In the ideal world, the philosophical world, this ideology is correct, true
and valid.
unfortunately we DO NOT live in a ideal world. As many students studying related
subjects have realized, sometimes our philosophies have to be twisted, bent
or adjusted to conform with reality. The Howard government has played with students
philosophical positions when attempting to impose VSU. They have euphemistically
called it Voluntary student unionism.
Howard has now placed students in a “check” position, Howard has placed us, the students in a catch 22.
Do we adhere to our “perfect world” philosophy,
or do we mould it to fit the real world? Our options as students are either:
1) Adhere to our “perfect world” philosophy and await the expected
slow death to our universities
Or
2) Change our “perfect world” philosophy to one that fits in to
the real world, and support our student unions, because anything other than
full, 100% support to our student voice will lead to the inevitable destruction
of our universities for future generations. As members of this society it is
our duty to protect not only our educational future but the educational future
of all Australians.
As students we must realize student fees we save through the implementation of VSU today, will lead to countless costs incurred for ourselves and other students in the future. The Howard government is dangling in front of us the euphemistically tagged, “VSU carrot of freedom”, if we bite it, we have our student voices cut of, and will see the bleeding of a slow death of our universities. Make no mistake about it, VSU is the destruction of a unified voice. It is the first step to the disenfranchising of our future generations. VSU will lead to a majority of full fee paying courses, the closure of courses, the cutting of funding and the destruction of funding to ALL university amenities and services. UWS courses have already been cut, UWS funding has already been slashed and UWS wide HECS has also gone up. Student unions are the only bastion of support that has hindered Brendan Nelson’s and John Howard’s full privatization of universities. What do we do? Do we adhere to our philosophical beliefs of freedom of association for all or do we modify this position to protect our futures? You will be hard pressed to find any sane, tertiary educated student who, when presented with this reality of the situation chooses option 1. for to be unmoving in your beliefs is, in this situation the most selfish position that can be taken.
With
prior knowledge of Howard’s intents we should prepare ourselves and say
NO! to VSU, because with VSU there is no future,
except apathy and segregation.