| Student Union barely manages to get 50 people to rally for Compulsory fees at own Uni - April 2006. |
 |
 |
 |
| Articles, Reports and Media Releases |
|
MEDIA RELEASE University of Wollongong LIBERAL CLUB
Thursday, 13 April 2006: Student Union barely manages to get 50 people to rally for Compulsory fees at own Uni! Knowing that Wollongong students care very little about VSU, the Wollongong Undergraduate Students Association, decided not to take students to Sydney to protest along with other universities, but instead held a rally within the Wollongong University main campus in an attempt to attract more interest. However less than 1% of members turned out to the rally, showing that most students do not believe the legislation is a bad thing, and its especially not worth giving up their lunch break to protest the new freedom of association being offered all students come July. "I believe that students have become disheartened with the association, and couldn't care whether or not it continues to exist at all. From talking to students, I feel that this is because they see WUSA as having marginalised itself to cater only for the very small minorities at the total expense of the larger sections of the student body" WUSA Councillor Nathan Barton stated. "On asking the organisers how many attended, they claimed around 50, which with nearly 14,000 undergraduates really puts into perspective how little of the student body believes that VSU is a bad idea. "Personally I believe in the right to chose whether or not to join a Union, I think the student, as an adult has the ability to decide for themselves whether WUSA does indeed provide what they want, and whether it is worth it for them. "The Declaration of Human Rights is pretty clear in Article 20(2) that No one may be compelled to belong to an association its therefore the basic right of a student not to be in a union. "At the last meeting, I proposed that WUSA run a positive campaign to show students why they should join next year instead of run a pointless negative campaign to try and overturn one of the Liberal Party's fundamental policies." This motion was supported only by the independent representatives, but was voted down by the Reds majority rule of council. "I am thankful that this protest didn't turn ugly like the one in Sydney where there were arrests and disruption to the public, last year this crowd picketed at the entrance and students were prevented from driving into the uni. "There gets to a point where activists forget that university is primarily a place to learn and get a degree to move on up to the workforce, not a place to rally against every cause under the sun." Declaration of Human Rights: http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html \n This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it \" target\u003d\"_blank\" onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\">\n\ This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it \n\n\n(Web):??? \n\nwww.uowliberals.org \n\n(Postal):?PO Box U100 \n \n\n??????????????? Wollongong NSW 2500\n \n\nPhone: ? 0432 770701 (Nathan\nBarton) \n\n\n\n\n",0] ); //--> |