Students occupy UQ Senate chambers
BY MATT LIVINGSTON
BRISBANE — Students at the University of Queensland occupied the University Senate chambers here on May 10 in protest at a proposed restructure of the Arts faculty until police were brought in to end their sit-in seven hours later.
The Arts faculty's executive dean Alan Rix intends to amalgamate eleven departments into four profitable "super-schools". The May 10 protest rally of 50 students was told that the plan will result in immediate staff cuts and the gradual erosion of unprofitable course content.
Speakers at the rally included representatives of the Australian Services Union, the UQ student union, and the International Socialist Organisation, along with other independent activists.
Marching on the administration building, students chanted "Education for all, not just the rich!" before voting for a motion, put by Resistance's Angela Luvera, to occupy the chancellery building. Twenty-five activists were able to enter and occupied the Senate chamber, where the restructure will be voted on in three weeks.
Students issued a list of demands, calling for no course cuts, no staff cuts and no restructure, but Rix flatly refused to consider the students' position.
Students were denied access to food, water, toilets or communication. Faced with large police and security presence, the students left the building after a seven-hour stalemate, chanting "Human need not corporate greed, save Arts now!"
Students say the campaign will intensify in coming weeks and that they plan to disrupt and delay the Senate's June 1 vote. The Defend Arts Activists' Group meets every Wednesday, noon, in the Tivey Room at UQ.