The Daily Telegraph exposed the latest example of political correctness gone mad by revealing in a March 30 that the University of New South Wales is teaching students that Australia was 鈥渋nvaded鈥 by Britain and was not actually 鈥渄iscovered鈥 by Captain James Cook.
Australian universities
The Socialist Alliance released this statement on March 30.
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Ken Canning, lead Senate candidate for Socialist Alliance in the federal election described the Daily Telegraph's condemnation of the University of NSW's Diversity Toolkit 鈥 guidelines for appropriate language to describe Indigenous history 鈥 as 鈥渢he usual type of Neanderthal reporting鈥.
鈥淣ews.com slams the term 'invasion' when referring to James Cook's arrival in 1770.
鈥淒oes the Daily Telegraph seriously think Aboriginal people laid out the red carpet for him?
Amnesty International Western Sydney University students hosted a forum at the Parramatta campus on March 15. Speakers included James Arvanitakis, Debra Keenahan, Luce De Buitleir Andrews and Sev Ozdowski.
Keenahan spoke about how refugees had become 鈥渄ehumanised鈥 since former PM John Howard said: 鈥淲e will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come鈥.
James Cook University (JCU) management is proposing to make nearly 40 academic staff redundant in Cairns and Townsville as it starts a third year of job cuts at one of the largest employers in northern Queensland.
Under the proposals, JCU's Division of Tropical Environments and Societies would lose 10% of its teaching and research staff and Tropical Health and Medicine would lose eight workers.
Management's rush to reduce staff numbers, which could see academics sacked in the middle of teaching the semester, shows that this is an inept 鈥渂alance the budget鈥 exercise.
Fossil Free UTas began a sit-in on October 14 outside the office of University of Tasmania's vice-chancellor, Peter Rathjen. The sit-in lasted a marathon 15 days.
The University of Tasmania has not yet committed to divesting from fossil fuels, but negotiations between the university and Fossil Free UTas are now underway.
The sit-in gained community awareness and support for the campaign. The students received national and international media attention, and their actions sparked similar campaigns in other parts of the country.
Resistance: Young Socialist Alliance (RYSA) released the following statement on October 27 in support of the Fossil Free UTas occupation.
The following day Fossil Free UTas announced that they were ending the occupation and restarting negotiations after two days of productive meetings with the university management.
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The Western Sydney University (WSU) Resistance club has been successful in electing one of its members onto the editorial board of the university's student magazine, Cruwsible.
WSU students had the chance to vote from October 12 to 23 for six editor positions for 2016 as part of the student elections held on campus.
Resistance members Philip Craig and myself nominated for the editor roles. While Philip unfortunately missed out by a small margin, I was voted in as the sixth editor.
The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) announced on October 27 that it will join the movement to screen out fossil fuel interests from its investment portfolio. It will also look for ethical investment opportunities in renewable energy.
It is the first Australian union to commit to divest from fossil fuels, and follows its decision to adopt a position on ethical investment at its national meeting held in Melbourne, October 8-10.
The union represents tens of thousands working at tertiary education institutions around the country.
The federal government has withdrawn an offer to provide $4 million to any Australian university willing to host climate sceptic Bjorn Lomborg and his 鈥淐onsensus Centre鈥.
Staff at Flinders University in Adelaide, where management had been considering the proposal, welcomed the news.
National Tertiary Education Union Flinders University branch president Ron Slee said, 鈥淭oday's decision is a welcome relief for a university community that has been relentless in its campaign to protect against the reputational damage that would inevitably travel with the Lomborg money.鈥
Two Western Sydney University Resistance activists are running for the editorial board of the student magazine, Cruwsible.
Phil Craig and Ian Escandor, both current Student Campus Council members, believe the student magazine could do much more to encourage activism on campus and better reflect students鈥 concerns.
鈥淐ruwsible should encourage more activism鈥, Craig told 91自拍论坛 Weekly. 鈥淏ut the only way to do this is to have more student consultation.
The University of Wollongong has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the immigration department to provide training for Border Force officers in maritime border security.
Under the , the University鈥檚 Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS) will train Border Force officers in maritime enforcement, civil maritime security policy development, research and regional capacity building.
The University of Queensland Resistance Club has joined with other student clubs to call on the university administration to divest money from fossil fuels.
The university has an undisclosed amount of money invested in projects whose emissions jeopardise the future of the young people that UQ is supposed to be educating.
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