In memory of Gender Studies

[Mujer Libre]

Well... I'm drunk, so excuse me if this is a bit ranty. My university is currently undergoing what is essentially a process of corporatisation- all our degrees are being moved to postgrad, with really horrible, didactic degrees reserved for undergrad. Also a part of this process is getting rid of all departments that don't make them money- i.e. don't produce lawyers or fucking CEO's. This applies even more if the department produces ACTIVISTS.

So, with this in mind, Melbourne Uni, without consultation with students or staff, decided to axe Gender Studies as an Arts major- apparenly it's too cross-disciplinary. Of course it's cross-disciplinary! Gender is present in every aspect of life! So today, the Academic Board met to vote on the issue, and we had a very noisy (and very big- around 100 people- awesome for a snap action) protest underneath the room where they met (with a secret entrance and security gurads... hmm...), but they still went ahead with it. The only dissenting votes were from student reps. It just makes me so sad ad angry... Ah well, the fight continues.

This is us before the meeting started. The person speaking is the Union President, who is completely awesome.

[Mujer Libre]

Moving back in time, this is on the Concrete Lawns (don't ask... it used to be a lake) before we moved down to the meeting)

[Idola Mentis]

Huh? Cross-disciplinary is baaahd now? Last I checked, people were fighting to slap that label on every project in every discipline ever invented. I keep waiting for someone to call for an assessment of the potential for interdisciplinary work in the janitor service.

Good job, though. You're an example to us all, even if it is a scary one. They've been trying stuff like this in Oslo for a few years now, but the vestiges of university democracy, and the fact this is a state university, which has experience in protecting itself from changing political winds, has taken some of the worst excesses off it.

No thanks to the students, though. Their side of the democracy has been slowly rotting away. With the new, tripled workloads, no one's got time for anything but reading and turning in papers if they want an education for their student loans. The turnout for student parliament elections has been below the 10% mark since before I was immatriculated, and the representatives are clowns. It's the faculties holding the fort here.

When they imposed some of the crazier neoliberalisms, things did get close to riots here. People of all political stripes were genuinely pissed off. They killed the last vestiges of the Humboldtian university, after all. The organizations from that time is still around. Check with the norwegian academic's unions, or ask for relevant contact info from the services at uio.no. Maybe they've got some helpful tips.

[Mujer Libre]

Originally posted by Idola Mentis
Huh? Cross-disciplinary is baaahd now? Last I checked, people were fighting to slap that label on every project in every discipline ever invented. I keep waiting for someone to call for an assessment of the potential for interdisciplinary work in the janitor service.
Yeah exactly, it's a bullshit reason. The real reason is that gender studies isn't where the money is, and it produces lots of those pesky activists who make the corporatisation process harder. They also said that too few people graduate with it as a major each year- which is a flat out lie!


They've been trying stuff like this in Oslo for a few years now, but the vestiges of university democracy, and the fact this is a state university, which has experience in protecting itself from changing political winds, has taken some of the worst excesses off it.
The factis that here, even though Melbourne is a public university, the board and governing bodies have embraced the corporatisation of the university. I'm guessing that comes from the fact that it's such an elitist institution, and always has been.

Also, the union has been through a lot of shit and is not huge, but we try to do our best. Unfortunately interest among students in autonomy and jsut in the quality of their education is at a real low. It's so frustrating... But that's just the way Australia is, especially at this moment in history.


No thanks to the students, though. Their side of the democracy has been slowly rotting away. With the new, tripled workloads, no one's got time for anything but reading and turning in papers if they want an education for their student loans. The turnout for student parliament elections has been below the 10% mark since before I was immatriculated, and the representatives are clowns.
It's basically the same here, although we have some awesome student reps- who're real activists and out themselves into their role fully. Our Women's Officers were in alternating rage and tears today. :(


It's the faculties holding the fort here.
We have a lot of support from the tertiary staff union and the academics on the ground too, but the university is essentially ignoring them, not to mention firing many, many people.


When they imposed some of the crazier neoliberalisms, things did get close to riots here. People of all political stripes were genuinely pissed off. They killed the last vestiges of the Humboldtian university, after all.
See, that would never happen here. There aren't enough people who care, and lots of people have politics that limit their means of resistance to just marching up and down waving flags...


The organizations from that time is still around. Check with the norwegian academic's unions, or ask for relevant contact info from the services at uio.no. Maybe they've got some helpful tips.
Will do, thanks. :)

[Reuben]

good luck comrade. It is really infuriating that some of the even less commercially minded academics refuse to accept gender a crucial tool of social and historical analysis.

[bcbm]

Someone should sit those guilty members of the Academic Board down and give them a nice meeting with fists and clubs.

[apathy maybe]

OK, I'm not exactly sure why this is in the Arts forum, but hey.

I think that the corporatisation of universities is really shit. And this sort of action (especially without consultation with staff and students) is a fine example of the need to democratise universities.

[Mujer Libre]

It's in gfx because it was initially just meant to be pics- but it turned into a rant. :P

[apathy maybe]

Haha. No worries. Do you have any more pictures?