Seven Macquarie University postgraduate students elected to represent their peers have in the last few days been served with instructions to appear at the Supreme Court of New South Wales on September 3, 2014 to defend themselves against the University where they are currently studying, the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations has revealed.
Macquarie University is asking the Supreme Court to forcibly wind up Macquarie University Postgraduate Representative Association (MUPRA), to appoint a liquidator, to distribute the net assets of MUPRA – which sit at approximately $500,000 – to Macquarie University, and that Macquarie University be awarded costs.
Because MUPRA is not an incorporated association, the elected members of its current Executive are listed as individual defendants to Macquarie University’s application.
“We are gravely concerned about the potential implications that this case will have not just for our friends at Macquarie University Postgraduate Representative Association, but for independent student unions at campuses across Australia and indeed, the concept of independent unionism itself” said Meghan Hopper, President of the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations.
“This craven and cynical attack on seven of Macquarie University’s own students, students who put their hands up to represent their peers and who are now being punished for that act, can not be tolerated and must be fought vigorously by all those who value unionism and student advocacy” Ms Hopper said.
Macquarie University has established an ‘Advisory Board’ which they are arguing should replace MUPRA. The Chair of the Advisory Board is appointed by the University Chancellor and is not directly elected.
“If a Court accepts that it is appropriate for a University to simply replace a union with an ‘advisory body’ Chaired by a person hand-picked by the University and directly responsible to the Chancellor, that will be a tragic step in the history of student unionism in Australia and will send a very dangerous message about independent representation and advocacy” Ms Hopper said.
“Student unions at their core exist to provide independent representation for students to the Universities that they pay fees to. To claim that a University can represent students against the University is just a furphy and it’s an obvious violation of the very notion of unionism” Ms Hopper said.
Ms Hopper said that it was particularly alarming that the University was seeking costs.
“The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations is committed to assisting the seven students involved in whatever way we can – we are currently speaking to lawyers to ensure that this case is vigorously defended and once we have a sense of the potential costs to the individuals involved, we will be arranging fundraisers to assist with those” Ms Hopper said.
Ms Hopper said that the case was a blatant grab at money that MUPRA had wisely saved and invested over many years to protect themselves against Voluntary Student Unionism and diminished support from their University.
On December 20 2013, the National Australia Bank placed a freeze on MUPRA’s bank account in response to a request from Macquarie University, meaning that MUPRA has been without access to funds to operate or adequately defend itself against legal action since that time.
“If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I could not believe that any University could provide funds to a student association without a service level agreement and then, several years later, say ‘actually, we’re not satisfied with the fact that you saved some of that money to protect against diminished funding in later years, we’re going to order you to give it all back now’” Ms Hopper said.
“Of the $500,000 that Macquarie University Postgraduate Representative Association currently has held in a bank account that they can no longer access, some of that money was earned through frugal investment in high interest bank accounts and through the offering of events and services” said Ms Hopper.
“Macquarie is not even proposing to redistribute MUPRA’s funds toward student advocacy and representation, but will instead use it for postgraduate scholarships” Ms Hopper said.
“What kind of University goes to these lengths against their own students for the sake of half a million dollars?”
Meghan Hopper, President of the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations
