I’d love to say that these students were too crazy to get into university, but sadly I’ve met too many university students!
About 20 students raised placards and chanted slogans on Palmerston North’s Princess St for two hours yesterday, as passing cars tooted.”What do we want? Kill the bill! When do we want it? Now!” protesters yelled, waving signs that said “Read between the lines: RIP Polytechs” and “Kill the bill: before they sell us out.” The group were protesting against the Education (Polytechnics) Amendment Bill, which recommends councils be cut to eight members and increases the Government’s powers of intervention.
UCOL’s board has 14 members, including representatives from campuses at Palmerston North, Wanganui and Masterton, iwi, unions and employers. The new structure will comprise four ministerial appointees, the chief executive, an academic board representative, a student representative and a member nominated by the community.
Clearly, they’ll have a lot of trouble operating without trying to please all those special interest at once. Oh the horrors!
Shivering, UCOL student president Jo Hymers said the new councils would not be able to represent all communities.
And the old ones did? I don’t see a achondroplastic dwarf doctors’ representative in their list.
“The majority will be ministerial appointments, so the Government has too much control. It’s unprecedented that any minister has had this much power, and we are dead against that.
“The power to shut down polytechs is in there, and though they say it won’t happen it could happen.” Most councils already work effectively, and the Ministry of Education could step in if they saw a real problem with governance, she said.
So they can already interviene. But hey, any excuse to protest in the freezing cold!
Let’s fact it, everyone knows that the shutting down of apprecentiship courses in the 90s was a massive and incredibly stupid mistake. If these people realy think anyone is going to make the same mistake again after all the problems that caused, they need stronger medication.
Something should go here, maybe later. 