Bollinger

Sir Keith Holyoake and Rudi Dutschke??

To find some justification for mentioning the two in the same breath was a task Conrad Bollinger accomplished with ease in the introduction to his talk on the "Radical Tradition at Victoria University."

Apparently, the place Sir Keith occupies in the annals of this university as the recipient of an honorary degree in 1966, is in no way as significant as the place occupied by his great-uncle, George Jacob Holyoake in the history of radical ideas. In fact, Bollinger told his audience, George Jacob was convicted in England in the 1840's for making the blasphemous statement that "God should be put on half pay for the duration of the slump." As the ultimate in condemnatory statements, one newspaper of the time reported that George Jacob in the dock looked like some "low German student". Hence, of course, Bollinger's connection between the name of Holyoake and that of Dutschke. The point being illustrated thus, was that students in the past, like students of today, have widely been seen as "disturbers of the peace".

That this description was entirely applicable to Victoria University students was clearly demonstrated by Bollinger's reference to a commemorative issue of the then-existing student magazine "Spike", put out to celebrate Vic's Golden Jubilee in 1949. "Students', the magazine noted, were those who "doubt not only the scriptures, but the Evening Post" Such were the heretics fostered within the university since its inception as Victoria College in 1899, at which time the institution was intended, according to Richard Seddon, to promote the education of the "sons and daughters of poor men".

As Bollinger correctly noted, times have changed. What has not changed however, is the place of the university in this city. Bollinger's succinct observation was that Vic has "never been accepted as a respectable institution".

Nevertheless it has had its moments of glory, including the notable Von Zednitz [sic] affair. Von Zednitz [sic] was a German-born professor teaching at Vic when [unclear: World] War I broke out. The anti-German feeling which prevailed in the community at large at that time, gave rise to demands for his dismissal, often in the form of poison pen letters. However, the college steadfastly refused to undertake such action, and it took the introduction of the Alien Teachers Amendment Act into Parliament, under an "Irish peasant named Massey", to remove Von Zednitz [sic].

In the 1920's the university received further plaudits when it was accused by Truth of being a "hotbed of communism" and by a local man of the cloth named Conan James, of being "a haven of immorality and vice". Similarly when the German Consul in the late 1930's was invited to Vic to explain the new philosophy prevailing in his country, he ended the discussion by walking out and later complaining that the students had "insulted his fatherland and his Fuehrer".

Again, according to Bollinger, this university, along with many others in the country, provided "islands of light in a dismal sea of oppression" during the 1951 Waterfront lockout.

For the present and future, Bollinger stressed to the audience that "you must have formulations and groupings of your own" since it was "your turn to write your own chapter". Perhaps it is instructive to wonder if the present "formulations and groupings" within the university are decisive enough to get that chapter into print.