Council Runs as Hunter Totters

Every month, twenty-five university bureaucrats gather to weigh up the pros and cons of suitably watered down motions which attempt to control the direction of the University. This is not the forum to expose who really does control the University. Suffice to say that practically all decisions that the Council have to make are forgone conclusions. Those that give the Council difficulty, for example a motion which would commit the University to student demands on the Standard Tertiary Bursary, are normally referred around for a few months until they metamorphose into items which are more palatable to our administrators, so as to avoid embarrassment from powers above.

On this particular day, the March meeting, many items were rubber stamped that should be of some interest to students.

The Hunter building is to have another report done on it to assess the effects of the recent earthquake. To facilitate a faster evacuation of Hunter, if it was found to be unsafe for habitation, the University Grants Committee (second on the political hierarchy after Government) have been asked to consider the construction of the last stages of the Cotton Building as a priority.

It was clear from the discussion at the meeting that few Council members were aware that large numbers of students and staff have to risk life and limb by sitting in Hunter's lecture halls. The Vice Chancellor is to complete a report for April Council as to the usage of Hunter.

As previously mentioned, the Council passed the buck yet again on the bursaries question. Recommendations which came from the Dept, of Education Conference on interim measures to be taken until the whole STB is looked into by Government were referred back to the Professorial Board. It seems that the University is stalling for time to avoid embarrassment until a decision on bursaries is reached in the budget to be presented to Parliament some time in June.

There was no dissenting voice to this motion. One can then assume that we will see action from the Council when preparing their submission for the quinquennial grant. The important thing to remember is that the Council has the political teeth to get these additional funds. Let us hope that the student attitude to cuts which have to be made is sufficiently clear as to make the University as cognisant as it should be of the importance of the library to students and learning.

A few motions flew past at breathless pace and we were ushered out as the meeting went into closed committee. Council meetings to the uninitiated are devastating affairs with few members willing to speak unnecessarily upon threat of physical disembowelment

Anyone thinking of running for the student rep position which comes vacant in June should be aware of this

—David Murray.