Myth #1: Voluntary student unionism has made student organisations lose money.
Fact: Student organisations that are losing money are those that are typically providing services that aren’t popular with students. For instance, RMIT’s student union is just one that likes to cry poor about VSU – but rather than dedicating resources to a decent student advocacy program, they instead spend countless dollars on expensive anti-capitalist media programmes like Blazing Textbooks – a radical radio program aired every Saturday morning on 3CR.
Student organisations are also deliberately running budget deficits to draw more funding from universities and to lie about what ‘damage’ VSU is doing – which was reported in a recent edition of Honi Soit, Sydney University’s student newspaper.
Myth #2: Student services have been decimated since the introduction of voluntary student unionism.
Fact: Services popular with students remain in operation. VSU was always going to result in unpopular or expensive services scrapped, but those that remain popular are still available to students.
Myth #3: The government’s compulsory amenities fee will make university more equitable for students.
Fact: Labor’s $250 amenities fee will increase inequity amongst university students because it will be levied regardless of a student’s income. It is a regressive tax that will not accommodate low income students or those from indigenous or disadvantaged backgrounds. Furthermore, the tax will be levied regardless of whether students have the ability to use the services provided by the fee, meaning students who study by correspondence will get absolutely no bang for their buck. Julia Gillard’s student tax will actually make matters worse in terms of equity.
Myth #4: Student unions need more money to fund activities and club and societies on campus.
Fact: When Student unions have the means to fund campus clubs and activities, they always choose to fund their political activities first.
For example, at Melbourne University in 2008, the Student Union ripped $2,000 from the limited Activities budget to fund a art show called “From Beards to Badges” – a history of the University of Melbourne Student Union (UMSU).
In 2008, UMSU also donated $500 to the legal defence of a man accused of assaulting police officers and damaging a police station during a riot on Palm Island.
In 2009, UMSU slashed the budget of the Clubs and Societies by $18,000 (24%) in order to fund a $15,000 increase in its donation to the extreme National Union of Students (an increase of 30%).
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