Current UQ Union President Lucy Weber, doesn’t see herself as a student politician. She simply cares about the support the UQ Union provides, and the students it represents. But her view, from the centre of the storm, is less political than you might imagine. “It’s a mistake to view the union as simply a political entity or as a means for students to get involved in the political process. If that is the aim of a student I would suggest they get involved with a club or join a political party and do it that way. It is not necessarily a bad thing for students to access the political process outside universities, but that is not what the union exists for, nor is it what we do, other than tangentially.”
The loss of the student voice represents a loss for society. In Negus’ view, “the current de-politicisation of students is a great waste. People aren’t talking about ideas any more. There’s a general acceptance of the status quo. Ideological debate, for the most part, has disappeared.
“Certainly, there’s the current discussion about Islam and that creates a certain amount of dissent, but for the most part the great push for political correctness has stifled our ability for meaningful, heartfelt debate. It’s all arguments about interest rates and economic rationalism.
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“The only rational thing about economics is that it’s totally irrational. I live in a society. Not an economy. So as soon as people stop talking about the things that affect our society then inevitably we lose out.”
Student driven reform is still possible. Recall early this year when French students blockaded Paris to protest changes to laws which limited significantly the rights of young people in relations with their employer. After a month of sustained and sometimes violent protest, the laws were scrapped.
But back home, with the Howard Government dropping the most significant industrial relations reforms in almost a century, ending student unions in universities across the country and implementing draconian migration laws, students mustered little more than a whimper to express their opposition to the government’s policies. So what is it that holds Australian students back from total political engagement?
A major factor is the lack of a central, unifying issue in the public spectrum. Apartheid and the Vietnam War galvanised public opinion. Those crises had clear divisions. Either you supported apartheid, or you didn’t. Either you wanted the Vietnam War fought or you didn’t. There was very little grey area.
Compare that with current topical issues: stem-cell research, abortion, single-sex marriage and GM foods. How can students reasonably take sides in the current Israel-Lebanon conflict without simply enflaming partisan tension? Now that the US is so deeply embedded in Iraq, how can students passionately advocate troop withdrawal without simultaneously advocating for Iraqis to be left in the cold?
These are complex, ambiguous, emotionally charged debates. But it’s impossible to locate any issue clear enough to incite sustained revolt. And with the main energy for that kind of protest coming from groups like Socialist Alternative and Resistance whose extreme-left views serve only to alienate the student majority, it’s little wonder that student protestors are so thin on the ground.
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The lack of a unifying issue isn’t the only reason that student activism died. Universities, the foundation of student politics, aren’t what they used to be either.
Vice Chancellor of the University of Queensland, John Hay, is no stranger to the undulations of university life. As a student at the University of Western Australia, he was heavily involved with the student guild, establishing a performance festival which continues to this day. By way of his proximity to the debate, he is more accepting of the decline in student politics. “Universities today are far different to what they were, say, 30 years ago. The proportion of the population that now attends university is far greater than it was during the 70s and I think that’s one of the reasons why you don’t see a unified student body in the same way that you used to.”
In 2005, UQ had more than 37,000 students enrolled from 121 countries. That alone is enough to explain the lack of cohesion. Reconciling the political idiosyncrasies of such a diverse group is impossible. Danish students couldn’t care less about changes to Australian Industrial Relations laws. How can you expect business students from Hong Kong to be genuinely affected by Australian troop deployment in Afghanistan?
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