Staff and students support crime and politics at Vic

Media Release

Tertiary Education Union

3 August 2011

**Staff and students rally to support crime and politics at Vic**

Staff and students at Victoria University will be holding a rally tomorrow, at Thursday 4 August at 1.15pm in the Hunter Courtyard, Kelburn Parade, to protest plans to close down the university’s Crime and Justice Research Centre, and to disestablish two lecturer positions in the Political Science and International Relations programme. The university also plans to cut jobs in the Faculty of Education, creating unacceptable gaps in teaching and research.

"There is no financial case for closing down the crime centre. Worse, the university seems quite unaware of the immense contribution this centre has made, and should continue to make, to government legislation and policy in New Zealand. This is just academic vandalism," TEU organiser Michael Gilchrist said.

"The changes in political science will sack two very promising younger academics and limit academic choices for students."

Management has not let the university's Academic Board debate the current plans for academic re-structuring. TEU believes, according to law and the university's own rules, this must happen before such significant academic changes can proceed.

Factsheets providing background on current proposals are readily available at http://teu.ac.nz/lists/lt.php?id=YEUOAwIPClMGRAwNGAELBVo%3D

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