Guild refuses to be silenced

by Rebecca Robbins

May 14, 2008

MURDOCH UNIVERSITY’S guild president has spoken out about what she says is university vice chancellor, John Yovich’s, decision to refuse meetings with the guild.

After her guild released the latest edition of its Metior mag’, Clare Middlemas said she’d heard the VC was offended by the content, and told senior management to cancel all meetings with the guild.

Ms Middlemas claims it is her role to criticise the chancellery, who she says rarely provides information to the guild.

“I feel like I am beating my head against a brick wall,” she said. “Of course we are going to go on the defensive because we get nothing from them!”

On May 8, Metior published a rant attacking what it said was Mr Yovich’s $700,000 pay packet. Articles attacking the uni administration’s planned cutback of administrative staff, and possible closure of the uni’s Rockingham campus were also included.

“I have said many times, please can you tell students about this?” Ms Middlemas said of the Rockingham issue. “And if not, that’s okay, I will.”

She feels communication within the university is poor, saying she has rarely spoken to Mr Yovich and did not even get to meet him when she was recently appointed new guild president.

Ms Middlemas acknowledged the latest issue of Metior was controversial, but felt it was not a personal attack against Mr Yovich. She invited students or staff to write in if they wanted to change the tone of the paper.

“It is our job and we basically see them as doing f... all for students,” Ms Middlemas said of the uni administration. “Shouldn’t we then be entitled to criticise these people’s jobs?”

Ms Middlemas said the issue would blow over in a couple of weeks, but that during that time the guild will not be silenced.

“I’ve got a lot of positive feedback, heaps of emails from students that say thanks for standing up for us,” she said.

On May 14, guild office holders posted placards carrying an anti-Yovich poem sent to Metior by a Murdoch academic. Accompanied by a picture of a smiling VC, the poem’s first stanza read:

“You don’t like dissent and so won’t forgive me,

But for Australia, you are quite an expensive VC.

Paid in dollars, almost twice me times pi,

Are you really worth that much more than I?”

Professor Yovich failed to return calls from eMU News.