An open letter from the Town Hall speakers

We were all speakers at the University of Sydney Town Hall meeting; we are undergraduates, postgraduates, general staff, academic staff and alumni. Together we form a diverse cross-section of the university. We note that speakers were selected by a chair appointed by university management itself for the stated purpose of representing a full range of backgrounds and perspectives.

We are all in agreement that the majority sentiment among the speakers and the audience was opposed to de-regulation.

Thus, we do not feel it is appropriate for the Vice-Chancellor to continue advocating for de-regulation, and we express our disappointment that public statements regarding the event by the University have thus far failed to acknowledge the meeting’s clear opposition to deregulation.

We call upon the Vice-Chancellor to publicly disavow his previous advocacy for de-regulation. It is unseemly and anti-democratic for the spokesperson of the University to use his position to advocate against the clear view of the majority of the University community.

Signed

Michael Thomson

Astha Rajvanshi

Georg Tamm

Jennifer Light

Timothy Scriven

Donherra Walmsley

Nick Riemer

Matthew Etherden

Edward McMahon

Max Hall

Amy Knox

Rebecca Plumbe

Elly Howse

Tara Waniganayaka

Andrew Cooper

Margret Kirkby

Jun Tong

Note, due to the haste with which this was compiled, not all speakers could be contacted. If you spoke at the convocation and would like for your name to be added to the online version, please contact the editors of Honi Soit.