Auckland Uni must make the right call for students today

ACT Tertiary Education spokesperson Dr Parmjeet Parmar is calling on the University of Auckland Council to do right by students as it meets today to decide the fate of the controversial compulsory Waipapa Taumata Rau (WTR) paper.

“The University Senate has already recommended that this paper be made optional. The Council now needs to listen – both to its own Senate and to the thousands of students who have made clear that this course was a waste of their time and money,” says Dr Parmar.

“One of the items on the Council’s agenda today is my letter urging the University to compensate students who were forced to take this course. That recommendation is now before them – and it deserves serious consideration.

“For over 8,000 students, including more than 1,200 international students paying up to $5,730 each, this compulsory course has been an expensive mistake. Students have described it as irrelevant to their study, politically loaded, and of little academic value.

“The right thing to do now is not only to make WTR optional for future students, but to offer relief to those who paid for it this year. A fair way forward would be to provide a credit for another paper of the students’ choosing – allowing them to recover lost progress toward their qualifications without paying more.

“The University has an opportunity to demonstrate respect for student choice and academic freedom. Students should never be compelled to take a course that pushes an ideological view of the Treaty or tikanga in fields where these topics are contested. Universities should be places of inquiry, not indoctrination.

“The Council can show leadership today by ending compulsory enrolment in the WTR paper and taking steps to put right the costs unfairly imposed on this year’s students. That would show real respect for academic freedom, student choice, and the integrity of the University of Auckland.”