100 signatures reached
To: Vice Chancellor Theo Farrell, Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic Jess Vanderlelie and Provost Rob Pike
La Trobe University Management - Stop The Cuts
We call on Vice Chancellor Theo Farrell, Deputy Vice Chancellor Jess Vanderlelie and Provost Rob Pike to withdraw all current proposals to cut staff, subjects, courses and student services at La Trobe including:
- Six Restructures in HuSS, SABE, LRHS, SCEMS, DVC-A and IS
- The Course Architecture changes
- The Course Optimisation changes.
Staff are the experts in the work that makes La Trobe University a flourishing university. We demand that any current or future changes be led by staff.
Why is this important?
Senior management at La Trobe University are proposing severe changes to the structure of degrees, coursework and student services. These include changes to ‘Course Architecture’, ‘Course Optimisation,’ and restructures to Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic Portfolio Staff, School of Agriculture, Biomedicine and Environment, School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, La Trobe Rural Health School, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Information Services Staff. These eight proposals are part of the same attack on the quality of education and on the proper governance of La Trobe, made by Theo Farrell, Jess Vanderlelie, and Rob Pike.
The changes pose a severe risk to the University’s reputation, enrollments, accreditation and medium- to long-term financial position.In some cases, changes to Honours degrees may mean that students studying Honours at La Trobe do not qualify for La Trobe’s own PhD degrees. In terms of student services, Courses and subjects are being cut across the entire university, giving students less choice about what they study. Senior academics are being made redundant and replaced by junior academics. Some staff are concerned that the Bachelor of Science and the Bachelor of Arts will become untenable in several years if these changes go ahead. La Trobe is dismantling the team of experts who provide assistance to students with a disability, replacing some of their functions with generic student services staff.
Staff cannot understand how massive restructures and cuts will help La Trobe, because their rationale is unclear. Nor has Senior Management explained why these changes must be implemented so hastily. Students have not been consulted. They have been forced to organise their own meeting to demand that Senior Leadership explain these changes to them. Staff have expressed wide and deep concerns about the adverse effects of these changes. Senior leadership have ignored or dismissed these views.
Vice Chancellor Theo Farrell has been in the job for less than twelve months. If these 8 changes are part of his vision for La Trobe, we reject his pessimistic view and embrace one that respects and values the expertise of staff and students.