Protect Otago Action Group (POAG) spokesman Dr Brian Roper said the group had been "dormant" for a "good year or so", but a growing unease over the political climate for universities meant it was time to get it running again.
The group held several protests and marches in 2023 in response to the then-leadership team of the University of Otago pushing through several rounds of staff cuts.
Hundreds of students and staff marched against the university cuts.
Dr Roper said while there was still concern about the university’s handling of its restructuring, the focus this time was on "chronic underfunding" by the government, forcing the university to take more punitive measures.
"I think that the big difference this time is that it's the students who are really feeling it, with increasing tuition fees.
"It's going up 6% each year for the first two years, so 12% over two years, which is substantially above the rate of inflation over those two years."
Six of the country’s eight universities were "in various states of financial crisis" post-Covid, Dr Roper said, and successive governments had not really come to the party to address it.
"What it all boils down to is chronic government underfunding, and then in order to prevent New Zealand's universities from becoming financially insolvent, they're pushing an increasing share of the financial burden of funding our universities on to students."
Changing the government alone would not change the situation, Dr Roper said, as both National and Labour had been responsible for the underfunding over more than a decade.
"What's really got to happen is students in tertiary education, university students and those in other parts of the tertiary education sector and staff need to combine to put enough pressure through mass protests on government to do something about the situation."
Dr Roper said the hiking of tuition fees and the cutting of two rounds of doctoral scholarships this year were reflective of this neglect.
POAG is hosting a forum tomorrow from 5.30pm to 7.30pm in the Main Common Room in the Link Building. There will be a panel of speakers focusing on the issues from the perspectives of students, staff and polytechnic students.
A university spokeswoman said the "university leadership, including the vice-chancellor, meets and hears from staff and students regularly and is always open to conversation".
