Mr Hughes, a Wellington-based list MP, addressed an Otago University Students' Association rally attended by more than 40 people outside the University Union building yesterday.
Protesters burned an effigy symbolising the proposed voluntary student membership (VSM) legislation and braved an occasional heavy downpour.
Mr Hughes urged students to help make VSM a general election issue. He said Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce deserved a failing grade for the way he had dealt with the matter.
In a later interview, Mr Hughes said the advent of VSM had damaged campus life in Australia. VSM was also likely to damage student life at Otago, and if that made the campus less attractive to the university's many out-of-town students, Dunedin's tertiary education industry could also be harmed.
The rally was part of a nationally co-ordinated effort from the New Zealand Union of Students' Associations yesterday with associations elsewhere also voicing opposition to Act New Zealand's Freedom of Association Bill.
The Bill is expected to have its final reading in Parliament tomorrow, effectively marking the end of compulsory membership of student associations.
Associations face a major drop in income when membership becomes voluntary, a move which is also expected to threaten the provision of some student services and campus facilities.
Auckland University Students' Association president Joe McCrory said about 500 students attended a rally at 1pm.
About 250 students went on to occupy the top floor of the Owen G. Glenn Building on campus.
After five hours of being holed up, the group marched to the Auckland Central Police Station after one of the protesters, Marcus Coverdale, was arrested for trespassing. After chanting outside the station in front of about 25 officers who blocked entry, the protesters retreated.
A statement from the vice-chancellor's office early last evening said about 60 protesters had barricaded themselves inside Auckland's Business School. They left the building at 6pm.
