Association president Francisco Hernandez said he would be talking to TEU representatives today over a proposed protest likely to be held tomorrow, when the governing University Council will consider a proposal to increase domestic student tuition fees by 4%.
A senior Labour Party spokesman and former Otago University Students' Association president, Grant Robertson, has agreed to speak at a likely protest rally over proposed cuts in university council representation, but details were yet to be finalised after talks with the TEU, Mr Hernandez said.
The university has already this year faced a small drop in domestic student numbers and a decline in associated Ministry of Education funding and some research funds, and a report prepared for the council meeting notes the university already faces ''significant financial pressure''.
Vice-chancellor Harlene Hayne said that, given the fees required council approval, she would not be making any media comments before the meeting.
Mr Hernandez said much of the protest focus would be on opposing Government proposals, announced last week, that would reduce the size of all New Zealand university councils and cut the current University of Otago Council from 17 members to a maximum of 12.
''We're doing this because we love the university and we care about it. If anything, it's a pro-university rally,'' Mr Hernandez said.
He said it was vital that student representation (currently two representatives) and representation by staff was maintained. If representation was lost or diminished, it would be harder for students and staff to speak out and to ensure the university remained an open, democratic institution.
The Government already had four ministerial appointees on the council and if the council size was greatly reduced, this would increase the influence of those appointees, undermining academic freedom and ultimately making the university a less attractive place for teaching and studying, he said.
The University Council report, by university financial services director Grant McKenzie, said the university was continuing to face ''significant cost increases'', of which staff salaries were ''the most significant'', resulting from negotiated salary settlements and the annual promotion process.
Bridging the shortfall between additional income and additional costs would require ''very careful scrutiny of costs in every division'', he said.
Tuition fee
• University of Otago Council to consider a domestic student tuition fee rise of 4%.
• Report says university faces $14.7m in extra costs next year, among them academic salary rises, including promotions.
• Undergraduate, excluding honours, annual fees for arts, languages, theology, maths and education would rise $200 (4%) to $5198, commerce to $4963, medicine to $13,808, and the MBA programme fee by $1440 to $37,440.
• Otago commerce undergraduate degree fees below those of six other universities; Otago arts fees below five other New Zealand universities'.
