University Council members had to duck for cover as protesters threw fruit and eggs at them at a meeting where fees and the student services levy were raised today.
VUWSA president Jasmine Freemantle was hit in the head by an orange, but Chancellor Tim Beaglehole and Vice Chancellor Pat Walsh survived unscathed.
Protest leader, VUWSA education vice president Freya Eng said the poultry-produce pillory was not supported by VUWSA, and no executive members threw items.
The group of about 25 protesters, largely made up of Workers’ Party members, marched from the quad to the Hunter Building Council Chambers shortly after 4pm.
Former VUWSA President Joel Cosgrove, and Alistair Reith, both Workers’ Party members who were disenrolled from the university after burning a flag on the Mount Street Bar deck earlier this year, were in the protest group.
The protest, which initially left off from the quad—containing fewer than 25 people, mainly Workers’ Party members—was aimed to dispute the annual fee setting meeting of the university council. Fees were for the nth year in a row set to go up and the council mooted a 93 percent increase for the student services levy.
During a speech by Victoria Broadcasting Club managing co-director Matthew Davis on why fees and the levy should not be raised, Reith, fellow Workers’ Party member and former VUWSA Campaigns Officer Sam Oldham and perennial student Kerry Tankard began yelling and chanting.
Beaglehole read a warning to the protesters, saying they would be asked to leave if they continued to interrupt the meeting, before the protesters began to throw eggs and fruit.
The Council was then moved from the Council Chambers to a smaller room in the Kirk Building under a heavy Campus Care presence, where the meeting continued.
Fees were raised by about five percent, while the student services levy was raised by 93 percent. See our other story here for more information.
It was not known if those involved in the protest would be trespassed or face discipline from the university.