WEEKLY NEWS

No dedicated first-year halls and $2,000 price jumps for Massey 2024 student accommodation

Brett Kerr-Laurie (he/him)

Massey halls across the country are mixing new and returning students while increasing prices next year.

On Instagram, @masseyhallswellington posted to its story, “We want to build communities of like-minded people … which is why age plays a big factor in 2024 hall placement.”

Manawatū and Albany campuses were likewise scrapping first-year only halls, opting for a range of age brackets, like 17 to 25-year-olds or 21 to 30-yearolds.

The Instagram said, “You’re applying for all three halls in one application,” however you can note your preference.

The Instagram page didn’t mention any price increases despite apartment rooms in Wellington’s Cube Hall jumping $2,000 to $13,900 for the year, with other halls increasing around $1,000.

Prices have also changed at other campuses, with most Albany halls increasing around $1,000, while Manawatū halls fluctuated a few hundred dollars.

Wellington first-year hall Whanake resident Paige didn’t think halls should be mixed between new and returning students because they “are on different stages of life”.

“Second years have already made friends, whereas this is time for first years to get involved with everything to make new friends.”

Paige was unaware of any price changes for next year and questioned if there was justification for an increase if nothing was changing. She enjoyed the “interesting” and “super positive” experience living in Whanake Hall this year.

“There is no other time in my life where I will be able to walk down the hall and be at my friend’s place.”

Next year, Wellington’s Whanake and Kāinga Rua halls will be available to any students aged 17 to 23 and 18 to 23-years-old respectively.

A Massey University spokesperson said, “We are moving towards offering an experience for each hall,” noting there may be older students who took gap years but still want the “first-year experience in the halls”.

Regarding price increases, the spokesperson said Massey was “needing to adjust fees to meet the rising cost of providing essential services in the current climate”. The spokesperson said although each hall is available to new and returning students, they would prioritise first years in some halls, such as Kāinga Rua in Wellington.

“However, if a first-year student is within the age range listed for the Cube and Whanake, they will also be considered there.

“Massey’s student accommodation prices are comparable to other student accommodation providers.” These changes come during a challenging era for Massey which recently announced a year-to-date operating deficit of $14.2 million, on top of an $8.8 million deficit in 2022. Enrolment rates also declined this year with 1154 fewer domestic students at the start of 2023 than the same time last year, an 8% decrease.

Sammy Carter (she/her) and Brett Kerr-Laurie (he/him)

Massey students have just as much right to influence university decisions as “people who walk into McDonald’s,” explains a staff member at forums two weeks ago.

A student and staff forum titled ‘The Neoliberal War on Universities’ was held on every Massey campus on the 9th of August.

Last month, Massey vice chancellor Jan Thomas invited staff to express interest in Voluntary Enhanced Cessation.

Richard Shaw, professor of politics and social sciences at Manawatū, called staff and students “neoliberal customers” of the university.

The Guardian defined neoliberalism as an ideology which sees competition as the defining characteristic of human relations. It redefines citizens as consumers, whose democratic choices are best exercised by buying and selling, a process that rewards merit and punishes inefficiency.

Shaw said, “In a neoliberal world, you are not conceived as citizens, you’re conceived as clients or as customers.”

“Therefore, the corresponding rights to responsibilities and obligations that you have are those of people who walk into McDonald’s.”

“You can walk into that place, you can walk out of that place. You do not have rights of voice.”

Shaw said his department, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, could lose up to 40% of its 170 staff.

In June, 245 staff members were invited to voluntarily resign, however Shaw said these are just the ones people know about.

“What you don’t know about is all of the other people who have quietly left this place”.

He said students’ education had been replaced by “functional training” and 65% of the jobs being trained for won’t exist in five years.

He said with more online classes, “your relationship with us becomes very very transactional”.

He warned students that with the changes, classes will become bigger but be moved online into Zoom rooms with many cameras and screens off, what he called a “dispiriting experience”.

“You will experience the implosion of an institution that many of us have given large amounts of our working lives to.”

Fine arts student Julia Kohlhaas felt a responsibility to speak out for younger generations of students.

Kohlhaas was concerned fourth years like herself would be “the last ones to have this diversity and range of different courses,” especially as many classes transition online.

Massey has finalised its ‘No and Low Enrolment’ policy and the ‘Digital Plus’ policy which means the Senior Leadership Team can cut courses without input from the staff.

The ‘Digital Plus’ policy aims to anchor each college to be taught at just one physical campus with online study unless it could be financially justified.

Kohlhaas said people can’t make a connection to someone who is performing a lecture online to “dark screens with names on it”.

She criticised Massey for cutting inperson lecture time while paying the same fee, “being told that it’s already the intensive version of the course”.

“I would really encourage the student association to inform the students and bombard them with what is going on, because I feel like a lot of things are not known.”

Sean McFadyen is a part-time politics student who works full time researching at Massey’s poultry unit to support his family.

“We’ve been reduced to only two staff members from six when I started and thirteen before I started.”

In this job, he said himself and his coworkers have needed to chase their own funding and “constantly justify” their jobs. McFadyen was concerned he won’t be able to finish his degree as more Massey staff are cut.

“Will the papers I need still be there when I need them?”

He said students have transformed from citizens of the university to clients, to fill in consumer satisfaction surveys and “generally remain passive”. He said Massey was suffering from 40 years of public divestment from universities which has forced the institutions to transform into “pseudocommercial enterprises”.

Julie Douglas, senior lecturer and national president of Tertiary Education Union was sad to say, “Students are already halfway there in being enculturated into thinking in the neoliberal way.”

Massey staff member Cassie is a mother working contract to contract, she said you cannot put the value of complex labour into spreadsheets.

“Popping your head up above the parapet is dangerous in this place”.

Massey University declined to comment.

Massey staff cover up the cracks left behind from course and job cuts

Sammy Carter (she/her)

Lou*, a staff member from the College of Creative Arts (CoCA) who spoke out anonymously due to fear of reprisal, said staff’s goodwill has been “exploited.”

Last month, staff were invited to express interest in ‘Voluntary Enhanced Cessation’.

CoCA staff received an email from the college’s pro vice chancellor Margaret Petty on the first day of the semester saying the college would be accepting resignations from 35 people.

A staff member said when enrolment in the Bachelor of Communication was suspended in July at the Manawatū campus, staff heard about it through the media.

Lou* said staff go the extra mile to make sure any changes that are affecting their job aren’t filtering down to the students.

But after continuous cuts for over a year and added work for staff, “people are running out of that goodwill”.

Massey recorded an $8.8 million deficit in 2022 and last month announced a year-to-date operating deficit of $14.2m.

The vice chancellor was last reported to earn $586,000 per annum.

Lou* said the number of job cuts excludes attrition and those whose fixed-term contracts aren’t renewed, “It’s almost like those people have just ceased to exist, but actually the work is still there.”

Both the Victoria University and Otago University vice chancellors went to the Government and asked for more funding.

However, Lou* said Massey’s vice chancellor had repeatedly turned down offers from the Tertiary Education Union (TEU) to hold tripartite talks between the Government, Universities and TEU.

In June, the Government caved under the pressure and announced a $128 million dollar funding boost for universities and a higher education review.

Lou* said it felt like Jan Thomas thinks staff are “all a bit annoying because we ask questions”.

They said there had been a lot of farewells lately, “It’s very depressing.” Massey has updated its ‘No and Low Enrolment’ policy and procedures policy which would make it easier for the university to cut courses without input from the staff.

They finalised the ‘Digital Plus’ policy, aiming to anchor each college to be taught at just one physical campus with online study unless it could be financially justified.

Admin staff Billie* said in the most recent admin cuts, CoCA lost nine people, leaving work to pile up on their desks.

They said they don’t know what to tell potential students who are worried that the course they want won’t exist next year, “I don’t wanna lie”. With the uncertainty of who will be cut next, “there isn’t anyone who hasn’t at least dusted off their CV”, Billie* said. They said staff feel like they’re a “liability and a burden” to the vice chancellor and Senior Leadership Team.

George*, a staff member from CoCA, said staff were “masking” the problems from the cuts for student’s sake.

After the Voluntary Enhanced Cessation process closed for CoCA earlier this month, George* was anxious that staff could be leaving in the middle of the semester with no plan for how to continue courses without experienced staff.

They said the degrees staff have built up collectively are a taonga, and this was only recognised as “units on a spreadsheet” for the Senior Leadership Team.

Massey held staff forums late last month to discuss Massey’s 20-year financial plan and staff and course cuts. Students were not informed or invited to the forums.

Staff and students could email their concerns to the university, however, George* felt these go into a “vacuum”, creating “an illusion of inclusion”. George* said CoCA has already gone through one process of shedding physical space, but the university wanted more.

They said this was difficult for research-based staff and students, like artists and designers, who need room to create and end up doing it in their own personal spaces.

Lecturer Max* said the university was making dictations, such as the number of people needed for a course or degree to continue.

For a three-year bachelor’s degree, low was deemed to be less than 50 full-time students per year. For a postgraduate diploma or master’s degree, low was deemed to be less than 15 full-time students per year. The policy stated that a subgroup of the Senior Leadership Team will make final decisions, students and staff will not be included.

With the Wellington open day coming up this Friday, Max* said staff were wondering what they should tell potential students.

Max* said the changes revealed how “hierarchical” and “undemocratic” Massey was, even as a “supposedly” Te Tiriti led university.

They said they go through constant waves of fear that they will lose their job.

Max* said the changes feel like a business process and about making money, “It’s not considering what a university does.”

They said the university doesn’t see or value the relationship between teaching and research, seeing education as government-funded and research as something that loses money.

Sarah*, a staff member from the College of Humanities was told her role was very unlikely to continue into next year after working at Massey for over a decade.

“It was devastating news, it felt like the ground being pulled out from under my feet.”

She had to seek counselling support from Massey, “I felt depressed and devastated.”

When asked what was next for her, she said, “Honestly, I might end up driving buses.”

The vice chancellor was considering

Massey lecturer allegedly finds out her course is cut on Twitter

Sammy Carter (she/her)

A Twitter user tweeted, “Massey University isn’t allowing my son to complete his history degree next year by studying Reformation! So much study and build up for nothing”.

A lecturer from the School of Humanities, Media and Creative Communication responded to the tweet.

She said, “Well this is interesting [user] because The Tudors and the Reformation is a course I currently teach (and it’s awesome). I’m expecting to lose my job when my contract expires in Feb but no one has had the courtesy to tell me that directly.”

The lecturer continued in another rationalising campus buildings for retail, residential housing, retirement homes and student accommodation. The university was reportedly in the final stages of progressing a “Joint Venture Agreement in Singapore”, including a major face-to-face campus according to an email to staff.

Massey University declined to comment.

*Names changed for anonymity

tweet, “And the fact that I find out about this on social media rather than having my manager tell me directly speaks volumes about the utter contempt in which Massey leadership holds staff and students alike.”

A Massey University spokesperson confirmed that the Tudors and Reformation courses will not be offered in 2024.

“Students currently enrolled will be able to complete their major as sufficient courses are being offered. In most years, for a variety of reasons, not all courses in the calendar schedule can be offered,” the spokesperson said.

The tweets come after Massey vice chancellor Jan Thomas began the Voluntary Enhanced Cessation process across the university.

Both the mum and lecturer who tweeted were contacted for comment.