A major restructure is proposed for our university and students have been excluded from the consultation process.

This text is adapted from a letter we sent to the Vice Chancellor.

Together, we oppose the proposed university restructure.

We believe that cutting senior staff will impact our education and negatively affect the value of our degrees.

The University of Newcastle has been luckier than most.

We're better off financially and have been less impacted by COVID-19 than any other Australian university.

Our problems are the effect of policy, not position.

We have seen no valid financial reason for the cuts.

Past annual reports indicate we have enough money in the bank to cover a bad year. This is a bad year, and yet we have not run a deficit.

Unless The Chancellery can show otherwise, with much greater rigour and transparency than shown to staff thus far, we have no reason to believe prior surplus will not cover any deficits we risk in the short term.

If we are in fact in the red, we should find ways to save money that do not require staff cuts.

We seem to have money for things we can do without, like new buildings and renovations.

We feel that money would be better spent on retaining our best staff.

The restructure removes excellent academics. It is inequitable to our community as a whole and reduces the accessibility of tertiary education to students of our regions.

The removal of senior academics also decreases our course offering and thus the sustainability of our student intake. Our financial sustainability will suffer.

The restructure is causing people to disengage from the university, reinforcing a trend towards disengagement that has persisted for years.

The more this university is run like a business, the less we can embrace it as a public institution.

A university is not a business.

A university is a public institution. No one benefits from a larger surplus. We do not pay cash dividends.

Our value is in the knowledge we cultivate, the research we do, and the quality of education we provide.

Professors, associate professors, and senior lecturers are worth the money we pay to them.

The experience and perspective they bring to education is invaluable.

We lose this when good academics are fired, when pressures from The Chancellery direct them away from teaching, and when those that are left are demoralised by the needless removal of their friends and colleagues.

We are aware of the context in which this restructure has been proposed, and we thank the Vice Chancellor for opening our eyes to the threats facing universities across Australia.

In the short term, the proposed restructure is one needless harm we can prevent.

Though we may not be aware of what we are set to lose, there is nothing in this restructure of benefit to current students, or those that come after us.

Due to the obscuration and timing of the consultation process, students have not had a reasonable opportunity to understand and respond to a proposed restructure which profoundly affects our education.

Our intention is to inform the greater student body and encourage awareness, discussion, and response to the proposed restructure.

The communities we serve also have a stake in this, and our discussion will be open to them.

Part of this discussion process will involve reaching out to our local media and political representatives.

When the University of Newcastle first gained autonomy from UNSW, the late Emeritus Professor Godfrey Tanner suggested the motto "Famamque et fata nepotum", a quote from the Aeneid meaning "The fate and fortune of their descendants".

Its implication is that we must not only look ahead, we must also take on the responsibilities that come with foresight.

It is the soul and integrity of our institution that makes our communities here and overseas want to come to the University of Newcastle.

The Executive cites student employability as the prime driver of these changes.

But if a university education confers high employability, it is not because employability has become that institution's only concern. It is because employers know that they can rely on the integrity and capability of graduates.

The value of our education is a function of the strength of our senior staff.

A university is its people; we can do without new buildings.

The bricks with which the Great Hall was built were paid for by our community.

Our campus reflects our origins. The people on our campus will make our future.

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