The Fortnightly 28TH MAY
WEEK THIRTEEN, SEMESTER ONE, 2025
UTAS TO GUT THE ARTS
Ruthless Black strikes again Evelyn Unwin Tew Surprise, We’re Back! In the last week the University of Tasmania announced proposed changes to the College of Arts, Law, and Education (CALE). This ‘change proposal’ will span multiple departments within the Arts. Many of you will have read our Week 12 Edition that was our final Fortnightly for the semester, however, we at Togatus felt that this issue was so pertinent that we had no choice but to publish a special edition dedicated purely to this change proposal.
So how have people responded to this proposal? Consistently the main concerns that have been raised are: 1. The timeline of the consultation and implementation period 2. The communication process regarding this proposal 3. The justification of budgetary restraints as the main *driver*
Within this edition we have articles covering interviews conducted with University representatives, staff members, and students, as well as economic analysis of the alleged ‘budgetary restraints’. Additionally, we look at what the potential benefits of this proposal could be. On the loose-leaf flyer you will find statements from relevant stakeholders, the TUSA, the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), and the student run ‘Save UTAS Arts’ campaign.
We spoke to Professor Lisa Fletcher (Pro Vice Chancellor Graduate Research & Lead Academic CALE) and asked her what had informed the University’s decision to run the consultation period now and whether she thought that was appropriate, she clearly articulated that to factor in for the busy period the University had increased the consultation period to four weeks (opposed to the standard two) and that no period of the year is perfect for consultation. This justification has clearly not passed the UTAS community pub test. Professor Fletcher is correct in saying that there is no
Let’s break these down.