To the President of the University of Sydney Student Representative Council,

We, the below signed, request a Student General Meeting (SGM) to oppose budget cuts across the university.

Sydney University management are seeking to cut millions of dollars in funding across several faculties.

The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences is facing a serious restructure.
- All non-essential undergraduate units with less than 24 enrolled students are set to be cut.
- Several departments are set to be merged, including; Writing Studies with English, Indian Subcontinental Studies with Asian Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies with Sociology and Social Policy, Biblical Studies with Studies in Religion.

If successful, these cuts severely restrict the freedom of students to choose what subjects they would like to study. An Arts degree from Sydney University will be more standardised and streamlined than ever before. In response to criticism over the cuts, Dean of Arts Annamarie Jagose argued; “Some staff say student choice is associated with the highest quality of learning… I firmly say that is not true”, and insisted; "Student choice is poor pedagogical practice."

Draft Change Proposals have also been announced in the School of Dentistry and the Business School. Management are proposing serious job cuts and forcing staff to compete with each other to win a smaller number of jobs back.

None of these cuts are necessary. There is more than enough money in the university for all staff to maintain their jobs and students retain their courses. In 2019, the top 12 people in the University were paid a total of $7.7 million dollars, averaging over $640,000 per person.

At the meeting, the following motion will be voted on by all undergraduate students present:

* To wholly oppose the Draft Change Proposals for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, the Business School and the School of Dentistry.
* To oppose all cuts to units, schools and departments.
* To oppose all restructures of schools.
* To oppose casual job losses and support greater permanency conversion provisions for casuals.
* To oppose the university's connection to the Australian military in light of the recently announced AUKUS submarine deal
* To stand in solidarity with staff if they choose to strike during their Enterprise Bargaining Period and support the NTEU’s log of claims.
* To commit to building a mass campaign against all university cuts.
* We commit to attending the SGM and spreading the word to as many students as possible.

Click going to the Facebook event here: https://fb.me/e/1BelrrcdM