How to:
Copy & paste the letter below into an email.
Add the specific details - what Minister you’re emailing, your name, your organisation, etc. If you add a personal touch to the letter, please be polite - there’s times for rage, but letters full of swearing/insults do not have a chance of actually reaching the Minister in question.
Email it! You can email to any or all of the below, as well as your local MP.
Jan Tinetti - j.tinetti@ministers.govt.nz
Grant Robertson - grant.robertson@parliament.govt.nz
Chris Hipkins - chris.hipkins@ministers.govt.nz
Dear Minister [INSERT NAME],
I am writing to you to express my support for tertiary education in Aotearoa and ask you to take immediate action to prevent the proposed cuts set to take place at Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington and Otago University.
The proposed job cuts within the tertiary sector extend beyond the loss of jobs; they serve as a disheartening testament to the decline in teaching standards, research accomplishments, and student support. This matter is bigger than the immediate concerns of present faculty and students. Given the size of the current gap in funding and the fact that it will take multiple generations to restore our high-quality educational system, governmental inaction WILL result in adverse social, economic, and cultural repercussions for our local communities and Aotearoa for decades to come. If you do not act you are not only letting down tertiary education and its current staff and students, you are also damaging the future of Aotearoa.
You have the privilege and opportunity to prevent these cuts and as one of your constituents I am writing to implore you to take immediate action and save our universities. I am asking for you to take the following actions as suggested in the ‘save tertiary education’ open letter;
Immediately lift the debt ceiling for Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington and Otago University to provide short-term relief
Commit to sustainable and increased funding to Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington and Otago University to prevent staff cuts in the long-term.
Commence four-way discussions among student associations, the Tertiary Education Union, Vice Chancellors and the government to establish a sustainable funding model for universities.
Chronic underfunding of universities below inflation is symptomatic of a wider, unsustainable and fragmented funding model for universities that fails to account for staff and students’ needs. The government was prepared to allocate $355 million towards universities, but because student numbers are down this was reallocated. The government cannot feign surprise and unaccountability over this situation today. Mirroring an increasing cost-of-living and inadequate student financial support, student enrolments have been falling since 2005. Simultaneously, in the last decade, government funding per student has plummeted by an alarming 20% in real terms compared to increases in the Consumer Price Index.
The government has a critical opportunity to fulfill its responsibility of safeguarding Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington and Otago University, staff, current and future generations of students and the entire tertiary education sector. By taking immediate and decisive action, we can prevent these staff cuts and establish a sustainable funding model that avoids such risks to tertiary education in the future.
Your choices and the decisions made by the Labour government will be remembered both coming into the election and following it. Will you be remembered as the government that let universities falter, or as the government that rescued and enhanced education in Aotearoa? The opportunity to leave a lasting positive impact awaits, and the outcome will determine your place in history.
From [YOUR NAME], [YOUR POSITION (STUDENT, STAFF, ETC)]