Senior federal Labor MP Anthony Albanese has blasted The University of Sydney over its proposal to shut down its visual arts school and merge it with a rival campus.
The politician joined more than 100 protesters outside the Art Gallery of NSW ahead of the Archibald Prize announcement on Friday, as they rallied to keep the Sydney College of the Arts in Rozelle.
"A global city such as Sydney, it needs the arts, it needs diversity," Mr Albanese told more than 100 students, teachers and supporters, clad in red capes along the gallery's steps.
"What it doesn't need is the commercial imperative overriding the cultural need of this city."
He described the university's decision as a "land grab" and a betrayal of the arts and local community in his Grayndler electorate.
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About 700 students enrolled in courses at the college would be forced to continue studies next year at a different university - the UNSW Arts and Design School in Paddington - following an announcement in June flagging a merger of the two tertiary fine art schools.
Former student and Sydney artist Tim Silver said the loss would be a blow to the city's diversity.
"It is a disappearance of a cultural legacy," he said.
The sudden announcement has infuriated students, with about 60 students now seeking legal action under consumer protections.
The lawyer representing the students, Thomas McLoughlin. has previously told AAP that students would pursue the university for deceptive and misleading conduct under Australian consumer law.
A Sydney University spokesperson said that regardless of the outcome of the merger discussions, the university believed it has fulfilled its legal obligations.
