An Australian student appears to have been muted and booted from a tense online q&a session after she challenged her university over staff cuts and remote learning amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The student questioned the quality of education at Monash University before she was kicked out in a move criticised by other participants, according to a video of the Zoom chat shared by the group Student Fightback Monash.
The online orientation chat for arts students comes at a difficult time, with job cuts recently announced at the university and the federal government planning to increase the cost of arts degrees.
“I just have a few questions about (education quality), because for example I recently heard that like almost 300 staff members at Monash were sacked as well as a bunch of courses being cut,” the student said.
“I don’t really know how Monash can just continue to say that the quality of education is the same when we’re lacking so much of the experience that we would normally get, like interaction with other students, interactions with our staff.”
A moderator told the student that staff were “absolutely putting in their everything” before the student went to speak again and the moderator cut her off.
“This is a friendly forum and it is about welcoming our new students to Monash,” the moderator said.
"We are in a really unusual time, absolutely, so I’m afraid we will have to remove you if you don’t keep it congenial.”
A number of people questioned why she was apparently then kicked out for expressing her concerns in a written chat, which was soon disabled. Another participant said the session had been “atrocious”.
The moderator apologised to new students for the disruptions.
“Our academics are working really hard to bring you the best classes they can online, and we know it’s not ideal but the world is not ideal right now,” she said.
A Monash University spokesperson said they are taking the situation very seriously.
"In regards to the online session that took place, this was organised to welcome new students to Monash and allow them time to ask questions about starting in semester two. It was not an opportunity for current students to air their grievances - and it was never promoted that way.
"The comments on staff cuts and lack of support during online teaching due to COVID-19 are absolutely incorrect and without factual basis and seemed designed to cause unnecessary anxiety for students about to start their university journey."
