The Curtin Student Guild has condemned vice-chancellor Harlene Hayne’s 13% pay rise after it was revealed she would be earning more than $1 million per year.
In figures released through the universities’ annual reports for 2023, the vice-chancellors of Edith Cowan University, Murdoch University and Curtin all pocketed pay rises of more than $100,000 last year.
ECU’s Steve Chapman’s salary rose by more than 17% from $820,00 to at least $950,000, Murdoch’s Andrew Deeks’ pay rose from at least $750,000 to $860,000 in 2023, and Curtin’s Harlene Hayne went from $910,000 to more than $1m.
The pay increase for vice-chancellor Harlene Hayne makes her salary the highest in Western Australia for her position.
The motion, unanimously passed at this month’s representation board meeting on April 11, also called for the vice-chancellor’s pay to be reduced to the average salary paid to a full-time staff member at Curtin.
Guild president Jasmyne Tweed said professor Hayne should be ashamed of accepting a pay rise double that of what our Prime Minister earns.
“Universities are public assets and are publicly owned, and just like every other CEO of a government trading enterprise their wages should be scrutinised and should not be able to just increase,” she said.
When asked what the guild would do outside of simply condemning the VC salary increase in the meeting, Jasmyne said prerecorded video content would be appearing on its social media platforms to publicly condemn the pay rise.
Socialist Alternative members utilised public question time to raise concerns surrounding the guild’s position on the Israeli-Gaza conflict.
Guild councillor Ella Marchionda said the guild needs to better demonstrate its support for pro-Palestine events, both on and off campus.
“The guild has been very disappointing in its lack of action in terms of mobilising and building and promoting the pro-Palestine movement,” she said.
In response, Jasmyne said the guild are have sought guidance from Curtin and UWA’s Palestinian Societies on boycotting certain companies whose values on the conflict don’t align with the guilds’.
She also highlighted that proceeds from next week’s pop-up thrift markets would be donated to a charity based in Gaza.
There was heated debate about Labor’s recent proposed changes to the Migration Act 1958 which would drastically widen the national governments scope of powers regarding non-citizens.
Ella raised concerns about the living conditions and mental health challenges faced by immigrants and asylum seekers kept in Australian detention centres.
The motion to condemn the changes to the bill passed.
May Day celebrations were a topic of discussion with vice president of education Veronika Gobba and president Jasmyne Tweed both fiercely advocating for students to join trade unions.
“The work we’re doing doesn’t just end when we leave campus it continues with us right on into the workforce,” Veronika said.
May Day is a day in support of workers and unions that takes place on May 1 each year, although in WA its celebrated on the first Sunday of the month.
The motion to support the celebration of May Day eventually passed but not before a long-winded question by a member of Socialist Alternative derailed discussions.
The 90-second question posed by the Socialist Alternative member started with comments on the historic importance of unions and ended with calls for pro-Palestinian mobilisation to be a part of the day’s celebrations.
Two other motions were passed at the meeting, one was for the guild to support the Free the Hounds campaign to ban greyhound racing in WA, and the other was to support the Rainbow Futures WA LGBTQIA+ Campaign which includes demands to provide better protections for LGBTQIA+ people.