Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 36, Number 2. 7th March 1973

The Duty of the University

The Duty of the University

"Finance for the university comes from the community; the Professor wrote, "Student politicians may deplore this situation, but deplore it as they will it is a fact..." Far from deploring this fact those involved in the production of "Handbook" point to it, point also to the fact that the University thus owes it to the whole community—not just the business community—to justify the expenditure. Thus if there are people in our society who are suffering physically or mentally it is the duty of the university to suggest and promote the changes that would bring an end to it.

Finally, the idiosyncratic nature of Professor Philpott's logic is revealed, once again, in his conclusion that students "deserved more from their student leaders than to be handed another Little Red School-book. Since the Professor's criticisms, by his own admission, related to only half of the "Handbook", since the Professor found the other half perfectly satisfactory, this is precisely what students got.

Professor Philpott seemed anxious to classify those involved in the production of "Handbook" as "student leaders", thus paving the way for the allegations of demagoguery that flow easily from his pen. Those involved with the production of "Handbook" don't claim to be student leaders. They were a group of students and staff who undertook to produce a publication that would provide information and the basis for discussion within the university. As Professor Philpott said, "Fools and knaves can be found on both sides of a contention". In his anxiety to classify those involved with the production of "Handbook as knaves Professor Philpott might have left himself little room to manoeuvre.