MOVE TO TAMAKI

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 199, 23 August 1945, Page 8

MOVE TO TAMAKI

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

DISADVANTAGES POINTED OUT

Some consequences, "thoroughly undesirable," if the University College Council removes the College to Tamaki, are foreseen by Dr. R. P. Anschutz, senior lecturer in philosophy, in a statement to-day, when he pointed out that there had never been any public discussion of the merits and demerits of the Tamaki scheme by the staff of the College, by the students or by the citizens.

"It is difficult to discover how far the plans for moving to Tamaki have gone," Dr. Anschutz said. "At the last meeting of the council it received a report from the Professorial Board that the new College should consist of 12 or possibly 14, separate structures. But it also received a letter from the Director of Education approving the erection of a new School of Engineering at Tamaki, 'provided the Government did not consider itself in any way committed to the removal of the whole University to Tamaki.' And the report and the letter cancel each other out since the one thing that is completely certain in the whole affair is that money will have to be found by the Government, if the scheme is to come off."

Summarising his objections to the scheme, Dr| Anschutz said there had always been too little awareness of the College in the city, and of the city and College. With the removal of the College to Tamaki, there would be even less. There would be a general tendency for members of the staff to move in the direction of Tamaki, and they will consequently be less known and less available in the city. The attendance of parttime students at the College would become difficult, and might become impossible. Hence, unless there was a large increase in scholarships, there would be a large decrease in students. A good many students would be excluded, not because of their lack of ability but because of their lack of means. Unlike some of his colleagues, he did not consider the presence of part-time students in some departments of the College as a source of weakness. New buildings were urgently needed now by some departments. These would have to be built first and they would be occupied as soon as built, but it would be impossible to provide accommodation for the rest of the College at the same time on anything like the scale at present under discussion. There would then be a period during which part of the College would be at Auckland and part at Tamaki. This would create serious difficulties in several directions.

The Tamaki scheme would also have its good consequences. For example, the provision of adequate playing areas near the College would be possible, and the erection of hostels, if there was any money still available. But hostels were not included among the 12 or 14 structures listed by the Professorial Board. "It seems to me, however, impossible to find good consequences of sufficient weight to balance the bad," Dr. Anschutz concluded. "And, indeed, I cannot but feel that if the bad consequences of the Tamaki scheme were sufficiently realised, the citizens of Auckland and the Government would determine to find room for the College to expand around its present site."