[asia-apec 939] APEC Security Training Outrage at Auckland Uni

[Gatt Watchdog]

>From New Zealand Herald, Auckland, 4/12/98

Army training for Apec on varsity patch
By Karen Burge

Auckland University is under fire from some staff and student leaders for
letting the Army use campus buildings for Apec security training.

University heads said they had no problems with the military using several
arts faculty buildings for search practices.

But students and some staff said it clashed with the university's role as a
haven for free speech.

About 15 soldiers are believed to have been on campus this week.  Last night
a bomb disposal truck and other military vehicles were parked outside
university buildings off Symonds St.

Security guards barred access to the premises and said they had been told not
to discuss what was going on.

An Army spokeswoman, Sian Routledge, said the university had been selected not
for what it was but because it had different types of buildings.

Staff and students said the presence of the Army on campus in any form was
both provocative and problematic.

It went against the traditional place of universities as a refuge for those
who are the "critics and conscience" of society.

A staff member, who did not want to be named, said many members were unhappy
about the Army activity, although most had not been informed it was taking
place and had been given no chance to complain.

The vice-president of the students' association, Larissa Wakim, said feeling
among students was that the Army should "get off our space".

A university spokesman, Bill Williams, said deans had been consulted on the
decision and many staff reported they were very happy about the Army's
presence.

He said administrators did not see a problem as the Army did not have the
oppressive reputation of armies internationally.

The exercises would not take place during working hours.

Larissa Wakim said the university and Army had quite different roles in
society.

"For the Army to be using our home base for training is disgusting and
appalling, really."

She said students and university staff were targeted by police and armed
forces during international meetings because they were known protesters.

The students' association offices were bugged during the Commonwealth Heads
of Government meeting in 1995. 

She said it appeared the university cared more about extending goodwill to
the Army than its own staff and students.

Sian Routledge said the training would be useful for the Apec meeting in
Auckland next year but it was not being done specifically for it.

It was an "insurance policy" for New Zealanders' safety.

Any suggestions that the Army was casing the university with an eye to
quelling Apec protests were simply not true.



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