Hearts on show for Massey market day
Crowds were out in force enjoying a rare blast of blazing sun at Market Day for Orientation Week at Massey, coinciding with a Love Humanities day of action.
Market Day is the fourth in the semester’s introductory events run by the Massey University Student Association, and designed to introduce new students to the organisations they may need during their studies.
Alongside gazebos, stalls, live music and sausage sizzles, a group of staff and students gathered to join a national ‘‘day of action’’ against a trend of decreasing support for humanities subjects.
The Love Humanities campaign was organised by the Tertiary Education Union at 10 campuses.
Manawatu organiser Heather Warren said while Massey was comparatively strong on humanities subjects, academics and student here are aware the wider national situation is more challenging.
‘‘Over the past eight years, university funding has dropped, and a lot of that has gone to STEM subjects [science, technology, engineering and maths]. There’s a real focus on vocational training, so there’s been some issues for the [humanities] departments.’’
STEM subjects are important, but boosting them should not come at the expense of the humanities in a limited funding environment, she said.
Restructures were under way or complete in humanities departments at two other institutes, but at the root of the issue was a widespread perception humanities qualifications were less useful than others.
‘‘Humanities are equally important in society, so we can build critical thinkers, so we can develop and grow our society. There’s so many international companies that actually look for people who’ve studied in the humanities.’’
The Love Humanities group ran a selfie competition and invited people to write messages of love for humanities subjects on red cardboard hearts to be put up on a wall on the campus, Warren said.