Hope this reform does not get through.

As one who in his long retirement has gained Honours in the Social Sciences, majoring in International Relations, have becme vey perturbed over a report that if the Howard government wins the election it has plans to downsize the importance of the Humanities in our universities.

From experience most universities have an unwritten law both ecumenical and cosmopolitan owing to the hundreds of overseas students now attending. Even though some may be not doing Humanities, many will because it is the Humanities where they study politics.

Also the deliberate weakening of the social sciences for possibly political reasons could have our government facing
accusations about deliberately lowering our democratic capabilities.

We could recommend that if there is a change that us older students stick to the old rules, or what we have been taught out of Uni' bookcase journals, not changing into what some are calling the ways and wiles of the New Academia