Lincoln to become only university without a bookshop

Lincoln VC ignores community to become NZ’z only university without a bookshop

The Vice-Chancellor of Lincoln University has announced he will close the bookshop on campus, leaving students without a place to buy text books at their place of study.

Hundreds of staff, students and members of the local community supported a Tertiary Education Union led campaign to save the bookshop, which warned Professor Pollard that closing the bookshop would undermine the university’s ability to meet the study needs of students.

The bookshop is earmarked for closure by March of next year with the loss of several jobs. Other roles could also be affected if some of the services currently offered by the bookshop are contracted out, as proposed by university bosses. What is not out-sourced is expected to be picked up on a much smaller scale by other parts of the institution, including the students’ association.The TEU has long opposed the outsourcing of campus services and most recently highlighted the risks of doing so when it persuaded the management at Unitec to bring back in-house many of the services it privatised last year.

Gabrielle Moore, organiser of the TEU branch at Lincoln University, said: “We are extremely disappointed that the VC has ignored the local community and taken the short-sighted decision to close our only bookshop.
“Bosses have said they will look at ways to utilise the current space occupied by the bookshop in a way that better fits with Lincoln’s strategic objectives. It would seem self-evident that having a bookshop not only selling text books relevant to the courses delivered on campus, but also offering vital printing and postage services, already makes a positive contribution to the strategic direction of the university.

“We will of course work now with management staff and students to ensure that the academic integrity of the institution is maintained, something that unfortunately bosses have made much harder with today’s decision.”

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