Professor Richard Shaw has worked at Massey for 33 years. Photo: RNZ / Jimmy Ellingham
Palmerston North locals have received a stark warning: if Massey University keeps slashing staff and courses, it will enter a "death spiral", and the provincial city will wither.
Politics professor Richard Shaw told a public meeting at the Palmerston North City Library on Tuesday night about his concerning vision for an academic ice age if the cuts continue.
In the face of an expected deficit of more than $50 million for the year, the university is proposing to slash courses and jobs.
Shaw, who has worked at Massey for 33 years, told the 100-strong audience that such an approach would not end well.
"It will spool out and it will cycle out. It will roll out down the years [as will] the repercussions of the decisions that have been taken.
"As far as I can tell there is precisely no exit strategy, so the logic that you cut in the face of budget deficits will continue to roll out. The consequences of those things will be multi-year."
They would have far-reaching effects, including on businesses, sports clubs and community activities, university staff, students and families, Shaw said.
"This university of ours, if it is not in a death spiral already it is at least entering the academic equivalent of an ice age, and it will have consequences for all of us."
Shaw said many non-academic staff had also lost their jobs or left, and he spoke of a former colleague who looked after international students whose role was now made redundant.
She would pick them up from the airport, sort visas and help them navigate Massey.
Her role was now gone and would not be replaced, risking reputational damage because international students no longer received the same level of support.
He said the staff member's story was a vignette - part of a larger story that was not a positive one.
"The centre is imploding and you will not escape the gravitational pull of that process in here as the people leave or they never come.
"Massey and therefore our community will fade into obscurity. We will become a diminished place."
This week Massey announced a preliminary decision on its proposal to cut science staff and courses - basically wiping out the science offering at its Albany campus. About 70 jobs would go.
Molecular evolution professor Peter Lockhart said it was essential Massey considered an alternative plan put forward by staff and the Tertiary Education Union that would save jobs.
"They have been listening. I'm always hopeful. I think we're a long way away from reaching agreement on what's most important for the future sustainability of sciences at Massey University."
It was important for New Zealand that the university retained its talent, he said.
"We've already lost some great researchers through the cessation scheme. The situation's only going to deteriorate with the loss of other world-class scientists."
New Zealand Union of Students' Associations president Ellen Dixon said losing staff members was a real concern for students, who with that might lose a supervisor or access to labs and equipment essential to their study.
Massey's proposed cuts to science courses would mean if students in areas such as food technology want to continue with the university, they'll have to move from Auckland to Palmerston North.
Dixon said that would place pressure on students to find somewhere to live and apply for student loans and allowances through StudyLink.
Steve Stannard is a former Massey professor of exercise physiology and now owns a Palmerston North coffee shop.
From behind his counter, he has seen the effect of the university's diminishing footprint on the city.
"What I really do notice is not as many young people coming in and having those happy conversations that they used to.
"We used to get overseas students, but we also don't get as many staff that might be skiving off at their lunchtime coming in for a coffee and having a meeting with their PhD students or whatever.
"We don't get that any more."
Palmerston North city councillor Lorna Johnson encouraged people to email councillors, politicians and university leaders about the issue.
She said she knew firsthand such action worked and made those who received the messages take notice.
