Uniken

Creator
University of New South Wales. Public Affairs Unit
Call Number
Nf 378.944 UNI
Created/Published
Kensington, N.S.W. : University of New South Wales, [1975]-2015
Issue
1997, no. 9 (13 June, 1997)
Images
14
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Contents

Uniken THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES 1
‘Sophie’s choice’ decision to introduce up-front fees 1 , 8
Opioid treatment for rheumatoid arthritis relief 1
Iside 1
Snippets 2
Letters Good news and bad news 2
Tongue-in-cheek gets a serve 2
Tax graduates earn their due 2
Research New technique to rejuvenate concrete beams 3
New deans for new faculties 3
Social policy conference attracts top speakers 3
Physicist wins Humboldt Prize 4
Light rail service study supported by UNSW 4
Profile Clinton Moloney-making the most of opportunities 5
Queen’s Honours 5
Shalom College gets a vital lift 5
Art The embrace linking Ipswich with Sarajevo 6
UNSW art collection acquires two Pamela Griffith etchings 6
Milestones Literary database reaches the half million mark 7
Human disease specimens exhibited for the novice 7
Diary 14 June-4 July 8
Students sought for competition 8
Conferences Fast shipping conference heads for Sydney 9
Franklin winner worked on awardwinning novel during fellowship 9
Hale-Bopp discoverer to speak at UNSW 9
Books Comedy taken seriously at humour conference 10
Symposium to address culture and gender in teaching 10
Parternship of virtual equals at the Asia Leaders’ Forum 10
Joint venture in business and technology education 11
New chief for University Union 11
Tolerance the key to society 11
Pass the Butler proves value for money 11
Sport Rugby club heads championship ladder 12
UNSW women make a clean sweep of awards 12
Special university centre supplement THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES 13
University Centrea lasting physical legacy of our golden jubilee 13
Touching the lives of everybody on the UNSW campus 13 , 14
a year in the life of the University Centre ... a year in the life of the University Centre ... 14

Text

Uniken  

THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES  

No. 430 (No. of 1997)  

Fortnightly  

13 June 1997  

• UNSW supports light  

rail service study  

PAGE  

• The thread joining  

Sarajevo and Ipswich  

PAGE  

• Books: Comedy taken  

seriously  

PAGE 10  

‘Sophie’s choice’ decision to introduce up-front fees  

In tight 10 to eight vote, Council at its  

June meeting has adopted the “lesser  

of the two evils” by allowing fee-paying  

Australian students to study at UNSW from  

1998.  

~T. ... ...  

It is without doubt the most difficult issue  

•  

have faced in more than 30 years in  

higher education,” the Vice-Chancellor,  

Professor John Niland told Council.  

~,,.  

It is Sophie choice the choice ot two  

a. rmee  

evils and we must go tor the lesser ot the  

two evils,” he urged Council members.  

tnvToiAr rr tocn  

UNSW plans to offer about 260 under-  

 

graduate fee places next year, worth about  

Si, n- „  

$3 million, but enrolments could grow to at  

least 700 by 2000.  

... ...  

The Vice-Chancellor, together with all  

„ .. .i- y.  

members of Council and the Working Party  

on Fees and Revenue Generation unam-  

mously agreed that introducing such fees  

was not their desired choice.  

However, while some Council members  

agreed on ethical and equity grounds to  

reject the move, others agreed with the  

xr ..1 r,  

Vice-Chancellor that the lesser of the two  

evils” had to be pursued if the University  

was to survive financially.  

More than 100 students protested in the  

foyer of the Chancellery while the decision  

was being made in Council. Some students  

attempted to force open closed door lead-  

ing to the Council Chamber but were held  

back by security staff. Police were also  

...  

called on to the campus but they did not  

 

enter the Chancellery.  

Campus Conferencing organised closed-  

circuit video coverage of the Council  

~,  

ting which was broadcast at the Clancy  

 

onum  

Professor Niland warned that UNSW had  

._  

come too far in 48 years to risk becoming  

...... 1. °  

second-rate institution.  

“This is really vote for survival,” he said  

highlighting the fact that UNSW could be  

... ,, ra.on™ u-  

faced with budget shortfall of $2O million  

1999 due ma Fede ral cuts in op-  

He ajd mQre vertica]  

such St Geo cam  

pus, would occur again.  

„ The schools wQuld no even  

fae abJe £ anQther fessor  

„ f,  

2005, the Vice-Chancellor said.  

And he rejected any calls to delay admit-  

ting the students until 1999 as this would  

only compound the debt problem. Profes-  

sor Niland assured Council that the  

University would not reduce the number of  

HECS-liable places in faculties unable to  

attract fee-paying students in order to in-  

crease fee-liable places in others.  

However, the Working Party on Fees and  

Revenue Generation acknowledged in its  

report to the Council that some courses  

would be more attractive than others.  

The President of the Student Guild, Mr  

David Coleman, made special presenta-  

tion to Council seeking members’ support  

to reject the fees resolution.  

Pointing out that it would be the most im-  

portant decision members ever had to  

make, Mr Coleman said whatever slant  

was put on the issue, the introduction of  

fees would be offering privileges to the  

wealthy.  

“Why say this is dreadful but then proceed  

to support fees if you are philosophically  

opposed,” he argued.  

Mr Coleman said there was no great need  

to rush this issue through as the West Com-  

mittee still had to bring down its findings  

into higher education early next year.  

He suggested UNSW may gain other revenue  

sources after this committee announces its  

recommendations.  

Speaking as staff elected member to  

Council, Ms Susan Armstrong encouraged  

other members to support the resolution.  

“We have to accept the hand we have been  

dealt with,” she said. “Let’s hurry and have  

this matter resolved as it is beginning to  

poison relationships on campus.”  

Dr Meredith Burgmann said the University  

of Sydney was the only university which  

had really supported introducing fees as  

the University of Melbourne was now  

backing away.  

“We should be the leader and stand up to  

the Federal Government on the principle  

of merit and reject this call for fees,” she  

said.  

“We seem to have cultural cringe to the  

University of Sydney. Let’s grow up and be  

leader on this issue. If we buckle now,  

we’ll get less and less from the Federal  

Government as they see us getting more  

from students,” Dr Burgmann said.  

Continued on page  

Opioid treatment for  

rheumatoid arthritis relief  

There is new hope for an improved  

range of drug treatments for sufferers  

of the crippling and disfiguring dis-  

ease rheumatoid arthritis (RA) as result of  

ground-breaking research by UNSW phar-  

macologist, Dr Judy Walker.  

Dr Walker and her team have found that  

new class of potent opioid drug called  

kappa opioid agonists can reduce the sever-  

ity of inflammation in RA-affected  

laboratory rats by as much as 80 per cent,  

and are devoid of the side-effects usually  

associated with opiates such as addiction,  

sedation and respiratory depression.  

Dr Walker’s research into the anti-inflam-  

matory effects of opioids is world first:  

although widely used as analgesics, opioids  

have not previously been considered seri-  

ously as anti-inflammatory agents or as  

therapy for RA because of their side-effects.  

Rheumatoid arthritis affects approximately  

one to two per cent of the population, with  

female patients outnumbering male pa-  

tients three to one. Patients suffer severe  

inflammation and pain in their joints ac-  

companied by swelling and stiffness,  

which often results in structural damage  

and joint deformity.  

Rheumatoid arthritis can also results in  

premature death. It is not commonly  

known that RA patients may have five-  

year mortality similar to cardiovascular  

patients.  

With no known cause and no known cure,  

the focus has been on treatment which  

should begin as early in the disease as pos-  

sible, before the development of erosions  

and deformity.  

However, current treatments (non-steroidal  

anti-inflammatories such as aspirin and  

anti-rheumatic drugs such as gold), are ex-  

pensive and inadequate. Prescribed  

medications alone cost Australian patients  

more than $97 million per year, produce  

toxicity in at least 30 per cent of people  

and fail to control long-term morbidity and  

mortality.  

So the need for more effective RA therapy  

has never been more pressing.  

Supported by NH&MRC grant over the  

next three years, Dr Walker’s work exam-  

ines the mechanisms responsible for the  

actions of opiate therapy in arthritis with  

view to optimising treatment regimens.  

Her work has focused on kappa opioids  

such as U50488H and Asimadoline which  

are similar to morphine but which act at  

the kappa rather than the mu receptors.  

(Morphine has been found to be unsuccess-  

ful as an RA treatment option because of  

the high doses required and the severity of  

the side effects.)  

Kappa opioids still have analgesic and anti-  

inflammatory effects but it is possible to  

select them so that they do not have side-  

effects. It appears that drugs like these  

which act as the kappa receptor may be  

more potent anti-inflammatory agents than  

mu opioids like morphine.  

Dr Walker’s most recent research shows  

that another member of the class of kappa  

opioid agonists, Asimadoline, which has  

been structurally modified so that it can be  

absorbed through the gut without crossing  

the blood brain barrier, is the most potent  

anti-inflammatory agent tested thus far.  

Even though it is possible to administer  

this potent drug systemically, it only oper-  

ates peripherally, thus avoiding central  

nervous system toxicity.  

Dr Walker says her work is still at an ex-  

perimental stage. Although Asimadoline  

has progressed to the stage of clinical trials  

for patients with pain in Germany, it has  

not yet been clinically tested on RA pa-  

tients and is unlikely to be for at least two  

years.  

“We still don’t really know the etiology of  

RA yet,” she said. “A lot of the drugs on  

the market have only 50 per cent success  

rate. They also have high toxic effects so  

patients stop taking them.  

“Other trials are taking place of drugs  

which look promising but patients find that  

when they stop therapy the symptoms  

seem to recur. There is still lot we don’t  

know about the disease and its treatment.  

“But we do know now about the anti-in-  

flammatory properties of these kappa  

opioids. Together with their proven analge-  

sic effects, it does suggest they have vital  

therapeutic role in RA treatment,” Dr  

Walker said.  

Jane Mundy  

Iside  

Snippets  

Profile  

Diary  

Sport 12  

Working to relieve inflammation caused by rheumatoid arthritis are (left to right)  

Dr Caroline Short, Ms Trudie Binder, Ms Jodie Wilson and Dr Judy Walker.  

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Citation options:
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http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-254131380

APA citation

University of New South Wales. Public Affairs Unit & University of New South Wales, issuing body. (1975). Uniken Retrieved August 7, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-254131380

MLA citation

University of New South Wales. Public Affairs Unit and University of New South Wales, issuing body. Uniken Kensington, N.S.W: University of New South Wales, 1975. Web. 7 August 2025 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-254131380>

Harvard/Australian citation

University of New South Wales. Public Affairs Unit & University of New South Wales, issuing body. 1975, Uniken University of New South Wales, Kensington, N.S.W viewed 7 August 2025 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-254131380

Wikipedia citation

{{Citation
  | author1=University of New South Wales. Public Affairs Unit.
  | author2=University of New South Wales, issuing body.
  | title=Uniken.
  | year=1975
  | section=volumes : illustrations ; 30-43 cm.
  | issn=0312-7877
  | issue=1997, no. 9 (13 June, 1997)
  | location=Kensington, N.S.W
  | publisher=University of New South Wales
  | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-254131380
  | id=nla.obj-254131380
  | access-date=7 August 2025
  | via=Trove
}}

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