The University of the South Pacific’s decision to transition from cash allowance to voucher system created a ruckus among the students, according to an article published by The Fiji Times on March 13, 1984.
The article stated that as many as 200 students under government scholarships began boycotting lectures in protest against USP’s decision to stop giving students $225 in allowance for textbooks.
Students who attended classes were harassed by groups of boycotting students who also played music with loudspeakers throughout the day.
Residents living near the campus complained about the excessive noise.
Vice Chancellor Geoffrey Caston said it was impossible for the money to be given to students as it had already been spent on buying textbooks with 95 per cent already distributed to students.
Mr Caston witnessed students disrupting laboratory work at the school of Natural Resources and even to the extent of threatening students during their classes.
Meanwhile, 120 agricultural students at the Navuso Agricultural School went on strike, protesting against the increased fees and work demanded by management.
The students moved out of the dormitories to live in makeshift huts which they built near a river bank close to the school while refusing to either attend classes or work on a farm run by the
Methodist Church in Fiji and Rotuma, which owned the school.
School authorities refused to allow The Fiji Times team from driving through the school compound to talk to students camped near the Rewa River banks.
The article said despite numerous efforts, attempts by this newspaper to contact senior officials of the Methodist Church for a comment, proved futile.
