September 09, 2016
Raupatu underpins university privilege
A Te Atiawa academic says Victoria University’s treatment of a valuable Wellington land block is indicative of the colonial violence that still underpins the university system.
At a seminar last weekend, Leonie Pihama offered on behalf of her iwi to reimburse Victoria University the $10 it paid for the former Wellington teacher training college campus in Karori, which it now wants to sell for $20 million.
She says similar token payments have been made by other universities in recent years, as a sign the privilege of confiscation continues.
"You know they’re just indications of how easily the crown can transfer land to its own institutions for nothing whereas iwi are being forced to buy back land that was stolen at huge market cost," Dr Pihama says.
It’s a reminder that when the universities were set up, they were endowed with confiscated Maori land to help with their running costs.
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