Cuts at Massey University could have long-lasting and damaging effects on the tertiary institution and the community in Palmerston North, a professor says.

About 80 people attended a “Save Massey” public meeting at Palmerston North City Library on Tuesday night, where Massey staff and others voiced their concern about the proposed cuts.

Facing a $53 million deficit for the year, Massey has been introducing cost-cutting measures, including proposals for change for the college of sciences and the college of humanities and social sciences. Jobs may go and courses could close.

Politics professor Richard Shaw spoke about the value to the country and community of people who knew how to make sense of things.

He said one of his colleagues who took voluntary redundancy recently had helped thousands of students, particularly international ones, who came to Palmerston North every year.

“People come in and bring their dreams. They rent your homes, buy your coffee, they consume your services, go to your places of worship, go to your schools … [she] would meet them, but now she won’t be replaced.”

Shaw said dozens, possibly hundreds of staff had lost their jobs and left holes in Massey’s fabric.

The cuts would cause reputational damage to Massey and eventually students would stop coming, he said.

“As the mana of this place is diminished and reduced there will be even fewer people at [your] cafe, fewer people renting your house, fewer people walking down George St, fewer people going to your place of worship or sports club, or enrolling in your school.

“Operational budgets will fall and this will happen all over the motu.”

He said making cuts to save money would continue and would “contaminate this place, they will poison this community for many years to come”.

“I’ve worked here for 33 years so I can say this. 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.”

Former Massey professor Steve Stannard, who now runs a coffee shop on George St, had noticed a difference at his business, with fewer university staff and students coming in.

He said the university’s finances must be in a parlous state if they were going through these cuts, and he called Massey and opponents of the cuts to work something out together.

“There needs to be a change in strategic direction.”

Biology professor Peter Lockhart is part of a group who presented an alternative proposal about the proposal for change for the college of sciences.

He said the university wouldn’t be more financially sustainable if the cuts went ahead, it would instead be smaller and less attractive to people, leading to fewer students.

“Less vibrant campus life, less vibrant city in Palmerston North. As others have indicated, fewer people will lead to more cuts, so it’s not just a one-off.”

Palmerston North city councillor Lorna Johnson said there was a better way of doing things and it was for the universities to stand together and lobby the Government.

The situation was a concern for the council, she said.

New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations president Ellen Dixon said the cuts would have a big effect on the 5000 students in Palmerston North, including fewer people to rent flats and work in shops.

She said it wasn’t just about financial management, but about people’s lives.

At the end of the meeting, First Union organiser Dion Martin launched into a protest song from 1991 which drew the biggest applause from the audience.