Meanjin is Australia's second oldest literary magazine. In its 85-year history, it has published the likes of David Malouf, Helen Garner, Les Murray, Judith Wright, and Nobel Prize winner Patrick White. Its role in cultivating Australian literature has been paramount, and in an era of AI slop, it has never been more essential.

However, the University of Melbourne has decided to shut down the magazine citing "purely financial reasons". Despite this, Meanjin had secured a $100,000 dollar grant from Creative Australia to fund its next two years of publication. Furthermore the University’s overall financial result for 2024 reported a surplus of $273 million.  At a time when UoM has advertised a $100,000 job listing for an anti-vaping project officer, it is hard to believe it cannot find the funds to spare to support one the countries most prestigious cultural institutions.

Cultivating literature and the arts more broadly is should be a vital part of the university. UniMelb's own mission statement claims: "Our purpose is to benefit society through the transformative impact of education and research". The closure of Meanjin is in direct opposition to this supposed aim. In the words of Barry Jones it is: "an act of utter cultural vandalism". 

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