I've been so busy and away that I've missed multiple editions of Honi Soit and haven't done all that much. Amy was wondering about how the UMSU elections went so here is the rundown:
A win for StandUp! and the broader left with StandUp! taking all of its Office-Bearer positions, winning contests against both right-wing opponents and against fellow left-wing ticket Activate (who were contesting President). Independent Media retains control of the Media Office, following a strong contest from Activate. The Liberals have made a strong showing, picking up three seats on Students' Council.
However, the broad left retains control of Students' Council with:
3 Activate , 2 Socialist Alternative and one Green Thumbs (Paul Coats is former SA), 1 each for Independent Media and More Activities and a strong showing from StandUp! taking 3 positions and an additional position with Make it Cheap!.
Now for the fun story. The Young Liberals nominated former International House Students' Club President Joe Zhang for International Representative on Students' Council, who received the most votes but was found to not actually be an international student and was disqualified. Lovely.
Also, Honi Soit covers the issue of independent student media, including coverage regarding the left faction Activate and Farrago.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Results
Friday, September 12, 2008
"We Hate Elections Too"
"We Hate Elections Too" was displayed on an Independent Media placard as their campaigners danced around campus yesterday on the last day of elections.
I'm glad it's over.
The Young Liberals (Liberals, Yes and Energize) worked hard all week to disrupt the election in favour of their 'Yes' ticket and its promises, most of which related to organisations or businesses which are not owned or controlled by the student union.
The Labor Right (Voice) seemed to die off as the week went on.
The incumbent Stand Up! faction seems poised to win the elections.
Activate made some waves on the left, contesting Stand Up! for president and Independent Media for Farrago. Do you really want a bunch of hippies and squatters editing your student paper? Didn't think so.
Socialist Alternative (Left Student Unionists) seemed to get into fights with Young Liberals a lot.
What has the Returning Officer been up to?
Ruling 1. The Returning Officer, after receiving complaints from Activate, forces Independent Media to not use 'IndyMedia' and the Independent Media campaigners went around for the rest of the week with 'ie' badges covering the 'y' on their t-shirts.
Ruling 2. Activate take another stab at Independent Media, trying to neutralise their test edition. This is dismissed.
Ruling 3. Tickets should share poster space.
Ruling 4. Activate attacks Independent Media for not using recycled paper in their test edition. Independent Media are forced to surrender 200 copies of their test edition for recycling.
Ruling 5. Independent Media retaliates against Activate for using a non-student and professional graphic designer in the production of their test edition. Activate confirm that this was the case and the RO gives them the benefit of the doubt with respect to the electoral regulations.
Ruling 6. Young Liberal, Alex Cambria, is suspended from campaigning for harassment.
Ruling 7. Samuel Flewett, SA(LSU), is suspended from campaigning for fighting with a Young Liberal (Yes) campaigner.
Ruling 8. The RO decides that there is no difference between a volunteer and an intern and the "clearly selective" presention of the facts is not necessarily misleading or deceiving.
This summarises the tension in the elections.
But everyone is glad to be done with it.
Monday, September 1, 2008
SUPRA takes on the Melbourne Model
SUPRA has published a critique of the Melbourne Mode in the latest edition of Honi Soit. It raises standard points, such as income support, public transport concession cards and the exploitation of students for fee-income.
But most interestingly, it discusses USyd's SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats, coincidentally its acronym is a homophone of the acronym for Special Weapons and Tactics). USyd apparently thinks that it is already pretty good at offering graduate entry programmes and even has some initiatives in place to offset some of the problems of postgraduate study, such as access to income support.
The Melbourne Model seems to be receiving a somewhat icy reception in Australian Higher Ed. It is generally a feared thing in popular press and opinion thanks to its association with subject cuts, staff cuts and blatant money-grabbing. The only university that seems to be considering copying it is UWA and it is my estimation that they will be going for something subtly but significantly different.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Candidate Statements!
Candidate policy statements for the upcoming UMSU elections (Sept. 8-12) are out. There's the wacky, the jovial and the more moderately sane. It's hard to stand out in such a pile of 'vibrant and inclusive' or 'radical and progressive' or 'FREE MARKETS!' But here are some of the greater gems coming out of this round of student political-hopefuls. "NATALIE TAVASSOLI (STOP 2AM LOCKOUT, STOP ALCOPOPS TAX)
Can you say feeder ticket?
Hey I’m Nat, and this year I’ve decided to run for president to stop the 2am lockout which is ruining Melbourne’s nightlife. In my role as president of the student union, I will lobby the government non-stop until this disgraceful law is repealed, and students are free to go out without being locked out of their favourite venue.""CHRIS LEWIS (YES!)
This is not true. If it were, the union would barely have noticed VSU since pre-VSU budgets were not much bigger than $10mil.
Each year the student union receives over $10 million from the uni itself.""ADAM MCKEE & ANDREW KEMP (LIBERAL)...
With an attitude like that, they're sure to win the Environment office.
1. Reduce carbon emissions by riding a whale to work instead. On the way, harpoon an environmentalist.""ROSALIE DELANEY, MARK A. PEART, MAX KAISER & LORENA SOLIN (ACTIVATE)...
None of these candidates were Arts Officers. To say that they want to make Farrago both a radical magazine but not to turn it into cover-to-cover partisan propaganda that is never allowed to be detrimental to student unionism is a contradiction. Rosalie Delaney, however, has been doing well recently and won an appeal to overturn the conviction for her role in the G20 protests.
We’re a welcoming and inclusive bunch as seen in the vibrant Arts Department we’ve run this year. Farrago has been a radical magazine in the past, and we want to reinstate its role as an engaged and enlightening publication...
...no one wants to see Farrago turn into a cover-to-cover partisan propaganda arm. But we do want a magazine that engages with the student community holistically rather than patronising it with inaccessible in-jokes and arrogant, divisive tirades that besides offending people are irrelevant, and even detrimental, to student culture and unionism.""GILLIAN KILBY, BHAKTHI PUVANENTHIRAN, ZOE-ZORA SANDERS & YOSHUA WAKEHAM (INDEPENDENT MEDIA) ...
That is to say, independence from ideologies other than that of media independence. It only forms paradoxes if you're a postmodernist.
Of the parties vying to run Farrago, only Independent Media has an unwavering commitment to genuine political and ideological independence."
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Centrelink Weddings
So the NDA happened and wasn't as bad as it could have been; in fact, it was actually quite good.
I Olivia, take thee, Rupert, to be my legally-wedded husband, to have and to hold you whenever a government official is nearby, for better or more likely for worse, for richer or more likely for poorer, in sickness and in health, to support, witness and co-sign all Centrelink applications, until graduation do us part, and be thankful we figured out how to work the system.
