1. Chile extends Olympic record for most Olympic Games without an Olympic record
News of Chile’s record-breaking Olympic performance took the record for Honi’s most read article published this year after being picked up by Chilean media and dominating the Chilean twittersphere for a day.
2. Seven-year time limit on university degrees to affect most disadvantaged students
By Deaundre Espejo and Claire Ollivain
Honi’s reporting on a new seven-year limit on HECS-HELP support made waves on Facebook, with widespread criticism of the impacts the changes will have, particularly on disabled students.
3. St Andrew’s College residents hold parties while Sydney locks down
By Claire Ollivain and Deaundre Espejo
In the depths of Sydney’s lockdown, Honi reported on widespread flaunting of COVID-19 rules at residential colleges, including parties, disregard for masks and gatherings between different colleges on campus.
4. Logic taking the University by storm
PHIL1012: Introductory Logic hit new heights this year, with 2200 enrolments making it the most popular ever Arts course at the University.
5. More massive staff cuts at Macquarie University
Huge cuts to staff announced at Macquarie University in December last year brought widespread condemnation to a university with a staff to student ratio already amongst the world’s worst.
6. Up to 250 undergraduate Arts subjects under threat at Sydney Uni in “major attack”
By Claire Ollivain and Jeffrey Khoo
Plans drawn up by FASS put hundreds of subjects with less than 24 enrolments on the chopping block, as the University sought to curtail course offerings and promote shared interdisciplinary units.
7. ‘I’m not sure what girlboss feminism is’: Arts dean censured by students in her own lecture
By Rory Larkins
News of millions of dollars in cuts to the Arts faculty left former Dean Annamarie Jagose facing a lectureful of her own students repudiating her ‘Future FASS’ plan.
8. SLAM faces axe; two departments likely to be cut with job losses expected
By Max Shanahan and Claire Ollivain
A faculty restructure proposed in April sought to disband the School of Literature, Art and Media and abolish the Departments of Studies in Religion and Theatre and Performance Studies, threatening unique cultural knowledge and expertise.
9. Documents reveal extensive surveillance of campus activism by university and police
By Vivienne Guo, Shania O’Brien and Marlow Hurst
Documents obtained by a GIPA request uncovered widespread monitoring of protests and organisers by the University during education demonstrations last year.
10. Pissgate: the abysmal state of the Engineering Faculty
The condition of the PNR building was no secret even before human waste began flowing down its halls in March, but Pissgate was no less shocking.
11. Students slam “useless” Okta Verify rollout
By Jeffrey Khoo
The rollout of two-factor authentication for University systems went down poorly with students, who criticised compatibility issues and the application’s incessant need for constant validation.
12. FASS Dean under hermeneutic suspicion of wage theft
By Judy Butts
“The clear-eyed, all-knowing ideologists with their hermeneutically suspicious motives have demystified and interpellated me to no end,” Jagose told The Boot in the year’s 12th most popular article, over a cheese platter and prosecco at her ideologically activatable managerial brunch at Forum this morning.
Honourable mention
Ronda Rousey to become first woman to enter the Octagon while 8 months pregnant
2020’s viral comedy sensation somehow continues to rack up thousands of views each month, but we don’t know where from. Nevertheless, it was enough to easily be the website’s overall most viewed article of the year.