Close Menu
Honi Soit
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Trending
    • Antisemitism review puts universities, festivals, and cultural centres under threat
    • Macquarie University axes Sociology, cuts more jobs & courses
    • UTS elects new Chancellor
    • Out of the Deep: The Story of a Shark Kid Who Dared to Question Fear
    • Prima Facie: Losing faith in a system you truly believed in
    • Jason Clare seeks replacement for ANU Chancellor Julie Bishop after $790,000 expense report
    • ‘If you silence someone or shush someone, you can get out’: SISTREN is an unabashed celebration of black and trans joy. Is Australia ready?
    • Mark Gowing waxes lyrical on aesthetics, time, language, and his new exhibition ‘This one is a song’
    • About
    • Print Edition
    • Student Journalism Conference 2025
    • Writing Comp
    • Advertise
    • Locations
    • Contact
    Facebook Instagram X (Twitter) TikTok
    Honi SoitHoni Soit
    Saturday, July 12
    • News
    • Analysis
    • Culture
    • Opinion
    • University
    • Features
    • Perspective
    • Investigation
    • Reviews
    • Comedy
    • Student Journalism Conference 2025
    Honi Soit
    Home»News

    Conflicting pitches for WoCo publication

    Wom*n's Officer nominees diverge from the collective on the direction of the autonomous publication
    By Pranay JhaJanuary 5, 2019 News 3 Mins Read
    Image of WoCo publication, Growing Strong, on an orange background, with an orange question mark superimposed on top of it
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    Wom*n’s Officer nominees, Gabi Stricker-Phelps and Zifan Crystal Xu, have released their own contributor callout for the Students’ Representative Council’s (SRC) autonomous women’s publication, Growing Strong. The call-out, distributed through private messages, appears to conflict in tone and vision with the Wom*n’s Collective’s (WoCo) call for contributions.

    Growing Strong is the SRC’s annual publication produced autonomously by wom*n. Traditionally, Growing Strong is organised and produced through the Wom*n’s Collective and edited by the SRC Wom*n’s Officers. In the past, the publication has typically adopted a radical feminist perspective This year, however, the position of SRC Wom*n’s Officers has been left unfilled, following numerous uncompleted Repselects and the majority bloc’s decision to roll the autonomously elected WoCo convenors, Layla Mkh and Jazzlyn Breen. Consequently, it remains unclear who will adopt the position of editing and organising Growing Strong.

    Honi understands that the two sets of nominees for Wom*n’s Officer organised a meeting where some degree of cooperation between Stricker-Phelps and Xu and the WoCo Convenors was discussed. Mkh told Honi that it was “explicitly noted that Growing Strong was a publication of the Wom*n’s Collective and that it would be edited by the convenors of the Women’s Collective.” However, in call-outs made on their behalf, it appears Stricker-Phelps and Xu have assumed the positions of editors as well as diverging from the theme Mkh and Breen claim was already decided on. Neither Stricker-Phelps nor Xu are currently members of WoCo.

    Additionally, despite Growing Strong being an autonomous publication, the meetings between the nominees have unusually been organised through acting Secretary to Council Cameron Caccamo.

    While Stricker-Phelps did not comment on the extent to which she plans to work with WoCo, she did state that she had met with the WoCo convenors and that they had “decided to do a call out for Growing Strong so that [they] could source contributors and content in the absence of elected 2019 Wom*n’s Officers.” Stricker-Phelps and Xu have “begun brainstorming and collecting content” and reached out to the WoCo convenors for a meeting to establish further discussions. Problematically, their proposed date of the meeting was on the 8th of February,  just ten days before the commencement of Welcome Week, when the publication is expected to be distributed.

    The conflicting call-outs and conceptions of Growing Strong appear to be reflective of a broader discordance in the nominees’ approach to the role of Women’s Officers. Mkh and Breen wish to emphasise the importance of radical feminism and the historic work of women’s officers on campus. By contrast, the call-out privately circulated on behalf of Stricker-Phelps and Xu, of which Honi obtained a copy, focuses on “entrepreneurship” and frames contributions as “a great add to the resume”, seemingly adopting a more corporate conception of the role.

    Mkh seemed to affirm this sentiment. “It has been really hard to meet halfway and be friendly to Gabi as she continues to disrespect collective autonomy … First it is with Growing Strong—what’s next?”

    Growing Strong repselect WoCo women's collective

    Keep Reading

    Antisemitism review puts universities, festivals, and cultural centres under threat

    Macquarie University axes Sociology, cuts more jobs & courses

    UTS elects new Chancellor

    Jason Clare seeks replacement for ANU Chancellor Julie Bishop after $790,000 expense report

    NTEU wins wage theft case against Monash University

    USU June Board Meeting: Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye

    Just In

    Antisemitism review puts universities, festivals, and cultural centres under threat

    July 11, 2025

    Macquarie University axes Sociology, cuts more jobs & courses

    July 11, 2025

    UTS elects new Chancellor

    July 8, 2025

    Out of the Deep: The Story of a Shark Kid Who Dared to Question Fear

    July 8, 2025
    Editor's Picks

    Part One: The Tale of the Corporate University

    May 28, 2025

    “Thank you Conspiracy!” says Capitalism, as it survives another day

    May 21, 2025

    A meditation on God and the impossible pursuit of answers

    May 14, 2025

    We Will Be Remembered As More Than Administrative Errors

    May 7, 2025
    Facebook Instagram X (Twitter) TikTok

    From the mines

    • News
    • Analysis
    • Higher Education
    • Culture
    • Features
    • Investigation
    • Comedy
    • Editorials
    • Letters
    • Misc

     

    • Opinion
    • Perspective
    • Profiles
    • Reviews
    • Science
    • Social
    • Sport
    • SRC Reports
    • Tech

    Admin

    • About
    • Editors
    • Send an Anonymous Tip
    • Write/Produce/Create For Us
    • Print Edition
    • Locations
    • Archive
    • Advertise in Honi Soit
    • Contact Us

    We acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. The University of Sydney – where we write, publish and distribute Honi Soit – is on the sovereign land of these people. As students and journalists, we recognise our complicity in the ongoing colonisation of Indigenous land. In recognition of our privilege, we vow to not only include, but to prioritise and centre the experiences of Indigenous people, and to be reflective when we fail to be a counterpoint to the racism that plagues the mainstream media.

    © 2025 Honi Soit
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms
    • Accessibility

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.