Close Menu
Honi Soit
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Trending
    • “USyd you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide”: Post-SGM Palestine Rally
    • A meditation on God and the impossible pursuit of answers
    • Week 11 Editorial
    • Losing My Religion: Elegies from an Atheist who desperately wants to believe in God
    • The Islamic Spirituality of Romanticising your Life
    • Loss, to which I return often.
    • My Name is Anonymous and I’m an Alcoholic
    • Modern Chaos
    • About
    • Print Edition
    • Student Journalism Conference 2025
    • Writing Comp
    • Advertise
    • Locations
    • Contact
    Facebook Instagram X (Twitter) TikTok
    Honi SoitHoni Soit
    Thursday, May 15
    • News
    • Analysis
    • Culture
    • Opinion
    • University
    • Features
    • Perspective
    • Investigation
    • Reviews
    • Comedy
    • Student Journalism Conference 2025
    Honi Soit
    Home»Editorials

    Editorial: Week 4, Semester 2

    On the archives of student activism and decades of progress.
    By Amelia KoenAugust 24, 2022 Editorials 3 Mins Read
    Week 4 cover art by Yasodara Puhule-Gamayalage.
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    Another strike week — the third this year — has passed. The gates of campus were once again barred with the bones and bravery of students and staff, mobilising with might to force management’s hands towards change. Towards pay equal to inflation, and paid gender-transition leave. Towards sustainable, permanent contracts. 

    In the wake of this, there is a collective sense that the state of the University has never been more compromised by extensive corporatisation. 

    “This University is becoming like a ghost town,” reads the editorial of a 1982 edition of Honi. “Everything is being closed down. Funds are drying up in the boomtown… There is a certain restlessness and anxiety — even fatalism — pervading the place. Every-one is worried for themself — both staff and students. No one knows what to expect tomorrow. Some don’t know if there’ll be a tomorrow.” 

    You would be forgiven for thinking that the above was written in 2022, rather than 40 years prior. 

    Despite so much time passing, the obstacles challenging our university education have changed little.

    “The University is a place where you put your head down, pass exams, and get out,” it writes. “Academic staff are overworked trying to make up for staff cuts…Staff morale is sinking as they try to cope with the impossible.” 

    There is one critical difference between boomtown then and boomtown now: the funds are overflowing. In 2021, the University accrued a $1.04 billion surplus. What you may not know is that, in the same year, casual staff launched a $2.09 million wage theft claim against the University. The clear incongruence begs the question: why? 

    The modern University puts profits before education, time and time again. As a collective student body, whose interests are unwaveringly linked with that of academic staff, we must continue to push back, through our actions, articles and ambitions.   

    Honi is an archival luxury of student life, intellect, and anger. Past editions are a historical record of the droves of students who came before us, as told by them. I unreservedly encourage you to delve into past editions and read your forbears’ words, sympathise with their struggles, and learn from their experiences. 
    There is a solidarity in the history of Honi and USyd student activism — in knowing that students have stood in our shoes, fought our fights, and made it to the other side. The fight isn’t meaningless. 

    Archives editorial strikes

    Keep Reading

    Week 11 Editorial

    Queer Honi Editorial 2025

    Week 9 Federal Election Editorial

    HACK1001 How To Become a Parliamentarian

    Week 8 Editorial

    Week 2 Editorial

    Just In

    “USyd you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide”: Post-SGM Palestine Rally

    May 14, 2025

    A meditation on God and the impossible pursuit of answers

    May 14, 2025

    Week 11 Editorial

    May 13, 2025

    Losing My Religion: Elegies from an Atheist who desperately wants to believe in God

    May 13, 2025
    Editor's Picks

    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

    NSW universities in the red as plague of cuts hit students & staff

    April 30, 2025

    Your Compliance Will Not Save You

    April 16, 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.