In the first edition of Honi Soit, published in May 1929, a group of University of Sydney students wrote that they were publishing “to strip the veneer, to open the cupboard on our skeletons, and those of other people, to tell the truth without fear or favour, and to assist our readers in their search for the Touchstone of philosophy — happiness — these are our aims.” Some ninety-four years later, Honi Soit still seeks to embody these ideals.
It is from these foundations that Honi developed as USyd’s student newspaper. Honi centres the views, experiences and opinions of students like you. Platforming radical left-wing voices, we provide a space for reporters to question the narratives spun by those in power.
In contrast to the corporate spectacle that is Welcome Week, Honi Soit is, and always has been, an improbable product of the efforts of un(der)paid students.
Although, you may feel frustrated fighting USyd bureaucracy, or navigating Australia’s predatory housing market, Honi has always shown that students are not powerless.
In this week’s feature (p. 14) , Ariana Haghighi critiques the consenteducation module, that is probably still on your to-do list.
In the rest of this edition, you will find everything from linguistic analysis of small talk from Nicola Brayan (p. 10), to critical analysis of student unionism from Khanh Tran (p. 16) and Luke Cass (p. 17). We’ve got musings on campus from Science Road (p. 11), all the way to the Anderson Stuart Building (p. 8).
Honi Soit is a space for students to explore and question the world around them. Hamish Lewis and Bipasha Chakraborty (both p. 18) explore the ways that students find a home.
We hope that you will find yourself represented on the following pages, and if you don’t, we hope that you’ll write for us this year and change this.
In line with Honi tradition, we are writing this at 1am on an iMac in the mouldy basement of the Wentworth Building. We love this paper. If we didn’t, we would be home and already in bed.
We hope that this year, Honi Soit can be a space where you find community. Whether that be as a reader, a contributor or a passing puzzle-solver. As a group of University of Sydney students, we are publishing this to give students a voice. We hope you’ll listen and lend your voice to the call.