Accountability is a flimsy word — it is ambiguous, ever-evolving and riddled with ideological differences. Dear readers, we found ourselves in the midst of accountability in the Langford Office for three consecutive days in the light of USU elections, but there’s no tiredness like the one induced by journalism. The student Board of University of Sydney Union is an important body for student voices: six people will get elected to represent the interests of students in the bureaucratic inferno that USyd is.
Student politics might seem trivial in the bigger optics of University workings, but Honi’s role will always be to hold those in power to account. This, of course, can be messy in the filth of friendships, treachery, negotiations, factional interests and the complexities of everyday life. Hell, it’s an even more mentally gruesome task to acquaint yourself with politics, and make voting decisions. However, isn’t that what student democracy is? To be handed pamphlets and bombarded with filibusters on the candidate pool is not the burden it is made out to be: engaging in StuPol actually matters.
This edition wants you to redefine and expand holding this University to account more than ever, and drench you in the pink hues of this year’s policies. Luke Cass and Ethan Floyd (p. 7) remind you why the USU matters beyond the fun of Welcome Week, and Marlena Holdernesse (p. 17), in her review of Queer Revue, asks us to reclaim the alleged crime of being queer. Iggy Boyd (p. 13) lays down the need to abolish the inequitable and problematic system of residential colleges.
Honi’s work is to ask relentless questions about USU’s corporate ties, divestment steps, mutual aid support and job policies, especially for those who might be ignored in the big, yellow garb of this corporate body. We hope that you experience anger, laughter and an inexplicable urge to ask more questions than ever, because our journalism is incomplete without you. You are everything, and we are just…
The Editors of this campus rag.
