Hacks can be a lot — they’re vulgar and rambunctious, they love climbing on desks and poking holes in each other’s ideologies. But more than anything, they love spending one Wednesday each month shouting at each other in the subfloor of New Law.
August Council began like any other: Electoral Officer Riki Scanlan opened nominations for this year’s SRC elections before the Executive heard questions from councillors. Alexander Poirier (Unity) opened with a showstopping “how are you today?” directed towards SRC President Lia Perkins (Grassroots). “Pretty good” was the response from Lia, which seemed to satisfy the scrutiny of the Council.
The President’s Report noted the SRC’s success at Welcome Fest and the recent decision by the Academic Board to uphold five-day simple extensions.
“We should be wary that the University does not support five-day simple extensions, and [upholding the decision] will require a concerted effort from student organisations,” said Lia.
Vice-Presidents Rose Donnelly (NLS) and Daniel Bowron (Unity) thanked people for attending the ‘USyd Students for the Voice’ BBQ during Welcome Fest, and announced a rally in September in support of the Voice to Parliament.
Bowron spoke to the success of FoodHub over the semester break, but noted that the program coordinator is under increased pressure. Contact the Vice-Presidents at [email protected] to volunteer at FoodHub.
The first of many factional squabbles erupted during the General Secretaries’ Report, when Deaglan Godwin (Socialist Alternative) asked why the Global Solidarity and Environment Officers — positions occupied by members of SAlt — did not receive an increase in funding. Tiger Perkins (Grassroots) responded, “the University won’t accept that, but we will keep trying for further funding when the next round of applications open.”
A few highlights from the office bearers reports included the Education Officers spruiking the ‘Welfare not Warfare’ rally, the Queer Officers noting the reprinting of Fagi Soit after widespread thefts, and the First Nations Officer announcing the return of Indigenous Honi after a four-year hiatus.
Way ahead of schedule (perhaps due to the delightful absence of the campus Liberals), we heard the first motions of the night, beginning with a broad proposal for the SRC to call upon state MLC Alex Greenwich to strengthen his Equality Bill.
“It is absolutely disappointing how little conviction Alex Greenwich has shown towards equality,” said Timothy Duff.
The motion passed with broad support, except for SAlt — branded “the Catholic caucus” by James Sheriff (Black Flag) — who abstained after beleaguered comrade Yasmine Johnson came under fire for claiming sex work is not, in fact, real work.
A key issue of the night was the Australian Universities Accord, the Interim Report of which was released last month. Several motions, including one against sexual violence on campus moved by Iggy Boyd (Grassroots), made mention of the Accord. However, it was a motion moved by Yasmine Johnson (SAlt) that stirred up the most cross-factional tension.
Johnson called on the SRC to condemn the Higher Education Accords Interim Report and “recognise the futility of engaging in the Accords process” — a proposal which predictably drew opposition from the Labor-aligned factions.
Daniel O’Shea (Unity) expressed support for the Accords process: “we have this platform to engage with the Federal Government. To not use this platform (…) is a waste.”
SAlt offered a counterpoint, with Julius Wittfoth claiming that the report “shows that the Labor Party has nothing to offer to us during a cost of living crisis.”
Alexander Poirier defended the Accords process in the face of heckles from the Socialist Alternative: “unless you [SAlt] have an alternative, your solutions aren’t good enough! Until the revolution comes along, what do we do in the meantime? What comes after?”
“Ask the Soviets, bro!” shouted Angus Dermody (Solidarity) from the back row.
After much argument, and some characteristic grandiloquence from closeted theatre kid Deaglan Godwin, the motion passed with a minor amendment from NLS.
A number of less contentious motions were considered, with councillors touting upcoming actions — notably, the Black Lives Still Matter rally on August 19 — before we found ourselves hearing the final motion of the night, and before midnight at that. After months of eight-hour meetings, the room was buzzing in anticipation of our first same-day finish.
The motion — moved by Women’s Officers Iggy Boyd and Alev Saracoglu (SLA) — called for the abolition of the University’s residential colleges, on the grounds that they have become “far too expensive for anyone who isn’t already well-equipped to afford them.”
“With HECS indexation rising, affordable housing is needed more than ever,” said Boyd.
The motion received broad support, and a notably in character critique from Alexander Poirier: “if we look at the type of music that the colleges perform, it’s mainly Eurocentric music.”
This argument was met with bewilderment from the Council, with SAlt’s Shovan Bhattarai exclaiming “don’t abolish the colleges, just play more Afrobeats!”
The meeting adjourned just before 11:00 and, as USyd’s factional gremlins vanished into the night, Honi prepared to go to bed at a semi-reasonable hour for the first time in months.
Honi provides live coverage of SRC meetings on our Twitter (R.I.P.) and Instagram accounts.
