Below the City Road footbridge, nestled underground in the basement floor of the Wentworth Building, lies one of the most important institutions on campus: the Students’ Representative Council (SRC). Known for its elections and forgotten for its important services, the SRC has been here since before the reception staff can remember.
The SRC provides loans, free caseworker help, legal advice, amongst many other things like referrals, and consultations to undergraduate students. While many struggle to conceptualise the organisation’s breadth or impact, it is the bastion of student services.
According to Publications Manager Mickie Quick, the SRC was previously located in the Brendan McCallum building and moved here around the 1980s. Despite recurring promises to move the office and plans of demolition, the SRC remains within these walls, untouched by natural-light. There is only one service elevator remaining, a sign the university does intend to proceed with their promises. Rowan Cahill, an Honi Soit contributor from the 1960s, commented, “it was like visiting the underworld of a lost planet in an old science fiction movie!”
While the Wentworth Building is property of the University of Sydney Union (USU) it’s unclear whether the SRC pays some sort of rent. Most problematically, the University and the University of Sydney Union (USU) have failed to respond to the ‘Wentworth Must Fall’ campaign to rename the Wentworth Building. A central figure in so-called Sydney’s formation, William Wentworth imported slaves, aided the dispossession, enslavement and massacres of First Nations peoples. The campaign continues and awaits action from student politicians and the University.
So, what lies within the fluorescent hallways, hidden from the reality of the sun?
SRC Caseworker Offices
The SRC does much regarding casework, student legal help and the functioning of things on campus that one wouldn’t give a second glance. Caseworkers provide assistance on a range of matters including “academic rights & appeals, special consideration & special arrangements, HECS & fee refunds, academic misconduct & dishonesty allegations, show cause & exclusion, Centrelink, financial issues, tenancy & accommodation, and harassment & discrimination”. While the office used to be open to drop-ins and phone consultations, the influx of requests over the Covid years forced consultations onto only zoom and phone calls. This continues. Current SRC President, Harrison Brennan, recalls that around the midpoint of last year, the caseworkers reached annual average load.
SRC Solicitor Offices
SRC legal services are free and cover a variety of issues, including “police & court matters, traffic, transport offences and fines, immigration law & visas, employment law, consumer rights, tribunal matters, witness / certify documents and more…”.
Storeroom
Next to the solicitor rooms, this room was formerly the Women’s Room, until mould and leaky aircon engulfed.
SRC President Office
This room houses SRC President, currently Harrison Brennan, who oversees the executive function of the union, fielding funding requests, and engages with the collectives and Academic Board on issues related to students. The office used to be home to the famed and apparently cum-stained couch, until it’s removal in 2021.
Ish Varlin Room: Office Bearer Room
Room for the office bearers, renamed after the late Ishtiaq Varlin — long-time trade union and environmental activist — in 2022. The office bearers occupy a variety of roles, primarily convening autonomous and non-autonomous activist collectives and creating publications. To find out what they all get up to, check out their reports in Honi each week. The room is littered with paint, protest banners, signs and flyers.
Sam Langford Office: Honi Soit Office
Where all the Honi editors spend their long Sundays laying up the paper. The office is commemoratively named after the late Sam Langford, a genius editor from 2016.
Gosper Meeting Room:
Adorned with past covers of Honi, and filled with welcome week bags, the Gosper Meeting Room is a multi-use space named after JM Gosper, the first ever President of the SRC in 1930.
PULP Office
The basement also now houses the USU-funded magazine, PULP.
For more information on loans, caseworker help, and legal advice, visit the SRC website, contact reception Monday-Friday from 9 to 5pm at 02 9660 5222. The SRC is located on Level 1, Wentworth Building (G01), Darlington/Camperdown campus, University of Sydney, 174 City Rd, Darlington NSW 2008.
