A lack of portfolio reports made the public session of the October USU Board meeting uncharacteristically short. The Board discussed the USU’s deficit in September, a new agreement with the University to give the union deductible gift recipient (DGR) status, and the USU’s 2025 SSAF applications.
The meeting opened with the September financial report delivered by Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Michelle Tonge. The USU recorded a $187,000 deficit with an annual surplus still expected. When asked by Honi Soit what happened, Honorary Treasurer James Dwyer (Unity) said that “construction has blocked access to some USU venues,” like ABS cafe. Tonge also noted that the union had high employment costs that were fixed.
There was plenty of news on the clubs and societies front with Honorary Secretary Julia Lim (Independent) saying in her report that there was an increase in new society applications. A new committee to run the USU Debating Society has been appointed and Issue 18 of PULP has been sent to the printers. In his President’s report, Bryson Constable (Liberal) praised the debates dinner and the recent Clubs and Societies awards night. He was pleased that “no club won two awards.”
Honi asked why the attendance for Glitter Gala, the USU’s flagship queer event, was so low this year. Less than a third of the 150 people expected to attend showed up and organisers were desperate to fill seats. Constable dodged the question and said that the USU would generally like more attendance at all events and had a “holistic strategy” which did not focus on one event.
The Union’s finances continue to be strong with Constable informing the Board that “we have achieved [SSAF] funding for every one of our projects” for 2025. The Board also passed a motion to give in principle support for the Union to create a DGR agreement with the University. The new revenue stream would allow the USU to receive tax deductible donations, an arrangement Sydney University Sport and Fitness (SUSF) already has.
Turning to the USU’s investment review, the Board was quick to pat themselves on the back on how environmentally sustainable the union was. Constable thanked Dwyer and Sargun Saluja (NLS) for their work on the project and jokingly stated that the union had to “wait for the world to catch up to us.”
Since submissions were due last week, Honi asked Constable about the progress of the University’s working group examining divestment. Constable said there had been a meeting to consider those submissions and that more meetings were on the way before any report was delivered.
The USU’s plan to incorporate is also on track. Ben Hines (Libdependent) was absent but Lim gave a summary of his report which said the results of more surveys would be made available to the Board and more formal discussions with the University were taking place.
The meeting was closed at 3:03pm with another session to be scheduled for November.
