Whether it was the hammer that this was the last meeting of the current Board Directors coming down, or whether Lorde’s new album was infecting that saccharine atmosphere, June’s University of Sydney Union (USU) Board meeting was a remarkably short and sweet affair.
Incumbent Board members Noah Rancan (Liberal) and Layla Wang (Independent) were present in the room, whilst Archie Wolifson (Independent) and Sally Liu (Penta) were present on Zoom. This meant each of the six newly-elected directors had been present for at least one Board meeting before their term formally began on 1st July.
Since the last Board meeting, the new executive positions were elected, along with committee appointments and portfolios for the next directorial team. These are as follows:
President: Phan Vu (Independent).
Vice President: Georgia Zhang (Independent).
Honorary Treasurer: James Dwyer (Unity).
Honorary Secretary: Ethan Floyd (Independent).
Directors of Student Publications: Noah Rancan and Sally Liu.
Committee appointees:
Finance: Archie Wolifson.
P&C: Layla Wang.
Electoral: Noah Rancan.
Awards: Michelle Choy (Independent).
C&S: Sally Liu.
Governance: Annika Wang (Independent).
Debates: Archie Wolifson.
Portfolio holders:
Womens: Annika Wang.
Queer: Annika Wang.
Environment: Layla Wang.
Ethnocultural: Sally Liu.
International Students: Annika Wang.
Disabilities: Annika Wang.
Student Accomodation/Colleges: Archie Wolifson.
First Nations: Ethan Floyd.
Equity: Layla Wang.
With this now reported, the ex camera session began.
USU Finance Manager Michelle Liang joined the meeting to deliver the finance report. She addressed a forecasted surplus in May: key food and beverage outlets like Abercrombie Cafe and Fisher cafe reported low sales due to poor weather and building access, while HostCo Sydney Catering and the USU investment portfolios were the key contributors to the surplus. Retail sales tracked well; year-on-year discrepancies as to when the end of semester one occurs makes it difficult to track sales peaks.
President Bryson Constable (Liberal) queried about the specific outlets which seem to be consistently profitable. He noticed that certain outlets like those in the Jane Foss Russell building seemed to be “more efficient, but sales are lower… while specific outlets like ABS [Abercrombie Cafe] are more profitable.” He asked whether this was inherent to the outlets or due to a specific food and beverage strategy by the USU.
Director of Operational Services and Systems Steve Moore spoke to this, and clarified that it is both the geography of these outlets and the fact that they are targeted in the USU food and beverage strategy. This is clearly the most sensible but boring answer to the question. Where has the passion for Moore beers gone?
Senate-Appointed Director (SAD) Michael Bromley pushed the line of inquiry: “The original May budget we beat substantially, but the re-forecast budget was missed. What happened between these?”
Moore framed the re-forecasted budgets as an attempt from the finance team to recover losses earlier in the financial year, and said it was important to note the USU still beat the originally forecast May budget. His final comment was that they “need to strike a better balance between what is realistic and what the Board’s aspirations are.”
The report was noted. The Board moved on to executive reports.
Honorary Secretary Julia Lim got “a little sentimental writing this one”, and began the chain of executive reports littered with ‘thank yous’ and remarks on the work the Board had done over the last twelve months. She thanked the Clubs and Societies committee, which she “shamelessly said was my favourite committee”, and shouted out the casuals and volunteers who “make clubs and societies happen.”
She added that the USU will be implementing their new clubs and societies application form and guidelines in the lead up to semester two. When asked by Honi about what these changes looked like in practicality, Lim commented that they mostly involved refining the details on the application form, including “clarifying the longevity of the [prospective] club, making the aims and purposes more clear, and the frequently asked questions clearer as well.”
Honorary Treasurer James Dwyer was not present for the meeting, and Constable delivered his report. Constable shared that they had called the morning of the meeting to say their ‘thank yous’, and “he wanted me to pass on that he is keen to stay in the treasurer position for another year.” This is the only executive role which is remaining the same in the next Board.
Vice President Ben Hines delivered his report next. He celebrated the results of the Special General Meeting (SGM) this week, in which the motion to support legal incorporation passed with 95 per cent support from the USU community. Hines tracked the next steps of incorporation, in which assets need to be audited and motions need to be prepared to formalise the transfer of assets from the current USU to the incorporated USU. This will be finalised, he flagged, with “a final approval of the membership, since we are committed to making this process happen with them, not just for them.”
Hines then remarked on committees within his mandate as Vice President. He detailed how his assessment of committees had taken a more holistic approach this year, imbued in “the recommendations I’ve been implementing throughout the last few months.” He concluded that “it’s time we consolidated [committees with overlapping mandates] to ensure they have the right number of staff and Board members on each of them.”
Wait, no, he hadn’t concluded there. It was then Hines’ turn to dish out his ‘thank yous’. Hines remarked that he found it quite meaningful to be a part of the Board which finally approved incorporation, and that “we’ve come such a far way in almost every aspect, and that isn’t just due to the Board but the fantastic staff at the USU.” With easily the longest run on the Board of all the current student representatives, Hines reflected that “it’s an interesting organisation where the USU makes you feel old at 25”, and truly concluded his speech with “goodbye for now.”
In honour of your five year tenure on Board, Hines, I won’t comment on the fact that the ex camera session was about as long as the time I was outside the Cullen room waiting to be let into the meeting.
The final executive report to be delivered was that of the President. Constable first addressed the lack of an annual expenses report as no Board director had claimed expenses over the last twelve months. He commented on the soon-to-be-released 2025 USU strategy overview, a “really good overview of what we’ve done for the past twelve months… to be used as an internal document, but also external.” Honi are keeping a keen eye out for this to be released on the USU website.
Constable then began the longest chain of ‘thank yous’, addressing every Board Director and their work on the board. For the sake of brevity, I’ll keep this part of the recount brief and listed:
Constable thanked:
- “All the staff. What I’ve realised over the last twelve months is that the organisation is special because of the staff.”
- Hines, “you’ve saved me from violating [the constitution] a number of times.”
- Lim, “you’ve always been steady and rational, often times walking me off a cliff with decisions.”
- Dwyer, “he has stepped up massively this year… he’s moved us towards long-term financial sustainability.”
- Grace Porter (Unity), who “has been a star with the Student Safety Conference.”
- Sargun Saluja (NSWLS), who has “been an absolute pleasure to work with at all times and smashed the ESG [Environmental Social Governance Strategy] launch.”
- Grace Wallman (Independent), who he congratulated for the launch of the Disabilities Inclusion Action Plan (DIAP).
- Incumbent President Vu, who was “invaluable for incorporation.”
- Georgia Zhang, who was “also invaluable, you’ve had a lot to do with six months in the country and you’ve been exceptional.”
- Shirley Zhang (Independent), who “has been largely behind the push to getting the USU on RedNote.”
- Floyd, who “has played a continual role in centering Indigenous voices and has made great contributions to governance.”
Phew. Constable then proceeded to his final remarks. He shared that “it’s been incredibly difficult to do this role”, but incredibly rewarding. He shared his wisdom with the incumbent Board: “You’ll come across many Board members and staff members who come from different backgrounds. You must remember at all times to see the human behind the ideas. A collaborative and passionate USU is one which is efficient and high-performing and safe.”
With the final executive report, we reached verbal portfolio updates. Saluja shared that she’s “come to love the board so much”, and spoke to handing over the ESG guide to anyone who requests it, to help “make the USU more environmentally sustainable”. Shirley Zhang also shared a very short set of ‘thank yous’.
Finally, we arrived at the open question section, in which Honi inquired as to a few logistical questions regarding USU information sharing. Firstly, we asked about the location of the Board minutes for 2025, as well as for individual posted notice of upcoming board meetings, as these were, at the time, not available on the Governance page of the USU website. Constable responded that there’s been a pivot towards minutes being “on request, but I have no problem putting them on the Governance page again.” Good. Honi would like to see this actioned soon for the benefit of the student community.
We next asked about the Board statements accessible online. For a brief period this year, the University of Sydney Union Board Statement on Proposed Actions in Response to RepsElect Incident (2024) and USU Board Statement in support of the Voice to Parliament were inaccessible online. They had since been reuploaded to the Governance page at the time of the meeting. We asked why this had occurred in the first place. Constable simply replied that “we updated how our website was structured, there was no intent” to hide the reports, and they are now available again online.
Following this, we inquired as to the state of the independent investigation into the RepsElect incident outlined in the report above. Constable passed to Bromley to respond due to his reported conflict of interest as Vice President of the Conservative Club. Bromley shared that “we went through an investigation, we identified some key actions, and identified that the University’s investigation was still going… we’re waiting on output from the University’s investigation before we continue” or take any decisive action. Hines jumped on this, and clarified that “the University’s findings will not influence our independent investigation. It will be done through the USU with best practice, independent from the University and conflicts of interest.”
So the investigation is entirely independent and not at all reliant on the University, but also will not be continued, let alone finalised, until the University has released their own findings? Got it.
Finally, I asked Constable, apart from incorporation, “how do you want your Presidency to be remembered?” I’ve decided I’ll finish this write-up with his remarks. Thank you again for tuning in to Honi’s coverage of the USU board, and we’ll see you in a month with a whole host of new characters, roles, and factions (including the increasingly ambiguous “independent”).
Constable: “For incorporation! No no, when I spoke to Honi twelve months ago I emphasised stability. I’d like to reflect on financial stability, taking account of investments and designing them with purpose. I can’t be the judge of this but for the past twelve months the student experience has been maintained in terms of our festivals and clubs, and our larger events like Welcome Fest… I think we’ve continued to innovate the Board and our governance. So I’d say incorporation, the 2025 strategy, and long-term sustainability in the USU.”
Editors Note: Current Honi Soit editor Victor Zhang is an employee of the USU. He is not involved in any of the coverage of USU matters for Honi Soit.
