2020 Senate Election: Meet your Postgraduate Candidates
The 2020 USyd Senate Election is on! If you’re not sure what this Election is about, go check out Pulp’s explainer here. Otherwise, read on to see what this year’s postgraduate candidates want to achieve. Check the link at the end of the article to see the candidates’ full responses to our questions.
Abhiraj Das, Carmen-Mary Maatouk, Rengen Miles Parlane and Sayan Mitra did not respond to Pulp’s questions.
Hamidreza Arash Araghi
Degree: final year of Doctor of Philosophy
Faction/Party: Independent
Fun fact: People tell me that I am a good listener, a dedicated candidate and a great challenger.
Arash is running for Senate based on his experience with working with postgraduate students and his “understanding of the challenges postgraduates would often encounter particularly as international students”. He has led a postgraduate research committee in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, which ran social and educational programs to engage students.
He wants to improve student engagement through things like “interdisciplinary faculty sport events, professional/ industry engagement month and seminars or events.” He identifies strengthening student welfare as a priority, aiming to advocate for the expansion of student support systems. Elaborating on what better student support would look like, he told us that better support for students seeking careers would solve “uncertainty” about students’ careers.
Another policy suggested by Arash was an anti-bullying committee for all postgraduates, attempting to solve “the existence of covert bullying by staff”. He believes this committee should collaborate with SUPRA.
Regarding how he will consult with students, Arash promised to run surveys every six months to seek feedback from students, organise group seminars to communicate changes with students, one-on-one appointments, and collaboration with SUPRA.
Arash’s suggestions for USyd’s financial recovery from COVID-19 centred on improving student employability and expanding the size of the student cohort. He thought this could be achieved using “interdisciplinary online short courses or general educations”. Given many students already have concerns about the lack of rigour and relevance of programs like interdisciplinary impact units and OLEs, whether online short courses would meaningfully improve students’ education is questionable.
Arash aims to represent international students through “mentorship programs”, “social activities” and “further developed start up schemes” in order to improve social support and provide students with more opportunities.
Arash did not answer our question about the Higher Education Support Amendment Bill, which is problematic given the Bill will have a huge effect on the university sector over the coming years. Overall, his platform is clearly based on experience with postgraduate students’ unique interests and experiences, but his convictions about how the University should be run are a little unclear.
Lachlan Finch
Degree: Master of Commerce I
Party/Faction: Liberal
Fun fact: I'm a Gemini! (Whatever that means)
Lachlan is running for postgraduate Senate Fellow as a duo with undergraduate Gabrielle Stricker-Phelps - a novel strategy. They haven’t directly explained how they would make decisions if both elected to the Senate, but judging by the fact that their answers to our questions were almost identical, it seems as though their visions for the University are very, very similar.
It remains to be seen whether this coordinated approach will be good for students. Perhaps being able to work together could strengthen the student voice on Senate. However, there are some potential issues with the move. Being in lockstep could limit discourse and student representation: there was little in Lachlan’s statements that reflect the specific interests of postgraduate students. Thousands of students’ interests could be riding on the duo’s decisions, so these are important considerations.
Lachlan is an experienced student politician, having served as Vice President of the USU last year. He has been a member of the Moderate Liberals on campus and is a member of the Liberal Party of Australia.
Gabrielle and Lachlan are advocating for improvements to the Student Centre, a review of SSAF and more transparency from the University. Rather than elaborating in responding to our questions, they linked their campaign website, https://www.demandbetterfromusyd.com. The site promises to fight ProctorU and oppose trimesters.
One policy which could prove controversial is the review into SSAF. It is SSAF which funds USyd’s student unions, and cutting it would likely damage student activism, advocacy and campus life. A cut to SSAF could prove particularly dangerous to the USU’s already precarious finances during COVID-19. Despite the call for a SSAF review, Lachlan did commit to fully supporting the USU in order to reinvigorate campus life. It would be helpful to know exactly what Lachlan sees as a favourable result of the review and whether the policy implies cuts to the SRC and SUPRA.
On transparency, Lachlan argued that “the transparency of the Senate must improve.” He promised to ensure the meetings are publicly viewable and the body’s decisions are circulated to students. He has also committed to maintaining relationships with clubs and societies and bodies like the USU and the SRC. He also suggested “setting up forums where students feel comfortable and encouraged to speak up about their issues”.
On the question of the University’s financial management, Lachlan stated that “it would not be prudent for me to suggest ways to cut costs or source revenue without a more informed understanding of the specific and accurate position of the university”. Although it is reasonable not to commit to precise financial policies, a major role of the Senate is to determine the strategic direction of the University. Some indication of Lachlan’s plans for this direction would be helpful to students.
He was, however, willing to oppose the Government’s recently passed HESA Bill, suggesting that “A steep hike in fees mean that potential bright, talented and motivated students may not pursue humanities degrees due to the fear of an increased debt burden” and describing the bill as “tragic” and “seriously disappointing”.
Some of Lachlan’s clearest commitments were about international students’ welfare. He promised to “push for an inquiry into more flexible fee payments for international students” and advocated for better lobbying for international student Opal cards.
He also had a strong vision for student support, suggesting better training and resourcing of the Student Centre to provide students with “greater access to information about degree requirements and progression”. He added that the University’s student support systems need improvement in their delivery and marketing, as well as more tailored support for international students.
Lachlan’s platform engages with some important issues, however whether students believe his collaboration with Gabrielle Stricker Phelps will work in their interests remains to be seen.