LIVE: SRC Meeting 02/09/20

Ellie Stephenson attends this month’s meeting.

6:10pm - After some internet hiccups, we’re let into the Zoom meeting for the SRC’s eighth Regular Meeting of the year. President Liam Donohoe’s Report this week noted that the Executive passed a motion to recommend to the Council that the SRC moves to an online election this year, so that’s likely to come up this meeting. We’re currently waiting for a quorum count to determine whether we have enough Councillors present to begin.

The Council is gossiping about apparently circumloquacious Electoral Officer Geoffrey Field. “The man’s a pillar of Australian democracy”, someone says. Secretary to Council Julia Robins is pleased he’s not attending in person: “I would not want to minute that”.

“USyd Rants is such a fucking cesspool”, Liam Donohoe complains. “I blame the Libs”.

We’re now chatting about ‘Waterdrop Twitter’, which NLS member Mikaela Pappou calls “the saddest thing to exist”, and FriendlyJordies unfortunate Twitter notoriety. OK, please let this meeting start.

6:26pm - Still talking about FriendlyJordies, who the Zoom chat has termed “alt right centrist”.

Thankfully, we now have quorum and can finally move on from depressing ALP YouTubers.

There’s some real horseshoe theory going on in the chat, where ModLib Councillor Nicholas Comino says “Gough went to Paul’s I have an electoral mandate to support him”.

President Liam Donohoe does the Acknowledgement of Country, arguing that organisations like the SRC should “think very hard about questions of sovereignty.”

6:30pm - Geoffrey Fields’ Electoral Officer’s Report complains that last minute changes have “caused considerable issues”.

“People, I’m sure by now, understand that we’re dealing with a person who has their own way of doing things”, Liam warns, saying that he can’t necessarily influence what the EO chooses to do.

He says “at this point in time, we will not be moving to an online election”, however there have already been a lot of references to online voting from the EO - apparently this is referring to a BigPulse link which student will be able to use to vote. The difference between a ‘technology assisted election’ and an online election is that the latter would not have in person polling booths or campaigning. Because the election is not fully online, there will still be polling booths in person.

Liam says that “there’s no firm answer as to what an election booth has to be”, with the Regulations only ensuring there are exclusion zones in which people are free to vote. More speculatively, there will probably be QR codes in that area which people can scan and vote.

On the topic of in person campaigning, he says that there is no way the SRC or the EO could stop people from campaigning, however the University would be able to do so. “From what I understand, the University is not especially keen on allowing in person campaigning”, Donohoe explains. This means that individuals could face punishments from the University or the SRC could be punished as an institution if people campaign without USyd’s permission.

This means that everyone will be able to vote, and the lack of campaigning should prevent health hazards.

“It’s not really in anyone’s interests to send like 100 campaigners onto Eastern Avenue”, Liam adds.

On the topic of the deadline for registering to vote, he clarifies that this is the decision of the Returning Officer. “I think the best thing that we can do, is we could plea to the RO for a different approach”, he says.

Jack Mansell (SAlt) asks about the registration issue, complaining that the organisation of the election by the EO has bypassed the Council’s decisions. “In terms of the way that it’s all panned out, it’s like, pretty shambolic”.

Liam responds by moving a motion to move in camera. I’m having flashbacks to USU meetings. Sad.

There’s no dissent to the motion. The councillors and proxies will remain in the main Zoom while visitors leave to a breakout room.

“We're on the kids table”, one of my breakout room compatriots says.

Lily Campbell (SAlt) is complaining that the University is quashing in person elections, given that uni cafes are open, she argues it could easily be COVID safe.

7:14pm - We’re back in the main room, finally. There’s some banter about Trotskyism which is even worse than being in breakout exile. Let’s move on.

The EO’s report has finally been moved.

A two minute speaking limit has been imposed, thankfully.

7:20pm - A bunch of reports from OBs are either absent (@the General Secretaries) or taken as read.

Jack Mansell speaks on the Education Officers’ Report - although it’s only been two weeks since the last council, there is still a lot to talk about. He praises the “sizeable” turnout of last Wednesday’s protest against the Government’s fee increases. He criticises the extent of the police response, calling it a “bad precedent” and suggesting that it’s “hypocritical” to curtail the democratic right to protest at the moment.

Jazz Breen (Grassroots) flags that Education Action Group and WoCo will be covering the cost of a bus to take activists to the coronial inquest into Tane Chatfield’s death in custody.

7:25pm - It’s now Liam Donohoe’s Presidential report. He says that the SRC is looking to continue and formalise its mutual aid program and commends the inaugural SRC Informs session on Tuesday. He calls the “enormous cavalry” of police at Wednesday’s protest as “fucked” and says he will ask University Management to stop police from harassing students on campus.

“If we don’t have protests, we don’t have that democratic right up our sleeve, we’re absolutely fucking toast”, he tells Council.

7:29pm - Holly Hayne (SAlt) speaks on the Report of the Global Solidarity Officers. “Obviously the repression stuff is, like, really bad, and really outrageous actually”, she says of last Wednesday’s rally. She adds that the campaign to stop fee increases is bringing in new students and has “the majority of students on [its] side”.

7:35pm - Kigen Mera, one of the International Student Officers, discusses working with the NGO ‘Food not Bombs’ which has been feeding people in need, which could be very important for international students who are “struggling and reducing their food intake… every day”.

7:36pm - Motion 1: ‘Financial support for activists fined at education protests’

Jack Mansell says “I think it’s important that student unions set the precedent of giving financial support to activist that need it”. He adds that it’s important that students aren’t deterred from protesting because of the risk of fines.

Eddie Stephenson (SAlt) (no relation to me, to be clear) talks about how police have been “cynical” and “deliberately quashing” protests. “We really need to make a commitment… to make activism accessible to the broadest layer of students possible", she says.

There’s no dissent - not even from the Liberals on Council.

7:42pm - Motion 2: ‘Solidarity against fascist terror in the United States’

Maddie Powell (SAlt) says, reflecting on recent far-right violence in the US, that fascist violence is not an “aberration” but “a byproduct of capitalism”. “Here in Australia we have a bipartisan policy of ongoing genocide against Indigenous people”, she adds, pointing to the way mainstream politics enables far right terror. This hits close to home, she concludes, because of the rise of the far-right in Australia and specifically on campus.

Maddie’s dog whines in the background, and gets termed Antifa Dog.

Holly Hayne echoes Maddie’s argument: “it is the mainstream that lays the groundwork for the far-right”. She adds that the media response has been particularly appalling, excusing and justifying fascist violence.

The motion carries.

7:50pm - Motion 3: ‘Democracy is Essential: Fight for the Right to Protest in NSW’

Jack Mansell calls the crackdown on protests “appalling”, explaining that mechanisms like move on orders and COVID-19 rules are being used in a repressive way. He says that resistance to this trend will involve “defiance in the streets” along with a “political campaign to make the argument that protests are essential”.

Grace Bowskill (SAlt) points to a number of issues, like BLM, which require protest and mobilisation.

Lily Campbell says “it’s worth noting as well, we’re not actually in a lockdown, Broadway Shopping Centre is open”. She says this means it is “particularly cynical and outrageous” that protests are banned. “There hasn’t yet been evidence of a transmission in NSW”, she points out, given that they are largely socially distanced and people wear masks.

The motion passes.

The Democracy is Essential Open Statement can be found here.

7:59pm - Motion 4: ‘The Fight against Job Cuts at the University of Sydney’.

Deaglan Godwin (SAlt) says that cuts to courses and jobs at universities transcend departments. He adds that voluntary redundancies are “aimed at vulnerable staff” and “remove full-time equivalent positions, but that work doesn’t go away… which just further entrenches casualisation in the university sector”.

Simon Upitis says that in his history classes, the tutors are also the lecturers, which illustrates the loss of staff jobs and the poor treatment of staff across the board. “It’s very clear that plenty of students are willing to get involved” in the struggle against course cuts.

Swapnik Sanagavarapu (Grassroots) says that it’s “entirely farcical” that the University is running out of money, pointing to its huge reserves, its credit ratings and assets. “By cutting 30% of full-time equivalent staff, you’re just losing a wealth of intellectual capital”, he argues. “Ultimately, I think by making the argument that this is significantly going to impede the quality of learning… we can get a lot of people on board”.

Maddie Clark (SAlt) says “the University hasn’t even seen a drop in enrolments… they’re using the crisis to push through a massive restructure”. She says that students have observed their education becoming worse quality, which has made it particularly clear that “staff working conditions are student learning conditions”.

There’s no dissent to the motion.

8:08pm - Motion 5: ‘Money to support First Nations self-determination for travel’

Education Officer Jazz Breen has moved this motion from the floor. The motion calls for the SRC to pay $1200 for a bus for Indigenous communities to help transport to court dates, inquests and other events for families of people who have died in custody. “Access to a bus would mean tangible Indigenous self-determination for First Nations families”, Jazz argues.

The motion passes without dissent.

8:12pm - the meeting closes within 2 hours; a “record pace” says Liam.