SRC? Explain it to me!

Emily Graetz and Jayfel Tulabing-Lee break down the Student Representative Council.

You trudge your way through another lockdown, wipe the memories of winter school from your mind and brace yourself for another semester of online uni. Does anyone truly understand my struggles, you wonder to yourself? Am I alone in this vast universe of failed special consideration applications, funding-cuts and social inequality? Well, dear Pulp reader, the Student Representative Council (SRC) might have something to say about that!

Who are they? What are they?

The peak representative body for undergraduate students, the SRC has been run by students since 1929 and exists to ‘defend and advance the interests of USyd students’. They provide services including caseworker help for academic, housing, financial, accommodation, International students’ and centrelink issues as well as a free legal service. Those elected to represent the SRC advocate for student voices within the university as well as leading and participating in activism more broadly. The SRC also provides funding and support for key student publications, like our old friend Honi Soit. 

Current president, Swapnik Sanagavarapu says that the SRC have had some big wins in representing students this year. Outside of their regular services, he notes the success of the charge against 12-week semesters, implementation of a free FoodHub alongside the University of Sydney Union, Study NSW & Foodbank Australia, building a student contingency for the climate strikes, advocating for Medical Science students’ whose learning spaces were being threatened and calling for increased disaster relief payments. Sanagavarapu says the SRC are also continuing to fight some important administrative and policy battles particularly to do with Special Considerations, academic appeals and course restructures. 

There’s more than one student body though?

You betcha! You might have heard of the University of Sydney Union who provide programs, facilitates and services to the student body in the form of events, publications and campus outlets. Then of course, there’s the Sydney University Postgraduate Representative Association (SUPRA) who are the postgraduate student body that provide assistance on things like renting, special consideration and visas and migration. 

The SRC however, are more explicitly political in their representation. For most of the SRC’s history, their representation and advocacy has aligned with left-wing and progressive causes and they actively protest against some of the questionable decision making within the university as well as advocating for political change more broadly. 

Where does the money come from?

In 2021, the SRC received $1,915,317.77 of base funding from the Student Services and Amenities Fee (which you pay upfront or defer as a student). Unlike the USU (who also receive 5 million + in funding from SSAF), the SRC doesn’t run any commercial operations and students don’t pay anything to them to benefit from their services. So, aside from a small donation made to an Honi Soit writing competition, this is the only funding the SRC receives. 

Despite managing to function effectively and break even each year, Sanagavarapu says that a lack of funding remains one of the council’s ongoing struggles, which he puts down to a change in university funding legislation where student bodies like the SRC need to fulfil “quite rigorous KPI requirements and reporting requirements”.

“There’s also the fact that “the university just doesn’t really like the SRC that much…[because] they don’t see much utility in student representation often because the student representation is directed against them”, he explains.

What does the SRC structure look like?

The SRC is composed of numerous bodies that all come together to create a functioning team. It consists of: the President, Vice President, General Secretaries, General Executives, Councillors, the Standing Legal Committee, Directors of Student Publications (DSP’s), Honi Soit, and the Collectives. 

The President does the bulk of the administrative and organising work of the SRC. They are part of countless committees and attend endless meetings, serving as a figurehead and representative for the entire undergraduate student body. Their workloads are typically so immense that they take significantly reduced study load - and appropriately so, they receive an annual salary of about $40k. 

The Vice Presidency is typically split between two people and so is their stipend - which is regularly contested. Their roles are somewhat undefined but overall, they support the President, attend meetings, take part in promotional work and generally support the operations of the SRC. 

The General Secretaries bear the brunt of the organisational and administrative work for the day-to-day functionings of the SRC, like keeping the SRC’s finances and serving as the directors of the Legal Service. They too have stipends.

The General Executives are a smaller council of sorts. They meet every three weeks to approve operational procedures and maintain accountability within the SRC. They also help to advise paid executive positions and increase the collective knowledge of the SRC. 

The Councillors and Officebearers serve the more focused interests of students and it is their role to serve students within the positions they hold. An example would be one of  this year’s Welfare Officers, Lia Perkins (Grassroots), starting the ‘Welfare Action Group’, and actioning meetings and organising protests in the interest of students’ welfare. Other positions include International Students, Queer, Wom*ns, Global Solidarity... there’s quite a few! 

The Standing Legal Committee comprises a chairperson, the President, VP, GenSecs and 2 elected members of the council. This committee oversees all the regulatory changes of the SRC and any matters that are referred to them by the Council. Their powers are purely advisory. 

Honi Soit is the University’s other student publication which is, very proudly, the only weekly student publication in Australia. They are notorious for their colourful and sometimes controversial reporting and their close relationship with student politics, in and out of journalism (We miss you Miss Soit x). 

The DSP’s are in charge of reading every edition of Honi Soit every week before it is published. They make sure that nothing is published that could be defamatory, or anything that could put the SRC in a compromising position. Despite being quite an important role, they have faced criticism for their inactivity. 

Most importantly, the SRC employs staff. These are administrative staff, counsellors, lawyers, advisors and caseworkers that ensure that the day-to-day services of the SRC can continue. They are absolutely pivotal to providing the services and care that matter the most to students and should not be overlooked. We don’t vote for them, but their work is highly valued. 

What are the collectives?

There is no specific way to describe the Collectives. They are activist organising groups, political learning spaces, autonomous groups for solidarity, even a place to meet new people and make life-long friends. They host regular meetings where members can discuss current political issues, organise the next student movements or contingents to larger protests and organise social events and reading groups. 

There are a range of groups including the Education Action Group, Environment, Wom*n’s, Queer, Anti-Racism, Indigenous and Disabilities Collectives. You can find out more about these groups and how to get involved in the action here. 

Mmm 2021 isn’t going so well. Surely the SRC are facing some challenges?

Financial restraints remain a longstanding challenge for the SRC and like any other organisation or student group, they’re are continuing to face Covid-19 related hurdles. This includes having had to transfer all of their services to online spaces and struggling to engage with students in the digital world. 

Sanagavarapu says that “I guess being regularly in touch with students is a difficulty. A lot of the work we do happens behind the scenes and it would be good for people to be more aware of it but of course some of that blame lies on us as well. It’s not to say people are just disengaged for whatever reason. We are definitely trying to make more of an effort to actively reach out to students”.

In general though, the SRC is an inherently political body so it’ll come as no surprise that meetings and elections are also known to get pretty rowdy. Exceptional moments of drama and scandal aren’t unheard of; there have been failed promises of hefty donations, reports of a tampered fuse box and even a Liberal student politician falsely identifying himself as a woman so he could be elected under affirmative action.

I’m confused about all this election business

That’s fair. It is confusing, especially considering there’s actually four simultaneous elections occurring. Elections are held in Semester 2 for the following year’s council and include voting for the President, Councillors, the National Union of Students delegates and the Honi Soit editorial team. 

If you get around to voting this year (and we strongly recommend you do), you’ll firstly take your pick of a President. Secondly, you’ll fill out the ballot to elect the 39 SRC councillors who also make up the General Executive, General Secretaries, Vice Presidents and Office Bearers who we mentioned earlier. Thirdly you’ll vote for your National Union of Students (NUS) delegates of which there are 7. Finally, you’ll take your pick of the Honi Soit tickets. The Honi tickets are made up of a maximum of 10 people and the ticket that wins the election goes on to edit the newspaper as a team. 

Like the federal senate we vote in, the SRC system is optional preferential voting, with both above the line ‘ticket’ voting and below the line voting in the representatives and delegates elections. This means you can vote for individuals or a collective ticket (kind of like a factional party) if you please. 

Nominations for the 2022 SRC positions closed on the 25th of August and elections will take place in week 7. Keep an eye on your student media over the coming weeks to stay up to date with election coverage. 

How can I stay in touch with the SRC?

We know that student representation and activism can seem kind of intimidating but the SRC are there to help and all in all, they do really important work on our campus. They advocate for students’ interests, provide representation and support for those having a tough time and offer a chance for you to get involved in the things that matter. You can stay up to date with them on their Facebook, Instagram and their website. You can even cut straight to the chase and get in touch with your President, Swapnik Sanagavarapu, at president@src.usyd.edu.au or at one of his consultation hours. 

Jayfel Tulabing-Lee is a member of Switch and a current SRC Councillor.