This week, the
University of Sydney Union passed an important milestone – our largest number
of members since the introduction of Voluntary Student Unionism (VSU), we are now a
community of 16,500 strong. We are a community who attend over 2,000 different
events each year, join an average of 3.7 clubs per person and in 2013 saved a total of $471,918 through on-campus
discounts alone.
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| Our ACCESS card casuals |
It is
difficult, though, as a student in 2014 to conceive of the University of Sydney
community as it would have been just eight years ago, prior to the abolition of Compulsory Student Unionism (CSU). Back then, the Union had the financial means to
provide 200 additional events per year, dedicated faculty common spaces, more
regular publications, and more support to creative and cultural pursuits on
campus.
For many of
you, the history lesson will be familiar – in 2006 the Howard Government
introduced legislation to ban compulsory membership to student organisations
around the country through VSU. At many Universities,
student unions ceased operations or were absorbed by University administration
– decreasing available services and reducing student control over the services
which remained.
In many ways,
the worst impacts of VSU on the University of Sydney
Union were avoided through the introduction of the Student Services and
Amenities Fee (SSAF) in October 2011. Under the new regime, universities were able to
charge a fee to be allocated to a specified range of student services – many of
you probably know it as the bizarre second FEE-HELP form you have to fill in,
or the nagging reminders from the University to pay.
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| The SSAF allows the Union to foster student talents |
The SSAF was not,
nor has it ever been, intended as a total saviour for student organisations.
Each year, the various student organisations on this campus must enter heated
negotiations to apply the SSAF funds to the most expansive and most inclusive
picture of the student experience conceivable. And that isn’t an easy feat.
In that
context, then, calls from two Federal Liberal Party backbenchers this week for
the abolition of the SSAF are worrying in light of the Union’s efforts to
provide an increasingly more relevant and expansive student experience.
It is tempting
to view this issue of student unionism as a squarely partisan debate – of
fiscal conservatives waging an ideological war against profligate leftist
student Unionists. Indeed, much of the political discourse regarding the
SSAF reads like a student politics playbook of
the 1970s and 1980s. One can’t help but get the feeling that the grown up
student politicians draw some sick satisfaction from reliving the glory days of
bitter rivalries on the University of Sydney front lawns. But their nostalgia
couldn’t be further from the reality of the experience of students who are
today the beneficiaries of the compulsory services fee. Indeed, our student
community has a different meaning for the student who seeks out social networks
and an inclusive community, for the student who looks to extra-curricular leadership
experience as an indispensable necessity in their future career, or for the
struggling student who turns to their campus community for welfare and support.
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| Re O-Day 2014 - an opportunity to join our Clubs & Societies Program |
The services of
the Union are not, and should never be, valued purely in economic terms. If you
asked me to justify, in a strict financial sense, a USU outlet at the
Conservatorium of Music, a society based on a sport created in a fantasy novel,
a festival dedicated to student art and culture, or a grants system for
students wishing to undertake humanitarian work that they are unable to
personally finance – I’ll be honest, I would struggle. The Union often supports
programs and services based on their contribution to a holistic student
experience, not their financial return. And we wouldn’t have it any other way.
There is plenty of time for penny-pinching when drab investment banking stalls
at careers fairs become an everyday reality – but that certainly isn’t the
ethos with which we approach supporting our student community.
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| The SSAF helps us provide campus spaces, used by many students |
Beyond that,
every student today has benefitted from the contributions of students prior –
who have funded, worked within, refined and developed an infrastructure of
student services which may today provide for a growing campus of 52,000 strong.
Whatever agency students may have not to join clubs and societies, to never
read a student publication, and to avoid all on-campus food and drink services
– we cannot escape the contributions of previous students to developing an
inclusive and expansive campus; to working with the University to improve
student welfare, course and assessment policies and standards; and growing our
campus community. Exercising ‘agency’ to avoid financially contributing to that
culture is to reap rewards without giving back.
But the Board
doesn’t intend to sit around complaining about it either. We were vindicated this year when a reduction
in the price of the ACCESS card increased memberships by more than 12% (a very
pleasant surprise). Many of the current Board of Directors were elected on
platforms of making the ACCESS card truly accessible to all – in a universal,
free format. We remain committed to working towards that ideal. We value the
support provided by our 16,500 strong membership to the continuation of this
program.
We look forward to growing it with you into the future,
TIM MATTHEWS
BOARD DIRECTOR
