ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY This edition was put together on the stolen lands of the Bidjigal and Gadigal peoples of the Eora Nation. As we write this on Invasion Day, this colonial project enters its 235th year: sovereignty has never been ceded. The University of Sydney is an institution foundationally built on white supremacy and the dispossession and erasure of Aboriginal peoples. The University of Sydney, even today, is inaccessible to First Nations students, with a 2018 report revealing that only 1% of students were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. First Nations people are actively harmed by academic institutions that profit from pedagogical practises that devalue and erase Indigenous knowledge and epistemologies. In fighting for a good university, we fight for First Nations liberation. We pay deep respects to the Aboriginal custodians of the lands we live on. The future is First Nations and we fight for the future. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.
EDITORIAL Welcome to the 2022 SRC Orientation Handbook! To any and all first year students reading this, welcome to USyd! Your first year of university will be a learning curve, the likes of which will leave you a very different person to the one you are at present. You will savour the highs, recounting stories and fond memories for decades to come. You will also allow yourself to sit in the low moments. You will learn from them, allow them to shape you, and feel no guilt about the time you spend under their tutelage. To any other students (hello hacks), welcome back I guess. This publication was put together, through endless days spent holed up in the office harassing people for their submissions, by us, your 2022 SRC General Secretaries. Our role is primarily an administrative one, and we’re a foundational component of the SRC and the radical activism it undertakes. In 2022, the results of last year’s National Student Safety Survey will be released. This statistical report will shed light on the prevalence of sexual violence on university campuses on a national level. We will be leading the fight to overhaul our university’s reporting and support systems, and to rid them of the bureaucratic inefficiencies and injustices that plague them. We also find ourselves in a vitally important federal election year, and as such we will also be on the front lines against the Liberal
Party’s austerity and cruelty, spurred forth by the belief we hold that there is no place for liberal conservatism in any system of power or governance. If you want to be a part of the important work of the SRC, please do get involved: the best way to do this is to join one of our many collectives (more info on that on pp. 4–5). The SRC is at the frontlines of the fight for your rights as a student and your future as a young person: our work is important, and also lots of fun. We want to thank each and every one of the many people who made this little handbook happen. From our faculty guides (p. 17) to our inaugural comedy section (pp. 30–31), we couldn't have done it without you. Happy reading! Grace Lagan and Alana Ramshaw 2022 General Secretaries, Orientation Handbook Editors-In-Chief.
02
OH
PRESIDENT'S WELCOME Welcome (or welcome back) to 2022 at the
in the way. Our collectives, and the office bearers
loneliness and insecurity. You’ll make friends,
University of Sydney; Australia’s most shameless
who run them, organise around issues that impact
outgrow others, and your personality will change
corporatised tertiary education provider.
I’m
your life and studies, from fee increases, course cuts,
and solidify. That’s daunting, but so exciting! Say
Lauren Lancaster, and I’m the President of the
welfare payments and sexual violence on campus to
yes to new opportunities, try new things, sign up
94th Student Representative Council (SRC).
pushing for climate action, military disinvestment
for that random society with a mate you met ten
Despite everything, I promise you it’s going to be
and First Nations justice. They are where many
minutes ago. Make sure you take care of yourself
an excellent year. I am so excited to work alongside
students find their political feet, so to speak, and
- go outdoors, get good sleep, exercise and eat well.
many of you, and to represent students so we can
I encourage you all to get involved in the exciting
The SRC is here to help if you’re struggling - just
move forward together after 2 years of lockdowns
agenda of activism that is shaping up for this year.
email help@src.usyd.edu.au and our professional
and online learning.
staff will endeavour to assist. Uni is tough. Enrolment, course changes and
The SRC is the peak representative body for
cuts, assessments and proctoring (ever a student
You’ll have more information and some of the
undergraduate students at the University of Sydney,
favourite - not!) are processes made significantly
greatest academic minds in the world at your
and will be a useful companion for you during
more difficult by the bureaucratic failings of the
disposal, so use them! Take it from me: you’ll
your time at USYD. We run free, essential services
corporate university. Your tutors are overworked
actually relish doing the readings, attending your
for students, including our Casework and Legal
and underpaid, while upper management rake in
classes, starting on assessments when you receive
Services. Our caseworkers can help you handle
cushy salaries, lounging in the F23 building (what
them and asking lots of questions.
academic disputes and University administration
an eyesore!). All this will become pretty clear to you
- like getting extra time to finish assessments,
as you progress through your uni years. But this isn’t
It’s going to be a big year, and as you transform so
fixing up enrolment, crediting study from other
‘just the way things are’. And it definitely isn’t the
will our community and our country: we’ve got a
institutions,
consideration/disability
way things should be. That is what I want to stress
Federal Election (time to vote out those who fail
assistance, tenancy issues and more. Our lawyers
to you, as new and returning students this year: get
students and young people), we’ve got a return to
can assist you with common legal matters from
involved. We have had a trying two years, but in
campus like no other, and no doubt there will be
parking fines and migration applications to drug
that time I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside
many unforeseen challenges along the way. There is
and criminal matters. You’ll also see Australia’s
extraordinary grassroots student organisers, and
a lot that needs changing in this world, and students
only (and best) weekly student newspaper, Honi
many other USYD undergrads to fight for a better
are essential to achieve it. We fought conscription
Soit, on stands around campus - we publish that,
university, climate action, feminist and racial
during the Vietnam War, won marriage equality,
by students for students! As the President, I sit on
justice. I’ve seen how we all care about our future,
and have fought fiercely for climate action. On
a plethora of University committees, where I relay
our classes and our friends. Student movements
our own campus, we’ll continue to defend the
your concerns to the University’s management, and
are built by people showing up, because if you feel
arts, sciences and more from amalgamations, cuts
am always here for a chat.
anxious or angry, you can use that energy for good.
and staff lay-offs. It is a tough time to be a young
The SRC is only as strong as its membership: every
person, particularly for those on the margins of our
single one of you.
society. But we welcome everyone to participate in
special
The real zinger though, is our activism. That’s the lifeblood of our organisation, and is the reason the
the ongoing fight to make our lives more just and
University of Sydney is known for its radical history,
But uni is also an incredible and transformative
sustainable. I, and your Council, will be there every
vibrant student life and unique campus culture.
time in your life. Before I sign off and you get
step of the way - being a voice for you.
From the Freedom Rides in the 60s to climate
back to wandering Eastern Ave and grabbing
strikes today, students at USYD have always hit the
freebies, I want to offer you some advice. You’re
Enjoy your time at USYD, get involved, join our
streets to defend our interests. We’ll also work with
going to meet a lot of new people, discover new
Collectives and I’ll see you very soon.
the University if we think they are genuine about
ways of thinking about the world and grow as a
In solidarity and hope,
making changes we want to see, but we are never
person throughout your time here. You’ll have the
Lauren.
afraid to stand up to management when they get
best of times, but there will also be times of deep
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03
WHAT IS THE SRC? Grace Lagan and Alana Ramshaw walk you through the basics of the SRC The University of Sydney Student’s Representative Council (SRC) is an organisation that represents the interests of the University’s 35 000 undergraduate students. Our motto is activism, advocacy, and representation, which neatly sums up how our work is achieved. Often people will describe the SRC’s work as comprising both activism and service delivery. The first of these components is largely undertaken by student representatives elected directly by undergraduates each year. This group includes the president (Lauren Lancaster) and the council, composed of 39(?) undergraduate students elected alongside the president. The council also elects another group of student office bearers to a variety of portfolios and executive positions (this includes yours truly). These students are the organisational powerhouse of activism on campus. Last year alone, they defeated a university proposal to move to 12 week semesters, held two Student General Meetings with hundreds in attendance, convened a Radical Education Semester, and organised against numerous planned cuts to courses and faculties. In addition to this, the SRC offers support to students through our caseworkers and Legal Service. The SRC caseworkers provide free, confidential advice on a range of issues, including: • Academic rights & appeals Special consideration & special arrangements • HECS & fee refunds • Academic misconduct & dishonesty allegations • Show cause & exclusion, Centrelink issues • Tenancy & accommodation • Harassment & discrimination • Financial issues •
If you need help with any of these, email help@src.usyd.edu.au or call 96605222. The SRC Legal Service employs experienced solicitors who can help students on a range of issues. To set up a meeting with a solicitor, email the legal service at solicitor@src.usyd.edu.au or call 96605222. The SRC also produces a number of publications, including this handbook, Growing Strong (produced by the Women’s Collective), and most famously, Honi Soit, the oldest and only weekly student newspaper in the country. Producing 26odd editions a year (six of these are autonomous, meaning they are edited by students of a particular identity) Honi is an excellent weekly read, and interested students can also sign up to become reporters for the paper.
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ORIENTATION
YOUR GUIDE TO Queer Action Collective Convenors: Ira Patole; Yasmin Andrews; Will Stano The Queer Action Collective (QUAC) is an anti-colonial collective that works to address the intersections of queer activism. QUAC
Eduaction Action Group
Welfare Action Goup
has previously worked on the Marriage
Convenors: Lia Perkins; Deaglan Godwin
Convenors: Eamonn Murphy; Grace Wallman
Equality campaign and the Manu Refugee crisis.
The Education Action Group is USyd’s foremost education activism collective.
The Welfare Action Group is an activist
QUAC is an autonomous collective open to
They organise with students and staff
collective that organises around economic
queer students. You can find us on Facebook
to fight for student learning conditions,
and social issues on campus and in the
or in the Queerspace (ground floor of
staff working conditions, and for other
wider community. Our priorities in 2022
Manning Building).
social justice issues. Over the past few
include: workers rights and unionism, First
years the EAG has organised radical on
Nations justice, campus safety, and safe and
Facebook: /USYDQueer/
and off-campus protests against cuts to
affordable housing for all. We are a non-
Email: queer.officers@src.usyd.edu.au
higher education including the federal
hierarchical, pluralistic space — anyone
government’s Job Ready Graduates package.
can join the group and voice concerns that matters to them. Please come along to our
“Students are facing an immediately dire
fortnightly meetings, and get involved to
future, and a big fightback lies ahead. In
fight for welfare action!
2022, the EAG will continue to fight for our education, and support industrial action such as strikes taken by staff. On and off
Action Group
campus, the social justice issues we organise
Email: welfare.officers@src.usyd.edu.au
Enviro Collective
around and support are for the rights of
Convenors: Tiger Perkins; Ishbel
those oppressed and experiencing injustice
Dunsmore; Angus Dermody
Facebook Page and Group: USYD Welfare
by the university, the colonial government and the capitalist system. The best way for
As the USYD branch of ASEN (Australian
individual students to fight for what they
Student Environment Network), the Enviro
believe in is to get involved in a collective
Collective is the peak environmentalist
seeking the same thing, so become an EAG
group on campus, meaning most of our
member by joining the Facebook group!”
organising is done on Gadigal land. We meet regularly to organise to give students a
Facebook:
say on their future while their university is
SydneyUniversityEducationActionGroup
complicit in its destruction. We are a space
Instagram: @usyd.education.action
for learning as well as activism and welcome
Email: education.officers@src.usyd.edu.au
anyone with a love for nature to join.
Women's Collective Convenors: Monica McNaught-Lee; Maddie Clark The SRC Womens Collective is the foremost feminist activist collective on campus. WoCo has a storied and radical history of campaigns
Facebook: /USydEnviro
around issues impacting women at USyd.
Email: environment.officers@src.usyd.edu.au
These include the Abolish the Colleges
HANDBOOK
05
THE COLLECTIVES campaign in response to the engrained
who are deaf or hard of hearing, even if
supremacy to attend or support the various
culture of sexual violence and misogyny
you don’t identify as disabled or as having
non-autonomous events that we’ll organise
within USyd’s residential colleges. WoCo
a disability. The collective has organising
throughout the year. If you would like to
have also been active and vocal advocates
meetings for activism and advocacy as well
get involved, join our private group to keep
for reproductive justice wherever attacks on
as planning social events throughout both
updated, or have any questions, you can
womens’ bodily autonomy emerge. In March
semesters. Drop in any time to have a chat,
find us at Welcome Week stalls or contact us
this year, the results of the National Student
or if you have any information or issues
through Facebook or Instagram.
Safety Survey will be released, detailing
to share with the SRC or other members
and illustrating the scale and severity of
of the collective. The collective organises
sexual assault and harassment on University
meetings for activism and advocacy as well
campuses nationally. WoCo will be leading
as social events - let the Office Bearers know
the activist response to this survey.
if you have any ideas, or get in touch via facebook (that's the best place to reach us)!
International Student Collective
As an autonomous collective, WoCo’s
Convenors: Ashrika Paruthi; Xujie Wu;
membership is open to anyone who is
Boao Guo; Cony Kim
not a cisgender man. Our main form of communication is our closed Facebook
The International Students' Collective is
group.
a safe space for all international students to come together. We work collaboratively
Facebook: /usydwoco
with other student representative bodies
Email: womens.officers@src.usyd.edu.au
to support as well as advocate for the Autonomous Collective Against Racism Convenors: Misbah Ansari; Ashrika Paruthi; Viet Anh Doan
Disabilities Collective Convenors: Holly Zhang; Ira Patole; Sarah Korte The Disabilities Collective is an
rights and well being of all international students, while simultaneously aiming to make the campus a more egalitarian place. The collective will continue to operate in a
The Autonomous Collective Against
hybrid manner this year, bearing in mind
Racism (ACAR) is a leftist collective that
that while border restrictions are now being
organises activism and education against
eased, the return of international students
racism, colonialism, imperialism, and all
will be gradual throughout the year.
other forms of oppression that impact people of colour. In 2022, we seek to centre the voices and concerns of First Nations communities by working with
autonomous collective for students who
other collectives to mobilise and engage
have a disability and/or identify as disabled,
with international solidarity actions from
per the UN definition of “long-term
a student perspective. As an autonomous
physical, mental, intellectual or sensory
collective, we are only open to students
impairments which in interaction with
who identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres
various barriers may hinder their full and
Strait Islander, come from a minority
effective participation in society on an equal
ethnocultural background, or are marked
basis with others." This includes people
or marginalised by white supremacy.
with mental, chronic, or terminal illnesses;
However, we actively encourage white
people who are neurodivergent; and people
people and those who benefit from white
06
ORIENTATION
IMPORTANT Grace Lagan takes you through key resources, services, and contacts for your time at university.
HEALTH RPA Sexual Health RPA Sexual Health provides a range of sexual health services, including testing and treatment for STIs. It’s free, confidential, and you don’t need a referral or a Medicare card. Interpreters are available and the service is LGBT-friendly. Bookings recommended. 16 Marsden Street Camperdown, NSW 2050 (02) 9515 1200 AIDS Council of NSW ACON provides a variety of health services ranging from counselling to resource provision to STI testing. It also has many handy fact sheets and online resources, including a map of gender affirming doctors across Sydney. acon.org.au 414 Elizabeth Street Surry Hills, NSW 2010 (02) 9206 2000 Family Planning Offering bulk-billed appointments for students, Family Planning provides contraception, as well as advice as other services related to reproductive and sexual health. This includes services related to menstruation, gynecological health, and cervical cancer screening.
Appointments Telehealth.
available
via
people, accessible online or in their Camperdown centre near campus. Access to mental health professionals is free and confidential.
Sydney University Health Service Students can access bulk-billed GP appointments five days a week: bookings are strongly recommended. The university also offers on-campus COVID-19 vaccinations for students, so if you’re in need of a booster, book in now!
headspace.org.au (02) 9114 4100 Level 2, Building K (Brain and Mind Centre), 97 Church St, Camperdown, NSW 2050
fpnsw.org.au
sydney.edu.au/study/why-choosesydney/student-support/healthservices.html Level 3, Wentworth Building, City Road, Darlington Campus USyd Counselling and Psychological Services (CAPS) CAPS provides free, professional, and confidential counselling on campus (however, bookings are hard to get and there is a limited number of sessions). sydney.edu.au/students/ counselling-and-mental-healthsupport.html (02) 8627 8433 Level 5, Jane Foss Russell Building, City Road, Darlington Campus Headspace Headspace is a mental health service specifically for young
Health Care and Low Income Health Care Cards Students living on particular benefits (including JobSeeker, ABSTUDY, Youth Allowance, and the Carer Allowance) may be eligible for a Health Care Card, which entitles them to certain concessions for healthcare and other government services. You shouldn’t need to apply to receive this: Services Australia will post one to you if you’re eligible. servicesaustralia.gov.au/healthcare-card Low income students may also be eligible for a Low Income Health Care Card which entitles you to more bulk billing, cheaper medicine, and bigger refunds for medical costs when you reach the Medicare Safety Net. Students can check their eligibility for this online. servicesaustralia.gov.au/benefitslow-income-health-care-card
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07
RESOURCES LEGAL SRC Legal Service The SRC Legal Service can provide students with free legal advice, referrals, and court representation in specific situations. JPs are also available to certify documents and witness statutory declarations. Appointments available over the phone and zoom. srcusyd.net.au/src-legal-service (02) 9660 5222
Legal Aid NSW Legal Aid provides legal services to socially and economically disadvantaged people, and can help in a wide range of criminal and civil law matters. They are also part of the joint LawAccess initiative, which provides free legal information, advice, and referrals over the phone. legalaid.nsw.gov.au 1300 888 529 (LawAccess NSW Hotline) Inner Sydney Tenants’ Advice and Advocacy Service A program of Redfern Legal
Centre, ISTAAS provides free and confidential legal advice and advocacy to private and public housing tenants. rlc.org.au/contact (02) 9698 5975
1800RESPECT This is a national counselling hotline for sexual assault, as well as domestic and family violence. It’s available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 1800 737 732 1800respect.org.au
FINANCIAL HELP USyd Financial Support Service This service can provide interestfree loans and bursaries (which don’t need to be paid back) to domestic students, subject to meeting eligibility criteria. Level 5, Jane Foss Russell Building, City Road, Darlington Campus sydney.edu.au/students/financialsupport.html Scholarships Office Students facing financial difficulties may be eligible for a range of scholarships, available to browse online. sydney.edu.au/scholarships SAFETY If someone is in a life-threatening situation, you should call emergency services on 000. For non-lifethreatening situations, students should call Campus Security at 1800 793 457 (be judicious about this — don’t call Campus Security on protestors).
Lifeline Lifeline provides 24 hour phone, text, and online support services for those in a personal crisis (even if you just need someone to talk to). lifeline.org.au 13 11 14
08
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LEGAL SERVICE
SRC Principal Solicitor Jahan Kalantar breaks down how the SRC Legal Service can help you.
Supporting you in difficult times University life can be a challenging time for students and it can be overwhelming when faced with a legal problem or issue. Your SRC understands this and thus we have the SRC Legal Service; a specialist legal practice that helps all USyd undergraduate students with their legal problems and concerns. What is the SRC Legal Service? The SRC Legal service is a legal service staffed by volunteers and solicitors who provide free, confidential and timely advice in relation to a variety of legal issues for undergraduate students of Sydney University. The SRC Legal service can assist you in the following ways: • Providing advice regarding legal issues or problems • Providing referral in relation to more complex legal matters • Appearing on the behalf of students at Courts and tribunals What types of problems does the SRC Legal Service help with? The SRC Legal Service has expertise in a variety of different areas and can provide support with the following issues: • Workplace and Employment Issues • Criminal Matters • Traffic Matters • Protesting and Civil Liberty Matters • The SRC Legal service also can provide referrals in certain cases for other types of matters including • Immigration matters • Family Law • Complex Legal Matters
If you have any questions or issues, please do not hesitate to contact the SRC legal service via the SRC Office (Level 1, Wentworth Building) or on our email at solicitor@src.usyd.edu.au
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SEXUAL ASSAULT
If you have experienced sexual violence on campus or anywhere else, we first want you to know that you are not to blame. Sexual assault and harassment is always a choice made by the perpetrator. Coming forward is a decision you may choose to make, and it should be one made on your own terms, when and where you feel safe and ready. Whatever you decide to do, know that we see you, we believe you, and you are courageous in whatever you choose to do. The following is a list of resources and support services available should you experience sexual harassment or assault during your time at USyd and beyond. Immediate/Crisis Response Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Sexual Assault Clinic Provides free and unlimited counselling services and medical services such as forensics kits and STI testing. These services are offered to outpatients, and priority access can be arranged through the USyd SLOs. 9515 9040 Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia (RDVSA) Provide 24/7 phone and online crisis counselling for anyone in Australia who has experienced or is at risk of sexual assault, family or domestic violence and non-offending supporters with free telephone interpreting service upon request. 1800 FULL STOP / 1800 385 578 NSW Rape Crisis Centre Free hotline available 24/7, run by experienced professionals who can provide support, counselling, and referrals to other services. 1800 424 017 Women and Girls Emergency Centre (WAGEC) Crisis accommodation and support centre for Women and Children 36–38 George St Redfern Intake phone: 02 9319 4088
Police Whether you make a report, note it with police, press charges, file for an AVO, or avoid police
entirely is a personal decision that can only be made by you, and any contact with police can be withdrawn at any time. You can choose to make a formal statement, which involves a detailed process of interviews and investigation. You also have the options of speaking with police to inform them without making a formal report, or completing a SARO, online questionnaire which will not be investigated further, with the option of anonymity.
On Campus SRC The SRC’s Caseworkers can help guide and direct you to support resources and through any reporting processes you wish to undergo. Email: help@src.usyd.edu.au Phone: +61 9660 5222 SLOs The University’s Safer Communities Office has dedicated Student Liaison Officers (SLOs) who provide one-on-one personalised support for students. This may look like assisting with reporting processes, referrals to support services and resources, or any other help you may need. Confidential Helpline - +61 2 8627 6808 1800 SYD HLP Campus security helpline, available from 9am to 5pm Monday-Friday 1800 424 017
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ORIENTATION
UNI SURVIVAL 101 STUDY LOADS First things first: when you enrol, you’ll have to decide on how many units you want to study per semester. This may vary year-on-year, but the load you take on will have different consequences: the university suggests that for every credit point you take, you should spend 1.5-2 hours studying per week. For students taking on the ‘normal’ load, that adds up to roughly a full time workload, or up to 150 hours of effort for each 6 credit point unit. If you’re balancing uni with working, caregiving, or other commitments, this may be unrealistic. •
•
Full time study: If you study 18 credit points (roughly three units, given most are 6cp), you are considered a full time student. Full time students will usually study 24 credit points per semester, consistent with the degree progression outlined in your handbook, and can study up to 32. Be warned: taking more than 32 credit points a semester is strongly discouraged, and is generally reserved for students taking intensive units in the summer or winter break. Part-time study: Students taking less than 18 credit points a semester are considered part time. This option may be more suitable for you, but you need to weigh up some of the consequences first. For international students, full time study is a requirement of your student visa. For domestic students, there may be other consequences, like losing access to concession Opal cards.
Readings and the library No matter what degree you’re in, readings are super important: many professors structure their lectures • the assigned readings for that week (and are geared towards people who have already read them). That doesn’t mean they’re easy or cheap to find, unfortunately. If you’re facing a steep price tag for the required reading, consider: • Identical lecture slides, notes, and even textbooks from other universities that are easily found online for subjects where the material is unchanging (hello, economics). • Equity and textbook loan schemes from the relevant faculty society: this is particularly useful for law,
which is notorious for assigning severa l-hundred-dollar textbooks as essential reading. Websites such as StudentVIP and even Wob are useful places to source second hand textbooks.
Don’t take the library resources for granted: they hold millions of physical books, dozens of journal subscriptions, and the sooner you can navigate the Advanced Search tool on library.sydney.edu.au, the easier your life will be. There are also a plethora of places to study: my favourites include the upper levels of the stack (Fisher Library) for sweeping views of the city, the Law Commons (Law Library) for a place to eat while you study (admittedly in poor company), and
the tables on Botany Lawn (on Science Road), for some fresh air and Parramatta Road ambience. Websites and apps you’ll want to know about Canvas Canvas is the learning management system you’ll use across pretty much every course: this is where lecture recordings will be uploaded, tasks submitted, grades posted, and discussion pages mediated. It’s a good idea to have this app on your phone as well as your desktop for easy access (though you may find yourself wanting to delete it when results are released so as to prevent jumpscares).
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11
Outlook service not known for its user-friendliness or ingenuity For some reason (perhaps a punishment from God (see @GraceLagan on Twitter), you’ll nonetheless have himself), the university uses Microsoft, meaning your to tame this beast during your time at university. student email will be an Outlook one. Like Canvas, it’s a good idea to have the app on your phone: that way, Degree Handbooks you’ll get any and all communication from lecturers All 2022 undergraduate degree handbooks can be and other important people straight away. found online, with information on the requirements for your course, electives available to take in the relevant Okta Verify year of study and some information about honours A horrendous blight on student life, the implementation programs. These are useful to check from time to of two-factor authentication on university accounts time, and essential if you’re considering switching your through Okta has been a source of numerous headaches major or degree (remember: if you begin in 2022, the during attempts to log into Canvas and other university 2022 handbook will be applicable to you for the whole resources. Thankfully, downloading the app means of your degree). you can often approve sign in attempts right from your homescreen. sydney.edu.au/handbooks Ed and Piazza Some courses (particularly those in the School of Economics and Science courses) will use these sites as another avenue of communication to Canva, often as a place to come to with questions on the material. Even if you don’t actively post on here, checking them regularly is a good way to stay on top of the more difficult parts of the course that are leaving your classmates stumped.
Important deadlines Semester One will run from 21 February 2022 (Week One) – 18 June 2022 (End of Exams) Census Date (last date to drop a unit without occurring a financial or academic penalty; meaning it won’t appear on your transcript nor will you have to pay for it): 31 March 2022
Sydney Student You’re already familiar with this one: Sydney Student is the site where you can enroll, pay your Student Services and Amenities Fees (SSAF; aka our salary), and see your formal results and transcript when they’re released. A
If you discontinue a unit after that unit’s census date but BEFORE the last day of teaching it will be recorded on your transcript as a Discontinue-Fail (DF), meaning that you are liable for that unit’s fees. It will not however affect your Weighted Average Mark (WAM).
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USyd Clubs and Societies In which we walk you through the world of USU C+S
The University of Sydney Union (USU) Clubs and Societies program features over 200 registered clubs spanning across all disciplines, interests, and niche hobbies. Most of these clubs are free to get involved in, and are a fantastic way to meet people, enjoy free food, and be part of the return to campus life in 2022. We’ve compiled a list of the ones you need to know about, ranging from the weird to the wonderful.
Faculty Societies
Each faculty has a discipline-specific society, which is a great place to meet other students in your degree, attend events relevant to your field, and much more. Look out at the end of the year for their balls, a great occasion to enjoy glitz and good music. Sydney University Science Society (SciSoc) President: Angus Waldon Sydney Arts Students Society (SASS) President: Angelina Gu Sydney University Business Society (SUBS) President: Charlotte Guest Sydney University Designers Association (SUDA) President: Sabrina Utharntharm Sydney University Law Society (SULS) President: Ben Hines Conservatorium Students Association (CSA) President: Brigitte Holden Sydney University Engineering Undergraduate Association (SUEUA) President: Riley Vaughan NB: Your major may well have its own club, if you want to meet people studying super similar degrees (think PolSoc, EconSoc, PhilSoc and more). There are too many to list here, but check the USU clubs and societies page (or simply meander around Eastern Ave after you’ve finished reading this) to find yours.
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The Wacky Tbh, we can’t promise that all of these are still alive and kicking. You may turn up to a deserted stall on Eastern Avenue (or you might not even find a stall at all) but it will be well worth the trek if you can meet people with the same (very) niche interests. • The Quidditch Club • Banter and Meme Society • Disney Appreciation Society • Goon Appreciation Society • SockSoc • Puzzle Society • Pen Society
The Wonderful
The GOATs of clubs and societies. Even their AGMs probably go off. Are some of the people who run these things our friends? Yeah, absolutely: but we keep them around because they’re cool, and so are their clubs. Sydney University Astronomy Society: The coolest events off campus. Look out for overnight stargazing trips and bushwalks in conjunction with the bushwalking society. WAMSOC (Women and Diverse Genders in Maths Society): Established in 2021 as an inclusive and safe space for women and non binary people in mathematics, an often male-dominated discipline. FABSOC (Fashion and Beauty Society): The only club worth its membership fee. Pay $2 and they hand over a tote bag of goodies (a high quality t-shirt and branded sunglasses are the main draw card) on the spot. QUEST (Sydney University Queer STEM): Back from the dead once more, QUEST puts on awesome events for queer students across all STEM fields. Political Economy Society: Recently resurrected from inactivity, ECOPSoc is the place to be if you’re interested in Political Economy and heterodox economics, or even just a beer every now and then. Open to students from all disciplines and levels of ECOP knowledge. We didn’t snag a stall at Welcome Week so like our Facebook page and join the group (both “Political Economy Society - ECOPSoc”)! Roller Derby Club - An inclusive recreational roller derby society. Open to all levels of experience. Training is twice a week at the Peter Forsyth Auditorium in Glebe, and they’re having a roller disco in Week 1! Sydney University Radio Society (SURG) - If you’ve ever started a sentence with “I want to start a podcast about-”, SURG is the society for you. Home to cool people, music reviews, and regular radio shows of varying quality. FilmSoc - In business since 1947, FilmSoc is the place to be for cinephiles. They host weekly screenings of anything from Marvel to French noir, as well as an annual short film contest.
A/N: Avoid the Conservative Club as much as they avoid good politics and electoral success. Beware of LifeChoice Sydney (an anti-choice group) too.
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ORIENTATION
FOOD ON CAMPUS
Alana Ramshaw runs you through all the outlets on campus you should know
01.
Courtyard
Specialty: $9 Garlic Pizza In a sentence: The Triple J of campus dining Courtyard Restaurant and Bar, located in the Holme Building, has faithfully served as the backdrop of many a stupol deal and many a mixer over the years. It attracts a clientele of academic and managerial staff, as well as a faithful cross section of the student political scene.
02.
Unibros
Specialty: Hot chips (with chicken salt) In a sentence: The kindest people on campus UniBros, located in the Wentworth Building Food Court, is heralded by some as the best food outlet on campus. Providing an offering of greasy kebabs and HSPs, UniBros is staffed by sociable people who are always down for a bit of banter. They’ve also been rumoured to dish out free pides to those who have been nice to them at the right time. I'm yet to put my finger on what is in their chicken salt, but it’s the best I've ever tasted.
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03.
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Hermann's Bar
Specialty: Large quantities of beer In a sentence: “What ATAR did you get aha” Situated in the Wentworth Building, Hermanns is the place to be for society Welcome Week events. A favourite of first years, it’s not half bad once you get over the slightly jarring interior decor and the music that is always just a little too loud. Take advantage of their beer towers which come with a free pizza.
04.
Parma
Specialty: I have literally no idea, chips I think? In a sentence: The everything restaurant Parma, located in Jane Foss Russell aims for quantity over quality, but not in a bad way. Their $5 hot chips are often hit or miss, but they're always reliably large enough to share with a friend. It’s also a good spot to pick up a coffee if you’re nearby and don’t have time to go to Ralph's.
05.
Ralph's Café
Specialty: Coffee In a sentence: Loud and hectic Ralph’s, a favourite of college students and academics, has been heralded by some as having the best coffee on campus. Located on the ground floor of SUSF, Ralph’s menu is largely comprised of Italian food alongside more traditional cafe offerings.
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ORIENTATION
ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN Iggy Boyd takes you on a tour of the School of Architecture, Design and Planning
new feedback every week from your tutor The School of Architecture, Design and which is only possible through regular work. Planning is a faculty and collection of courses It should be noted that architecture as a degree and degrees that can often be intimidating, and equally often lives up to the mantra of “challenging but fulfilling.” A regular full time load will see you complete an undergraduate degree in three years with a very streamlined course load covering the fundamentals of both city planning and architectural design and drawing. There’s an expectation that students complete personal research beyond the syllabus content; this may add an additional workload pressure, but it also allows you to curate your own influences and direct your own learning and designs in a very unique way. First year subjects like to emphasise the theme of reiteration, that being the regular adaptation and updating of design ideas and output. Much of first year will be spent on this, learning the basics of architectural drawing and various CAD and design programs that are important in the industry. Studio units are structured almost entirely around developing an idea and completing it at the end of semester, and with the likely return of in-person classes, uni students will have regular access to Homebase, the undergraduate studio for ADP students with computers with planning software installed, again. A key lesson for first year is understanding that everything in architecture takes twice as long as you expect it to. On that account, time management is an especially important part of studying architecture. Since assessments form the backbone of mark volumes and exams are quite rare, it's valuable to be able to receive
has a number of extra costs associated like licences for various programs and paying for materials to build models in later years; this can sometimes be subsidised by the University and/or student discounts, but it should be kept in mind. The Sydney University Design Association (SUDA) is the ADP faculty’s student-run club and is quite large; it hosts parties every semester and otherwise offers social events for students to unwind from their heavy workloads. SUDA is also a resource for academic help, and the SRC is always available for small loans and other forms of support.
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LAW
Grace Lagan makes the case for enjoying first year law
Welcome to Sydney Law School! This is the part where I make a cynical,
listen to them: readings can be done at your own pace. I often find I get
self-serving quip about how much I hate law that makes me appear far
the most out of mine by doing a big re-read of them at the end of the
more worldly and jaded than I am. The truth is I quite like studying law,
semester, once you have covered all the content.
and whether you're part of the 1% who openly admit to wanting to be a Emily Storey gives you a blueprint of first year engineering lawyer, or in the 99% who say they don’t (but when God comes to them Law school also comes with many extracurriculars offered by the in their dreams they’re robed and holding the latest Commonwealth
law society (SULS). You should give them a go. Mooting, despite its
Law Report), you’ve been drawn to this degree for some reason too.
reputation for attracting a terrifying cross-section of people who enjoy both public speaking and business casual attire (and more than a few
•
In law school, most of the tasks you do can be sorted into three
StuPol fiends), is more fun that it looks. Go to the social events and
categories: essays (50% of your foundies grade), problem questions
prematurely kick-on from them — I made my first few friends at law
(these will be the main form of assessment in substantive law units) and
school this way. Interfaculty sports are primarily a means to single out
presentation tasks (worth 10-20% in most law units).
sadists in the law cohort (a difficult task at times), but it’s probably fun
Essays are rather self-explanatory: your first big one will come at the
for people who can catch a ball.
end of foundies. For essays, the best advice I received was to find a
•
•
strong line of argument that you can unpack very, very clearly. It
A note for my friends who also came from comprehensive public schools,
is very difficult to find a revolutionary, contrarian take for every
marvelling at the simple delight of having an air-conditioned classroom
paper you write. Your markers (read: experts who are difficult to
while others mourn the loss of mineral water bubblers and harbourfront
outsmart) will be far more generous to a clear and thoughtfully
ovals. This place is elitist: people will say the most ludicrous, bordering
argued essay than a rambling, complex, quasi-manifesto.
on offensive, things about public education (I keep a list in my phone).
Problem questions test your understanding of the law by requiring
It’s actually rather funny when you think about the hundreds of
you to apply it to a given set of facts (often you are asked to advise
thousands of dollars spent on private education just for them to be sat
a party). The trick here is practicing applying the law during the
next to you, you public school lout! I’ll let you in on a secret—I have
semester. Engagement with the tricky issues raised by the facts is far
never suffered from imposter syndrome, and neither should you. Unlike
more important than reaching the right conclusion: distinctions
many of your peers, you can afford to be a little proud of the school you
are awarded to complete answers, not merely correct ones.
went to: you don’t risk having to defend it when former classmates are
Presentation-type tasks (usually known as being “on call”) are
caught authoring horrendous muck up day challenges or smothering
completed in tutorials and will usually focus on the readings for
small animals with boater hats.
that week. Go deep, not broad in your preparation: a nuanced, considered opinion on the assigned material will impress your
Law school can feel like a rat run, especially if you surround yourself
tutor far more than some glib statement you get from reading 34
with people who obsess over their marks, readings, clerkships, parental
abstracts on the area of law in question.
income, internships, law ball table, suburb, law society election results, and Linkedin (or worse, other people’s). Yes, you have self-selected into
A word on readings: there are a lot. There are also people who make
a place where these sorts of insufferables thrive, but law also attracts
it their life’s work to broadcast their plight. You can find these people
many wonderful, thoughtful, witty people. The best advice I can give
conspicuously studying a cinder block-sized textbook in some sort of
you is to befriend them and be left wondering why people ever said law
ascetic ritual in the middle of lawbry, or complaining about the reading
school would be isolating and uber-competitive.
page count for that week (much to everyone’s dismay, this also occurs in the middle of lawbry). They often have a story about a brother’s friend’s second cousin who fell behind by a week and was last seen being tortiously assaulted by Doc Evatt’s ghost out the back of Taste. Don’t
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ORIENTATION
ARTS
Tiger Perkins crafts your path through first year arts
The faculty of Arts and Social Sciences is the allencompassing, creative heart of the University. It is home to seven schools and departments, namely the Schools of Economics; Languages and Cultures; Literature, Art and Media; Philosophical and Historical Inquiry; Social and Political Sciences; Education and Social Work as well as the Sydney College of the Arts. The breadth and depth of the faculty allows Arts students to study anything and everything from ancient languages to Political Economy to Psychology. This is one of the greatest advantages of the faculty, and arts students are known for making the most of it, taking unusual electives for personal interest and often switching majors and specialisations. Given this, it’s important to not feel pressure to commit to the subjects and majors you select in your first semester. It isn’t uncommon for people to spend an extended period of time at University, choosing subjects they are passionate about (even within the School of Economics), switching where necessary, and often working and partying full-time on the side. In terms of face-to-face contact, Arts students are the envy of the rest of the University. Typically, subject loads consist of a two-hour lecture and a one-hour tutorial per week. This comes to about twelve hours of contact time a week for a full-time Arts student. These usually consist of one to two take-home essays, plus either a third longer essay or an exam, as well as some marks for tutorial participation. This means that an Arts degree is effectively what you make it, you can work as little or as hard as you like. You learn with time that you reap what you sow. The flexibility of an arts degree gives you the opportunity to make the most of the student life that your parents and friends hyped you up for. Arts students can generally be found sprawled across campus on any given day, inhabiting Fisher Library, the lawns and cafés, and Hermann’s Bar. In their free time, many engage with the political activism and services of the SRC, as well as the USU’s many clubs
and societies, including the Sydney Arts Students Society (SASS), who run parties, balls, and events during the year. Arts students have been called “lazy unemployable tree-huggers” (and I’m sure much worse in the past), but that is not the truth that my experience has shown me. Arts students tend to be those who engage most critically with the world, care deeply about what they study, engage with the co-curriculars that the Uni offers, and have the most fun. While it is true that the world needs more workers in many sectors, it also needs passionate and engaged thinkers who take their curiosity about how the world works into their chosen professions. Arts students are creatives, academics, teachers, learners, scientists, philosophers, revolutionaries, partiers and friends.
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THE BUSINESS SCHOOL: A FOUR PART GUIDE
Liz Marsh gives you all the specs of first year in the Business School
Part 1: Picking a Major Welcome to the Business School! The Business School offers a diverse range of majors, and your degree will give you scope to combine these. While many students opt for majors like Finance, Accounting and Marketing, you’ll also have the chance to study things like International Business, Business Law and Business Information Systems. Taking foundation courses, like ACCT1006 or MKTG1001 in your first year can help you to find where your strengths and passions lie, and plan your degree accordingly. Part 2: Core Units There are four core units you must complete as part of your commerce degree, regardless of what major you pick: BUSS1000: Future of Business A unit designed to help you understand the environment that shapes all business operations featuring contemporary case studies and various analytical frameworks. To succeed, active contributions to tutorials- informed by the set readings- are essential. BUSS1020: Quantitative Business Analysis An introduction to business analytics and statistics, where you’ll get to hone your excel skills while learning how to use statistical methods as a tool for analysis, interpretation, and prediction. Use the weekly quizzes as a study resource. BUSS1030: Accounting, Business and Society This unit provides you with an introduction to key accounting concepts and fundamentals, and provides opportunity for you to put them into practice. Ensuring that you attend tutorials each week, and using the textbook to clarify any knowledge gaps will help you to maximise understanding. BUSS2000: Leading and Influencing in Business This unit is run by The Discipline of Work and Organisational Studies, and is designed to teach you how to work with and successfully lead people in a complex and globalised world. Try to pick good group members, as the subject is super collaborative, and ensure you come well-prepared to tutorials. Part 3: Outside the Classroom It’s also super important that you make the most of everything the Business School offers, particularly outside of the classroom. Joining one of the many societies that the Business School boasts is a great way to meet new people and have fun, while developing
your professional and organisational skills. Societies can be major-specific (FINSOC) or more broadly appealing. (Sydney Consulting Club). Attending Welcome Drinks and First Year Expos will provide you with valuable information about different societies and your degree, and allow you to meet like-minded people who are just as keen as you to get involved in campus life. Partaking in Case Competitions will ensure you develop your analytical and problem solving skills, while Networking Events will refine your ability to navigate professional spaces and craft genuine connections. The Sydney University Business Society (SUBS) is the official faculty society, and they host a range of first-year specific events- including the infamous first years camp, which is another great avenue to meet new people. Part 4: Extra Resources The Business School provide a range of extra resources that will help you immensely throughout your degree. Peer-Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) PASS is an optional and free learning program, which is facilitated by students- your peers- who have recently excelled in a certain unit of study. PASS is not designed to reteach the content learnt during lectures or tutorials. Rather, it is there to help reinforce the key aspects of what you’ve learnt, and provide you with a friendly and relaxed environment where you are encouraged to ask questions and clarify your understanding. PASS is available for core units including BUSS1000, BUSS1020 and BUSS1030. Careers and Employability Office (CEO) The Careers and Employability Office is dedicated to helping business students with a range of issues related to career planning and professional skills. They offer a range of services, including a resume review and formatting service and the chance to connect with prominent graduate recruiters and corporate partners through their programs. Maths in Business Maths in Business is a free program available to all students at the Business School, that includes workshops in intermediate-level maths and Excel; both key skills for aspiring business students. Students looking to study senior units in accounting, finance, and statistics will find this service invaluable.
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ORIENTATION
MEDICINE Oscar Chaffey diagnoses the Faculty of Health and Medicine
The Faculty of Medicine and Health, or FMH, was born in
a stone's throw from Royal Prince Alfred Hospital on the
2018 from the hostile merger of the School of Medical Sciences,
Camperdown side of campus and is, practically speaking, one of
Pharmacy, Health Sciences, Public Health, Medicine, Dentistry
the nicest places to study on campus (don’t tell your arts friends).
and Nursing. FMH is known to its managers as a megafaculty,
It also has resources like full mock hospital wards and beds to use
the biggest (by staff and student numbers) at the University of
for
Sydney, and accounts for almost half of its students. There are a
practical assessments.
variety of degrees that come under the FMH, mostly degrees that lead to careers in health-related professions.
A few miscellaneous tips and aphorisms: 1. Buying textbooks or notes is almost never worthwhile. There
Undergraduate professional degrees (like Oral Health,
are cheap and free resources that float around on the internet,
Pharmacy, and Nursing) are intense degrees with a look
and the library gives you access to a lot of things for free. If you
towards accreditation at the point of, or soon after, graduation.
must buy textbooks, second hand is often a good way to go.
They involve clinical placements in Sydney public hospitals, community health centres and sometimes rural areas. The
2. Don’t think that your degree is apolitical and don’t insulate
placement system is chaotic and often senseless. Familiarise
yourself from the rest of campus life. Involve yourself in the
yourself with the SONIA system when you can and plan ahead
SRC’s advocacy and activism through the collectives, and make
for the fact that your placement may be a significant distance
sure that you don’t limit yourself socially - join clubs and societies
away from where you live or work. Placements are also unpaid
and make the most of your time at uni, which should hopefully
and rigorous.
be coming back in force in 2022.
Regardless of what degree you are studying, your workload will
3. Don’t be afraid to ask for help! Seriously!
be intense and an adjustment from learning you may have done in the past. It is wise to pick up a year planner and pencil in important dates so assignments, exams and other miscellaneous tasks don’t slip through the cracks. At some point, you will probably need to use the Special Considerations system. Do not feel ashamed or afraid to use this system - the world we live in is sometimes unfriendly and you shouldn’t expect yourself to be a robot throughout your years here. The SRC caseworkers are able to help you navigate this system and are constantly engaged with the university to improve the system. Last year saw the grand opening of the Susan Wakil Health Building (known to some, or maybe just me, as Susie), a pan-Allied Health building meant to foster the lofty goal of interdisciplinary cooperation and understanding. It is located
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23
ENGINEERING
Emily Storey sketches a blue print of life inside the Faculty of Engineering
Studying engineering will involve difficult assignments and (very) long hours, but the culture and community make it all worth it. Not only have we won interfaculty sport 4 years in a row (and counting), but our societies also throw some of the biggest and best events on campus! Luckily, first year engineering students do very similar core units regardless of their stream or major. This means collaboration is the easiest way to stay on top of the difficult content you’ll encounter, so your best bet is to get involved with the social scene of engineering and build an academic network! There are over 20 active engineering societies like SUEUA who throw amazing events for you to mingle with your cohort - if you’re able to come into university, I highly recommend signing up to some of these societies and coming along! Amongst these social events are also many industry nights and networking opportunities where you can develop your professional skills and learn more about potential career pathways. As an added bonus, these events all count towards the Professional Engagement Program (PEP) extracurricular activities needed to finish your degree! Last but not least, it’s no secret that persuing engineering whilst being non-male or identifying Something else you’ve got to know about before within the queer community can feel intimidating you take on engineering at USyd is Terra Cotta. The and isolating. Societies like Women in Engineering coffee from Terra Cotta Roasters runs through the (SUWIE) and Queers in STEM (QUEST) are veins of most engineers - and for a good reason! It’s designed to encourage inclusivity in the engineering just a 5-minute walk from the Peter Nicol Russel culture and to support you! Remember, you deserve (PNR) engineering study hub, and it’s the perfect to be here as much as anyone else - if there’s only place to satisfy your caffeine cravings. This is one takeaway you get from this segment, please let #notsponsored we just really love them that much! it be that you’re not alone!!
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ORIENTATION
MUSIC Alexander Poirier composes a ballad to the Con in his guide to the Sydney Conservatorium of Music
Positioned right upon Sydney Harbour, with views of the Royal Botanic Gardens, the Con campus is made up of the Conservatorium High School and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (the music faculty of the University). The Sydney Conservatorium of Music, built in 1820, was originally designed by Francis Greenway to be the stables for Governor Macquarie’s new Government House. It is the nucleus of musical culture in Sydney, and arguably all of Australia. Since the reconstruction and founding of the Con in 1915 under Belgian conductor and violinist Henri Verbrugghen to "provide tuition of a standard at least equal to that of the leading European Conservatoriums", this prestigious institution has grown from a basis in classical European music to one that has first-class education which truly reflects the diversity of Sydney. Many world-renowned musicians from all areas have studied under superb educators, just as we all do now; jazz trumpeter James Morrison, dramatic coloratura soprano Dame Joan Sutherland, ex-Yellow Wiggle Sam Moran, and indigenous composer Deborah Cheetham, to name a few. The Con is led by our incredible Dean, Professor Anna Reid, with an impressive florilegium of academics, performers, and composers from whom you can learn and refine your craft. Music degrees are considered specialist degrees within the Uni, meaning that there isn't as much liberty for subject choice and electives, but don't let this turn you away from exploring your passions. The subjects at the Con are divided into a few groups, AHCS (analysis, history, and culture studies), music skills (harmony, aural perception, and fundamentals), composition, music education, music technology, contemporary music practice, and performance and ensembles. Depending on your principle study, you do more of each type of subject, such as doing AHCS if you major in musicology, and everyone must do music skills; but anyone is able to do any of these subjects (even if you don't go to the Con!). All of these details can be found in the student handbook, which outlines the specific groupings of subjects for your degree, or if you have any questions please email your programme coordinator. All of the classes have strict attendance requirements (90% or above, essentially meaning you can miss one class without explanation), so be sure to be prompt! There is a strong student culture at the Con, with the Conservatorium Students' Association (CSA) being the centre for that. The CSA is as old as the Con, essentially acting as the SRC/ USU/SURPRA for the Con before it was amalgamated into the Uni in the 1980s; it continues in that role alongside support from the SRC and USU, providing social events (the annual Con Ball!!!!), wellbeing support (yoga and Alexander Technique), and degree advice and support. It will be the main point of contact for you if you have any issues with your degree, teachers, or Uni support, and are always there to help out (@usyd.csa). One of the benefits of the Con being a smaller campus means that you get to have the majority of your classes with the same people for
the entirety of your degree, making close lifelong friends who you'll be playing alongside for the rest of your career. The CSA is also in charge of the Con Gym, so ask one of the executives if you can't find it. Just because you go to the Con doesn't mean that you are detached from the rest of the University, even though there is a physical distance between the two. There are many clubs and societies with whom you can get involved, which are a great way to make friends in different degrees and develop your skills (you'll need to ensure to be a member of the USU in order to join them; it's free!). There are a large number of performing art societies, such as MUSE (the musical theatre ensemble), SUCO (the Chinese orchestra), or MADSOC (the movement and dance society), and they would love for you to get involved! If you do a music degree, that doesn't restrict you only to music subjects, you can choose electives from all over the University, so if you have ever wanted to do a history or language subject (for example), now is the time! I would really encourage you to investigate other subjects that the University offers, as this is the place to do it. Truly we are blessed to have the best and most beautiful campus at the University, so I say grab this time with both hands and make the most of it, and if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask for a chat at PiccoloMe!
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SCIENCE
Alana Ramshaw hypothesises on your first year studying in the Faculty of Science
Welcome to USyd science! At the University of Sydney, the Bachelor of Science is a flexible and dynamic liberal studies degree, meaning you can major in anything from medical science to computer science to history or political economy. You can tailor your degree around a wide variety of disciplines and fields, and majors generally have a wide range of units to choose from throughout the course of your degree. To that end, a Bachelor of Science is really what you make of it. Hard work is rewarded with good outcomes, and taking an active interest in your studies makes them all the more enriching. Like with any other degree, you should sit down with your handbooks in your first year and roughly plan out all the subjects you’ll take and when you’ll take them. Your degree will see you taking core 1000 level mathematics units which you should get through in your first year. You’ll also need to complete core 1000 level units for your majors and/or minors. These are entrylevel courses that are generally not as intimidating as they might seem as long as you put the work in. You’ll also need to tick off anywhere from 6 to 12 credit points of OLE units, and you should aim to get them out of the way as early as you can. Having said that, don’t make the common mistake of overloading yourself in first year, which is easy to do by signing yourself up for too many OLEs. You have a wide variety of OLEs to choose from, and I’d personally recommend Aboriginal Sydney (OLET1101) if you’re looking for something interesting, politically enriching, and wellcoordinated. Once you’ve gotten your core mathematics and OLE units out of the way, you can load up on electives and units that count towards your majors and minors. Make the most of the free space you get in science by breaking up your discipline units with electives unrelated to your majors and minors. Another way to get the most out of your time in uni is to get involved in campus life. The University of Sydney is home to just about any club or society you can think of, so spend time doing things you enjoy doing and meet like minded people with similar hobbies and interests. Science-oriented groups on campus include SciSoc, the faculty society for science students, and the Women in Science Society (WISSOC). While no two science degrees are destined to look the same, any student can benefit from proactively stay-
ing on top of their coursework. Watch your lectures, attend your tutorials, and don’t start assignments the day they’re due. Sit down at the start of Semester and create a calendar or Gantt chart of all of your assessments so they don’t catch you by surprise. It’s not your tutor’s job to remind you about deadlines, nor is it your lecturer’s. You should also try to build a connection with your teaching staff where you can. Don’t be afraid to email your tutor with any questions you might have about the content or the course in general, and send them a thankyou email after the semester has wrapped up. Gratitude goes a long way. Have fun!
TAMING CENTRELINK SRC caseworkers fill you in on how to prevent common mishaps when dealing with Centrelink
Centrelink is difficult to deal with at the best of times. The bureaucratic hurdles are so high that many people leave without getting the payment they deserve. Maybe they do this deliberately, to stop you from applying. Centrelink deals with thousands of people everyday, each with dozens of pieces of paper and screens of information. It is inevitable that things get lost or misinterpreted. For this reason, keep copies of everything you give them. If you talk to them on the phone conversation ask them for a receipt number and email that and a short description of what you spoke about to yourself, should you need it in the future. Centrelink workers are overworked and underpaid and sometimes not very well trained. Try to be patient with them. Plan ahead for the two hour wait on the phone or in the office and have something else to do while you wait. Always report any changes in your circumstances. This includes moving house, getting a new housemate, changing subjects, getting an inheritance or scholarship, going overseas, or changes in your relationship status. Anything that happens that you do not report can be used as a reason to penalise you (financially) or cut off your payment. Make sure you keep proof that you reported these changes. Always report income when it is earned, even if you have not yet been paid. If you are working while studying, have a look at the SRC’s information on the Student Income Bank. This way you can calculate how much your payment should be, so you know if they have calculated the amount correctly. If you notice any mistakes, talk to an SRC caseworker. Read everything they send you. We know they send many, many letters and emails, about many, many (often irrelevant) things. However, you have to read them. Centrelink is governed by the Social Security Act which is very long, and has many nuances to it. Sometimes well-meaning friends want to help, but they might not know about the very slight differences in your situation that changes how the Act applies to you, or recent amendments to the Act. If you have any questions start by looking at the SRC’s website that has information on: • The different payments available for students • Being assessed as independent • How earning money effects your Centrelink payment • The impact of your parents’ income • The impact of your savings when applying for a payment • The impact of being in a relationship • Some changes in Centrelink due to COVID-19. If you still have any questions or need advice, contact an SRC Caseworker by emailing the details of your situation to help@src.usyd.edu.au or book an appointment by calling 9660 5222.
HOUSING HELP The caseworkers help you through the process of moving out of home to study
There’s no place like home When you move away from your family home into one of your own, there are many things to consider. Here are just some of them. Scams Do not sign an agreement or transfer money without inspecting the property, and always get a receipt. Remember that if a deal seems too good to be true, it is probably a scam. Documents Get a receipt for any money that you pay, whether it is for bond, rent, or anything else. Never sign a blank document or one you have not read and understood. Pay special attention to what penalties apply if you leave before your contract is finished. Take a photo of the document and email it to yourself, so you don’t lose it. Make sure you know the full legal name for the landlord and have an address to contact them just in case you need to go to the tribunal. Condition report and photos Before you move in take photos of anything dirty, broken, or damaged. Email those photos to yourself so they are time stamped. If you are given a condition report complete it thoroughly, noting EVERYTHING that is dirty or broken, as this will save you a lot of money in the long run. If you do not get a condition report take photos of anything that is dirty or damaged, and email them to yourself. While you are living there, always contact your landlord by email to have a written record. If you talk on the phone, email them a follow up summary of what you talked about. Report anything that needs repairing, even if you don’t mind if it is repaired or not. When you move out, take photos of every wall, floor, oven, bathtub, sinks, windows etc., and email them to yourself, to prove that you did not damage anything. Notice of moving out If you are on a lease there are rules about the amount of notice you or the landlord must give, for you to move out. E.g., if you simply want to move when your lease finishes you must give written notice of 14 days for fixed term or 21 days for a continuing lease. If you have a contract there should be conditions listed in the contract. If you do not have a written lease or contract you can leave whenever you like, but it is usually polite to give notice of the same amount of time as your rent period, e.g., a fortnight. Fleeing domestic and family violence If you are fleeing domestic and family violence there are additional supports that might be available to you, including rehoming your pets. Talk to an SRC Caseworker for details. Emergency or temporary accommodation SRC Caseworkers may be able to help with some (limited) temporary and emergency accommodation. Call 9660 5222 to speak to a caseworker, or if it is after hours call Link2Home on 1800 152 152.
ACADEMIC HURDLES SRC Caseworkers can give free, independent, professional advice on almost anything that affects your studies. The SRC’s website has some leaflets on a range of issues, but if you have specific questions, contact a caseworker. Perhaps the two topics most relevant to new students are special consideration and academic honesty.
Special Consideration If you (or someone you are the primary carer for) experience short-term (four weeks or less) illness (physical or mental), injury or misadventure, that affects your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration. You must provide supporting documentation. For illness this would be medical documentation, preferably a Professional Practitioner’s Certificates, from on or before the assessment’s deadline. Backdated documentation is not usually considered. If the illness, injury, or misadventure is for someone else, your documentation should focus on how that incident affects you. In some circumstances you may be able to use a Student Declaration. Your documentation must show the dates you were affected, which should include the date of the assessment, as well as how severely you were affected (e.g., “very severely affected” or “totally unable to study). You must apply within 3 working days. Most late applications are rejected. While waiting for a response start studying for the exam or complete the assignment as soon as possible. Do not wait for your special consideration to be approved, as it may be retrospective, and you might miss the new deadline. If you are still too sick to complete the assessment, apply for special consideration again. If you are not able to get a further special consideration you will automatically get a Discontinue Not Fail (DC) grade. If you only need a couple of days for an assignment, you could ask your subject coordinator to give you a two day extension. This extension does not affect special consideration. Academic honesty In any assignments, including exams, you must reference ideas or words from another source, even your own previous assignments. The Academic Honesty Education Module on Canvas explains how to correctly paraphrase and reference, and you can also talk to a Peer Learning Advisor or some in the Uni’s Learning Hub. Incorrectly referenced assignments will be considered academically dishonest and may lead to a fail. Most online tutoring and file sharing sites are considered academically dishonest and may lead to “misconduct” and a suspension from Uni. If a tutoring company offers to write part or all of your assignment, or if the website has answers from other students, it is likely that they are not legitimate. Avoid using sites like Course Hero, Chegg or Github, even if you used them legitimately in high school. Similarly, avoid services on websites like Sydney Today, or advertised through WeChat. Sharing answers on social media group chats is usually considered misconduct too, so check what resources you can use with your lecturer. If you are accused of academic dishonesty or misconduct, contact an SRC Caseworker for advice that is independent of the Uni. ALSO… Did you know that the Uni has a Learning Hub which has worksheets, online workshops, and one on one appointments that can give you tips on how to improve your time management and study techniques? This service is free and very helpful, so have a look when you get the chance.
WHAT IS THE
JOB READY GRADUATES PACKAGE?
What is the Job Ready Graduates (JRG) Package? The Job Ready Graduate (JRG) bill was passed by the Liberal government in 2020, supported by two Centre Alliance crossbenchers. The government has decided that students should be ‘job ready’ when they graduate and that students should enrol in disciplines where the government thinks there’s greater need for skilled graduates. This includes science and maths-based disciplines, engineering, allied health, and teaching. Students are directly impacted by the changes to fees for some disciplines, in particular Arts (up to 113%), Law, and Business. Of greatest concern for students commencing from 2022 the legislation will remove Commonwealth Support (HECS) from a student with a ‘low completion rate’. That is, after attempting the first eight units, if a student fails 50% or more of their subjects, they will be removed from HECs for that course and must start paying full fees or drop out. That's about $25,000 per semester, depending on what course they are doing. What is the purpose of university? Uni is not designed for job training. Uni is the place to teach people how to learn, and to teach people how to critically evaluate what they see and hear in the media, from their friends, and in the broader community. For example, what information should you give more weight to, when your two sources are all the world's leading scientists saying that climate change is our most immediate crisis, or a guy who cuddles coal. Who will be most affected? The impact of the JRG package will affect some students more profoundly than others. This includes students who must work while studying, students with disabilities or caring responsibilities, students who experience physical or mental illness, and students who experience grief and are not able to complete the required administration for special consideration before the requisite deadlines.
Why should you care? Even if you are not affected by the JRG, because you can pass all your subjects, the JRG is something you should care about. Other than simply having compassion for our fellow humans, the negative impact of the JRG package is relevant to everyone. The only people who will learn how to learn, or how to critically think, will be those who don’t have to worry about money or illness or misadventure, while studying. This is not a fair or reasonable representation of the broader community. It will also affect who can become doctors, lawyers, teachers, and nurses. What changes will this bring to the Uni? We don't really know. The uni has had to make changes to some of their policies and processes, including applying for Discontinue Not Fail (DC) grades and showing good cause. As a student representative organisation, we will continue the pressure on the uni to do everything it can to prevent “avoidable fails” of units, e.g., ensure good quality teaching; reduce processing times for special consideration applications; and make academic appeals more accessible. What can you do? Talk to your friends and family about what the JRG is, and why they should care. Talk about what their world would look like without a diversity of people as doctors, lawyers, teachers, or nurses. Get involved with the SRC’s campaigns in whatever capacity you have. Tell your local MP about how this legislation may affect you, your family or community, and ask them what they will do to change or remove this legislation to make things fairer for students. Get involved in the next elections. Find a party that will support people regardless of the (dis)ability, socioeconomic status, or difficult life circumstances, and ask them how you can help in the next elections. Even two hours of help putting leaflets in letterboxes, making phone calls, or talking to people, will make a difference. This legislation will not change until there is a change in Government.
What your favourite venue says about y yo ou 030
FASHION MAGAZINE
Manning Bar (Campus): You’re a USU board director hopeful attempting to gain supporters. Or worse, you’re an incumbent board director looking to keep around the four friends you have by taking them to the one place on earth you won’t be laughed at for wearing your lanyard. The Golden Sheaf (Double Bay): You’re attempting to relive your mediocre peak (Schoolies in Noosa) by coming here on Wednesday nights in an outfit a teenager committing daylight robbery sold to you on Depop. You proclaim to have a “gay best friend” you met in FASS1000 but Shazam Immaterial if it plays (certainly not here). The Lansdowne Hotel (Chippendale): You came here for a quiet rooftop feed many moons ago, took the wrong staircase downstairs and now you’re locked in the party room with a pole. A couple of weeks ago the disco lights flickered on for a couple of seconds, and you might have seen a flash of a door. Bank Hotel (Newtown): If you’re not here for Birdcage, you’re weird. If you are here for Birdcage, you’re gay, but definitely not over your ex: that’s why you’re here every Wednesday waiting to bump into them in the bathroom queue, like you’re in some high school production of The Great Gatsby. The Marly (Newtown): You’re a college kid from Mosman going to the single venue in Newtown where you feel safe. You keep one sweaty hand plastered to your Poppy Lissiman bag because you’re convinced it's going to be stolen, the other around a vodka cranberry. The Argyle (The Rocks): You attempted to line up for a girls night at El Camino and got into the wrong queue. Alternatively, you’re in the limited class of people who can actually enjoy The Argyle (5’10’’ cishet white men whose music tastes stunted at the year six disco) . The Newtown Hotel (Newtown): You strained some ligament in your toe in year ten which was “legit the only thing keeping me out of professional footy”, but your last 18 Tinder dates seem unmoved by that information. You’ve requested Kanye West’s Power several times on CrowdDJ but much like your friend’s who haven’t replied to your “who’s here yet I’m inside” texts, the DJ isn’t responding. Camperdown Memorial Rest Park (Newtown): Before you got here, you spent forty minutes in the King St IGA comparing the price per 100mLs of the red wine collecting dust on the bottom shelf. You shrivel at the thought of a cover charge, in the safety of your Rose Bay home at night. Coogee Pavilion (Hell): You study commerce and can’t name a suburb further West than Glebe. You spend $20 on a tequila sunrise and another couple dozen on a Salmon poke bowl and have no idea what the 370 is. You know the next covid wave is coming before anyone else because it always begins with a superspreader event here. The Ivy (CBD): You’re either freshly 18 and just massacred your Air Force 1s on the slimiest floor on earth, or you’re planning your 35th and are at the age when your shiny bald spot is taking attention away from the sweat stains in your linen shirt. You’re not sure why when you invite people from uni here, you end up blocked.
f23 Horoscopes What's on the cards for you in 2022?
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Aquarius (Jan 20 – Feb 18)
Pisces (Feb 19 – Mar 20)
Aries (Mar 21 – Apr 19)
You share a star sign with business school dean Greg Whitwell. Like all Pisces, you’re an empath: you comfort friends who can’t make rent with stories about the time you sold your AfterPay stocks in 2020 and respond to the social, economic, and environmental ills of the world by reminding yourself that you hustled to get where you are today, others didn’t. Entrenched privilege is a lefty myth, as is astrology…
You share a star sign with Vice Chancellor Mark Scott. 2022 will be a big year for you: keep your eyes on the borders and DMs open for a book deal from Hachette Australia. Remember not to sweat the small stuff: that includes scummy protesters, rendered to the size of small ants when viewed from the top of F23.
Taurus (Apr 20 – May 20)
Gemini (May 21 – June 21)
Cancer (June 22 – July 21)
Leo (July 22 – Aug 23)
Virgo (Aug 24 – Sept 22)
Libra (Sept 23 – Oct 22)
Scorpio (Oct 23 – Nov 21)
Sagittarius (Nov 22 – Dec 21)
Capricorn (Dec 22 – Jan 19)
You share a star sign with PVC education Susanna Scarparo. You are nurturing and independent, but not entirely stable. Quite simply, it is your world and the rest of us are just living in it. There are times when you are indefensibly cracked beyond question, and some of those times are fun. We recommend booking a therapy appointment this month, you’re overdue.
You share a star sign with Registrar and Academic Director (Education) Peter McCallum. Like all people with the Conservatorium of Music in their big three, your flamboyance may come out more as Venus moves out of retrograde. Use this to your advantage in all facets of your life, including meetings with pesky student reps.
You share a star sign with the recentlyappointed DVC Education, Professor Joanne Wright. Shrouded in mystery, people don’t really know much about either of you, but we’re still scared. You’ll probably grow up to be a mother who doesn’t let her children go to sleepovers and you know what you believe in (some strange fundamentalist sect of Christianity), and you’ll be damned if you’re going to let your inferiors children disobey you. We recommend touching grass.
You share a star sign with our dear Chancellor, Belinda Hutchinson AC. You are evil, hot, rich, and proud of all three; the ultimate material girl. You never pass up an opportunity to show people your NFT portfolio, (or in her case her mining and weapons dev investments), and you’re open about your antipathy towards the planet and humanity. You (probably) spend your time whipping the impoverished, publicly-educated undergrads locked in your dungeon.
You share a star sign with beloved former Vice Chancellor Michael Spence, in his reputation era (living life in London after his final year as Vice Chancellor was marred by overwhelming student backlash to course and staff cuts). After achieving pedagogical excellence at UCL in 2021 (proudly proclaiming that no on-campus figure had been “cancelled”), 2022 looks like another extraordinary year for you and Spencey, and also for his eight children benefiting from Daddy’s UCL stimmy.
You share a star sign with former FASS dean, current Provost and Deputy Vice Chancellor, and lifelong girlboss Annamarie Jagose. With epistemy in retrograde in 2022, your corporate side may emerge: don’t be surprised to find yourself hunting for signed editions of Gender Trouble on Book Depository and reacting to mutual’s posts about losing their positions as academics with sad Lena Dunham gifs. Never forget: the world is your oyster, the blood of casuals your champagne, and course cuts music to your ears.
You share a star sign with interim FASS dean, Lisa Adkins. You keep up with the trends, hence why you follow Annamarie (for hermeneutic reasons, Jagose) so closely in her legacy, leadership style, and total vibe really. Really, it's a wonder you’re not both Geminis, not only because you stay #twinning, but because of the two-faced operation of the Arts Faculty: to the rest of the world, you’re a bastion of learning and research, but students and academics know all too well your hollowed out interior.
You share a star sign with the Dean of Sydney Law School, Professor Simon Bronitt. In spite of his litigious legal life, the Cancer skies have imbued him, and you, with a crippling fear of conflict. You have a kind and gentle disposition, and tend to keep your head down, spending your time studying in lawbry or boomerposting on Twitter. Don’t let the haters in the Allens clerkship rat-race get to you.
You share a sign with the Dean of the Faculty of Health and Medicine, Professor Robyn Ward. Robyn has an unassuming exterior, but we hear rumours about her being “Pure evil”. We hear the same about you. You have deceived even yourself into believing your good-guy bit. Hailing from a background in oncology research, you are an unaware wolf in a very innocent sheep’s clothing.
You share a star sign with interim Deputy Vice Chancellor (Education) Adam Bridgeman. There’s a reason your birthday comes well after exams finish, because best pedagogical practice is your thing. Make 2022 your year to hit the books, because god knows in person lectures aren’t coming back to save your grades. In fact, do you really even need a face-to-face party when your birthday rolls around? Zoom catchups are just so much more well-regimented, and really, what could organic discussion ever teach you?
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ORIENTATION HANDBOOK
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CONTRIBUTORS
editors in chief Grace Lagan and Alana Ramshaw
Design and Layup Grace Lagan and Alana Ramshaw Cover Lauren Lancaster Art Deaundre espejo, Grace Lagan, Rosemary Lagan, Alana Ramshaw Writers Iggy Boyd, Oscar Chaffey, Mel De Silva, Deaglan Godwin, Jahan Kalantar, Sarah Korte, Grace Lagan, Lauren Lancaster, Elizabeth Marsh, Alexander Poirier, Alana Ramshaw, Emily Storey, Tiger Perkins, Special Thanks To Amanda LeMay and Mickie Quick, the SRC caseworkers and Legal Service, the convenors of WoCo, DisCo, EAG, WAG, ACAR, Enviro, QUAC, and the International Student's Collective.
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COUNTERCOURSE Countercourse has been written and collated by the SRC’s 2022 Education Officers, Lia Perkins and Deaglan Godwin. The Education Officers convene the Education Action Group (EAG) which is an activist collective on campus that organises protests and actions around education and social justice issues. To get involved with the EAG find us on Facebook: Sydney University Education Action Group. Thank you to all of the EAG members who contributed articles and assisted in editing this issue of Countercourse. The following articles are representative of the individual authors’ opinions only, and therefore do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Education Officers, Education Action Group or the SRC.
Contents 34. 35. 36–37. 38. 39. 40. 42–43. 44. 45. 46–47. 48–49. 52. 53. 54–55. 56–57.
Acknowledgement Of Country Vampires Of Casualisation Usyd Students Past And Present: Fight For What’s Right Eag Vs. Usyd Usyd Strikes Tutors And Austerity The Corporate University 50 Years Since The Aboriginal Tent Embassy Anti-War Activism Women’s Lib At Usyd Why Students Should Oppose Aukus Capitalism In 2021 Myanmar Student Unions Public Sector Strikes Net Zero Is A Farce: We Need Real Climate Action
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Acknowledgement of Country
We would like to acknowledge that the production of this publication, along with all of our activism takes place on Stolen land. In particular on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. It was genocide that established the settler-colony that evolved into so-called Australia, and genocide continues today. Aboriginal people are among the most highly incarcerated peoples in the world, and Aboriginal children are forcibly removed from their families every day. There can be no justice without First Nations justice. The University of Sydney is a colonial institution which removed Gadigal people from their land and it continues to displace Aboriginal people by destroying communities in Redfern. We recognise the strength and resistance of First Nations people, from the Day of Mourning to the Aboriginal Tent Embassy and fights on country. We stand in complete solidarity with all Indigenous people fighting for their land, autonomy and sovereignty. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.
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COUNTERCOURSE HANDBOOK 2022
USyd Students past and pre March 1960 Over 1000 students demonstrated against the apartheid system, following the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa. Student leaders within university clubs sponsored another anti-apartheid demonstration. Nine students were arrested, marking the beginning of increasing student political activity and police intervention.
February 1965 - Student Action for Aborigines (SAFA), led by Charles Perkins and fellow University of Sydney students, organised the “Freedom Rides” bus tour to rural NSW. SAFA drew attention to discrimination, marginalisation May 1970 and inequality of Aboriginal 10 000 University students gathered people in rural NSW. on Eastern Avenue to join the first Moratorium against the Vietnam War. The war in Vietnam, and Australian participation in it was unpopular among most University students.
December 1967 - The manifesto ‘The Lost Ideal’ was published in Honi Soit as the founding manifesto of the Free University. Sydney University students and staff came together outside the University system to propose a radically different educational model which ‘is based on co-operation instead of competition; it breaks down the formal role-division of student and staff, inferior and superior; and experiments with teaching models’. June 1971 - The third Moratorium against the Vietnam War, with the theme “stop work to stop the war”.
March 1975 - After years of attempting to establish courses in heterodox economics from within the Economics Department through striking and protests, in March 1975 students participated in a sit-in at the Vice Chancellor’s office. The University eventually created the Political Economy Department.
Free University in Calder Road, Redfern. Left to right: Rowan Cahill, Terry Irving, Corina Clarke and Jon Collings. Terry Irving’s archives. Political Economy staff and students
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esent: Fight for what's right Lia Perkins
1971 Vietnam Moratorium outside the Quadrangle. University of Sydney Archives
1971 - First Student General Meeting (SGM) at USyd in response to the all-white South African national rugby team, the Springboks, tour of Australia. The SGM and associated student strikes and protests opposed the racist regime, and the Springboks did not return to Australia until after Apartheid.
1996 - Following Howard’s election victory the Liberal Government began trying to pass legislation to introduce Voluntary Student Unionism (VSU). It was an attempt by the right-wing government to limit progressive politics so they can carry out full scale attacks on students without opposition. Students at USyd and other universities responded through protest, action and information campaigns, making the government move away from this agenda for some years.
Student protest against VSU in 1999.
June 1974 - 300 students and staff gathered in the quad and voted for a general strike until the Professorial Board accepted the “Philosophy of Feminist Thought” course. Feminists set up a “Women’s Embassy” in the quadrangle and other unions and socialists were involved, demanding women’s studies courses be taught at the University of Sydney and a democratisation of eduction. The strike was successful and resulted in the philosophy department splitting, which led to what is now the Department of Gender and Culture Studies.
2006 The USyd SRC and EAG held a Student General Meeting (SGM) to pass changes in the SRC’s constitution as a response to the passage of the Howard Government’s Higher Education Support Amendment (Abolition of Compulsory Up-front Student Union Fees) Bill in 2005.
2013 - NTEU staff at the University of Sydney go on strike multiple times in 2013 over their Enterprise Bargaining period. Staff and students form pickets to stop people coming onto campus in protest of the University trying to cut pay and abandon 40/40/20 academic positions. At multiple strikes staff and students come into direct conflict with the police.
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COUNTERCOURSE HANDBOOK 2022
THE EAG VS USYD
For over a decade, the Education Action Group has been the bane of university management, the thorn in their side, the Scooby Doo unmasking Vice-Chancellors for the villains they really are. It has fought against cuts to courses, to departments, to staff jobs, to federal funding. It has fought fee hikes and even fee deregulation and it has stood on picket lines with striking staff. In June of 2020, Scott Morrison announced his Job Ready Graduates Package, a bill which would almost double the cost of an arts degree and while reducing the cost of degrees such as science, also reduced the amount of funding universities would receive per student, in essence lowering the quality of their education as well. Yet Sydney University management, NSW Police, and the State Government had a real problem with our protests on campuses. Pretending as though they were concerned about COVID safety (2021-22 has shown what a lie that was), they ordered us to disperse and fined us for breaching public health orders, at a time when rugby league games had packed stadium audiences. Rather than playing by the broken rules or bowing to pressure from the sate, EAG activists instead decided to defy the police. On one fateful Wednesday, September 23, EAG activists converged New Law Lawns and, seeing the gate to Victoria Park wide open and without police, charged through the park and onto City Rd. Jubilant and defiant, we marched down City Rd until the police pushed us back into the park. Then, like a scene from some medieval battle, mountain police chased students onto the campus.
The rally had a galvanising effect on all those who were there. Collectively, we had been able to do what no individual alone could do: challenge the might of the police and the government and assert our democratic right to protest. On October 14, another protest, held in defiance of a police ban, attracted hundreds of students and involved another round of cat and mouse with the cops. But after their humiliation at the previous rally, the police upped the ante. When attempting to march onto Parramatta Road, the police threw student activists into the gutter and kicked Sydney University law professor Simon Rice to the ground. Activists would have the last laugh. Less than two weeks later, the Berejiklian Government would quietly concede that demonstrations of up to 500 people were now legal. The cap was only to save face; the attendee limit was never enforced. A campaign which had begun at Sydney University around fee hikes and course cuts transformed into a struggle to reassert our democratic right to protest. The EAG prides itself on fighting not only attacks from the government but also from the bosses of our own university. During the first semester of 2021, it was announced that university management were looking to abolish the School of Literature, Arts and Media (SLAM), cutting two departments entirely and moving the rest into other schools in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS). Semester 1 ended with a lively and energetic protest, mostly made up of Theatre and Performance Studies students, who’s degree was on the line.
In Semester 2, the plan to abolish SLAM then morphed into a generalised attack on the entirety of FASS. Any unit with less than 24 enrolments in them could face the chopping block. Stuck in our bedrooms during the lockdowns we were unable to organise through the usual methods. The EAG called a Student General Meeting (SGM) to demonstrate to the university the overwhelming student opposition to the planned cuts. The SRC constitutional requirement that the SGM required 200 students to attend to be valid demanded that the EAG do serious building work and engage those students not previously engaged in activism, as well as combatting zoom fatigue. Campaign groups like Clubs Against the Cuts, involving members of various clubs and societies, demonstrated the widespread feeling of anger. The SGM itself was a huge success, with well over 200 students attending. The motions, which involved condemning the cuts and committing to fighting them, were voted up nearly unanimously. Despite a tough semester in lockdown, the EAG had once again demonstrated to university management our will to stifle their every attempt at perfecting their degree factory. What can we learn from this going into 2022? The success of both campaigns was owed to some shared ingredients; an intransigence towards university management and their profits; a commitment to mass action, even virtual; and the hard work of education activists. With the possibility of strikes by staff in 2022, the battle between the EAG and the University of Sydney is far from over; it’s only just begun.
STUDENTS' REPRESENTATIVE COUNCIL, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY
Staff Strikes @ USYD: A recent history
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Patrick McKenzie
In a 1975 issue of the Union Recorder, one of USyd’s then-marquee student publications, Daryl Douglas wrote on the huge growth in student numbers from the mid-forties to sixties: “The lust for numbers, and hence power and finance, which university planners evinced at this period was not marked by an equally clear determination to adopt structures and methods to the increased number of students,” he said. Education activism has been a cause for decades precisely because the quality of the staff and student experience at university is an issue that constantly needs to be fought for. In the demonstrations of the ‘60s and in the decades since, staff and students have often banded together to fight harsh government policy changes or corner-cutting measures from the University. This usually takes the shape of campaigns, demonstrations and protests waged by academic staff who are members of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), supported by student activists and members of the public. In the last decade, significant staff industrial actions have taken place in 2013 and 2017, during the University of Sydney’s Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA) period, in which the NTEU negotiates wage and employment conditions with University management. Staff who have been employed at the university through multiple EBA periods experience a commitment to standing up for themselves when the work of the university depends on their labour. “Staff working conditions are students’ learning conditions,”
says Nick Riemer, a senior lecturer in English and Linguistics and incoming USyd branch president of the NTEU, who has been a staunch staff activist since starting at USyd in 2005. This oft-quoted aphorism neatly sums up the flow-on effect that cuts to working conditions have on the experience of students at the university, and underlines the reason for their collaboration through protest campaigns. The 2013 EBA was a fierce fight, where the NTEU organised events of industrial action, including 7 days of strikes, in protest of management’s draft agreement. Initially, management offered a pay rise of 11.6%, which was then negotiated up to 14.5% over the course of the strike actions during the first week of semester one, the start of semester two, and again on the University’s Open Day where a rally and picket were also held. “The strike may inconvenience some students and staff on the first few days of the teaching semester, but that’s the point. We all have a stake in the quality of our higher education system,” theneditor Nick Rowbotham wrote in the first issue of Honi Soit that year. Riemer speaks passionately on the visibility of strikes, describing the timing during Open Day as essential to countering University management’s investment in marketing over addressing staff claims. Management’s response to the strikes also marked a concerning collaboration between the university and law enforcement. In both April and June 2013, protestors at picket lines faced off with riot police, with eleven people arrested at the latter. The NTEU ultimately endorsed the 2013 EBA in October, after all
academics were offered a sign-on bonus of $540, three paid research days per year and the creation of 120 new positions for formerly casualised staff – among other claims. In 2017 came the next EBA, and again saw the NTEU vote to strike, albeit for less time; on Open Day and for a day in semester two. Almost identical to 2013, these strikes were against the University’s unwillingness to grant sufficient pay rises, reduce forced redundancies, and preserve the ‘40:40:20’ percentage split of staff workload between teaching, research and administrative work. The dispute was eventually settled in late-September, with the University conceding on claims concerning job security casualisation to a small degree, but not on pay rises. When staff advocate for better conditions and go on strike, not only are they exercising their rights, they’re opposing both management and the government’s logic that Universities are merely tools of the labour market, not sites of research, ideas and critique. Riemer adds that student support is vital simply because their interests are aligned with staff. Coming into 2022, and another EBA, USyd’s learning community is staring down a vastly similar issue yet again. Two years of predominantly online learning have become the catalyst for management attempting to impose unreasonably harsh systemic cuts and changes. Staff workloads and pay increases in addition to casualisation, redundancies and wage theft are at the forefront of an expansive log of claims. Solidarity with industrial action, if and when it happens, is critically important.
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COUNTERCOURSE HANDBOOK 2022
Neoliberal Universities: What they are and how to fight them Eddie Stephenson
For as long as universities have been mass institutions, there’s been a tension between the democratic demands of staff and students and the role that universities play for Australian capitalism. We want universities to exist for their own sake, as a place to collectively build a deeper understanding of the world. Meanwhile, the bosses and politicians prefer them as institutions that churn out the skilled workers needed to run the economy profitably. Uni bosses have spent the last 50 years transforming universities into corporate degree factories in the name of productivity and profit. It’s in light of this process of corporatisation that we can best make sense of the attacks being rained down now. While universities under capitalism have always been required to service the requirements of business, the process of neoliberalisation began in earnest in the 1970s, responding to a period of global economic stagnation that had stunted the profits of capitalists. In an attempt to resuscitate these profits, a series of attacks were carried out by governments around the world against trade unions, health, education and welfare systems. This offensive marked the beginning of
what is now termed neoliberalism - a strategy of defending profits by letting the market rip and attacking the organisation, industrial power and expectations of working class people. In Australia, this process was a politically bipartisan one from the start. While it was a Liberal
government that started slashing public spending on universities in the late 1970s, it was the Hawke Labor government that abolished free education in 1989 and set up the HECS loan system. Bob Hawke’s education minister John Dawkins established the rationale for this attack in a 1988 white paper which asserted
that, while higher education would have to continue to expand to meet Australian industry’s need for skilled labour, the government would force students to fund this expansion. So the government recast tertiary education as a commodity that students must purchase, rather than a freely available public service. As governments gutted public funding to universities, they spurred on the ‘privatisation by stealth’ of these institutions. Where government contributions made up 85% of all university funding in 1990, they now account for less than 30%, a historic low. The remainder of the cost of tertiary education is made up not just by students’ fees, but by
STUDENTS' REPRESENTATIVE COUNCIL, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY
deals with all kinds of unsavoury or downright villainous private entities. In the corporate university, the socalled marketplace of ideas also accepts cash. The most infamous example of this is the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation. Established with a bequest from Paul Ramsay, a major Liberal party donor in life, the centre was explicitly conceived as a defence of ‘Western civilisation’ and all the racism, militarism and genocidal conquest it entails. It used its $3 billion in funding to buy degrees at the University of Wollongong and University of Queensland. Now it has a successor in the Robert Menzies Institute - named for a man best known as a notorious strikebreaking, nazi-sympathising Liberal Prime Minister - at the University of Melbourne. At Sydney University, the United States Studies Centre was set up in 2006 with funding from Rupert Murdoch. Its aim was, in his words, to “counter the bias against the US-Australia alliance”. This alliance has seen Australia and the US jointly destroy the lives of thousands in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past two decades. These structural shifts in the funding of universities have gone hand in hand with their transformation
into profit-making businesses in their own right, run by millionaire vice chancellors with handsome investment portfolios. The clearest instance of universities functioning as businesses is the exorbitant fees
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Australia are employed on a casual basis, without paid leave or funding to research the subjects they teach. Staff are expected to do more work for less pay and security, while course offerings are cut according to what’s
"In the corporate university, the so-called marketplace of ideas also accepts cash." charged to international students. seen as most economically useful. This business model has seriously This logic was only reinforced by the enriched university executives. In Liberals’ 2020 Job Ready Graduates 2020, no vice chancellor of a public legislation, which increased fees for university in NSW was paid less than a degrees in areas such as the humanities, six figure salary. Most vice-chancellors seen as less conducive to becoming are connected by a thousand strings a productive worker for Australian to a series of seamy private interests - capitalism, while cutting the overall just think of USyd Chancellor Belinda level of government funding to Hutchinson, who also occupies universities. Staff working conditions a second gig as Chairman of the are student learning conditions - the Australian wing of the international attacks waged against university weapons manufacturer Thales. workers translate into endlessly When the outbreak of the COVID ‘streamlined’ degrees littered with pandemic saw international student soulless filler units, oversized tutorials, enrolments drop, it was these and mind-numbing standardised executives who scrambled to cut staff assessments. and subjects, even at institutions like The picture here is a grim one of USyd which continued to make a conveyor belt universities, designed budget surplus. In a moment of crisis to churn students out as productive for the sector, management knew their workers for Australian industry, at role was to ensure the efficiency and the expense of university staff, while profitability of the degree factory by making a tidy profit for the VCs on the forcing staff and students to pay for side. This is the university that the VCs, a problem their business model had politicians and capitalists want, and created. they’ve shown themselves prepared to Accordingly, for neoliberal go on the offensive against staff and universities to function they rely students in order to get it. Yet there’s on appalling working conditions a power on our side too, in disrupting for university staff. For university the functioning through protest and management, a highly casualised, staff strikes. By understanding the chronically overworked and attacks they’re waging, and putting systematically underpaid workforce them in the context of the decadesis core to cutting every possible cost long neoliberalisation of universities, associated with the actual education we are better armed to fight back with done at university. The NTEU has everything we’ve got. found that nearly half of all fulltime equivalent teaching staff in
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COUNTERCOURSE HANDBOOK 2022
50 YEARS OF THE ABORIGINAL TENT EMBASSY Lia Perkins That it endured for [five] decades as a potent symbol rejecting the hypocrisy, deciet and duplicity by successive Australian governments is a testament to the refusal of large numbers of Aboriginal people to concede defeat in a 200-year struggle for justice Gary Foley
HISTORY OF THE EMBASSY The Aboriginal Tent Embassy is the site of the longest protest for Indigenous land rights in the world. First Nations people in Australia had been marginalised and discriminated against since the Invasion and the Tent Embassy was set up during a period of worsened conditions and greater appetite for resistance. It was an immediate response to Prime Minister William McMahon’s ‘Australia Day statement’ which dismissed land rights. There were multiple confrontations between protesters and police when the Embassy was first erected. However, due to a legal loophole, that the land in front of Parliament House is Crown Land, the Embassy could not be removed. On 6 February 1972, members of the Embassy listed demands to the Government, relating especially to land rights.The government amended the legal loophole that allowed camping on the lawns, giving police authority to remove protesters. However, on
September 12 1972 this amendment was overturned and the Embassy was re-erected. Later in 1972 Whitlam won the federal election and kept to his promise of returning land rights to the Gurindji people. However, the struggle for land rights was not over. The Embassy existed intermittently over the next twenty years, until it was permanently erected in 1992. Over the years the Embassy has been a site of protest, resistance and sovereignty for Indigenous people. Demonstrations occurred outside the Tent Embassy during Queen Elizabeth II’s visit to Australia in 1974. The Redfern Black Power movement was important for the establishment and political message of the Embassy. Young, Indigenous people were inspired by the Black Power movement in the United States and the racism and injustice they felt at home. Wiradjuri man Paul Coe who was involved in Redfern saw the need for Aboriginal people to,
“Take control of both the economical, the political and cultural resources of the people and the land… so that they themselves have got the power to determine their own future.”
50 YEAR ANNIVERSARY: 2022 This year, on January 26, Indigenous people from across the country convened at the Embassy for its 50 year anniversary. Three days of workshops, cultural activities and protest marked the ‘Last Day of Freedom’, ‘Invasion Day of Mourning’, and ‘First Day of Resistance’. Across the country, Invasion Day marches also recognised the anniversary, with the organisers of the event on Gadigal land calling the Embassy “an earthquake moment in history that put the struggle for Land Rights on the international agenda”. The last few years have shown that the fight for justice and for First Nations sovereignty is not over. In the wake of George Flyod’s death in the United States there was a resurgence of interest in the Stop Black Deaths in Custody movement in Australia. Families continue to mourn the death of their loved ones at the hands of police and prisons, and their deaths remain without conviction. David Dungay Jr’s death in 2015 at Long Bay prison reveals how systemic and broken the justice system is.
STUDENTS' REPRESENTATIVE COUNCIL, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY
In 1968, the Education Action Committee (precursor to today’s Education Action Group) stated that, “this university serves capitalism by producing ideology and administrators.” This analysis - that the university contributed to the capitalist economy - was growing in popularity across the globe. In 1968, students across the world from Paris to Rome to Berkeley were taking up the mantle of anti-capitalism and demanding a better future than their parents. Instead of accepting the post World War 2 peace, young workers wanted change. They wanted revolution. While these young workers and students fought for many causes, the fight against the Vietnam War became the most popular and well known. In 1969, things began to heat up on campus. In early May, student activists protested against State Governor Sir Roden Cutler and the military-aligned Sydney University Regiment (SUR) in a sit-in. An article titled “The Hand that Threw the Tomato” was written about the event as tomatoes were thrown at the Governor in a brawl that arose. These events were common as resistance to conscription and the war grew. Sit ins were a common strategy as they conveyed the peaceful nature of the protestors. They also were directly tied to the strategies of protestors in the U.S who had borrowed them from the Civil Rights campaign.
In 1970, thousands of Australians participated in the largest protest movement up to that point in the moratorium. A national meeting between anti-war groups organised the moratorium in Melbourne, taking inspiration from the US moratorium in 1969 which brought out 500 000 Americans to the streets. In Sydney, 20 000 people crowded around Town Hall to protest the war peacefully. Students and young people made up the majority of participants in these protests and on June 30, 1971, the largest gathering ever assembled met on the University front lawn. These smaller and larger actions each contributed to the tide turning against support for the war. Labor was consequently wedged to speak against it and Australia’s participation in the war formally ended in 1973. While students made up a large demographic of the anti - Vietnam war protestors, this anti-war sentiment was not always a given. In 1966 for example, 68% of the student body were in favour of sending troops to Vietnam. But by 1969, this had fallen to 41% and 35% by 1970. However, the huge turn around of student perspectives was not inevitable. It was down to the hard work of left wing activists. Of particular importance were the socialists who formed the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), being influenced by the actions of the American group of the same
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name. While the SDS and Labor Club groups focused on electoralism during 1966, after Labor’s loss that year they turned to more militant actions. This focus on sit-ins, protests, draft dodging and propaganda greatly contributed to the change in attitudes of the student body. The diversity of causes, beyond the Vietnam War, that these groups were fighting for further assisted their cause, Student activists also organisedaround Aboriginal rights, anti - South African apartheid, anti - nuclear and for more democracy within the university itself. As a reporter at the time stated, the main themes of student newspapers across the country were “demonstrations over things political and sex, drugs and iconoclasm as the means of self liberation from all forms of authority.” Looking at old photos from these protests, the students in them look very similar to the students who protested in the huge demonstrations in the last couple of years. Walking with tens of thousands of my peers in the huge Black Lives Matter protests it’s easy to see the link between the past and now. Like then, we are facing the consequences of a system wrapped up in a logic of short term profit making. Like then, we are fighting for our lives and our futures. And like then, we can win if we fight together.
ANTI-WAR ACTIVISM AT USYD Maddie Clark
Vietnam Moratorium Campaign, 1970. The Commons: Social Change Library
Vietnam Moratorium in Sydney, May 1970. Sydney Morning Herald.
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COUNTERCOURSE HANDBOOK 2022
SYDNEY UNIVERSITY AND THE WOMEN'S LIBERATION MOVEMENT OF THE 1970S Grace Mitchell
In the summer of 1969-1970, a women’s crusade was crystallising in Sydney. Known as the Women’s Liberation Movement, this political operation would change the lives of the city’s women – albeit predominantly white women – and leave a legacy that continues today. Sydney University was arguably the original epicentre of Sydney’s 1970s Women’s Liberation Movement. Spurred by the challenge to generate new ways of thinking about women in a society that upheld the patriarchal institution, Sydney University acted as a base for the city’s early ‘Subversive Sheilas’ to foster these counter-hegemonic ideas that quickly spread throughout Sydney. Let us take a moment to remember the transformative power of unity and radical ideas sparked within our university’s sandstone sediments.
*
In terms of fostering an academic Women’s Liberation ethea, Sydney University offered one of the first Women’s Studies departments in the country. The university was home to Sydney’s earliest women’s liberation groups, such as the Sydney University Feminists and the Earthworks Poster
Collective. Mirroring the broader Women’s Liberation Movement occurring in the West throughout the late 1960s and into the 1970s, Sydney’s feminists aimed to transform women’s economic and workplace equality, scrutinise and change female representations by men in the media, and expand women’s understanding of themselves beyond being purely objects of male desire. Within the university, feminist activists demanded that their movement’s aims be reflected and cultivated within the institution’s curricula. Through a student and staff strike in 1973, this demand was met with the formalisation of the university’s Women’s Studies department. This female-focused department was not only run by women but propelled an academic transformation in its political and scholarly purpose of disrupting hegemonic representations of white women in Australian society. The challenge for these early feminist academics, however, was generating a new, feminist epistemology. The lack of historical sources from women’s perspectives and the absence of significant philosophical ideas regarding female emancipation, for example, was a significant challenge when aiming
to generate fresh ways of viewing the female experience and social role. Yet, such was the purpose of the Women’s Liberation Movement. Indeed, this ideological innovation paid off. Sydney University pioneered in offering interdisciplinary courses, the first of these in 1974 being ‘The Political Economy of Women.’ As the historian and key organiser of the Sydney’s Women’s Liberation Movement, Lyndall Ryan, notes, Sydney University’s interdisciplinary women’s studies courses “offered a critique of structures and methodologies and opened the way for a feminist field of knowledge.” The formalisation of a feminist academic discipline within Sydney University propelled feminist activism on the university’s campus amongst both staff and students through uniting feminist students with shared body of knowledge. For example, the university’s Tin Sheds operated as a key organising space for feminist collectives, including the Earthworks Poster Collective which printed and distributed posters embodying the movement’s aims. The university, then, acted as an organ, sustaining and propelling the Women’s Liberation Movement’s life beyond its sandstone membrane.
STUDENTS' REPRESENTATIVE COUNCIL, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY
While it can be argued that Sydney University was the hub of the movement’s intellectual activity, ideas regarding women’s emancipation were not limited to the university. Feminist ideologies that manifested at the university proliferated into its surrounding suburbs. This was most notably encompassed in the Women’s Liberation House, or The House, first established at 67 Glebe Point Road, Glebe, in 1970. While moving to various locations in the inner city throughout the late 1970s, The House continued to provide a centralised political organising space for Sydney’s Women’s Libbers across the decade. The space assumed a political role, this being its function as an activist space, therefore a key epicentre for the circulation of Sydney’s feminist ideas. It must be stressed, however, that not all of Sydney’s feminists felt that they belonged in these meetings or indeed within the Women’s Liberation Movement at all. While spaces including The House acted as an important space for white women to communicate and establish their feminist objectives, many Aboriginal women, for example, felt that their voices were not heard. This stemmed from the flawed ethos of Second-Wave feminism as it propagates that sisterhood is the solidarity of all women; ‘all women’ precariously implies that every woman has had the same experiences and goals. As Kuku Yalanji activist Pat O’Shane articulated, there remains “a huge gulf between the white women’s [experiences] and the struggles of Indigenous women.” This divide must be noted and interegated when analysing the Women’s Liberation Movement’s social impact. Importantly, The House provided Sydney’s early Women’s Libbers –
most of whom were either students or academics at Sydney University – a female-only space to hold consciousness-raising meetings, meetings where women were able to openly speak regarding their personal experiences in a male-centric world. According to the historian and Women’s Liberation House member Ann Curthoys, consciousness-raising meetings were instrumental in allowing women to “see how [they] were socially constructed.” These gatherings were
also accompanied by the publication of feminist newsletters from The House, including Mejane (first published in March 1971) which helped to spread the ideas and aims of the Women’s Liberation Movement beyond purely feminist spaces. Together, this melding of ideas galvanised the movement’s development in being primary tools that permitted Sydney’s feminists to organise their movement’s aims, these aims ultimately being to decompose the ‘edifice of patriarchy’ for gender equality. Indeed, the political positions incubated in The House gave way to broader social change for Sydney’s women, as demonstrated in the establishment of The Elsie Refuge. While it is true that female-focused services, namely hostels, existed in Sydney before the Women’s Liberation Movement, most were operated by religious organisations and charities;
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limited were those services run for women, by women alone. With domestic violence against women emerging as a major issue for the Women’s Liberation Movement to tackle, The House members Anne Summers and Bessie Guthrie established The Elsie Refuge, or Elsie, in Glebe’s Westmoreland Street in November 1973. Elsie was Australia’s first secular, femaleoperated domestic violence refuge for women and children. Thanks to Sydney University’s feminist activists, Sydney’s women now had access to accommodation when fleeing from violent situations. Aside from Elsie, other femalefocused services were established by Sydney’s ‘Subversive Sheilas’, including rape crisis centres, health centres, and counselling services. Many of these services continue to operate today, highlighting the social impact and legacy of the Women’s Liberation Movement. * As exhibited through Sydney’s 1970s Women’s Liberation Movement, political crusades can indeed transform society. Arguably, the movement positively shifted the mainstream attitudes towards women, admittedly predominantly white women. However, political and social change comes with the catch that this scale of transformation can be something we take for granted today. Sydney University’s radical feminist history is a reminder for current and future students of this institution that such an impactful social revolution takes courage, unity, and ideas to feed it. It is up to us to sustain and further propel social and political change.
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WHY STUDENTS SHOULD OPPOSE AUKUS
COUNTERCOURSE HANDBOOK 2022
Rory Larkins
In Semester Two of 2021, over 200 USyd students gathered for a Student General Meeting and voted almost unanimously in support of a motion calling on the University to stop stripping funding from ‘less successful’ departments and faculties and to oppose all course cuts and restructures. As part of this motion, students resolved “to oppose the university’s connection to the Australian military in light of the recently announced AUKUS submarine deal.” During the meeting, opposition to AUKUS was doubted as relevant to stopping the cuts. The Australian soon published the response of an ADF representative to the motion, who claimed that “defence investment is socially productive because if you can’t defend your country at all, then you’re not being productive or social.” Soon after, Honi Soit published an article by Max Shanahan which argued that “some level of military connection in Australian universities is both inevitable and predominantly prosaic.” The AUKUS motion reached new heights when Sky News ran a television segment ridiculing the motion, and calling for a return to conscription! Given the recent context of our government's warmongering towards China, opposition to the ties between our universities and our military hit a nerve. In 2020, Scott Morrison pushed hard for an investigation into China’s role in the COVID-19 pandemic, asking for a “weapons inspector” level of inquiry. China responded by increasing tariffs on Australian agriculturalexports. Recently, Peter Dutton dredged up hysteria about the immediate prospect of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, and affirmed that Australia would back the US in a war for its defence. These tensions culminated in the September 2021 announcement of the new AUKUS military alliance between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This alliance is focused on combating global ‘Chinese influence,’ and includes the sharing of nuclear submarine technology, so that Australia may begin to construct a fleet of eight submarines to be deployed in the South China Sea. Morrison has taken a terrifying step towards all-out war in the region. War with China would be devastating and needless. The enthusiasm among the Australian
ruling class for a military partnership with two of the largest militaries in the world against China continues Australia’s imperialistic efforts to assert its own interests in the region. Australia’s struggle for influence in the South Pacific has always been about grabbing control of resources, trade and investment. China’s fast growing economy and military expansion has created a rival for Australia’s dominance in the region, and threatens the US-run system of trade and alliances that it benefits from. Australia is therefore prepared to throw its military might to defend the global status-quo, and quash China’s rival influence out of the region. The shouldering for dominance and exploitation of labour in places like the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Nauru and Fiji has left a trail of carnage, with the Australian military posed to violently suppress uprisings and defend the empire Australia has built in the Pacific. The nuclear submarines in the AUKUS alliance are a dangerous waste of resources that could be used for socially beneficial things. The submarine fleet has recently been estimated to cost $171 billion to construct by the early 2030s, and would require high-grade uranium for its operation. This meant that uranium shares have had their values soar after the announcement. Instead of spending hundreds of billions of dollars on publicly owned renewables, a sufficient healthcare system for dealing with the pandemic, it is being spent on developing a domestic high-grade uranium industry. Uranium has devastating environmental impacts from its waste, extraction, and transport, and it can leak or meltdown - causing catastrophe. The development of a high-grade uranium industry is a step towards nuclear weapons being developed in Australia, and towards all-out nuclear war. It is in everyone's interest - except for those whose bloated profits can now only expand by way of missiles - to resist this AUKUS alliance and nuclear submarine deal. As part of this opposition, all ties between the military to our universities should be wholly opposed. Despite Shanahan’s claims in Honi Soit, these connections are in no way ‘prosaic,’ but are part of a broader project of gearing Australia for conflict.
STUDENTS' REPRESENTATIVE COUNCIL, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY
The Group of Eight (a committee of the wealthiest universities in Australia, including the University of Sydney) leapt to support the deal just a few days after the AUKUS announcement. They published a statement which eagerly offered to support the development of nuclear submarines through funding ‘useful’ research programs and skilling a workforce to construct and maintain them. This is not the first time that USyd has served the military. In 2017, it was announced that Thales Australia, the Australian wing of the international arms manufacturer, would be partnering with the University of Sydney to help develop artificial intelligence and underwater sensing systems for use in creating brand new weapons and military technology. One of these innovations from the University of Sydney’s robotics department are the ‘marathon robots,’ which are used for target practice. The robots have software which allows them to simulate life-like movement, and respond to wounds hyper-realistically, with hits to vital organs killing them, and even screaming when they’re shot. Thales has previously been investigated for its facilitation of war crimes committed by a Saudi-Arabia military coalition, which has targeted civilian homes, hospitals and schools in their war to suppress rebels. Thales has comfortably profited from these atrocities, selling them the weapons to murder those innocent civilians. These ties are especially unsurprising considering that Belinda Hutchinson, Chancellor at USyd, is the chair of Thales Australia. Her position permits her to run the university for her own profits. So why are these military ties so
prevalent in our university? In the 1980s, one of the Hawke-Keating education reforms was to implement executive committees at every university, with major decisions being previously decided by councils of professors and academics from within the University. These executive committees largely consist of ultrarich business executives who inevitably use their position to boost their own profits. Increasingly, universities are run in the interest of massive corporations, rather than for free,
accessible, and expansive education of the masses. The military is one of the largest industries in Australia, and with funding in the hundreds of billions, it can exploit the withering public funding of higher education to broker deals which turn universities to their advantage. The University of Sydney is currently one of the wealthiest universities in Australia, with hundreds of millions of dollars of profits being further used by its corporate management to reconstruct universities as a tool for profits. Higher education in the arts produces little corporate value in graduates or research, and it is therefore continually stripped of funding, with whole departments facing the chopping block, and massive restructures resulting in devastating layoffs. Throughout the pandemic, over 40,000 casual staff lost their employment in universities across
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Australia. Opposition from students to the corporate and military interests that dictate how our university is run can both prevent further cuts to our education, and bolster a broader movement against war with China, and against Australia’s use of uranium. But in order to win real change, this movement must centre the power of industrial action. In 1977 the Fraser government attempted to massively expand uranium mining and exports in Australia. The following day, seven unions announced their opposition, and their intention to totally ban all uranium mining or exports. This was the culmination of a series of mass street demonstrations earlier that year, with 10,000 marching in Melbourne, and 20,000 in Sydney. This movement gave confidence to workers to take matters into their own hands. In July 1977, when a ship arrived at the Melbourne wharves carrying uranium for unloading, the presence of hundreds of anti-uranium demontrastors gave courage to the workers to walk off the job, despite their union leadership overruling their vote to ban the ship. This shows the potential for workers' power to win a better world, and that this power can come from the confidence and strength of mass movements in opposition to war with China, the AUKUS deal’s expansion of the Australian military, and the development of a domestic uranium industry. At Australia’s wealthiest University, run by war profiteers who wish to slash education and warp universities for the expansion of Australia’s militarism, the opposition of students to AUKUS is crucial to bolstering this movement for real change, for a better world. Art by Hannah Rose
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COUNTERCOURSE HANDBOOK 2022
Marx's Ideas in 2021 Bringing Clarity to Chaos Tom Williams
For many, 2021 was a confusing and infuriating year. The relative stability of mid-January quickly unravelled into an uncertain mess. Governments made illogical decisions about human life, and capitalism conjured up all manner of strange beasts from sideways boats to virulent strains and everything in between. However, the chaos of 2021 showed us that the ideas of Karl Marx are still as relevant as ever. All year profits were placed ahead of human life. Despite sitting on enough supply to vaccinate the world several times over and a combined revenue
of $65,000 a minute, BioNTech, Pfizer and Moderna refused to supply countries who could not afford their prices. 98% of people in low-income countries remain unvaccinated and at risk of the new strains of virus. Each company was fighting to generate more profits than their rivals, which wasn’t just anti-human, it was also furiously inefficient. Vaccines were delayed because they are profitable commodities, and so they were developed in isolation to stop other companies etting in first. But it wasn’t just the vaccine rollout that put profit before health – all over the world short-term profits and mass death became the policy. The US and the UK took a “let-it-rip” approach, stacking up 1 million deaths between them to satisfy businesses’ demands to return to work. Even here in Australia, after eliminating COVID several times, and an extended lockdown that crushed the delta wave, the drive for profits won out in the end. Pressure from the rich to open up the economy
has meant 500 people have been killed so that businesses could get rich over Christmas. This was no accident though; Marx outlined how we live in a world driven by competition both between capitalists and between nation states. International military competition was a staple of 2021. Amidst a health crisis, the Australian government spent $171 billion on nuclear submarines to square up with China, and the US similarly increased spending while pulling out of Afghanistan to focus on competing with the other global superpower. Much like the companies within them, Marx explained that nations are committees for the bosses
STUDENTS' REPRESENTATIVE COUNCIL, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY
which compete for resources and land on an international scale. This helps us understand why world leaders also failed on the other ongoing crisis, the climate. COP-26 was a conference of broken agreements, greenwashing and empty promises not because every single leader is incompetent, but because none of them would ever sacrifice the thousands of gigatons of coal they collectively sit on. To do so would set their mining bosses back billions, and tank their country’s economic competitiveness for decades. We were left with facades of climate action, non-binding far-off targets and small investments in ineffective measures like carbon capture or grey-blue hydrogen. So why did it all happen? Last year showed us who wins and who loses from this horrid system. According to Oxfam, the wealth of the top 10 richest increased by $540 billion, double their pre-pandemic riches. Australian billionaires doubled their wealth as well, with Gina Rinehart reaching a net worth of $22 billion. While Bezos, Branson and Musk splashed $21.8 billion on personal flights that barely grazed space, their workers froze to death in their factories, forced to urinate in bottles or sleep in their vans. Globally and in Australia, inflation increased while wages stagnated, and workers were thrown under the bus working longer hours in unsafe conditions. Marx’s conception of class held water, as the widening divide between those who do the work and those who own the
means of production showed who capitalism benefits. 2021 also showed us that although workers are screwed over by the system, they are integral to it. In both waves of the pandemic this year, hospitals were overrun because nurses became sick. When stores ran out of food, it was because transport and abattoir workers were sick and had to self-isolate. And inspiringly, when the trains stopped across NSW and when schools were shut, it was because rail workers and teachers went on strike to demand better pay and conditions. Even in sleepy NSW, we could see that the working class is very much alive, and although oppressed by capitalism, is still essential to it. Bezos was right to thank “every Amazon employee… who paid for all this” when he launched into space, because every penny of his wealth came from them. Finally, last year showed us that because workers are essential to capitalism, they can shut it down and
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show their power. In Myanmar, a courageous mass movement for democracy erupted in response to the military coup. There was a wave of strikes in numerous industries, from transport and factories to schools and hospitals, which cohered in the demand to shut down the economy and overthrow the military junta. In Sudan, there were mass protests of tens of thousands accompanied by strikes to defend against total military rule. We saw glimpses of the alternative to capitalism that Marx so powerfully outlined; a society run democratically in the interests of everyone. 150 years after his death, Karl Marx’s revolutionary ideas are clearly just as relevant as before. They provide clarity to a year that would otherwise be a nonsensical mess. Even better than clarity, Marx’s ideas about capitalism show how we could bring this barbaric system to an end.
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Students in the Myanmar Revolution Jasmine Al-Rawi The gesture of the “three finger salute” has come to symbolise the overwhelming courage and revolutionary élan of the masses in struggle in Myanmar last year. This revolution had not just inspired the masses in Myanmar, but ricocheted across its borders, inspiring workers and youth across the world. The revolt showcased the continuity of struggles against dictatorships across Asia, from the Hong Kong Anti-Extradition Bill Movement of 2019, to Thailand’s struggle against its own military dictatorship in 2020. The spring revolution began after Myanmar’s military junta, the Tatmadaw, arrested State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and seized control of the country on 1 February 2021. Strikes and demonstrations immediately followed, initiated by health workers and students, which mobilised masses of people in an attempt to fight against the reinstatement of a military dictatorship. Some of the first to answer the call to strike were the historically militant garment workers,
followed by 60% of state electricity workers with a proposal to join forces, workers. State railway workers refused and student activists from around to transport soldiers to be used as Yangon who encouraged workers to strikebreakers, and therefore for an go out on strike. University students entire week, the rail networks in have also contributed to the struggle Yangon and Mandalay, Myanmar’s by boycotting the higher education largest cities, were shut down. system and encouraging staff to The junta responded with fierce join the movement. In response, repression. Tear gas and water canons the Tatmadaw has carried out mass were regularly used to intimidate arrests of students and staff, however protestors; the Tatmadaw even went students at a number of universities to extreme lengths including burning have tried to fraternise with rank-andprotestors alive. However the initial file soldiers and argue with them to intensification of repression only break ranks with their commanding galvanised the movement, with officers. It is the clear, radical politics general strikes called on behalf of the students to the working class of a “general strike committee” that enables them to have a strong which brought together political parties, labour groups and unions, aiming to end military rule, free all political prisoners, abolish the 2008 constitution and establish a federal democratic union. Yet this mass struggle did not come about on its own: student activists had a key role to play in the revolution and gave lead to parts of the resistance. It was students who contacted garment
STUDENTS' REPRESENTATIVE COUNCIL, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY
influence on the struggle against the junta. The student unions have shown support and solidarity to the trade unions time and time again. The positive influence of students was not inevitable but required the active re-establishment of the student unions in Myanmar. Aung Kaung Sett, a representative from the University of Yangon Students’ Union (UYSU) said, “We presented students with the argument that student unions are political bodies that are meant to fight against injustice. In 2019, UYSU was finally re-established on that basis.” Students in Myanmar have been engaged in some of the most heroic, inspiring struggles including the revolution in 1988, often known as the 8888 uprising. This struggle began with an 'accidental' brawl between RIT (Rangoon Information Technology) students and the son of a high-ranking bureaucrat from authoritarian General Ne Win's party on 12 March 1988. Despite injuring a student, the official’s son was released which angered students who then took to the streets in protest. The army brutally retaliated, which further enraged students and spread the movement across the whole nation. But the student movement alone was not enough. A main student leader called for nationwide general strike action which was answered by the working masses 8 August. This strike, and the mass demonstrations that followed, transformed the
student and youth protests, shaking the foundations of the military dictatorship and throwing up the question of who should run society. Out of this mass struggle various radical student groups emerged, including the ABFSU, the All-Burma Federation of Student Unions. These organisations showcased the ability of student activists to spark struggles far beyond their own ranks, and to put forward radical political positions which can start to challenge capitalism itself. However, at the same time, moderate leaders like Aung Sa Suu Kyi, put themselves at the head of the movement, redirecting it away from the sort of confrontation needed to defeat the regime. Subsequently, the junta closed universities and students fled the country once the movement was defeated - yet during the period of civilian rule, universities reopened and fostered the continuing organisation of student radicals, who were able to once again leap into action during the 2021 revolt. We as student activists in Australia have a lot to learn from the courageous struggle in Myanmar and the important role students played within it. Similar to the revolts in Myanmar, we must look to radical politics that challenge the whole system we live under for the real solutions to fighting for social justice issues and student rights. We need to work towards building a culture of student activism
on our campuses. In the University of Yangon, student unions were reestablished on the basis of organising students to fight against injustice, and student activists in Australia should fight for our unions to fulfil the same purpose. Student unions have to be radical political bodies: not only does that help them fight, but it also helps attract young, left-wing students to be involved in activism and future movements. Nothing is wasted in history: every struggle that has come before has contributed to the way we can understand future struggles. The turbulence of Australian politics today goes to show the potential for the circumstances of mass radicalisations to emerge. We need to be well placed to take our important responsibility as student activists to drive every struggle forward, by building the capacity and understanding of our own student unions and fighting against every single attack on our education. In doing so, we can take inspiration from the heroism and radicalism of the students in Myanmar in their fight against dictatorship. There's no better time to start building that kind of resistance than the present.
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"NOTHING IS WASTED IN HISTORY; EVERY STRUGGLE THAT HAS COME BEFORE HAS CONTRIBUTED TO THE WAY WE CAN UNDERSTAND FUTURE STRUGGGLES."
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NET ZERO IS A FARCE: WE NEED REAL CLIMATE ACTION Yasmine Johnson 2021 has been a watershed year for once-in-a-lifetime weather events: average global temperatures spiked to record highs, fires raged across Europe and North America, hurricanes and floods swept the world, and for the first time in history the tundras of Siberia were subject to wildfires. Extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and environmental degradation mean that around 20 million people are displaced annually, and air pollution from burning fossil fuels is now directly linked to around 1 in 5 deaths worldwide. Unless you’re willing to entertain the denialist fiction that we’ve just had an unlucky run of it meteorologically, it’s time to reckon with the fact that climate catastrophe is not a distant prospect. We’re already living through it. We know who’s to blame for this climate crisis. In 2017, it was found that just 100 companies were responsible for 71% of greenhouse gas emissions - and the top 20 of these were behind a third of the emissions. Climate change must be tackled head
on, by shutting down the fossil fuel “don’t do governments”, would solve industry and forcing a reduction in the climate crisis. “The world doesn’t emissions. Instead, politicians and need to be punished for climate heads of industry have chosen a change, we just need to fix it,” he told strategy of denial, or, more recently, the Victorian Chamber of Commerce, of strategic greenwashing. Instead in a heartfelt plea for us to all stop of taking real action to take on the pointing the finger at him and the unfolding disaster, they’ve given us a fossil fuel industry. lot of hot air. But this is not just a problem with In particular, global leaders have Scott Morrison - net zero pledges are relied on the strategy of ‘net zero’ farcical even when it’s not the Liberal pledges. The 2021 United Nations Party coming up with them. BP and Climate Change Conference, better Shell have made similar promises to known as COP26, was full of these halve their emissions, while notably empty promises. When Scott Morrison not making any promises to stop their finally agreed to attend, he took with extraction of the fossil fuels that are him a net zero by 2050 pledge which burning the planet. Even when these commits Australia to next to no companies do invest in green energy, serious reductions in emissions in the it’s because they see an opportunity to next 20 years. The strategy gambles make some extra profit. Asia’s richest on the possibility that super effective man, the fossil fuel billionaire Mukesh carbon capture technologies will Ambani, for example, recently magically be invented in the 2040s to revealed a plan to invest $10 billion cancel out the CO2 we will continue in green energy, but his business to produce in the meantime. Reliance Industries will continue to Morrison’s justification for these make the majority of its revenue from universally derided climate targets was oil refining and petrochemicals. that “can-do capitalism”, rather than So why won’t any of these
STUDENTS' REPRESENTATIVE COUNCIL, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY
governments or businesses commit to the action necessary to save the planet? The logic of capitalism means that everything society needs to run is made using the cheapest, fastest mass production techniques - and this has always meant producing things in a way that is environmentally destructive. Because capitalism has been tied to fossil fuels right from its beginning, every time capitalist economies have grown, their fossil fuel industries have grown as well. So regardless of the attitude of individual capitalists towards climate science, their actions are dictated first and foremost by the fact that if you hold back, your rivals will just go ahead and burn that coal, produce those plastics, drill for that oil, and reap the profits. What this means is that a transition away from fossil fuels will never happen while the logic of profits above all else reigns supreme. Least of all in Australia, which in 2020 exported 384 million tonnes of coal and 79 million tonnes of liquid natural gas, securing the appalling distinction of being the world’s largest exporter of both. It’s estimated that 95% of Australia's current coal reserves need to stay in the ground to stave off catastrophic global warming above two degrees celsius, but the capitalists aren’t about to forego the billions of dollars to be made from
selling that coal off to be burnt overseas; it would amount to giving up on their very reason for being. Those who are interested in greenwashing Australian capitalism argue that we’re already transitioning to renewables, and all that’s needed is the right government incentives to speed things up. This, however, ignores the fact that right alongside renewables the fossil fuel industry is continuing to grow in absolute terms, often in the hands of the exact same capitalists - just take Twiggy Forrest, the Murdoch press’ new green poster boy, who is investing in green hydrogen technology while maintaining and expanding the destructive mining and agriculture businesses which have made him one
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of Australia’s wealthiest bosses. The truth is, the capitalists are quite happy to make a profit by investing in the so-called ‘green’ economy, and give themselves a sustainable coat of paint in the process. But the ‘brown’ economy that sustains Australian capitalism continues to grow at an alarming rate. This is why the net zero pledges of billionaire bosses and pro-capitalist politicians are nothing to be hopeful about. Instead, we should look to the masses of ordinary people, who have no interest in destroying the planet they live on. The answer to the climate crisis is not the dream of green capitalism; it’s the complete overthrow of a system run by a minority in their own interests. The only way we can get there is by building a climate movement - and a left more generally - which is able to refuse to accept hollow promises and fight the ruling class at every turn to demand real change. In the here and now, that means mobilising for protests, seriously taking up anti-capitalist politics, and calling bullshit when you see it.
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COUNTERCOURSE HANDBOOK 2022
TEACHERS AND TRANSPORT WORKERS ST UNDER NEOLIBERALISM On December 7th, 2021, teachers and public transport workers went on strike to protest a government that has repeatedly failed to protect their interests. The twin strikes, which together make up perhaps the most significant industrial action for the public sector in decades, are a forceful rebuke of the neoliberalism that has constructed the agendas of successive Coalition governments. Displays of such resistance are necessary and serve to foster awareness of the human cost of an obsession with budget bottom lines. The transport workers strike was simply the latest episode in an ongoing dispute with the Department of Transport (Transport for NSW). As much of the city was locked down during last year’s Delta wave, train drivers and staff affiliated with the NSW Rail Train and Bus Union (RTBU) were gradually accelerating industrial action as enterprise bargaining stalled. The union is demanding increases in wages, workplace safety measures and wage guarantees amidst privatisation within the rail network. Among these demands is that cleaning be maintained at existing levels, that transport assets be manufactured in Australia and that guards still be used on an incoming fleet of intercity trains. Implementation of workers' demands would significantly improve the working conditions of train staff and commuters. The decision
to cut pandemic-level cleaning appears extremely short-sighted; the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over and the all-round improved experience that regular cleaning offers is provided for by workers with good, statecontrolled jobs. Similarly, privatisation poses a substantial threat to workers who would be left with few alternative workplaces and have no guaranteed level of protection should they lose their jobs on account of it. Public school teachers and principals of the NSW Teachers Federation were holding their first major strike in nearly a decade,protesting against acute staff shortages in the sector. Currently, NSW has the lowest ratio of teachers to students in the country, with 3000 permanent teaching positions vacant at the time of the strike. These shortages have placed significant pressure on teachers, with some teachers reporting working over twenty hours of overtime a week. Changes to policies regarding precarious casual and temporary employment, which are becoming increasingly prevalent, was also demanded. The public good that concessions to striking workers would generate has been thoroughly underestimated by the relevant departments. If teachers are to be able to effectively educate and care for the individual needs of students, then the changes proposed by the Teachers Federation must be implemented. Without the working
standards teachers need to do their jobs, it is ultimately students who have their education tarnished. Similarly, the viability of the economically and socially critical rail network is contingent on drivers being able to work in comfortable conditions and be adequately paid. Many of the changes to safety and hygiene proposed by the RTBU impact the public just as much as rail workers. For both the RTBU and the NSW Teachers Federation, the need to strike was regrettable. Yet, faced with a government that was unwilling to negotiate or even listen to the concerns of affected workers, there was little alternative. Among shared demands were increases to wages above the cap of 2.5% annual wage growth imposed by the state government in 2011. An overly restrictive adherence to the cap by the state government in negotiations has been the key factor in rendering nego tiations unproductive thus far; apart from this stifling impact on negotiations, the government’s wage cap has serious adverse impacts on both workers and society at large. With Australia’s inflation rate climbing above 3% in 2021, and expected to remain steady at 2% in 2022, 2.5% annual wage growth represents little growth in real terms, with workers left with declining real wages in some cases. According to the Reserve Bank, low public sector wage
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RIKES: UNIONISM AND INDUSTRIAL ACTION Luke Cass
growth also depresses wage growth in the private sector, rendering many others without real wage growth. Especially pertinently for teachers is the impact low wage growth has on the teaching profession. With acute staff shortages and an insufficient number of graduate teachers, an ageing workforce and increased student numbers, the crisis in the education sector will only intensify. Despite expensive campaigns and desperate soul-searching, it is clear that only substantial increases to teachers’ wages will alleviate this problem. While the starting salary for teachers is competitive with other graduate fields, a lack of wage growth, largely due to the government caps, sees any parity with other professions dissipate as teachers age. Accordingly, the NSW Teachers Federation are calling for annual wage increases of 5 to 7.5 percent. Such wage growth would see salaries remain competitive for teachers across the duration of their careers. An abolished government wage cap would see the standard of living for both public and private sector workers materially increase is the only viable option to remedy the lack of staff in public education. Attempts to block industrial action by the state government are similarly
indicative of its disregard for the conditions of workers. The teacher’s protest proceeded in spite of the Industrial Relations Commission’s order to call off the protest; the attempt to call off the strike is a continuation
underlying cause of both the strikes of December 7th and the social ills that preceded it. An education system weak from being drip fed funding and a rail network that cannot meet its timetabled obligations will do far more harm than comparably minor concessions to workers. While much of the state has overlooked this for decades, mass strike action and decisions to act in spite of a stifling industrial action framework can potentially catalyse mass protest against the government amongst the wider public in NSW and Australia at large. Luke Cass
of previous attempts to target public servants’ strikes, including in 2018 when a Fair Work Commission led to the cancellation of a separate RTBU action. While the government is quick to make accusations of bad faith on behalf of unions in enterprise bargaining, attempts to block action by workers who have had their concerns fall on deaf ears are more indicative of an unwillingness to negotiate. Neoliberal orthodoxy has been upheld by successive Coalition and Labor governments, the ceaseless prioritisation of cost cutting and budget bottom lines was the
Art by Hannah Rose
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COUNTERCOURSE HANDBOOK 2022
The Blight on usyd: the endemic of tutor underpayment and wage theft
Ariana Haghigi and Andy Park
In Australia, underpayment of employees and wage theft is a grave crime. Companies eschew their obligations to workers and seek loopholes to protect their profits. Companies withhold employee entitlements and undercut remuneration by paying below minimum wage, preying on vulnerable groups such as migrants who have impaired access to justice and requiring workers to complete off-theclock work outside their contract. Wage theft is a scourge across all sectors of the workforce, but it disproportionately affects marginalised groups that may not be able to forgo an income to speak up against their unjust conditions. Many would assume that the university is the last place that such an injustice could occur. After all, it is a place for critical thinking and learning, an institution built on the competence and dedication of hardworking academics, lecturers and tutors. However, once we pull back the curtain, it’s clear that much like the rest of society, our university is divided. Above all the classrooms and lecture halls, exists a shiny corporate structure detached from the heart and soul of the university. Whilst Vice-Chancellor Mark Scott rakes in $982,800 a year, our educators are left to precarious contracts which leave them in insecure work which is, more often than not, underpaid. In Semester 2 of 2020, an unemployment claim showed that at
least 90% of USyd tutors performed unpaid work during that time. This unpaid work is in many forms- in the School of Mathematics, the first hour of lecture instruction is volunteered, tutors send emails outside working hours and tutors are only paid for one hour to edit multiple papers throughout the semester. The deep irony is that the university could not function without the work done by tutors. Dr Yaegan Doran, an academic, spoke before a Senate Committee, explaining, “I got my contract for this semester on a Wednesday to teach a course of 100 students starting the next Monday. That is very little time to prepare something of quality”. For upper management at our university, tutors are a mere instrument for profit, to be exploited when needed and dispensed arbitrarily. Unfortunately, the wave of employment precarity for tutors, with deep rips of casualisation and wage theft, breaks not only on the USyd’s shores. Part of the broader trend of neoliberalisation, universities are becoming increasingly corporatised and increasingly motivated by profit incentives and outranking their peer universities. As a result, the domain of university education resembles that of a competitive market, with each company aiming to outperform the other. Success, in their eyes, is in the form of unused surplus and money lining the pockets of wealthy figures in management; it is thus begotten by
austerity measures and rampant costcutting. At Western Sydney University, staff and the NTEU are embroiled in a dispute with management in negotiating the Entreprise Bargaining Agreement, since management are offering a pay ‘raise’ of 1.25% despite inflation being pegged at 2%. One suburb away from us at the University of Technology,, staff leave accumulation is capped at 20 days; additionally, staff have to work an extra 12 weeks to qualify for the right of parental leave. In June of last year, a report released by the University of New South Wales made the sickening discovery of up to $36 million of wage theft over six years. Given UNSW made a re-payment for $36 million, the true quantity of stolen income can only be imagined. At each university, students and staff are uniting, organising industrial action and mass mobilisation to stifle the wages’ burglar. It is only through unionism and solidarity that fair and just outcomes can be bargained for, considering university management will respond only to the threat of lost profits and sunken reputations. It is to our educators and tutors that we owe our thanks and gratitude; they are the ones that form our university experience, fostering our passion for subjects and uplifting us in times of strife. This is not merely a fight for our education, it’s part of a broader fight for the livelihoods of the working class.
contributors Editors Lia Perkins Deaglan Godwin Eddie Stephenson
Iggy Boyd Yasmine Johnson Luke Cass
Ariana Haghighi
Layup and Design Lia Perkins and Deaglan Godwin, with help from the Publications Managers
Writers Lia Perkins Deaglan Godwin Ariana Haghighi Andy Park Patrick McKenzie
Art Hannah Rose
Eddie Stephenson Maddie Clark Grace Mitchell Rory Larkins Tom Williams
Jasmine Al-Rawi Luke Cass Yasmine Johnson
FIGHT FOR FOR FIGHT EDUCATION: EDUCATION: NO USYD USYD CUTS CUTS NO
1PM, T H U R S D A Y F E B 2 4 OUTSI D E F I S H E R L I B R A R Y
N O T O A LL COURSE, W A G E A N D J O B C U T S! S O L I D A R I TY WITH U S Y D S T AFF! D E M A N D FULLY FUNDE D H I G H E R E DUCATION!