‘Ask the Soviets, bro!’: August SRC Meeting Recap

Ethan Floyd

Hacks can be a lot — they’re vulgar and rambunctious, they love climbing on desks and poking holes in each other’s ideologies. But more than anything, they love spending one Wednesday each month shouting vapid platitudes at each other in the subfloor of New Law.

August Council began like any other: Electoral Officer Riki Scanlan opened nominations for this year’s SRC elections before the Executive heard questions from councillors.

The President’s Report noted the SRC’s success at Welcome Fest and the recent decision by the Academic Board to uphold five-day simple extensions.

“We should be wary that the University does not support five-day simple extensions, and [upholding the decision] will require a concerted effort from student organisations,” said President Lia Perkins (Grassroots).

Vice-Presidents Rose Donnelly (NLS) and Daniel Bowron (Unity) thanked people for attending the “USyd Students for the Voice” BBQ during Welcome Fest, and announced a rally in September in support of the Voice to Parliament.

Bowron spoke to the success of FoodHub over the semester break, but noted that the program coordinator is under increasing pressure after a spike in registrations.

Reports from the office-bearers were largely uninteresting, except for a few highlights — the Education Officers spruiked the “Welfare not Warfare” rally on 9 August, the Queer Officers noted the reprinting of Fagi Soit, and the First Nations Officer announced the return of Indigenous Honi after a four-year hiatus. Way ahead of schedule, we heard the first motions of the night, beginning with a broad proposal for the SRC to call upon state MLC Alex Greenwich to strengthen his Equality Bill. The motion passed “It is absolutely disappointing how little conviction Alex Greenwich has shown towards equality,” said Timothy Duff.

The motion passed with broad support, except for SAlt — branded “the Catholic caucus” by James Sheriff (Black Flag) — who abstained.

A key issue of the night was the Australian Universities Accord, the Interim Report of which was released last month. Several motions, including one against sexual violence on campus moved by Iggy Boyd (Grassroots), made mention of the Accord. However, it was a motion moved by Yasmine Johnson (SAlt) that stirred up the most crossfactional tension.

Johnson called on the SRC to condemn the Higher Education Accords Interim Report and “recognise the futility of engaging in the Accords process” — a proposal which predictably drew opposition from the Labor-aligned factions.

Daniel O’Shea (Unity) expressed support for the Accords process: “we have this platform to engage with the Federal Government. To not use this platform (…) is a waste.”

Alexander Poirier defended the Accords process in the face of heckles from the

Socialist Alternative: “unless you [SAlt] have an alternative, your solutions aren’t good enough! Until the revolution comes along, what do we do in the meantime? What comes after?”

“Ask the Soviets, bro!” shouted Angus Dermody (Solidarity) from the back row.

After much argument, and some characteristic grandiloquence from closeted theatre kid Deaglan Godwin, the motion passed.

A number of less contentious motions were considered, with councillors touting upcoming actions — notably, the Black Lives Still Matter rally on August 19 — before we found ourselves hearing the final motion of the night.

The motion — moved by Women’s Officers Iggy Boyd and Alev Saracoglu (SLA) — called for the abolition of the University’s residential colleges, on the grounds that they have become “far too expensive for anyone who isn’t already well-equipped to afford them.”

“With HECS indexation rising, affordable housing is needed more than ever,” said Boyd.

The motion received broad support, and a notably bizarre critique from Alexander Poirier: “if we look at the type of music that the colleges perform, it’s mainly Eurocentric music.”

The meeting adjourned just before 11:00 and, as USyd’s factional gremlins vanished into the night, Honi prepared to go to bed at a semi-reasonable hour for the first time in months.

Honi provides live coverage of SRC meetings on our Twitter and Instagram.