Issue Nine - 2013

ISSUE 09 ‘PARTY MIX’

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EDITORS Mairead Armstrong Lachlan Bennett Sally Coleman Fiona Dunne Tessa Feggans Frances Mao Joe McKenzie Naomi Russo Zara Selman Hannah Story

CREATIVE DIRECTORS Sunyoung Hwang Catherine Lao

CO NTENTS

CREATIVE TEAM Minh Bui Patrick Forrest Ana-Clarise Rueda COVER IMAGE Minh Bui

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I JUST WANT TO PEE

ADVERTISING Stephanie King

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CONTRIBUTORS Joseph Bautista Kieran Boyd Rudi Bremer Katherine Buskariol Luke Cooper Lucy Faerber Belinda Grant-Geary Whitney Higginson

Jules LeFevre Ellen Leabeater Jessica Maggio Felicity Pickering Georgina Ryke Shannyn Warren Adrianna Zappavigna

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KNOW WHAT 17 IYOU DID LAST SEMESTER

WITH SUPPORT FROM Lyndal Butler et. al Spotpress Pty Ltd, Marrickville

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28 Tone Abet Realestate.com.au Sushi Tio’s Snapchat relationships UTS Careers Service Twitter hashtags Beyonce Mad Mex

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INTERVIEW: SEEKAE

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EDITORIAL CALENDAR UTS DEEPER INSIDER THE VIRTUAL CLASSROOM FOUR SURPRISING THINGS THAT THE ABBOTT GOVERNMENT PLANS TO DO LETTERS TO THE TOWER I JUST WANT TO PEE SHOWCASE: SHANNYN WARREN GEN WHY?: FUTURE SELVES I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SEMESTER HOW TO WIKI YOUR WAY TO MUTUAL ATTRACTION SHOWCASE: FELICITY PICKERING DEFAMER REWIND/FAST-FORWARD UTS NOTICEBOARD NOT JUST ANOTHER BEDROOM PRODUCER IS THIS SHIT ANY GOOD? BORED STUPID?!

SA REPORTS SA ELECTION CANDIDATE STATEMENTS

Vertigo is published by the UTS Students’ Association Printed by Spotpress Pty Ltd, Marrickville Email us at advertising@uts vertigo.com.au for enquiries.

Vertigo and its entire contents are protected by copyright. Vertigo will retain reprint rights, contributors retain all other rights for resale and republication. No material may be reproduced without the prior written consent of copyright holders.

Vertigo would like to show its respect and acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land, the Gadigal and Guring-gai people of Eora Nation, upon whose ancestral lands the university now stands. More than 500 Indigenous Nations shared this land for over 40 000 years before invasion. We express our solidarity and continued commitment to working with Indigenous peoples, in Australia and around the world, in their ongoing struggle for land rights, self determination, sovereignty, and the recognition of and compensation for past injustices.

This is our disclaimer so we don’t get sued by nast y organisations or individuals. The contents of Vertigo do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Students’ Association or the Editors. This one is on you.

Tony Abbott Boys The Abercrombie security guards Communication Practice Project Boys Awkward encounters 2am editing Tequila Boys

E DITORIAL Readers, Welcome to Vertigo under the government of Tony Abbott.

Let’s not get into a share for all on where everyone was (drinking) on election night, but I’ll reveal that I spent it ‘covering’ the election in a Murdoch newsroom suppressing my gag reflex. I actually wanted to see these tabloid hacks explode in backslapping glee at the success of their propagandajournalism. But when the new PM’s face swam onto the screen, not a single cheer was heard. I chewed on some pizza, standing next to two editors who watched the falling confetti with grim satisfaction while the majority just sat there tapping away at their screens, not even bothering to listen. After all, it was a done deal; they were professionals and moved on, shrugging at the abomination they had helped achieve.

We can’t move on so easily. By the time I’d finished the first draft of this editorial, our new PM had done away with the portfolio for Science and added one for the Celebration of Anzac Day. By the second draft, the man had censured news about refugee boats, killed every single government climate change initiative, and named himself the Minister for Women.

If you want to know what else the Abbott government has in store for you, look no further than Joe McKenzie’s rundown of proposed Coalition policies on page 10.

We’ve also kept our Defamer section, despite real-life news negating the need for ridiculous satire these days. If you’re after more horror, turn to Adriana Zappavigna’s feature ‘I Know What You Did Last Semester’ or Georgina Ryke’s treatise on that fearful F word – Flirting. And lastly, for some upbeat, progressive news on campus, check out ‘I Just Want to Pee’ by Lachlan Bennett.

Vertigo is fatter this month. Not because half the team inhaled UniBros meat boxes during midsems, but because of the upcoming student elections for next year’s SRC and Vertigo editors. It’s easy to discount these candidature pages as political drivel that won’t affect you. But let’s face it – the main reason why we’re in this mess isn’t because this country is full of ‘dumb shitheads’ (though it is a tempting theory) but because a lot of voters were ill-informed. As a student, you’re heading into scary times; it’s up to you if you want to just sit there and shrug, but there are fellow students out there who won’t give up so easily. They’re ready to fight for your education and they could do with your vote.

Frances and the Vertigo Team Vertigo apologises for any offense caused by the decapitalisation of the word Indigenous on pages 7 and 41 of Vertigo Issue 8.

CALENDAR

WEEK 10

WEEK 11

Monday 7th October

Wednesday 16th October

Wednesday 23rd October

NRL Mad Monday

Ride to UTS Day 7am to 10am

Whoops! The Wharf Revue 2013 8pm @ The Wharf Theatre

Hamlet 8pm @ Belvoir St Theatre

Friday 25th October

Labour Day Long Weekend

Tuesday 8th October Vertigo Issue 9 hits the stands today UTS Oktoberfest Kuring-Gai Campus.

All day, tickets $15 - $20 from the Union Desk

Wednesday 9th October Night Noodle Markets @ Hyde Park begin

Thursday 17th October Just for Laughs: The Stand Up Series with Dave Thornton 7:15pm @ The Opera House

Saturday 19th October

WEEK 12

Boy and Bear 8pm @ The Metro

Sunday 27th October The Cancer Council’s ‘Seven Bridges Walk’ @ Sydney City

The Great Gatsby U Ball 7pm @ The UTS Great Hall

Thursday 10th October UTS Oktoberfest @ City Campus.

All day, tickets $15 - $20 from the Union Desk 5

UTS DEEPER INSIDER WHEN NEWS (OR A CRANE) BREAKS, TURN TO PAGE 6 FOR ALL THE CAMPUS NEWS, GOSSIP, AND DOWNRIGHT SLANDER THAT’LL LAST A THREE-WEEK PRINT RUN.

Anti-abortion group rejected by Union frances mao AND LACHLAN BENNETT

Controversial anti-abortion group LifeChoice will not be affiliated with the UTS Union after its application was voted down by the Union Board.

However, although the rejection denies LifeChoice official recognition and up to $8000 in Union funding, the group can re-apply for affiliation in the future and is not limited in its capacity to operate independently at UTS provided it abides by the university’s standard requirements and policies.

The group, which has clubs at Universit y of Sydney, UNSW and Macquarie University, was denied affiliation on the grounds that it did not fulfill the criteria set out in the UTS Union Constitution. Specifically, the club was seen to contradict standards set out in the Clubs and Societie s handbook reg arding “unacceptable behaviour”.

In a letter addressed to the President of the Students’ Association, Lyndal Butler, the UTS Union CEO Elizabeth Brett said “freedom of speech and association is not impinged in any way” as a result of the decision. This is despite LifeChoice previously arguing that deny-

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ing pro-life groups affiliation would be “a threat to the free discussion of ideas on campus”.

The decision, reportedly handed down on August 28, came af ter mounting pressure on the Union from women’s rights groups protesting the club’s expansion into UTS. An online petition with 364 signatures demanded the Union reject LifeChoice’s application and an email campaign directed at Union CEO Elizabeth Bret t and Deput y Vice-Chancellor Shirley Alexander, caused such a flood of emails that the UTS IT depar tment blocked all messages containing the word ‘LifeChoice’.

Additionally, RU4MyChoice, a non-autonomous, pro-choice group supported by the Wom*ns Collective, was set up in opposition to LifeChoice’s potential presence on campus. RU4Mychoice President, Freya Newman, welcomed the Union’s decision with relief, and thanked the Union Board for recognising the concerns of female students, and “prioritising the safety of its members”. “The anti-choice rhetoric propagated across LifeChoice-affiliated campuses has been aggressive and misleading, and gave us real cause for concern,” Newman said.

The LifeChoice club at the University of Sydney is now having its Union backing reconsidered, according to the Women’s Officer of the University of Sydney Union.

Representatives of the UTS LifeChoice group were contacted for this story, but did not reply to requests for comment.

Girls tackle fullcontact sport Belinda Grant-Geary

Our new Prime Minister did say a “bit of body contact never hurt anyone” and the ladies comprising the first UTS Women’s Gridiron team have to agree.

After three months training, 15 women, under the lead of coach Tiffany Bosco, competed in Gridiron NSW’s inaugural women’s competition on September 27.

Gridiron football is known for its big hits, big blocks and traditional protection gear which includes helmets and shoulder pads.

Bosco believes misconceptions regarding the physicality of the game are of the biggest barriers in getting women to come down and give it a go.

“People have an opinion that you just go out there and just smash the crap out of each other, but it’s not like that. There are rules, regulations and technicalities that impact the game,” Bosco said.

Bosco is confident that once the girls get a taste of the spor t they will be addicted.

“Honestly as soon as they come down and see what’s involved they fall in love with it. If we could just get every woman to come down to one training session we would be sweet.”

The team is made up of both

women who have already played contact sports, like rugby union or league, and women who have never taken a hit before.

Medical Science and International Studies student Alicia Cunningham was one of the women recruited to the UTS team. She has never played a contact sport before and was surprised gridiron was open to women.

“Gridiron really intrigued me.

I saw the armour and said ‘I can’t get hurt, it’s all good’. Now I think I was wrong,” she said.

Alicia has only previously practiced tackling at training but has faith that her teammates will have her back come game day.

Events website brings everyone to the party Ellen Leabeater

www

If you have ever uttered the phrase, “there’s nothing to do at UTS,” you may have to eat your words.

A new initiative called ‘Vintu’ hopes to promote on-campus life by allowing students to access a range of upcoming UTS events all in one place.

Vintu is a website and Facebook page started by cousins David and Gerardo Contrera, two postgraduate business students doing their masters in marketing. The pair created Vintu as part of their degree.

“We wanted to give students the opportunity to enjoy uni as much as they can. UTS is so big, and there are so many things going on, and we were trying to be that specific information medium where you can find out what’s happening on campus,” Vintu co-creator Gerardo Contrera said.

Gontrera hopes the project will be especially useful to international students.

“UTS has around 10,000 international student so it’s a big community. They want to experience UTS as a whole – not only to study and have some friends but also to join different activities, join events and go to workshops.”

The site will also be helpful for clubs and societies looking to promote their events. At the moment, Gerardo and David are researching and promoting the events themselves.

But students are able to register an account and from there have direct access to promote events through the website.

Vintu was launched two months ago and say they have received a positive response so far.

“We’ve been working on it for almost two months and people are actually responding so that’s a clue that we’re probably doing things right and there are good things to come.”

If the project continues to gain enough traction, the site may look at selling tickets.

“We plan to start selling tickets next year. But it depends on how much critical mass we have reached by then. We need a lot of people to join to make it sustainable.”

If you are looking for something to do or are a society wanting to register your event, visit www.vintu. com.au or www.facebook.com/ vintuevents.

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Blow your whistle baby, whistle, baby, let us know. Send your off-the-record tip offs to frances @ utsvertigo.com.au

Rules are made to be reviewed Jessica Maggio

UTS is reviewing the rules that bind all staff, students and visitors, with changes expected to be debated by the UTS council in the first half of 2014.

The rules, which cover areas including student behaviour, academic processes, misconduct appeals and university elections, have not had a comprehensive review since 2003-2004.

Registrar of UTS John Hartigan said that it was “prudent and timely that a review of the Rules be conducted to identify issues and recommend areas for improvement, if required.”

A university-wide email sent on July 31 asked students to participate in the review by giving feedback.

The student feedback period closed on August 23. All information is currently in the process of being reviewed. At this stage it is still too early to know exactly what number of students responded and what suggestions dominated as stand out issues.

The most up-to-date version of the UTS Rules can be accessed at www.uts.edu.au/about/uts-govern ance/rules.

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The Virtual Classroom?

will UTS follow the increasing trend of providing Massive Open online Courses?

Luke Cooper reports.

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The implementation of the UTS Master Plan has raised que s tions reg arding the way in which te aching and learning will t ake place at UTS in future year s . One aim of the $1 billion initiative is the creation of new teaching, research and industry spaces that support the use of technolog y in students’ courses. For many, this has sparked worries of a move towards low-cost online cour se s , known as Mas sive Open Online C our se s , or MOOCs. The concept behind MOOCs can be traced back to the Industrial Revolution in Europe and America, which developed distanced learning models used throughout the twentieth centur y. It wasn’t until 2008 that MOOCs took the form that we currently as sociate them with, following the launch of a wholly online cour se at the Uni ve r s i t y of M ani to b a in C an a d a . W i t h t h e ab ili t y to compress university-grade courses into mere hours of work, and cater for thousands of potential students, MOOCs rapidly gained popularity.

Currently, the UTS model of learning involves oncampus collaboration combined with aspects of online research and experience. UTS Council Chancellor Vicki Sar a believe s that UTS will only t ake par tial steps towards a MOOC model of learning in the future.

“The approach that the university is taking, which is an intermediate step, is to use it where it is appropriate,” she said at a UTS Council meeting. “We would use MOOCs as appropriate as supplements to the type of teaching that is done here.”

In accordance with the Master Plan, new learning spaces and classroom designs have been pegged as more significant to a student’s learning.

“The thing that excites me is the flipped classroom, which we are testing throughout some of the newer buildings,” Chancellor Sara said.

Flipped classrooms integrate collaborative learning space s , allowing content to be delivered online but practiced and discussed in the classroom.

“That surely must assist and encourage a more open discussion between students and a new way of learning, not teaching.”

Despite the low price of running MOOCs, skepticism surrounds the ac ademic benefit of providing cour se s without access to teachers. For some, courses of fered solely online remove the oppor tunit y for student s to participate in in-class discussion and analysis.

“My objec tion come s from the los s of c ampus experience…and the extent to which that diminishes the

int e r a c t i v i t y of t h e l e ar nin g ,” D o u g l a s M c D o n a l d , a Student Repre sent ative on the UTS C ouncil speaking o n hi s ow n b e h a l f s a i d . “[ M O O C s o p e r a t e] w i t h o u t those experiences for the information to be discussed, without experiences for the information to be challenged . . . which, in my mind, only come s from a clas sroom experience.”

McDonald, a Social Inquiry and Law student believes that MOOCs doe sn’t build a communit y in the s ame way that a univer sit y c ampus doe s . “That potential for par ticipator y culture is absolutely e s sential if the intere st s and the needs of student s are to be given proper weight,” he said. “I worry that, by moving things online . . . the oppor tunit y for the development of a c o mmuni t y an d f o r d e m o c r a t i c p ar t i c ip a t i o n w ill be lost.”

However, de spite concerns such as the se, online content is flourishing in Australia. Learnable.com is an online learning company of fering free re source s an d c o ur s e s to s t u d e nt s r an g in g in a g e f r o m 13 upwards . The company recently opened $10 million wor th of online technic al training in web coding and web design to 10 000 Australian students.

Kyle Vermeulen, Product Manager for Learnable.com said, “One of the awesome things about online courses is that there are so many resources out there right now.

There are some incredible things people can pick up.”

Vermeulen believes Learnable.com isn’t tr ying to compete with current learning models , and instead wants to provide more resources for tertiary institutions despite not having any formal agreements with universities.

“What Learnable is doing is quite dif ferent than univer sit y c ampuse s . It ’s not tr ying to be that , it ’s a dif ferent style of learning,” he said. “The feeling we’ve got is not one of competition but it’s complementary to what’s being taught already.”

However McDonald believe s that while the MOOC model complement s some industrie s , online cour se s are not a sustainable option for the future due to high attrition rates.

“The initial enthusiasm and the huge number s of enrolment s drop at a ver y r apid r ate and those that remain are dispropor tionately likely to be those who have some ter tiar y experience,” he s aid. “[Instead] we’re moving away from that didac tic model of presenting information, which to me, is an extraordinary accomplishment.

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FOUR SURPRISING THINGS THAT THE ABBOTT GOVERNMENT PLANS TO DO Joe McKenzie takes a look at the policy areas that australia’s new prime minister was concerningly quiet about.

So, after having endured months of election campaigning and I, for one, welcome our new Coalition overlords. But in all the years of screaming about the carbon tax and boat people, there are several policy areas that Tony wasn’t exac tly for thright about. I figured someone needed to mentally prepare you – so here goes:

1. Legalise Racism Under article 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act (1975) it is illegal to do anything that “is reasonably likely, in all the circumstances, to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or a group of people on racial or ethnic grounds”.

The Coalition is committed to repealing that very clause on the basis that it is an imposition on freedom of speech. For those playing along at home, the only person who has ever been charged under 18C in the 39 years of its existence is Tony Abbott’s ideological BFFL, Andrew Bolt.

2. Fix the deficit by abolishing a government program that is turning a profit When the Carbon Tax was introduced most of the money went to compensation, but a small amount helped create the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, which is a fund that provides loans to renewable energy start-ups. Because the rate of renewable energy production has increased since the Carbon Tax was introduced (at the exact same rate that coal production has declined) it now makes more money than it costs. A program that makes money and helps the planet sounds pretty appealing right? Wrong. The abolition of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation was announced as part of the Coalition’s costings.

3. Abolish legal aid for refugees Applying for refugee status in Australia is a complicated and often opaque process that leaves people stranded in detention centres or other community arrangements for years. Luckily, because we live in a fairly decent society, potential refugees are given free legal advice in order to help navigate this process. Well, not any more. Part of the cornucopia of ways in which the new government plans to punish asylum seekers includes removing funding for legal aid. But don’t worry, the Coalition will still allow private representation. Though since asylum seekers cannot work under temporary protection visas, it’s difficult to imagine how they will pay for it.

4. Not really spend less money Two days before the election the Coalition finally announced its costings. They weren’t exactly comprehensive, and their cuts amounted to $6 billion over four years, most of which was straight out of foreign aid (always a classy move). This figure of $6 billion amounts to less than 0.5% of government spending. So after three years of claiming that we are in a budget ‘emergency’ and constantly attacking Labor’s ‘debt and deficit’, the Coalition refused to announce all but the most tokenistic of cuts to government programs. Thus, how exactly they plan to fix this budget ‘emergency’ remains to be seen. All eyes are on the Commission of Audit, which will report to the Treasurer and the Minister for Finance four months after the election. That’s when the real bloodletting will begin.

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LETTERS TO THE TOWER

JOSEPH BAUTISTA reclaims the lost art of letter-writing.

To anybody currently suffering from writer’s block (or any other form of creative dam), I know where you’re at.

You have a project due in four hours: an essay, screenplay, ar twork or design job. You’re hunched over your workbench surrounded by a nest of lolly wrappers, coffee stains and cigarette ash. Maybe it’s general apathy that’s stopping you. Maybe it’s something more trivial, like a deepseated fear of personal failure. Either way, every iota of common sense in your body is telling you to get to work when all you really want to do is play Candy Crush or check if a new video has been uploaded to RedTube.

You know what you’ve gotta do, but here I am about to tell you anyway. You lazy fuck.

Since you’re reading a uni magazine at the moment, chances are pretty good that you’re a uni student. The chances are even better that there’s a uni assignment or exam looming over your head. Now this is the easy part.

You just have to write. When it’s all said and done, you’re probably still going to get a credit for that essay and, even better, chances are you’re not going to care what you got for it in a year. All you need to do is not fail, and I’m pretty sure that handing in a piece of paper with your name on it will ensure this won’t happen. Anyway, my advice for you is to sit your arse down and pump out that remaining thousand sub-par words and give yourself a high-five when you get it back (sans tarnished academic record).

The tricky thing is when you actually care about what you’re creating. When what lies in front of you are the building blocks to what you hope will soon constitute your career. Or better yet, your passion. You’re sitting there bleeding your heart out on a piece of paper and all that falls out are the rotten scabs of previous failures. You want to write, but you fear that all you have left is your worst.

Maybe what you’re dealing with is self-doubt.

I’ve been there too. In fact, I’m there right now.

But here I sit nonetheless, writing words I am sure are fucking terrible. This is what you need to do.

It can be the worst piece of writing you’ve ever put your name to. It could alienate a bunch of your previous readers. It might even make your friends question why they ever started hanging out with you. But if you currently find yourself without the energy or inspiration to do the thing you have consciously decided to do for the rest of your life, then for fuck’s sake, just write something for you. You can let the rest of world complain all they want; for now you have to get back to work.

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I JUst want to pee for students who identify as transgender, public bathrooms can turn a daily function into an ordeal. uts agreed to implement more unisex bathrooms early this year and Lachlan Bennett examines the progress and implications of this decision.

As soon as the lecture ends, Sean* immediately packs up his things and bolts out of the lecture hall before anyone else. Leaving Haymarket, the Engineering student hurries down the footpath, dodging pedestrians and cars as he races towards a small, secluded room located in the Tower Building. It’s a room he knows well, a room he visits almost every time he’s at uni. It’s a bathroom.

Most UTS students wouldn’t normally rush from Haymarket to the Tower between lectures and tutorials just to relieve themselves. But Sean is not like most students.

Sean is transgender and spends almost every day at uni stressing about getting to the only bathroom on campus designated for people like him. As a female-to-male transgender, Sean was medically classified female at birth, but internally identifies himself as a male.

Many people who are transgender undergo extensive processes to consolidate their internal and external self. These range from legal processes, such as changing official documents, to medical processes which include hormone therapy and gender reassignment surgery.

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transgender people face every day is the dilemma of whether to use a male or female bathroom. This is especially difficult for people in the middle of gender transition therapy, and people who do not identify with either gender.

“It is surprisingly stressful,” Sean says. “It doesn’t sound like a big issue and I think it’s hard to explain to people as being a big issue. But it is even just having to deal with that anxiety through the day.”

But this might all be about to change. In March, UTS agreed “in principle” to introduce more unisex bathrooms on campus and integrate them as part of the Campus Master Plan “where possible”. The commitment came after Students’ Association President, Lyndal Butler, raised concerns with the Equity and Diversity Unit at the beginning of the year. Now, UTS is working with user groups and helping to establish a student-run group to consult the university on how to best to go about establishing these bathrooms.

Andie Yates, Queer Officer of the UTS Queer Collective, says the current lack of unisex bathrooms means a lot of people like Sean routinely face anxiety and are prone to discrimination and even threats to

their personal safety.

“For people that do struggle with general body dsyphoria, working up the courage to go into a bathroom at all takes a lot out of you and things shouldn’t be so dif ficult,” Yates says. “Male bathrooms and female bathrooms are the same – they’re rooms to pee in and the only thing that is making them different is the symbol on the door. And if you remove the symbol on the door, I feel like that would take such an emotional load off a lot of people and release so much stress.”

The one already-existing facility and the promise of more to come does much to alleviate some of these concerns at UTS. However at other universities, students are not so lucky.

“I know some people at the University of Sydney, because they don’t have any gender-neutral bathrooms facilities there, won’t go [to the toilet] all day. They’ll dehydrate themselves so that they don’t have to go to the bathroom at uni, which is really not good,” Yates says.

Recent research conducted by the Victorian Government’s Ministerial Advisory Committee on Gay and Lesbian Health suggests that 1 in 500 people identify as transgender

or experience some kind of gender dsyphoria. This would mean there are approximately 72 transgender students out of 36,000 studying at UTS. Yates says although the transgender community is small, it is important to provide proper facilities for people who need them.

“Some people are at uni from 9am and they might have something going on until 8pm or 9pm at night.

Twelve hours with not peeing is pretty brutal. It’s just an unfair expectation.

Although some people say ‘Oh, go ahead, just deal with it’, it’s a matter of personal safety and a matter of personal comfort. I don’t think you can say to someone ‘Oh, there’s no gluten-free food on campus and you’re a celiac. Oh, deal with it. Don’t eat today’,” Yates says.

Globally, there have been a number of efforts to implement unisex bathrooms. Some directly cater for the trans community while others provide facilities open for anyone who is happy to pee gender-free. But not all efforts have been well received.

In March this year, a £50 million council development in Rochdale, England, came under fire because all of the bathrooms were unisex. Built for 2000 council employees, the office complex drew so much criticism that the unisex bathrooms are now being converted into male and female toilets.

Things have been slightly more positive in America. In August, California passed the School Success and Opportunity Act, a bill which gives students in all Californian public schools the legal right to choose the bathroom and spor ts teams that match their gender identity.

Numerous conservative groups have attacked the bill, with the President of conservative lobby group SaveCalifornia, Randy Thomasson, claiming the bill brought “sexual anarchy on public school campuses” and is “the tenth sexual indoctrination law forced upon children enrolled in California's state school system”.

But criticism hasn’t stopped gender-neutral bathrooms becoming routine at American universities.

Currently, more than 150 campuses have gender-neutral bathrooms, one of which is the New College of California, which doesn’t have any single-sex bathrooms on campus.

The successful proliferation of these facilities in US universities is one reason why UTS is spending a considerable amount of time researching how unisex facilities have

been implemented in America. But don’t expect every bathroom in UTS to suddenly transform into a gender-free paradise.

“It’s not appropriate for all bathrooms at UTS to be gender neutral because we need to meet

“If somebody’s going to be inappropriate or be creepy, they’re going to do it regardless of a sign on the door. That’s something that’s not mitigated by the use of gender segregations.”

Despite two major components of

“Male bathrooms and female bathrooms are the same – they’re rooms to pee in and the only thing that is making them different is the symbol on the door.” the needs of our diverse student population,” Tracey Conroy from the Equity and Diversity Unit explains.

“A lot of students come from different cultures, different background, different religions and it would not be appropriate to ask them to use only gender-neutral bathrooms.”

While cultural diversity is one factor impacting how abundant unisex bathrooms will be at UTS, another is the simple fact that many people aren’t ready to give up the sanctity of their single-sex toilets. A recent report by the City of Sydney Council found that 75% of people prefer single-sex toilets to unisex facilities, with the dominant reasons for that preference being privacy, hygiene and security.

Other concerns hinge around safet y, with some speculating gender-neutral bathrooms could potentially increase incidents of sexual harassment and abuse, especially for women, children and people by themselves late at night.

Although safety has been flagged by the university as a key issue to be considered, Sean believes it is ridiculous to believe incidents of sexual harassment would increase as a result of having more gender-neutral bathrooms on campus.

“The idea that gender-neutral bathrooms would result in [more] sexual harassment seems a bit bizarre to me personally,” Sean says.

1 in 500 there are

the Campus Master Plan nearing completion – the Broadway Building and the Dr Chau Chak Wing Building – there is still uncertainty about how exactly UTS plans to implement this proposal.

One option being considered is to convert existing toilets so they can be used by both transgender people and people with disabilities. This would be by far the cheapest and fastest option to implement, and would make it potentially possible for gender-neutral bathrooms to be up and running by the end of the year.

Whatever option UTS takes, Sean just hopes all students will be able to respect the new facilities, regardless of their sexuality and whether or not they actually decide to use them.

“I think it really all boils down to respect and I think bathrooms are the one instance in which people sort of lack that,” Sean says.

“I don’t think my [sexual identity] is relevant to other people. It shouldn’t be relevant to other people which bathroom I pick or what sort of genitals I have. And having gendered bathrooms sort of makes that relevant.”

“I just want people to respect my choices.”

*Name has been changed.

people identify as transgender.

36,000

students at UTS.

the average person visits the bathroom day and spends

87

3

6-8

times a

years of their life in the toilet.

% of transgender people experience stigma or discrimination.

13

S H OW C A S E :

Shannyn warren

My name is Shannyn and I’m a third year Media Arts and Production student at U TS . I’ve re c ently develop e d a love for filmmaking but dr awing is something I’ve always had a passion for. I like to expose people’s emotions through intimate portraits. I also love to stor yboard film scenes and make up short stories in a comic strip style.

I wouldn’t want drawing to become my profession, because it ’s something I never want to think of as ‘work’. I like to draw people and give their portrait to them as gif ts. It ’s always a unique present and I hope to continue to make friends happy through art and giving for a long time.

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15

GEN WHY

?

F UTURE SELVES Whitney Higginson reminds us that your future self can be an unreliable bastard.

I LOVEEEE YOUTT !

I have this theory that I have a split personality, which I like to refer to as Present Whitney and Future Whitney. You see, Present Whitney likes to make decisions for Future Whitney, which are full of false hope and unrealistic expectations. The majority of the time these decisions end in: a) Failure b) Loss of dignity c) All of the above.

I always make the mistake of casually brushing things off while saying “Future Whitney will deal with this shit later”.

But future me doesn’t deal with shit well. And I’m sure I’m not the only idiot who does this.

“I’ll work out really hard tomorrow.”

This is my go-to phrase when I make really fucking poor eating decisions throughout the day. The brownies at work. A stroll past the vending machine. Gelato Messina in general.

The soul-crushing guilt of these decisions catches up with me when I scroll through my Instagram feed and suddenly every person is a Victoria’s Secret Model. Soon enough I find myself setting alarms for 5am the next morning to relieve my dirty, dirty conscience. Of course, my future self HATES the idea of getting up early. Let alone getting up early to run, and god forbid, sweat. And Future Whitney’s arguments for staying in bed can be pretty persuasive.

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“I can definitely do this 3000 -word assignment in 4 hours.”

I say this when I find myself re-watching the entire series of Breaking Bad despite the looming deadline.

But 3000 words is easy, right? I just need to do a quick search on Google Books and skim the introduction of a few textbooks and shove in a few out-of-context quotes. Then I just pray to god that Turnitin doesn’t rip me a new asshole when I submit it five minutes before deadline. That’s a Communications degree, bitches!

“I should definitely text (insert name of person who I should not be talking to).”

You know, a lot of things seem like a good idea when you’ve had a few (or maybe 10) drinks. For instance, I do this thing where I completely fuck my future self over by texting people I know I shouldn’t. I’m aware that nothing good can come from being drunk and having your phone between the hours of 10pm-4am because, well, THIS: Me: I jsue thinsk youew amazineeg and I fhwope youw hkhhljlhjknoqw it!

Me: Whay arentre youw rweplyinf tow meeeeee?

Me: Heey, I mavy be a littlw dreunk but I mena it whwn jkjhljllkj I sae I loveeee youtt.

That shit is grammatically nasty. Not even auto-correct can save my drunken ass. Or my dignity.

I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SEMESTER do you like your movies like a rare steak, bloody and cold?

Adriana Zappavignna finds out what keeps us coming back for the scares, and what’s new in the world of horror.

Whether it’s that perverted creep who’s always staring on the train, or realising your assignment’s due tomorrow, the bottom line is that everyone’s scared of something. All our favourite horror flicks are notorious for taking human paranoia and combining it with society’s fear du jour to create a ninety-minute epic. That is, ninety minutes of cringing from whatever’s around the corner and screaming at stumbling protagonists who have seemingly lost all sense of coordination in their flight. As each film strives to scare audiences via the ‘gross-out’ or ‘creep-out’ factors (some combine both), it’s no wonder that the horror genre remains a constant favourite in literature, art and film.

According to Dr Mark Ryan, national expert on Australian horror films and genre cinema, “The popularity of the horror genre tends to go in cycles.” In the ‘70s and ‘80s, slashers – which would have involve crazed killers wielding an impossibly sharp weapon – were all the rage.

The ‘90s saw typical teen slashers involving a select group of hotties going to parties and having sex, and then eventually being killed. These accompanied a return to suggestive horror films built on terror and suspense.

As the ‘torture porn’ that plagued the noughties begins to wind down – think Saw (2004) and Hostel (2005) – horror lovers are witnessing a re-emergence of films that build on atmospheric fear, allowing audiences’ imaginations to fabricate something far more terrible than what could ever be realistically depicted on-screen.

“These [are] about shadows: the idea that what isn’t seen is scarier than what is,” says Dr. Ryan. It is in this oh-so-Hitchcock fashion that current films such as Insidious (2010) and Mama (2013) ominously prey upon viewers’ fear of the unknown.

Which brings us to our first problem as members of Generation Y. A technologically savvy generation with the knowledge of lifetimes at our fingertips, we are led to believe that all can be rationally explained using logic and science. Which begs the question, how does a genre that

is becoming increasingly reliant on the unknown scare a generation of ‘know-it-alls’?

According to Dr. Ryan, “Horror takes social and cultural fears and turns them into monsters. As social and cultural fears evolve, so too do the horrors/monsters in horror movies. In the ‘50s and ‘60s it was mutated monsters or alien invasions. These days it’s… infections spread by viruses, or the ghost in the shadows.”

As the notion of uncontrollable and contagious outbreaks seem far more practical than a zombie invasion, audiences nowadays connect with what they see onscreen based not on what simply entertains them, but on what they hold to be true.

And so it begins, usually as a fun night out with friends, family or even your overenthusiastic boyfriend (relax guys, not in that way). I mean, what better excuse for a guy to put on his macho pants and pull his girl close, than under the guise of shielding her from fictitious horrors onscreen?

Shockingly enough though, this is not the reason we seem to love the very films that nearly scare us half to death.

“The horror genre aims to scare an audience,” Dr. Ryan says. “Every year millions of people around the world pay money to safely watch their worst nightmares onscreen. It gives them a bounded experience of fear. People go to see horror to be scared.”

Whether we love being revolted to the point of puking in our popcorn or the thrill of damn near soiling ourselves out of sheer terror, it seems we cannot resist coming back for more.

I think it’s safe to assume that humans will forever fear something: whether it’s STIs or the sight of blood, that weird-ass tree outside your bedroom window or the sound of your house creaking at night. And I don’t know about you guys, but I have no qualms squandering my money on sugary, overpriced snacks and allocated seating in exchange for cheap thrills. No judging guys, remember: I know what you did last semester.

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HOW TO WIKI YOUR WAY TO MUTUAL ATTRACTION (OR AT LEAST A PASH) Georgina Ryke looks to the unquantifiable wisdom of Wikipedia for guidance in the art of modernday courtship.

I’ve just spent my third consecutive bir thday without a bir thday pash. I know it sounds like a trivial thing, but for me it’s indicative of a greater problem: my ability, or lack thereof, to coerce a good-looking stranger on a dimly lit d-floor to take the time to hold me, kiss me and enjoy the experience. Plainly put, my skills in the art of flirting are seriously underdeveloped. I’ve even tried the supposedly fail-proof line of “Hey! It’s my birthday” to no avail.

“KISS ME”

Like any kid of the technolog y age, my questions of self-doubt, spelled out by my finger tips, led me to the informative pages of Wikipedia. Here I learnt the valuable le s sons of hair flicking, eye cont ac t and in some cases, where the heck I was going wrong. Score… or at least, with a few improvements to my social skills maybe I will?

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To begin with, I’ve been taking myself too seriously.

According to St Wiki, flirtation is the suggestion of “an interest in a deeper relationship” with another person.

That’s strike one – I’ve been saving my best self for the dudes I actually like. Such gents are dif ficult to find when you’re in a dark, smoky room being blinded by strobe lights and tequila. Call me old fashioned, but I don’t see the charm in alcohol-fuelled exchanges. Plus, any fun I may have been having tends to dis appear at the question relating to just that. “You having fun tonight?” ironic ally re sult s in a lie through grit ted teeth as I search for the easiest escape route from the alcohol/vomit breath.

So drunk dude s aren’t my thing. I gue s s that makes things dif ficult when the weekend social scene inherently involves the constant possession of a prop: the alcoholic beverage. Luckily, according to Wikipeeds, bars and clubs aren’t the only site where flirting can be undertaken. Phew! There’s still hope.

Wiki-P suggests the use of written communication.

Okay. I can do this. In fact, I scored my first boy friend at the tender age of thir teen through MSN Messenger.

Those were the days, right? Star t the chinese whisper; tell a friend about your crush, act embarrassed when he/she can’t keep a secret and rush home to sign in so that the pre-pubescent kid can add you, chat to you and ask you to be his girlfriend.

O f cour se, having conver s ations from behind a screen, where a dr y mouth and a f ace as flushed as a royal hand in a poker g ame, c an make the proce s s a lot easier. That is, until you rock up to school the next day and have to face them. Then talk to him. Soon after, you’re expected to kiss them between lunch and fif th period…with tongue . I got dropped within a week of being picked up. And here we are ag ain, back at my recurring problem: being un-pashed.

MSN, ICQ and that other one whose name I forgot are a thing of the past , but writ ten elec tronic flir ting is not dead. My wing-man (who is a chick , but who inevit ably t wot-block s me and vice -ver s a) and I have const ant dis agreement s over the use of Facebook

i n the pre - cour ting proce s s . She prefer s to find a guy by stalking through mutual friends, all the while maintaining a cool almost-but-not-quite disinterested f ace when in his pre sence . I f avour the str aight-up f r i e n d s hip r e qu e s t , s h ar in g of f unny m e m e s an d ‘liking’ roughly one in five of the posts he makes. I also recommend thoroughly researching whether or not he has a girlfriend by scanning his photos, tags and check-ins. Just because it’s not Facebook official doesn’t mean it’s not real-life official.

“Just because it’s not Facebook official doesn’t mean it’s not real-life official“

Jane Austen was either onto this, or the cause of this.

Elizabeth and Darcy, anyone?

Fast forward to today and travel halfway round the world to the stomping grounds of my single life where my approach seems to swing bet ween both ex treme s of the spec trum – neither of which seem to work . Ac t chilly and he thinks I’m not interested.

Act too keen and he’s running away from whatever ill- conceived perception of commitment that I seem to be communicating. I’ve decided the best strateg y is to hang out somewhere in between. And not expect miracles from drunken clubs.

Well. I guess there’s always next year for that birthday pash. Thanks for nothing Weakipedia.

The Wikigods also provide a deep discus sion on the use of the dangerously seduc tive pr ac tice of eye cont ac t: dangerous bec ause st aring at a per son for ex tended periods c an make you look a bit sc ar y, and seduc tive bec ause, if at tempted in appropriate situations, it can work. A shared glance is proof of mutual attraction (see: green light), whereas unreciprocated eye contact is just plain uncomfortable (see: red light). Learn to read the signs and you just may get lucky (or at the ver y least, will avoid looking like a total creep).

Wiks even gives a few history lessons of flirting throughout the ages and across cultures. The goingson bet ween Americ an Soldier s and British women during World War II really struck me . At the time, British anthropologist Marg aret Mead obser ved a misunder st anding bet ween the sexe s of dif fering cultures: namely, American men and British women couldn’t quite seem to figure out whose job it was to take the initiative. Apparently, American boys would make their advances but rely on the girl receiving their af fections to let them know when they’d gone too far.

British girls, however, were brought up to maintain a slight barrier of chilliness, which ultimately earned respect from the boys. Call me a lit nerd, but I think

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S H OW C A S E :

R e c e p t ion FELICITY PICKERING is a UTS Writing and Cultural Studies student. She is currently completing her honours thesis on the Cultural Politics of Slam Poetry. She writes reviews and other such things on her blog: www.fliction.wordpress.com.

Kate was new at Glebe Backpackers. Three weeks prior she had responded to an ad on Gumtree for a fun loving Australian with admin skills. She’d straightened her hair for the inter views. She had spell checked her résumé. She had successfully identified a ‘weakness’ of hers that was actually a strength: putting others before herself. Which was very different to her actual weakness: eating soup out of a can.

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Wo r k in g a t G l e b e B a c k p a c ke r s c am e w i t h a f e w perks. One was free board, a perk that allowed her to talk to her mother in a tone that could be described as a subtle gloat . The other was the food, if she was on chef duty. They served pancakes on Saturday mornings outside, on the paved courtyard.

On Saturday nights the hostel was full of excited travellers with a taste for drink and intoxicated with the Australian delicacy ‘goon’. For ty or more patrons would sit on sturdy chairs to join in on drinking games and general banter, joined by the desire to experience Australia, to make his or her trip count.

The hostel guest s would talk to her as she wo r ke d . E sther, an Irish backpacker and Sarah, from Bedfordshire, England, would linger at her desk playing with the bell and pretending to browse through brochures. Kate enjoyed listening to the guests. All with wild stories and strange accents. Over the past month she’d heard plenty of stories.

‘There was a guy who st ayed here, yeah, and one ni g ht h e g ot we ll dr unk an d p i s s e d ove r eve r yo n e’s bags.’

‘I could hear these two at it, at two in the morning, an d t h ey p r a c t i c a ll y r o c ke d m e to s l e e p w i t h t h e ir humping.’

S o m e s to r i e s we r e f unny an d j ov i a l . S h e h e ar d stories from home, stories from places in Australia that she’d never even heard of. She heard of Wicked Vans, Busabouts, and Full Moon par ties. Of lost passpor ts and missed planes. And she was always surprised how quickly the patrons trusted her. Ever y week it seemed like she made a new best friend. Her university friends complained that they hardly ever saw her now: that she never made it to their book clubs or baking nights.

She would go out with the backpackers most weekends, putting on make up next to ten girls in a ratty bathroom.

They would pre - drink and c atch a bus into the cit y.

She’d show them the cheap bar s and in the morning they would wake with piercing hangovers and covered

in stamps. The stray Australians that they had picked up would amble out of the hostel, disoriented and illdressed for day.

It was on these mornings that Kate of ten heard the more frightening stories of hostel life. The patrons wo ul d r e c ant t h e m ove r jui c e an d j am o n to a s t .

She heard storie s of hole s in walls and c amer as in shower s , of bed bug s and W WOOFing gone wrong.

She’d heard a particularly haunting story of waking up to police tape and a rape in a bathroom.

Sar ah, who had become a close friend, had told her one story that haunted her till the day she left.

‘I was in a hostel in Thailand, okay. And we were mate s with the se Austr alian guys who were a real laugh – always up to antics. So one night we were off to party and one of the guys, Rodney, says he doesn’t want to go out. He wasn’t feelin’ well. We didn’t think much of it. When we get home the boys are all pissed and go straight to bed. I’ve taken something, so I’m not going to sleep. I’m jumpin’ with energ y. Eth and I go to the lounge and I see some people are there and Rodney’s passed out in the lounge. People are drinkin’ and they star t drawing on Rodney’s face. I don’t like doing nothin’ to drunk people myself, but I don’t stop ‘em because I’m bouncing off the walls, really.

Anyway, we are all having a laugh when one of the Australian guys comes bounding down the stairs. His name was Jimmy and he’s all stressed out. He star ts yelling and stuff, asking how long Rodney’s been here, and we are all like “calm down they were only drawing on him”. But this guy is really sc ared, and it put s a weird mood over the room. Then I get to thinking: how long has this guy has been passed out for? Is he even is passed out?

Then the par t y guys s ay that they just found Rodney in the lounge. Ever yone is looking sick now, and sc ared. It sobered me right up. Me and Eth are c allin g t h e h o s t e l ow n e r s an d b e a t in g d ow n d o o r s tr ying to find out if anyone is a nur se .

Jimmy was in the corner calling the Thai police.

They were trying to help him but no one understood.

The guy was dead. We found out the next day. Everyone said sorry to the boys, but there was not much we could all do. People just flocked out of the hostel. It was sad and all, but no one wants to deal with those thoughts on a holiday.’

Kate didn’t stay at Glebe backpackers for too long after that. She made it to six months, then gave her two weeks notice over Saturday pancakes. Esther and Sarah had left months earlier, making promises of long skype conversations and being back soon.

When the time came to move out Kate pulled down her posters and stripped her bed, finding the Blu Tack coming of f far too easily. It only took one af ternoon to cram her hostel life in the back of her car. She handed in h e r s w ip e c ar d to J o hnny, h e r b o s s . W hil e s h e’d felt she’d made many friends in the hostel, she was saddened by the fact that they had all checked out long ago. She found no f amiliar f ace s in the paved area .

During her time at the hostel she had been given a g limp s e into m any li ve s . S h e h a d s e e n b e s t f r i e n d s undertaking trips that they had planned when they were fourteen years old, and had watched as their friendships disintegrated. She had seen people in transition, unsure of their nex t steps or nex t loc ation. She had become part of their stories, but all the faces had slowly merged into one. She was sick of the dramas and knowing how they would end. Having the same conversations over and over: ‘Where are you from? Where have you been?’. The novelty of a never-ending set of disposable friends had lef t her feeling old and shallow. A s she walked to her car she saw a new batch of travellers checking in. New friends she would never meet. Stories she would never hear, and she was happy.

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Anne Staggram, a UTS student who recently returned from a twomonth international exchange, received a surprising level of public attention last week when she posted her collection of holiday photos to her personal Facebook page. Over the course of five days, the UTS Communications student managed to download all forty gigabytes of holiday snaps

Felicity Err. reports.

to her computer and then, with blind instinct, immediately reuploaded every single photo to the popular social media website.

Initial analysis of the album, titled “EUURROPPEEE <33”, indicates that over 18,400 photos were taken and shared with Staggram’s social sphere. Of these, around 40% were incorrectly oriented, 25% featured evidence

SERIAL PHOTOGRAPHER SUFFERS FROM OVER-EXPOSURE of the much loathed ‘duck face’, and 15% were partially or entirely obscured by the amateur photographer’s finger.

Most of the images were, as per recent internet culture conventions, accompanied by a bewildering slew of hashtag categorisations. A statistical breakdown of the collection indicates that the most common identifying terms were ‘#amazing’, ‘#nofilter’ and ‘#follow’. Many viewers expressed confusion about these particular tags, since Staggram’s photos were rarely amazing, almost always featured some intense image manipulation, and no-one that viewed the album had any intention of doing any following.

The public response to her private page was swift and resolute: within twenty-four hours each and every one of Staggram’s 1,104 online friends decided with a perturbed finality

NOW 98% FACT FREE

to remove her from their list of accepted friends, thus ‘defriending’ her. The album itself bears few indications that anyone even managed to endure all of the images, although it appears that some lost Vine users commented the word “BRASIL” on several blurred shots of the Eiffel Tower later in the collection. The album itself received only one like, and that may well have been a misclick.

The Defamer contacted several of the ex-friends by whom the student was defriended, despite the fact that they were no longer communicating with Miss Staggram via Facebook.

“I mean, I totally get the whole pride thing – I love uploading cool pictures too – but some of her comments were just purely ignorant,” reports UTS Economics student Tom Blerr, who spent a few minutes perusing the photos before submitting

THE DEFAMER his friendship ultimatum.

“She referred to her visit to the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin as ‘totally dead’. I mean, seriously?”

Dev Ianheart, an ex-employer of the social media abuser stated: “When she tagged me in a picture of the sunset over some nondescript Spanish townscape, with the caption ‘Misss yooouuuu’, that was really just the final straw”.

Miss Staggram was unavailable to comment on her recent actions, although it seems that at the time of writing she was otherwise occupied, as her Picasa account appeared to be undergoing a similar photographic update.

Staggram’s image upload onslaught has proved, finally, that a picture is indeed worth a thousand words, but when saidphoto is a slightly-out-of-focusselfie in front of The Colosseum, each of those words is “No”.

In a move that has shocked the world, Disney prodigy turned ‘transgressive’ pop ‘icon’ Miley Cyrus has announced that she will abandon her music ‘career’ to focus on starting her own naked demolition business.

Cyrus made the announcement at a unique press conference outside her Los Angeles home wearing

Brock Lee reports.

terrible pop singer.”

“It was only when on the set for my latest video ‘Wrecking Ball’ that I had the opportunity to discover my true passion, naked demolition. The feeling of cold metal against my genitals awoke me to a true understanding of who I am, and what my purpose is in life.”

Cyrus concluded the press conference by announcing that the Cyrus Wrecking Company had already acquired several contracts to demolish the homes of various perverts and that she was looking into expanding their services to include fellating the end of sledgehammers.

Known fuckwit, Aaron Saunders, has received a considerable amount of negative attention for comments he made regarding a fart that he made in a tutorial last week. The comments in question reportedly involved comparison of his flatulence to the mass murder committed by Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad.

The fart was committed during a particularly dull section of an Introduction to Statistics tutorial and is believed to have smelt unpleasant, as is conventional with farts.

Saunders loudly acknowledged the existence of the fart, allegedly saying “talk about chemical weapons, eh, somebody call the United Nations Security Council”. The joke was not met with a warm reception from the rest of the class and was, in fact, largely ignored.

Saunders, who describes his comedic idols as Seth McFarlane and Adam Sandler, continued

Gail Force investigates. with his Syria/fart schtick in spite of this, employing irony with the skill and dexterity of two sweaty virgins humping in a public toilet. He went on to state: “Sarin gas has got nothing on this, it smells awful”, seemingly unaware that unlike a fart, Sarin gas completely odourless and it also causes hideously painful death by asphyxiation.

The further comments were routinely denounced by his classmates as “too far” and “about as funny as cholera”, despite the fact that they seemed to be a source of considerable mirth for their creator, who laughed at his own jokes in a pathetic attempt to disguise the awkward silence eventuating from his efforts to trivialise the deaths of thousands of civilians. The only exception to these denouncements reportedly came from a Russian exchange student who found the comments “mildly amusing”.

MAN INAPPROPRIATELY COMPARES FART TO ATROCITIES IN SYRIA

We apologise to any individuals, groups or organisations offended by the above attempt at satire. In no way are the actual contents meant to be taken as factual.

only a bum-bag with the Cyrus Wrecking Company logo and a hard hat.

“Because I became a public icon at such a young age, I have grown up with a tremendous amount of scrutiny,” Cyrus told the press while thrusting her bum-bag at a news camera, “and I was pressured into following my father’s career path of being a

MILEY CYRUS GIVES UP MUSIC TO START DEMOLITION COMPANY

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REWIND/FAST-FORWARD because sometimes life needs a remote

baby-sitters club

Penguin populars

I was the kid in class who always got free books from the Scholastic Book Club at the end of the year because I had somehow convinced my parents to invest heavily in children’s literature. By invest, I mean spend copious amounts of money only to yell at me the day after the books arrived because I had stayed up all night finishing them.

I did not waste my time on bullshit like Sweet Valley High or The Saddle Club. Everyone knew the best series was The Baby-Sitters Club. They were about a group of girls who save up their money by babysitting to buy pizzas and occasionally save the town from ghosts and communists.

In fifth grade some bitch told me they were lame so I had to hide them in my desk, especially the one with Mary Anne and her boyfriend (love of my life, Logan) walking on the beach on the cover. I’d had my fingers crossed that they were finally going to do something dirty but then had to return it to the library half-read because of said bitch. (Did they fuck on the sand dunes?

Did she blow him under the boardwalk? Did one of the children drown while they were preoccupied with wantonly discarding one another’s precious virginities? I will never know).

There are a 132 of these motherfuckers, not even counting the spin-off series (Mysteries and Super Mysteries are highly recommended). And thanks to the writing skills of ghostwriters (including one prolific dude who ghostwrote 43 books – I mean, really?) the series only occasionally got boring.

I was most like Kristy. Kristy is a bitch and she plays baseball. You are more like Mallory.

If you want to fuck me, I’m going to need you to stop your feeble begging and buy me a book with a picture on the cover. You’ll double your chances if it’s a classic in a hardcover. Don’t bother me with one of these orange bastards, or the new crime edition green ones, and don’t even come near me with one of the pink motherfuckers.

The bottom line is that if you want a trick, I need books, and Penguin Populars aren’t going to cut it.

I see at least three Penguin Populars at rush hour on my train, and even though I can roll my eyes pretty fucking hard, I very nearly view my own grey matter when I see someone perusing a Penguin Popular. I will not speak to you if you are reading a Penguin Popular. If I find one under your bed and it is Hunter S. Thompson with all your favourite passages underlined because you think you are just like him (you are not), the game is up and I am stealing your cat on the way out. And don’t you act like you know what Jack Kerouac is talking about with the candle and the bus and that other thing or whatever the fuck – no one does.

I am not a basic bitch and I will not put up with basic cover design. “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” you cry.

“Get fucked,” I exclaim. Half the attraction of the entire publishing industry is the creativity and innovation of an amazing cover. If this weren’t true, all book covers would be uniform, and we’d have never seen and loved that weird horse/donkey thing on the cover of Catcher in the Rye. I get it, they’re/you’re cheap. You know what else was popular? Fascism. I will never be done insulting you.

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i nte r v i ew s eek a e

NOT JUST ANOTHER BEDROOM PRODUCER Katherine Buskariol chats to seekae about being part of the electronica revolution that’s taken the australian music scene by storm.

When I suggest to John Hassell that his band is leading Australia’s electronic music revolution, he flat out disagrees. “There were loads of artists before us doing it,” he insists. “We were just heaps lucky.”

It’s a pretty modest response from a guy who makes up one third of Seekae, the Sydney-based electronic music trio who have released two albums, sold out a show at the Sydney Opera House, and just finished an Australian tour. And when you think about what’s going on at the moment in the local music scene, it’s hard to see where luck comes into it at all.

Seekae are just one of thousands of musical acts that are contributing to one of the biggest transitions the music industry has ever seen – the move away from traditional four-piece bands towards electronic bedroom producers. It’s a move so huge that I have to say ‘acts’ instead of ‘bands’ because most of the artists are individuals, and hardly any can actually play instruments.

Instead of drums, they use pads.

Instead of a singer, they use vocal samples. Instead of a studio, they use Ableton. Gone are the good ol’ days when you’d have to spend years and your life savings taking guitar lessons, forming a band and recording demo CDs. No longer do you have to wait for the day that you’ll be discovered by a talent scout, signed to a record label and become world famous. Now you can play every instrument imaginable on your own computer and send your music around the world with just a Facebook share.

That’s not to say that Seekae know nothing of the acoustic world. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Hassell and fellow band mate Alex Cameron were high school friends who played in an indie rock band together. When they ran into Alex’s primary school friend George Nicholas at a schoolies wet t-shirt competition (no joke), the trio became complete. The three friends discovered their mutual appreciation of electronica, swapped their guitars

The way the harsh, digital sounds were softened by the living, breathing symphony was something I’d never heard before.

for MPC samplers and microKORGs, and jumped on the – what was then relatively new –bandwagon of electronic music.

“It was just this whole new kind of music and I didn’t know how it was made, or how I could make it, and I think that’s part of what attracted me to it,” Hassell reminisces. “And I’m sure it was the same for Alex and George.”

Five years on from the release of their first album, The Sound of Trees Falling on People, the wheels of that metaphorical bandwagon, or ‘act’ wagon, are now groaning under the weight of its load.

“There’s been this huge influx of people who for ages had been sitting in their bedrooms writing tracks which nobody had heard but themselves,” explains Hassell. “And now suddenly they’re getting it out there. It’s kind of happening all over the place, but definitely in Australia, in Sydney. I think it’s because that music is so much more accessible to make now.

A lot of people have computers and can just sit at home and do their own thing.”

He’s not wrong. Just ten years ago, only ten per cent of the Triple J Hottest 100 list was electronic songs, compared to almost a third of the list last year. So with an increasing fanbase and such an explosion of up-and-coming bedroom producers flooding the local music scene, how does Seekae stay on top?

“I think that once you saturate the market with loads of bedroom producers, the ones that stand out and are successful are the ones that make the best music,” says Hassell, effectively negating his previous claim of simply being lucky.

Hassell says that it’s live

performance that demonstrates the true quality of an electronic act.

“We’re making sure we’re playing instruments live, having singing now and stuff like that,” he explains. “We love electronic music and we do it very much the same as a lot of bedroom producers, but we want to make the show a bit more hands-on, for our audience but also for ourselves, and hopefully that’s something that makes us stand out from the rest.”

And stand out they have. The first time I saw Seekae perform, they were headlining at last year’s Vivid Sydney festival. The Opera House was filled with fans who had listened to their second album, +Dome, and were curious to see how their glitchy electronica would translate live on stage. We all sat, unsure of what to expect. And then they pulled out an eight-piece string section. The way the harsh, digital sounds were softened by the living, breathing symphony was something I’d never heard before.

And then, for the first time, Seekae introduced vocals to their music. I danced as much as the confines of my seat would let me. At the FBi Turns 10 bash, there were no seats. There were, however, 8,000 people dancing to Seekae in unison, packed into Carriageworks for the heaving party.

After all, the community radio station has a lot to celebrate. FBi is the first radio station to play fifty percent Australian music, half of which comes from Sydney. And with the boom in bedroom producers, they have played a huge role in supporting young, local musicians, conducting the quality control that separates acts like Seekae from the rest.

Back in May 2008, FBi Radio named The Sound of Trees Falling on People ‘album of the week’, and

heralded Seekae as the best live act of 2009. Their support of local music has not gone unnoticed, with Seekae and other Aussie heavyweights like The Presets, Hermitude and Urthboy reciprocating the love by waiving their usual fees to play for a good cause.

The festival doubled as a fundraiser to help FBi to continue to support local music, art and culture. And after all, that’s exactly why FBi was started in the first place. Back in 2003, when FBi finally won its eight-year battle for a broadcasting license, the station’s General Manager, Chrisina Alvarez, made clear exactly what they stood for.

“FBi will be for people who are really into good music, arts and culture, and want to be engaged with what’s happening in Sydney,” she said in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald. And that vision continues to be fulfilled, with more artists than ever getting their start at FBi. Ultimately, it means that acts such as Seekae are finding unexpected success, with their third album set for release in early 2014. So what can we expect from the new record?

Well, according to John, fans will be hearing live strings, brass, woodwind, and vocals from Alex – and of course, they won’t be deprived of Seekae’s electronic roots. “ It’s been quite a different path than I thought we would ever take,” says John thoughtfully.

“But still – it’s been great!”

29

Is this shit Any GOOd?

MUSIC

THEATRE

Miss Julie plays at Belvoir St Upstairs Theatre from 24 August – 6 October.

Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action Franz Ferdinand

MISS JULIE belvoir st theatre

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? After churning out an exhausting three albums in five years, Glaswegian rockers Franz Ferdinand suddenly and completely vanished. For four years.

Perhaps that shouldn’t be so surprising. Their last record, 2009’s Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, was a shiny dance experiment gone wrong.

So, what have Franz Ferdinand returned as? Have they revisited the sleazy rock of their debut LP, or have they continued down the garden path of modern dance?

A little bit of both it seems. Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action sees disco drums rub shoulders with crunching guitar riffs as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. It’s a twisted combo that Franz Ferdinand know how to exploit.

The opener ‘Right Action’ comes like a bolt gun to the brain, riding on a funked-up guitar riff, while the hop-skip drum and bass beat of ‘Evil Eye’ leaves Kapranos’ croon feeling like a slightly seedy come-on. Even after ten years, Franz Ferdinand still have sex on their mind.

If the first half of the record works to reacquaint you with the good old days, then the second half is where Franz Ferdinand try to convince you that they’ve grown.

Unfortunately, it’s also when things start to go awry. The Beatles baroque pop ‘Fresh Strawberries’ kneecaps the LP’s momentum and ‘Brief Encounters’ drags on way past its use-by date.

Ending with a breakup song is a pretty stale metaphor these days, and the plodding ‘Goodbye Lovers and Friends’, in which Kapranos half-heartedly declares, “I hate pop music”, doesn’t do anything to improve the album.

Like most of the record, it’s a half-sarcastic punchline that Franz Ferdinand would have once nailed, but somehow it turns into a missed hit.

Written in 1888, August Strindberg’s classic Miss Julie is known for its highly political, anti-feminist themes. Over a century since its debut, writer Simon Stone has re-created it, and the result is outstanding.

As the 16-year-old daughter of a prominent politician, Julie lives under constant scrutiny. So when she discovers the sexual power she has over her father’s security guard, Jean – twice her age – total destruction eventuates.

Tender and brutal, Stone has shaped his play based on Strindberg’s original ideas, within the context of the twenty-first century. Employing language and characters so completely of our time, the production depicts an alienating, over-sexualised world.

Taylor Ferguson, a recent graduate of a Melbourne drama program, plays Julie. Though the young actress has few career accolades to her name, here she shines. Although her flouncing around begins somewhat stereotypically, her performance progresses into something haunting, a complex exploration into the devastation that can manifest from extreme privilege and neglect.

As Jean, Brendan Cowell is both perverted and hilarious.

The familiarity of that bogan-like demeanour is what brings a sense of endearment to the character, despite the disturbing sexual relationship he presents us with. Cowell makes it impossible for the audience not to laugh in places where we shouldn’t; the true effect felt mostly in the after-shock of this electric performance.

Not for a long time have I found a play so completely engaging and unsettling. The friend I went with passionately disagreed. Whatever your take, Miss Julie is well worth the argument on the way home. This hot-blooded rendition resonates long after the performance has ended.

Jules LeFevre

Mairead Armstrong

VERTIGO

ISS09

GIG

FILM

story club

THIS IS US

Braving dreary weather and Garfield-esque Monday blues, curious Sydneysiders converge on the Macquarie Hotel in Surry Hills, trudge up the narrow staircase and fill the homely space that is The Raval Theatre. There, they find a relaxed crowd, among who we spied some of the cities cultural elite: the vocalist from that comedy trio band, or the keyboardist from that other comedy trio band, or those three members of that satirical comedy group (yes, okay I’m talking about The Chaser. But guys, it’s pretty cool).

Indeed, some of these celebrities and comedians end up on stage, providing the entertainment for the evening and sharing true, personal stories based on a common theme. This month’s subject is ‘Don’t Mention the War’ and we are treated to six stories of social awkwardness, shameful moments and repressed memories. We all laugh at the cringe-worthy anecdotes of being caught during ‘private time’ by one’s step-sister and vomiting underwater on a honeymoon. But the room is reverently silent when one particularly special narrator – former politician Dr Craig Emerson – delivers the tumultuous and intimate story of his father’s wartime journey.

This emotional adventure is aided in no small part by the venue, whose idyllic stage design is reminiscent of a long-lost time of communal readings around the fireplace.

Creators Zoe Norton Lodge and Ben Jenkins have nurtured this open-mic gathering into a Sydney ritual, with Story Club evenings now held on the third Monday of every month. Whilst the $20 entrance fee is a little dear, and high demand makes bar service rather slow, the quality of the guest speakers is the real gauge of the night’s success.

For an evening of varied and outstanding storytelling, head down to Surry Hills early, secure yourself a comfy armchair and enjoy the show!

The next Story Club will be held on October 21.

One Direction are the latest in a long line of pop singers to film themselves (by which I mean pay Morgan Spurlock to film them) as they embark on a massive tour. So we have to ask the question: how does it compare? Depending on your One Direction fan status you may be surprised to hear it’s pretty good. For what it is anyway: which is basically a 93-minute ad.

Aesthetically, This Is Us breathes new life into the concert film phenomenon, especially when viewed in 3D. Between the screaming crowds and Harry Styles smouldering looks straight down the barrel of the camera, it’s easy to get caught up in the hype of it all. And by the time you realise it is 12 minutes in and you’ve known the words to two songs then it’s probably time to admit that you’re having fun.

If you’re a fan you’ll have a fabulous time. It’s seriously high energy, with the guys oscillating between saying lovely things about their fans and just generally causing havoc with pranks and games. Another plus is that they seem to spend a lot of time shirtless.

The problem is there’s no grit to the film. When I started comparing This Is Us to This Is Spinal Tap, I knew I was definitely missing something. I wanted the opportunity to see the unvarnished version of One Direction but This is Us is high gloss. Sure there were genuine moments sprinkled throughout, but I feel like they were outweighed by contrived scenes with the boys talking about their emotional depth, without actually showing any.

That said, I walked away with a new respect for them, and the realisation that I genuinely enjoy their music for the pop tunes that they are.

Kieran Boyd

Rudi Bremer

31

bored stupid ?!

VERTIGO

ISS09

SA REPORTS

Hey hey, It’s that time of year again; we’ve just passed the midsem break and we’re staring down the road to those end of year exams. It’s the calm before the storm, so take the time to get in that last bit of social life and c ampus life before you have to retreat to a study black hole.

The biggest thing on the Students’ Association’s calendar at the moment is our annual SRC elections.

As you may know, the Students’ Association is governed by the Student Representative C ouncil (SRC), which is elected by you each year.

The SRC elections are held in conjunction with the election of National Union of Students delegates (NUS). NUS is the union which represents university students in Australia. They’re primarily concerned with running campaigns to protect our education qualit y and accessibility. You’ll probably remember NUS for the National Day of Action protests held around the c ount r y a g ains t th e $2 . 3 b illi o n c ut s to unive r sit y e duc ati on f un ding an d p l a c e m e nt of s t ar t- up an d Indigenous student scholarships on HECS. Remember, even though you’re probably ready to scream out of sheer oversaturation with federal election stuff, trust me, these elections are important.

This is your chance to kick this mob out, usher in a new way and stand up for what mat ters to you by electing an SRC and NUS team for 2014.

But what of that other election, you know, when He Who Must Not Be Named became Prime Minister of Australia? What does this mean for us at university?

I w a s luc k y e noug h to at te n d th e Unive r siti e s Australia C onference at the beginning of the year, where members of university administration gathered to share knowledge on the higher education sector.

Tony Abbott made an appearance at this event as the keynote sp e aker on the se cond day of conference .

He beg an by telling the audience exactly how much de bt th e Au s tr ali an e c o nomy c ur re nt l y owe s , to l d universities they weren’t getting any more government money, wheeled out a shiny new ‘Colombo Plan’ policy, then ran out of the room before anyone could ask him questions.

A s you c an im a g in e , thi s do e sn’t re all y insp ire my confidence in our current PM. Not only does he dodge the tough questions such as the under funding of universities, but he also fails to provide much in the way of any real improvements to higher education.

D on’t b e fo o l e d by th e f anc y s oun ding C o l omb o Plan; it ’s basic ally a rehash of a past Liberal policy to ‘internationalise’ the Australian economy. When Howard was in, students were invited from overseas on special scholarships to study. In Abbot t ’s plan, a p r ivil e g e d few f rom Au s t r ali a’s top p e r fo r ming universities will be sent to Asia on exchange instead.

This is an attempt to help Australia adapt to the ‘Asian Century’, because actually investing in Asian language and cultural studies is just too much for the Abbott government.

So where does this leave us? Have no doubt, we have a huge fight ahead of us. No matter which end of the political spectrum you sit, you have to admit, the situation for the higher education sector is pretty dire. It’s really important for us, now more than ever, to band together to stop a complete Abbottpocalypse and claw back the rights of students that have been hard fought for us in the past.

You c an get involved in Student s’ A ssociation education campaigns. Just head to our reception desk on level 3 of the tower building and ask for more info!

That’s all for now, and I wish you the very best with your assessments!

Email: sapresident2013@gmail.com

LYNDAL BUTLER President, UTS Students’ Association

33

SA REPORTS

So, we meet again, random student!

How are we doing? Prepped for exams? Are midsemester exams going to get their butts kicked? Totally on top of ever y thing?? Yeah…me neither. But if you pretend you’ve got your shit together, you can fool the exam too… right? Right?

So in other news, the federal election… yeah, a few weeks back, but that happened. Sort of dropped the ball on that one, didn’t we guys?

I’m still pretty pissed off. Don’t get me wrong, Kevin is one hell of a douche-nugget, but GUISEEE. ABBOTT! The FUQ?!?!

So yeah. Woo and shit. Prepare for some mad-ass students tr ying to star t the revolution over this. The next three years are going to be interesting. My advice?

Finish your degre e! Now. ASAP! Being a s tudent is already so expensive and it’s only going to get worse.

If you’d like to maybe not have Abbot t as PM p erhaps you should come chill with the Educ ation Ac tion Group on Tue sdays , 4pm at the Student s’ Association. We’re planning to work with education networks across the country to do what we can to stop some of the har sher incoming change s , e sp e cially regarding accessibility and affordability of education.

All ideas welcome and I can semi-promise chips and possibly dips (if I don’t eat them beforehand).

Wom*n’s Ver tigo is almost out so keep an eye out. It’s going to be so much fun. If you’re a wom*nidentifying person, perhaps you’d like to help us with the final touches? Maybe join us at the launch party?

If so, contact the Wom*n’s Collective either via email (utswomenscollective@gmail.com) or on Facebook .

And fo’ real peeps, y’all should come to all the things.

You don’t have to have been involved with any thing activist-y before. I promise that for the most part we’re also human and say ridiculous things. We are actual people with horrible grammar (well, the grammar thing is mainly jus t my thang , which the ever- so -helpful Ver tigo editors polish up). BUT, to the point, all the things you could be involved with and having a mad time with stuff.

I feel like I should say something inspirational, so, like, yolo, might as well raise hell and change the world while you’re here (then grow up, get a real job and have some GRE AT stories to tell your kids/parents/future partner and certainly everyone at the pub).

Email: lucille.bonanno@gmail.com

LUCY BONANNO Education Vice President, UTS Students’ Association

VERTIGO

ISS09

UTS STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION

2013 ELECTIONS RETURNING OFFICER’S

Andy Zephyr Alison Whittaker Yu, Pengyang (Nick) James Wilson

Oveseas Students Association: Sun, Shuyang (Gilbert) Elevate: Margaret Sheen, Katelyn Jones, Zoe Bennett, James Horsburgh, Zara Selman, Michael Kennedy, Akshay Raj Kumar, Rayan Calimlim, Alice Katina Andersen, Alexander Casanova The Legion of Doom: James Wilson, Liam Shand Egan, Andrew Carroll, Aimee Miller, Christopher McKay, Richard Hansen, Madeline Clouston

SECRETARY:

NUS (7 to be elected):

REPORT ON THE BALLET DRAW 23 SEPTEMBER 2013 PRESIDENT:

Andie Yates Maheen Afrifi Lucille Bonnano Aimee Miller

TREASURER:

Bharadwaj Sampathkumar Carisse Martis James Wilson Sashin Rahsinghe

Postgraduate Officer:

Grassroots for NUS: Natasha Mitchell, Ashlee Norman, Maya Boerne-Marcus, Isaac Nasedra Elevate: Lyndal Butler, Alison Whittaker, Rayan Calimlim, Lucille Bonnano, James Horsburgh, Akshay Raj Kumar, Margaret Sheen The Legion of Doom: James Wilson, Liam Shand Egan, Richard Hansen, Andrew Carroll

Vertigo:

Xu, Jie (Alan) Xiaozhong Dong Reza Afshar

Legion of Spoon: James Wilson, Andrew Carroll, Aimee Miller, Christopher McKay, Liam Shand Egan, Ryan Auberson Walsh Wild: Lily Murray, Nathalie Meier, Thomas Lodewyke, Rachel Eddie, Larissa Briars, Andrea Thang, Harriet O’Donnell, Lachlan Mackenzie, Kristen Tray, Cyndall Mcinerney, Nicola Parise Crunch for Vertigo: Johanna Fisher, Shannon Stedman, Siobhan Kenna, Madelyn Libnes, Joshua Cram, Andrea Reitano, Tom Cameron, Jordan Rowland-Wild, Tessa O’Donnell Robinson, David Bouden

Australian Indigenous Officer:

Broadway Campus Covenor:

Erin Stuart Kate Alway Richard Hansen

Women’s Officer: Freya Newman Joanna Randall

Overseas Students’ Officer:

Jake Witchard (elected unopposed)

SRC (10 to be elected):

Grassroots for SRC: Andy Zephyr, Andre Yates Sashin Rahasinghe, Chris Gall, Jess Xu, Lauren Cairns, Callum Lee, Danielle Hynes, Jordan Adlerhof, Alana West

Lara Paijmans Chris Augustine Andrew Carroll Zhang, Yanyun (Eve) Broadway Campus Secretary: Krystie-Jane Ng Richard Hansen Xie, Xin (Xavier) Broadway Campus Women’s Officer:

Angelina Casado (elected unopposed)

Broadway Campus Committee (10 to be elected): Elevate: Lucille Bonnano, Adwoa Humphreys, Marcel Gemparle, Xinhang Li (Leonie), Lyndal Butler Overseas Students Association: Yu, Pengyang (Nick)

Markets Campus Convenor: Vanessa Jiang Robert Guzowski

Markets Campus Secretary: Jesse Wright (elected unopposed)

Markets Campus Women’s Officer:

Kate Playford (elected unopposed)

Markets Campus Committee (10 to be elected): Elevate: Michael Kennedy, Douglas McDonald (elected unopposed

Kuring-gai Campus Covenor: Casey Webster

Kuring-gai Campus Secretary: Chau Au

Kuring-gai Campus Women’s Officer: No Nominations received

Kuring-gai Campus Committee (10 to be elected): No Nominations received

The above nominations were received today and will be checked against the student roll.

Christine Kibble Returning Officer 2013 Election UTS Students’ Associations 23 September 2013

35

PRESIDENT

ANDY ZEPHYR I’m Andy Zephyr. If you haven’t seen me behind the Union Desk, in the Students’ Association, or scurrying around your part of the university: Hello! I’m running with Grassroots as their Presidential candidate for 2014, because our Students‘ Association needs a complete reboot. To me, the Students’ Association should be the first place you go as a student. It’s the only organisation run completely by students, for students at UTS and it should help with the crash-course that is university life. It SHOULD be engaging with students to find out what needs to be changed on campus.

This has been my aim since I first got involved.

This year as a Queer Officer and a General Councillor, I’ve sought to widen the scope of students who interact with the Queer Collective, other collectives and in turn, the Students’ Association. Without diversity on our Students’ Representative Council, we lack the ability to engage with the diversity that exists at UTS. This is why I’m running as President.

I want to let students know about every facet of the UTSSA collectives and clubs that I’ve engaged with: Education, Welfare, Women’s, Disability, Ethno-cultural,Postgraduate, Overseas, Enviro and Queer collectives, as well groups such as the AntiRacism Club.

I’ve been involved in the Students’ Association since 2012, but have since expanded into organising refugee rallies, marriage equality stunts (such as re-chalking Taylor Square’s rainbow crossing!) and been a key player in UTS’s involvement in the national education campaigns against the cuts to tertiary education.

Unfortunately, the Education Action Group at UTS this year has struggled with greater student engagement. If we do not stand together to protect our education, we will lose it. This includes having successful rallies and actions, which require large numbers of people, and my constant focus on creativity, being inclusive, and fun.

As I said, our SRC needs a total reboot.

Instead of estimating what students will engage with, we need to connect with students.

We need to provide events that students want, whether it’s a night off from cooking, a place to escape homophobia, or a forum connected to topics in your degree.

So on the 21st-23rd October, For a FIGHTING Students’ Association, VOTE [1] GRASSROOTS FOR SRC VOTE [1] GRASSROOTS FOR NUS VOTE [1] ANDY ZEPHYR FOR PRESIDENT VERTIGO

ISS09

C.V. Course: Communications in Writing and Cultural Studies.

UTS-based work: SRC General Councillor 2013 Queer Of ficer 2013, member since 2011. Anti-Racism Organiser 2013, member 2012. Enviro Collective member 2013 Education Action Group member 2013. Disability Action Group of Students member 2013 President of UTS Union Writers Society 2013, member since 2011 Convener of UTS Union Greens Club 2013. Pride Week Organiser 2013 World Fiesta Organiser 2013 Art Week Organiser 2013 External-based work: Refugee Action Coalition 2013. Edufactor y Conference Organiser 2013. NSW Young Greens Queer Officer 2013. Students of Sustainability Grievance Officer 2013. Queer Collaborations Conference Organiser 2013. Australian Student Environment Network Member 2013.

CAAH Co-Secretary 2013, member since 2012 - present

ALISON WHITTAKER I acknowledge the Gadigal and GuringGai peoples upon whose land UTS resides. I pay respect to their elders and duly reflect on their history and continued relationship with this land.

VOTE [1] ALISON WHITTAKER FOR PRESIDENT VOTE [1] ELEVATE! for SRC VOTE [1] ELEVATE! for NUS because: I’m Alison Whittaker, a proud Gomeroi woman, and third year Communications and Law student at UTS. Af ter three years of working with the Students’ Association to push above and beyond for social justice and student welfare as UTS Indigenous Officer in 2012 and Wom*n’s Officer in 2013, I’m honoured to ask for your vote for President.

VOTE [1] ALISON WHITTAKER FOR PRESIDENT because: This is my third year being engaged in campusbased and broaderreaching activism.

In these three years, I, with the assistance of the ELEVATE! team have: • coestablished the Indigenous Collective, built the Wom*n’s Collective and revived the Disability Action Group of Students into active, progressive and inclusive student advocacy, support and activism bodies on campus; • established statewide crosscampus advocacy groups, including the Wom*n Students of NSW (WSNSW) and the Disability Activism and

Mobilisation Network of Students (DAMNS); • mitigated cuts to the Indigenous Tuition Access Scheme and constructed a system for Indigenous academic support • prevented LifeChoice, an antichoice lobby group, from affiliating to the UTS Union • launched, developed and sustained a free legal service for UTS students • met with senior members of political parties to lobby for an equitable consideration to the higher education cuts • worked with the Students’ Association Education Action Group to fight the $2.3 billion cuts to university education funding and placement of StartUp and Indigenous student scholarships onto student HECs debt VOTE [1] ALISON WHITTAKER FOR PRESIDENT because: As President, I will build a consultative, diverse and accommodating Students’ Association. The ELEVATE! team and I will hold the university to account to ensure the $2.3 billion funding cuts do not impact the price, quality or accessibility of our education or campus life.

We have committed to engaging Students’ Association members with the construction of a Reconciliation Action Plan, and the smart redevelopment of our finances to ensure the sustainability of our student organisation in the face of the Abbott Government’s funding austerity.

We are committed to keeping our Students’ Association services strong, and making sure our current services such as our Legal Service, Secondhand Bookshop and Survival Centre can be accessed by all students, from all backgrounds and all levels of campus engagement.

?

YU PENGYANG (NICK)

No statment handed in.

JAMES WILSON It feels like only last year that I lead a rebellion against the ruling party that now controls my home. The loss forced me to think about my tactics - what went right and

what went wrong; what I could have done differently – was my army of bizarro robotic clones big enough to topple our oppressors?

The answer is of course, self-evident, but now, having escaped the phantom zone I was relegated to for leading that revolution, I have returned, hell-bent on punishing not just those who thwarted me last time, but my former allies, whom have since turned and appear intent on pursuing a path of peace.

This is unacceptable. We must create a new world order than smashes the old, creating a place for the new and powerful. We need a source of power that will spew forth from our home, instilling fear in the hearts and minds of those who would wish us harm. It is my right to take this office. It is my will. As the yellow sun above us gives me strength, I will use all my abundant and glorious powers to ensure victory! No-one can stop me this time! NO-ONE! But I digress.

In order to maintain a degree of anonymity, I have been forced to hide behind a pseudonym, in the same way my archenemy has done for all these years. I have taken upon a vulgar and common name in ‘James Wilson’, a name so simple that were he to actually exist, he would no doubt be a dullard, incapable of cognitive thought, a blight of such utter stupidity that he would not even understand how to tell a joke or have any idea of how to present well-structured parody or satire.

I have continued this masquerade so that I may blend in with the local populace of this place before launching my campaign upon thine enemies. And when they are before me, cowering in fear, trembling at the very thought of what I might do, I shall reveal my true identity.

I AM GENERAL ZOD. Then I will turn the UTS Students Association into New Krypton! 40 years trapped in that accursed void has provided me with a 3 point plan: 1.Purge all that has previously existed.

2.Reintegrate almost everything, but call it Kryptonian.

3.Use my freeze breath to cool the office over summer.

As President, I would use my considerable intellect and prowess to expand the Kryptonian Brekkie Bar and provide hot crumpets for all! I would also start a petition calling for a ban on Russell Crowe’s acting until he starts to move his face, and finally, I will ask Uni Brothers in the Food Court why they charge UTS Students $5 for a pide, when it’s only $4.50 for Sydney Uni students! Outrageous!

VOTE [1] JAMES WILSON FOR PRESIDENT! VOTE [1] THE LEGION OF DOOM FOR SRC & NUS! VOTE [1] THE LEGION OF SPOON FOR VERTIGO! KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!

SECRETARY

ANDIE YATES Do you know what the UTS Students’ Association does? What campaigns have been run this year? What services it provides to students other than free breakfast?

Currently there is a lack of communication between the Students’ Association and students, preventing people from accessing the services it provides and getting involved with its campaigns. This means to know what decisions the SRC is making you need to be part of the SRC or know someone who is. This information inequality must stop!

As the GRASSROOTS candidate for Secretary I believe transparency and democracy are mandatory to a strong student movement.

If I am elected minutes will be posted online within a day of SRC meetings and printed in Vertigo, and all executive reports will be posted online.

This year I have served as one of the UTS Queer Officers, representing the needs of queer students to the Students’ Association and the university. Throughout the year I have helped revitalise the Queer Collective, which has grown larger and become more active.

This year the Queer Collective has been involved in rallies for marriage equality and against police brutality, a trans* rights awareness campaign, cross-campus events, and a relationship has been forged between the collective and UTS Housing to reach out to students from regional and international backgrounds.

For the first time in many years there was a Pride Week this year, a feat that could only be achieved via collaboration between the Queer Collective, UTS Out2Party, and the Union. Pride Week featured six educational workshops, a mass wedding, and three affirming social events. The week was a great success, boosting the visibility of queers on campus, teaching students about queer and intersectional issues, and providing safe and supportive environments for students to socialise. Events like Pride Week are vital to the university community because pride saves lives.

GRASSROOTS values the work of the collectives and will support them without disrupting autonomy. GRASSROOTS aims to boost opportunities for collectives to communicate and build collaborative campaigns to fight for a campus that is inclusive, environmentally friendly, and puts quality education before profits. With a conservative government in power student activism is more important than ever; we will need to work together to fight cuts to our education and to rally against regressive social policy. Collaborating with

other universities to take action is vital; GRASSROOTS will not sideline UTS to a jumping castle when there are marches to go to.

GRASSROOTS will not keep the student population in the dark about what is happening.

We will not reserve student activism for those already in our inner circles. GRASSROOTS will call upon every student to be aware, get involved, and have fun while doing it.

VOTE [1] GRASSROOTS FOR SRC VOTE [1] GRASSROOTS FOR NUS VOTE [1] ANDY FOR PRESIDENT

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MAHEEN AFRIDI

No statement handed in.

LUCILLE BONANNO Ahoyhoy fellow UTSer,I’m Lucille (Lucy) Bonanno if you’re familiar with Vertigo, you may have seen my issue report, in which I update you and rant about all thats been going on at the Students’ Association. If not, well, you’ve picked up our election edition.

You make excellent choices in life. Anyhoo, I’m running for Secretary with Elevate! and you should vote!

VOTE [1] LUCILLE BONANNO FOR SECRETARY because: I’ve been involved with the Students’ Association since my first week of uni in 2012, I’veexperienced everything that an SRC meeting can throw at you and understand how they run. I’ve also been an active member in several collectives. I plan to bring this experience to the role of Secretary, ensuring clear motions and meetings, making it easier for our Students Reps to organise and act on issues surrounding and affecting you, the student body.

I believe strongly in transparency and, if elected, intend to keep the students’ association and SRC responsible for all their decisions by keeping accurate minutes of both SRC meetings and executive meetings and ensuring notice of meetings is accessible to all students.

By making more students aware of where their money is going, and allowing everyone to attend meetings where this is decided I have no doubt more students will make their voices heard, and will keep out representative body truly reflective of our wants and needs.

VOTE [1] LUCILLE BONANNO FOR SECRETARY because: Accessibility is something I care about deeply, and as Secretary I hope to put time limits on meetings where possible. In doing this, I aim to make it easier for more students, elected, involved and otherwise, to go to these meetings knowing they haven’t accidentally committed themselves to several hours. In doing so, I hope that more students will become accustomed to this all to alien meeting procedure and thus be more able to directly lead student representatives.

VOTE [1] LUCILLE BONANNO FOR SECRETARY because: This year I’ve been working with our current Secretary, Douglas, on constitutional reform and both SRC and executive committee.

I (and the Elevate! team) hope to continue constitutional reform, making our SRC and Students’ Association more relevant and inclusive to the overall UTS body, bringing it into the 2013 age of progressive values, reasonable modern mechanisms for change and our current engagement with UTS and its students as a whole, online, in services and in advocacy. My involvement in securing a financially sustainable structure for our funding (including recent legal negotiations to secure permanency for our staf f ) has ensured that I have significant institutional knowledge within which to continue my work.

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR SRC AND NUS Alison Whittaker for President Lucille Bonanno for Secretary Carisse Martis for Treasurer Freya Newman for Women’s Officer Jake Witchard for Indigenous Officer Xiaozhong Dong for Overseas Officer Erin Stewart for Postgraduate Officer Chris Augustine for Broadway Campus Convenor Robert Guzowski for Markets Campus Convenor Casey Webster for KuringGai Campus Convenor

AIMEE MILLER Being a Secretary of the UTS Students Association is a role that I take extremely seriously. When reporting on what has happened at meetings, it is imperative that people understand from reading the minutes of that meeting what actually happened. You need to be objective at all times. Failure to do so can leave the organisation in a parlous state, particularly if the organisation were ever sued.

Sometimes, it is useful to know a little bit of background about the issue at hand so that the motions moved are not made out of context,

causing a misrepresentation of those present and the relevant facts. For example: “While Stefano holds Marlena and Kristen hostage, John marries Kristen’s impostor; Hope tries to get used to the idea of Bo and Billie being married; Bo’s investigation goes wrong.” – Days of Our Lives recap, 24/6/97.

What this recap doesn’t tell you is that Stefano totally did that with good reason!

Like, Marlena was going all around and hypnotising people and trying to get them to do her will, and the worst part about it was she was trying to get Stefano to have sex with her and he’s her brother, and it’s like the Lannisters in Game Of Thrones, kinda icky, right? So anyway, Stefano clucked like a chicken for a bit but eventually woke up in the middle of Marlena’s seduction technique! I KNOW RIGHT! Kristen though, she totally deserved it - SUCH. A. B**CH. Always plays Miss Goody-two-Shoes! OMG. It makes me so mad.

Anyway, so John did marry Kristen’s imposter, and why wouldn’t you? I mean, hello?!

John is so amazing, the way he dealt with Sandra during the triple pregnancy was totally inspiring and he’s really attractive. And Kristen’s imposter is really pretty! They look exactly the same, but the imposter is way hotter.

I really hate Hope, like being named after an emotion, or like, feeling? What’s with that?

I mean, what if she lost hope? Then it would be like this existential can of worms and it would just be totes confusing. Anyway, she should be called ‘No Hope’ anyway, haha, because she is never going to get back with her old Bo. Ha! That’s really good. I love puns. They’re great. Anyway, so what was I saying?

Oh, right. Bo and Billie. They will be together forever, but only because Marlena hypnotised them both into thinking they are not just in love, but cyborgs! I wonder how they have sex? Weird.

That Marlena. Evil. Bo’s investigation totes does go wrong though. Well done, TV Guide.

Yeah, so it’s this kind of detail I plan to bring to the role of Secretary. ‘Cause if you just picked up some random minutes, how would you know what was happening without all that really useful detail. I will bring that to the table.

VOTE [1] AIMEE MILLER FOR SECRETARY! VOTE [1] THE LEGION OF DOOM FOR SRC & NUS! VOTE [1] THE LEGION OF SPOON FOR VERTIGO!

TREASURER

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BHARADWAJ SAMPATHKUMAR

No statment submitted

CARISSE MARTIS VOTE [1] CARISSE MARTIS FOR TREASURER Hi, my name is Carisse and I’m studying a Bachelor of Business, majoring in Marketing.

I am running for Treasurer of the Students’ Association because I am passionate about representing students, and upholding their rights at university and in education. I believe that everyone at UTS is entitled to a quality education without being burdened by the financial pressures associated, and that students should receive support in any form at university regardless of their ethnicity, religion, gender, sexuality or socioeconomic status.

VOTE [1] CARISSE MARTIS FOR TREASURER because: Together with the ELEVATE! team, I hope to make the Student ’s A ssociation even bigger and better. Currently the Student’s association has a variety of services available including the Secondhand Bookshop, Bluebird Brekkie Bar, Peer Tutoring, Legal Service, education caseworkers and Vertigo, all which have become an integral part of UTS and students’ lives. Team ELEVATE! hopes to continue these fantastic initiatives, as well as introduce more services that students are passionate about and are of priority to students. The students association also plays a vital role in providing students with Collectives, groups that form to run campaigns and events around a specific issue or common interest. The ELEVATE! team has maintain funding for Students’ Association Collectives, which play a crucial role in shaping the Students’ Association campaigns and events, such as the highly successful ‘UTS World Fiesta’ event hosted by the EthnoCultural Collective.

VOTE [1] CARISSE MARTIS FOR TREASURER because: I believe that the ELEVATE! team and I have the experience and skills necessary to maintain funding for our services, and to campaign for increased funding for the Students’ Association. Many of the members running in the ELEVATE! team have previously been an integral part of the Student’s Association and thus know how to get the job done in the best possible way. As your Treasurer, I would ensure appropriate and fair spending within the Student’s Association, keep spending decisions transparent so you know where the funding is going, help run campaigns with the Student’s Association as well as campaign to maintain funding for vital services and advocate for greater student control of the allocation of the Student Services and Amenities Fee. VOTE [1] CARISSE MARTIS FOR TREASURER because:

Team ELEVATE! and I want to provide you with the best possible outcomes for students, representing you in what you are passionate abou. As the only student run organisation at UTS, we know exactly what students want. We are committed to getting the best possible outcome for students and ensuring that the university is held accountable for decisions made in regards to SSAF distribution, and prioritises student needs.

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR SRC and NUS Alison Whittaker for President Lucille Bonanno for Secretary Carisse Martis for Treasurer Freya Newman for Women’s Officer Jake Witchard for Indigenous Officer Xiaozhong Dong for Overseas Officer Erin Stewart for Postgraduate Officer Chris Augustine for Broadway Campus Convenor Robert Guzowski for Markets Campus Convenor Casey Webster for KuringGai Campus Convenor

JAMES WILSON When I am not determined to take back Krypton and turn Earth into a new home for me and my rag-tag group of rebellious misfits, I am deadly serious about accountability and transparency.

Before rising to the top of the Kryptonian military, I was in fact a graduate of Kandor University’s MBA program which has held me in good stead while balancing the books aboard my spaceship in the Phantom Zone and unlike Superman I don’t cook the books simply by looking at them.

All jokes aside, the UTS Students Association is in dire need of a firm hand, a red pen and a laser beam light show.

Treasur y repor ts are not presented at SRC meetings, which would be particularly awkward if a litigious Lex Luthor or one of his henchmen went and sued the association.

As Treasurer, I plan to not just reinstate these essential corporate governance processes, but I also hope to launch an external review of the organisation to determine what is working and what is not. This has, to my knowledge, never actually been done within the organisation, a worrying thought considering most non-government organisations do this every year to obtain their funding.

It is time for the UTS Students Association to get with the program, financially, and if it means a complete overhaul of internal processes and procedures, then so be it. A

vote for James Wilson for Treasurer is a vote for healing the financial headaches of the organisation and moving forward into fiscal invulnerability, on a scale never before seen

by Earthlings.

VOTE [1] JAMES WILSON FOR TREASURER! VOTE [1] PALPATINE FOR SENATOR! VOTE [1] THE LEGION OF DOOM FOR SRC & NUS! VOTE [1] THE LEGION OF SPOON FOR VERTIGO! KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!

SASHIN RAHASINGHE When we invest in education, we make an investment into our futures. Therefore, it only makes sense that the money we invest in our futures, is in turn used by our university to achieve this goal, right?

When it comes to making the world a better place, education appears to be the sharpest tool we have. It is really strange that the stage in which the minds of the citizens of the future are made, is run as a business, with the primar y objective of making money. It is as if the actual learning, the actual education par t has become periphery, a mere side effect.

My name is Sashin, and I will be running for the position of general councillor on our student representative council. As a councillor, I will do everything in my power to make sure that students are represented and that university resources are used in accordance to the needs of the students. My strategy to achieve this can be broken down into two parts; increasing transparency of activities, as well as enabling and encouraging student engagement with issues relating to the university.

If you are intere sted in a Student ’s Association more engaged with the needs of students, as well as more transparent and accountable to them, please vote for me.

VOTE [1] GRASSROOTS FOR SRC VOTE [1] GRASSROOTS FOR NUS VOTE [1] ANDY ZEPHYR FOR PRESIDENT

POSTGRADUATE OFFICER

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ERIN STEWART

My name is Erin Stewart and I got involved in the Students’ Association this year. I am a passionate advocate for social justice and education accessibility, and I hope to be an active and progressive voice for UTS Postgraduate students in 2014.

VOTE [1] ERIN STEWART FOR POSTGRADUATE OFFICER because: Postgraduate students at UTS come from a range of different educational, work and personal backgrounds, and as such have a diverse range of needs. All Postgraduate students deserve useful and accessible services that are available when they are on campus, as well as strong, progressive representatives.

This year the ELE VATE! team have extended hours of Students’ Association services such as the Secondhand Bookshop and UTS Legal Service, and helped to secure transport concession cards for Postgraduate students. The ELEVATE! team and I have the experience and passion to improve support and education quality for Postgraduate students at UTS. VOTE [1] ERIN STEWART FOR POSTGRADUATE OFFICER because: The ELEVATE! team and I want to ensuring that the Students’ Association remains an active, progressive and inclusive organisation that meets students’ needs and fights for student rights on campus.

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR SRC and NUS Alison Whittaker for President Lucille Bonanno for Secretary Carisse Martis for Treasurer Freya Newman for Women’s Officer Jake Witchard for Indigenous Officer Xiaozhong Dong for Overseas Officer Erin Stewart for Postgraduate Officer Chris Augustine for Broadway Campus Convenor Robert Guzowski for Markets Campus Convenor Casey Webster for KuringGai Campus Convenor

KATE ALWAY I believe a Postgraduate Officer can make a vital difference to postgraduate students, by responding to our needs and concerns and representing us as a group, helping to create postgraduate community and making the Students’ Association more useful and accessible to postgraduates.

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I intend to do this by: Starting a Postgrad Collective Reafilliating UTS with the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) • Ensuring a dedicated Postgraduate voice on the SRC and throughout the university • Being actively available to find out what you want from your Postgraduate Officer and your SRC. Starting right now – I’d love to discuss this position and hear your concerns, on campus or at utssapg@gmail.com I bring to this role thir teen years of experience in student and community organising. I have worked positions including Students’ Association President and Clubs and Societies Officer as well as Student Representative on Academic Board and many other committees across UTS, Macquarie Uni and Sydney Institute of TAFE. I have started and worked in collectives and clubs, advocated for groups and run campaigns.

I would be honoured to use everything these roles have taught me, to work with and for the postgraduate student population of UTS. Please take the time to vote for a better Students’ Association for all.

• •

VOTE [1] GRASSROOTS FOR SRC VOTE [1] GRASSROOTS FOR NUS VOTE [1] ANDY FOR PRESIDENT

RICHARD HANSON Fellow Postgraduate, Like you, I too think that the SRC is a big joke.

So vote for a joke ticket onto UTS’ biggest joke!

Kind Regards, Richard VOTE [1] RICHARD HANSON FOR POSTGRADUATE OFFICER! VOTE [1] THE LEGION OF DOOM FOR SRC & NUS! VOTE [1] THE LEGION OF SPOON FOR VERTIGO!

WOMEN’S OFFICER

FREYA NEWMAN VERTIGO

ISS09

As a feminist, I have a staunch belief in interdisciplinary action and critical thinking.

I take an unapologetically intersectional approach to politics, and believe genderbased issues are tackled best through collective action.

VOTE [1] FREYA NEWMAN FOR WOMEN’S OFFICER for: Experience.

This year I became an active member of the UTS Wom*n’s Collective, and worked closely with Presidential candidate Alison to successfully block the prolife group LifeChoice from affiliating with the UTS Union. Members of the UTS Wom*ns Collective and I created a prochoice group on c ampus c alled ‘RU4MyChoice?’, of which I am the current President. Already we have a strong online presence and I hope we can continue to organise as a group next year.

VOTE [1] FREYA NEWMAN FOR WOMEN’S OFFICER for: Crosscollective action.

Next year, I hope to build upon the successes of this year and continue to grow the UTS Wom*n’s Collective, which I was recently elected the convenor of. In line with my intersectional approach to politics, I hope to engage other UTS groups in crosscollective collaboration.

VOTE [1] FREYA NEWMAN FOR WOMEN’S OFFICER for: Intersectionality.

My vision for the Wom*ns Collective next year looks something like this: • Refugee action with groups on campus (UTS AntiRacism Committee and Amnesty UTS) and of f campus (Hazara Women of Australia, Shakti Migrant Refugee Committee) • Gender and sexuality based discussion groups and/or events with the Queer Collective Working with the UTS Disability Action Group of Students towards a more inclusive Collective/campus • Participation in critical race discussions and action on campus • Active engagement with Indigenous Collective and AntiRacism Committee • Supporting our sisters on other campuses (including KuringGai) • Keeping UTS campuses and online spaces safe VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR SRC and NUS Alison Whittaker for President Lucille Bonanno for Secretary Carisse Martis for Treasurer Freya Newman for Women’s Officer Jake Witchard for Indigenous Officer Xiaozhong Dong for Overseas Officer Erin Stewart for Postgraduate Officer Chris Augustine for Broadway Campus Convenor Robert Guzowski for Markets Campus Convenor Casey Webster for KuringGai Campus Convenor

JOANNA RANDALL As a feminist, I believe in equality for all genders and I strive to eliminate gender discrimination. I’ve held these beliefs for many years, but I feel that it is time to start enacting these changes within our own university. For example, why is it that we have a Women’s Space but not a Men’s Space? A Women’s Officer is elected each and every year, but why is there no such position for men? In 2013 alone, UTS offered over $40 000 in scholarships exclusively for women in faculties such as Arts and Social Sciences, Engineering, or simply for women undertaking postgraduate research. And yet, UTS continually fails to extend these same privileges to men.

After all, upon entering the workforce men will receive an income 17.5% higher than their female counterpar ts, so why aren’t these same opportunities being granted at a university level?

Australia is entering a time of great political change. Men are finally reaching equal representation in Parliament, with all but one of Tony Abbott’s newly-elected cabinet being male. The fact that the Prime Minister himself is taking responsibility for women’s issues gives me great hope for the future of gender equality. It’s time that these changes are implemented at a university level.

As Women’s Officer, I pledge to elect a Men’s Officer for SRC by the end of 2014. I will also be liaising with the UTSSA to create a Men’s Collective and a Men’s Space within the university. Finally, I will open a dialogue with UTS Council regarding the 2014 budget and the allocation of funds to scholarships exclusively for men. It is only through these actions that gender equality may be achieved.

VOTE [1] JOANNA RANDALL FOR WOMEN’S OFFICER! VOTE [1] LEGION OF DOOM FOR SRC & NUS! VOTE [1] LEGION OF SPOON FOR VERTIGO!

OVERSEAS STUDENTS’ OFFICER

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JU XIE (ALAN)

No statement handed in.

XIAOZHONG DONG VOTE [1] XIAOZHONG DONG FOR OVERSEAS STUDENTS OFFICER: Hi, my name is Xiaozhong (also known as Dawn!) and I’m running for Overseas Students Officer.

VOTE [1] XIAOZHONG DONG FOR OVERSEAS STUDENTS OFFICER because: I believe Overseas Students need strong representation so that we can achieve greater suppor t for Overseas Students such as cheaper rent close to campus and accessible migration and International student visa information. The ELEVATE! team has already introduced a free Legal Service for students which has assisted Overseas Students in providing tenancy law advice so students aren’t exploited by local landlords who rent apar tment to new Overseas Students at incredibly high prices. Overseas Students need free legal advice to navigate the troubled inner city Sydney housing market and know their tenancy rights. The ELEVATE! team and I are committed to making the UTS Legal Service more accessible for Overseas Students and distribute information on students’ tenancy rights to all students. I believe UTS should provide more oppor tunities for Overseas Students to meet and network with local students so we feel more welcome into the UTS community.

VOTE [1] JIE ZHANG FOR OVERSEAS STUDENTS OFFICER because: The ELEVATE! team and I are committed to working with Overseas Students to ensure that their issues and concerns are raised with the university. We will fight to keep the SSAF, which upholds many services that are vital to Overseas Students such as the UTS Legal Service, Bluebird Brekkie Bar, Peer Tutoring and the Survival Centre, which help to support Overseas Students with the high costs of living in Sydney. The ELEVATE! team and I will also be working to support student campaigns and events and make them more accessible for Overseas Students.

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR SRC and NUS Alison Whittaker for President Lucille Bonanno for Secretary Carisse Martis for Treasurer Freya Newman for Women’s Officer Jake Witchard for Indigenous Officer Xiaozhong Dong for Overseas Officer Erin Stewart for Postgraduate Officer Chris Augustine for Broadway Campus Convenor Robert Guzowski for Markets Campus Convenor Casey Webster for KuringGai Campus Convenor

REZA AFSHAR Hi UTS! You know that whole section of uni called ‘international students’ that you always see on promo materials? Did you know there’s a position in our Student’s Association to represent international students’ needs at UTS? There is, and I believe that international students need a stronger voice on campus.

Completing my undergraduate degree and masters of civil engineering in Tehran, Iran, I have begun my studies at UTS with hopes of being part of a diverse student body that actively engages international students.

This has been harder than expected, but I aim to improve the international student experience by being an engaged Overseas Officer, supported by the energetic GRASSROOTS team. I want to connect students across borders to meet in more social events and unite for common causes such as gaining international student concession cards. This will be possible with a truly GRASSROOTS SRC and Overseas Officer.

Indigenous student body, I hope to maintain a dynamic, collaborative and ethical platform that will enable the ongoing success of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at UTS. VOTE [1] JAKE WITCHARD FOR INDIGENOUS OFFICER because: As Indigenous Officer, I hope to create par tnerships between the ISC and other branches of the UTS Student’s Association, and extend this offer to the wider student population. I believe that by working together, both Indigenous and nonIndigenous, we as a university community can strive to achieve an inclusive environment where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students feel both safe and accepted.

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR SRC and NUS

SRC (10 TO BE ELECTED)

GRASSROOTS Andy Zephyr, Andie Yates, Sashin Ranasinghe, Chris Gail, Jess Xu, Lauren Cairns, Callum Lee, Danielle Hynes, Jordan Alderhof, Alana West

VOTE [1] GRASSROOTS FOR SRC VOTE [1] GRASSROOTS FOR NUS VOTE [1] ANDY FOR PRESIDENT

AUSTRALIAN INDIGENOUS OFFICER

JAKE WITCHARD I would like to acknowledge and pay respect to the Gadigal and Guringgai people of the Eora Nation upon whose ancestral lands the University of Technology, Sydney now stands.

Hi there! My name is Jake and I’m a second year Law/Communications student at UTS, hailing from the Dunghutti peoples of Kempsey, a small town on NSW’s midnorth coast.

VOTE [1] JAKE WITCHARD FOR INDIGENOUS OFFICER: I have been an active member of the Indigenous Student Collective (ISC) since commencing my studies in 2012, and am excited at the prospect of representing my fellow Indigenous students on the SRC. University can be a particularly daunting experience for Indigenous students, especially for those of us who come from remote communities or are the first in our families to pursue a tertiary education. Through liaising with faculty staf f, university of ficials and the

Tony Abbott is our Prime Minister.

I’ll let that sink in for a moment. The situation is dire. No matter what you think of him personally, we know that Liberal governments mean Liberal cuts. Every time the Liberals get in, higher education has been first on the chopping block.

This is why we need a FIGHTING Students’ Association. You face a choice on the 21st – 23rd October between an Association that has the guts to FIGHT, or one filled with more of the same unimaginative bureaucrats.

GRASSROOTS isn’t just a meaningless buzzword. It represents what we are: a diverse team of students who have come together over a shared set of ideals, a passion for the student movement, and a vision for the future of the Students’ Association.

GR ASSROOTS means a more ac tive Students’ Association. We have extensive experience in environmental campaigns, fighting education cuts, defending queer rights and so much more. We want to create a culture in the Students’ Association where all students feel able and inspired to become involved in the issues that matter to them.

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GRASSROOTS means more support for students. The Students’ Association runs o n a s t retc h e d bu d g et , eve n w ith th e (very modest) money that comes to it from SSAF, which is why we will push the university to fund more case-workers (including a bilingual case-worker!) and a more effective Legal Service. We’re not taking no for an answer; we’ll agitate, we’ll organise, we’ll rally, we’ll occupy, we’ll use any and every creative campaign it takes to make the SA better for students.

GRASSROOTS means a more inclusive Students’ Association. UTS is a diverse campus, but typically only a small class of people end up involved in the student movement. We want to expand this: we’ll run forums, we’ll hold social events for new students to come and get connected and we’ll give more support to the Ethno-cultural Collective to get more diverse groups involved.

GRASSROOTS means a fossil-free university.

We’ll fight, like we have in the Enviro Collective all year, to get management to end all ties to the coal, gas and oil industries and to make those commitments permanent.

GR ASSROOTS means tr ansparency & democracy. We want meeting minutes posted online the day they are written, and in Vertigo, all documents on the website.

GR ASSROOTS means stronger, better collectives and clubs. We want to see all the collectives running at full capacity, which means a big recruiting drive, and properly advertised meetings. We’ll streamline small funding requests so they can be more easily passed by the collectives. We’ll work with UTS Union clubs to connect them with the Students’ Association.

GRASSROOTS means fighting to stop the anti-abortion club LifeChoices from organising their misogynistic bullshit on campus. We’ll stand up for wom*n’s rights, reproductive rights and gender equality!

Last but not least, GRASSROOTS means razor-sharp education activism. We’ll build a real Education Action Group, with all the groups on campus involved. We’ll stick it to Tony Abbott and whatever messed-up regressive ‘reforms’ he pulls out of his tight neoliberal arse. We know UTS students care, we know they are smart, we know they would fight ag ainst the se cut s , and all the shit that ’s coming, if they just have student representatives that are willing and committed.

So on the 21st-23rd October, For a FIGHTING Students’ Association, VOTE [1] GRASSROOTS FOR SRC VOTE [1] GRASSROOTS FOR NUS VOTE [1] ANDY ZEPHYR FOR PRESIDENT

VERTIGO

ISS09

OVERSEAS STUDENTS ASSOCIATION Sun, Shuyang (gilbert)

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No statement handed in.

ELEVATE Margaret Sheen, Katelym Jones, Zoe bennett, James Horsburgh, Zara Selman, Micheal Kennedy,Akshay raj kumar, rayan calimlim, alice katina andersen, alexander casanova

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR SRC VOTE [1] ELEVATE! for SRC because: We are a progressive and diverse team of students that believes in the importance of strong and independent student representation and that all UTS students receive a high quality and accessible education.

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! for SRC because: Our team consists of active, experienced and diverse students who will continue to fight to maintain funding for student clubs and organisations through the Student Ser vices and Amenities Fee (SSAF ), and support studentrun services that respond to your needs. This year, members of the ELEVATE! team worked with the university to establish Practical Legal Training placements within the free UTS Student Legal Service, which gives UTS Law students the opportunity to complete their PLT on campus. We also ran the ‘Our Education is Not For Profit’ campaign to fight the $2.3 billion cuts to university education funding and placement of StartUp and Indigenous student scholarships on HECS. The ELEVATE! team has also been involved in campaigns to stop the antireproductive rights group ‘LifeChoice’from gaining a foothold at UTS, and mitigating cuts to the Indigenous Tutoring Assistance Scheme with an interim study support service

for students. It is this response to student demand, continued action to establish more student services and wins on this scale that set ELEVATE! apart and demonstrate that the ELEVATE! team has what it takes to represent you and advocate for your interests both on the SRC and to the university.

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! for SRC because: The Students’ Representative Council (SRC) is the governing body of the UTS Students’Association, your representative body on campus. When it comes to the real issues – large or small – that affect us as students at UTS, you need a team of students that will hear your concerns, stand up and fight for you at a university level or beyond.

The ELEVATE! team will be a strong voice within and against the university, and we would be honoured to build upon our past achievements for student rights. As a result of our continued campaigning and lobbying efforts to ELEVATE! our student experience, the university has committed to keeping and improving Honours and has recently undertaken a university policy and rules review, to incorporate changes to ensure fairer exam and assessment schedules for all students and stricter rules on unpaid internships to prevent exploitation of students by external organisations. More can be done.

If elected, we will continue to fight for the return of study vacation for all students, more study resources online, and we will also stand up against assessments during work placements.

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! for SRC because: We need an active Students’ Association that will stand up for students’ rights and fight for a fair and accessible higher education system for all students. We will stand up for safer and more affordable accommodation, and a culture free from discrimination and harassment in UTS Housing. Housing has already moved to improve residents’ wireless connections, meaning that students don’t have to pay for internet access on top of rent, and we’ve been working with the UTS Queer Collective to run Queer student focused events to make Housing more welcoming for Queer students.

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! for SRC because: We will fight for an environmentally sustainable campus. We want the university to make a commitment to green energy and will continue to push for 100% renewable energy. This year the ELEVATE! team was involved in the inception and running of the ReFill It competition. The ReFill It competition was a highly successful initiative that gave UTS students the chance to design campaigns, software such as apps, and infrastructure to encourage students and staff to refill their water bottles instead of constantly buying plastic bottled water. Participants in the competition were also able to network w i t h in du s t r y p r of e s s i o n a l s an d g a in exposure for their work. The ELEVATE! team

is committed to Fair Trade, working to instill these principles within the Students’ Association and wider UTS community. We have been working with university administration on ways to incorporate fair trade into UTS procurement policies and practice. We have been working to assist the Enviro Collective in the Fossil Free UTS campaign, to push UTS to commit to 100% divestment from fossil fuel companies or investments. Through our connections with UTS governance and our campaign experience we have been able to encourage and further the cause of fossil fuel divestment at UTS. Members of the ELEVATE! team are studying Environmental Science have been the students’ voice on the UTS Sustainability Steering Committee, so between us we have the experience and the drive to advocate for these issues to be a priority.

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! for SRC because: The ELEVATE! team will work hard to ensure it advocates for students from every campus to fight for their rights and an improved student experience. This year, members of the ELEVATE! team have consulted widely with students and have held forums and events at every campus to in turn bring your issues to the university. We have brought the Bluebird Brekkie Bar to the Haymarket campus, and held popup visits of the Student Survival Centre at the KuringGai campus. We would love to continue to expand such services, and consult with students at each campus on issues that concern them. We want to be accountable to you; we want to grow reach and the impact of the Students’ Association to improve the student experience; and we want to be an SRC for everyone.

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! for SRC because: We are progressive students who are passionate about student rights at UTS and we want a better, stronger, more diversified and representative Students’ Association to advocate for all students at UTS! VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR SRC and NUS Alison Whittaker for President Lucille Bonanno for Secretary Carisse Martis for Treasurer Freya Newman for Women’s Officer Jake Witchard for Indigenous Officer Xiaozhong Dong for Overseas Officer Erin Stewart for Postgraduate Officer Chris Augustine for Broadway Campus Convenor Robert Guzowski for Markets Campus Convenor Casey Webster for KuringGai Campus Convenor

THE LEGION OF DOOM

james wilson, liam shand egan, andrew carroll, aimme miller, christopher mackay, richard hansen, madeline clouston

The Legion of Doom has formed to battle the Super Friends that have come together to spread the misery of happiness to you puny mor tals. As spokesperson for the Legion, I, Ocean Master, have been entrusted to outline our policies and to introduce you to the team.

Leading the ticket is General Zod, followed

by Captain Boomerang, Andrew, Harley Quinn, myself, Super Ted and Madeline. Our primary concern is to STOP THE BOATS! Darkseid, ahem….sorry, Tony Abbott may have just been elected Prime Minister, but he is not doing nearly enough. The Legion of Doom has decided we will stop the boats by using my powers to sink every land mass in the world, drowning the earth and everything on it. We realise of course, that boats float, so our final move will be to buy back all the boats! BEST IDEA EVER. We are staunchly against speed dating, as I, Ocean Master am against all forms of fishing, even for compliments; and finally, we are pro same-sex marriage because everybody deserves to be loved.

VOTE [1] JAMES WILSON FOR PRESIDENT! VOTE [1] THE LEGION OF DOOM FOR SRC & NUS! VOTE [1] THE LEGION OF SPOON FOR VERTIGO!

NUS (7 TO BE ELECTED)

GRASSROOTS FOR NUS natasha mitchell, ashlee norman, maya boerne-marcus, issac nasedra

I’m a second year nursing student and I believe that cuts to the health care system are an issue that NUS should campaign around. Around this time last year the Liberal Premier Barry O’Farrell announced 3 billion

dollars were to be cut from the NSW health care budget. At the same time the state government is ignoring the demands of the nursing staff that we need better nurse to patient ratios in our hospitals and community health services. These cuts have a serious effect on students as most students will have to receive their health care through the public health system and these cuts will definitely affect the level of care they receive.

I am also heavily involved in Community Ac tion A g ainst Homophobia, the group that organises the mass demonstrations for Marriage Equality. This is an issue that I am particularly passionate about and if elected I will make sure that this is an issue that NUS t ake s seriously. Abbot t has always opposed marriage equality even going as far as to say that he is ‘threatened’ by homosexuality.

This means that the only way we can win Marriage Equality under this conservative government is with a mass campaign and it is important that NUS is a part of that struggle.

You should vote for Grassroots for NUS if you want a left wing union that is willing to stand up to conser vative governments around issues that have a lasting impact on student’s lives.

Grassroots for NUS is a team of progressive, left-wing students who want to see the National Union of Students take a far more active and visible role in defending education, students’ rights, and standing up for progressive values.

Nex t year UTS student s will see even more cutbacks to higher education. Tony Abbott has stated that he will implement the massive 2.3 billion dollars of cuts to universities and student support. These cuts will see the $1000 student start-up grants added to our already huge HECS debts, alongside cuts to university budgets. Our universities are already underfunded, and over-reliant on funding and donations from big business. Further cuts will see conditions get even worse.

Universities are moving to get rid of staff and cut staff pay, leading to even more overcrowding in lectures and larger tutorials.

Alongside all of this students are often forced in to poverty, and international students are treated as little more than cash-cows by UTS. If elected we’ll fight for a National Union of Students that will stridently oppose any cuts to our education. We need a union that will organise students across the country to demand more funding, not less. We also need a union that will add it’s voice to all progressive movements for justice and equality. Supporters of Grassroots for NUS, for example, have been instrumental in recent years in building the campaign for same-sex marriage rights, if elected we’ll make sure the union strengthens its support for equal rights for all.

Here’s what Grassroots for NUS stands for: 1. Oppose the $2.3 billion cuts to education, no more course cuts, no more

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HECS increases 2. End all discrimination against international students, this means campaigning against racism, and an end to universities simply milking international students for money 3. Unis should hire more staff, and pay them properly so we can have smaller class sizes, and teachers with enough time to think 4. Youth allowance and AUStudy should be raised, and easier to be eligible for. Students shouldn’t have to work so much we have to skip class, or be paid so little we have to skip meals.

5. Our student union should support other campaigns for equality and justice. Students in Australia helped end the Vietnam war, helped bring an end to South-African apartheid.

Today our student unions should be raising their voices against the racist attacks on refugees, against the homophobic ban on same-sex marriage, against Israeli apartheid, and any other struggle for decency and justice.

It’ll take a lot to achieve any of the things listed above, but the first step is making sure the people representing UTS at the National Union of Students are left-wing, progressive, prepared to campaign for what they believe in, independent from the major parties and know a thing or two about grass-roots activism.

That’s us, and that’s why you should vote for Grassroots for NUS. The $2.3 billion in education cuts that were announced by the government this year will have a huge impact on students. On average every Australian student will lose $332 in funding as of next year. By 2017 it will be down by $488. This will mean cuts to staff and courses and increasing class sizes.

It will also mean the entrenchment of the exploitation of International Students by the university sector. International students are forced to pay thousands of dollars - costs which keep rising every year - to study at university. They are treated as a pot of money by the universities, and receive totally inadequate support and services while they study.

These cuts will also significantly affect the poorest students, who will no longer receive the $1000 Start-up Scholarships to help pay for books and other study costs. Instead the grant will be converted into yet another HECS loan. For a full-time student that could mean a HECS increase of up to 37 percent over the life of our degrees. This is a disgrace.

We need a serious nation-wide campaign to reverse these education cuts. Grassroots for NUS is determined to try and wage that campaign and make the Abbott government reverse the cuts. Our candidates have a history of campaigning for education, and against inequality and exploitation. You should vote for us if you want to see a lef t-wing union that is prepared to stand up to the conservative government, and defend the rights of all students.

VERTIGO

ISS09

ELEVATE

lyndal butler, alison whittaker, rayan calimlim,lucille bonnano, james horsburgh, akshay raj kumar, margaret sheen

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR NUS VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR NUS because: As the peak representative body for all university students Australia, the National Union of Students (NUS) plays a crucial role in the tertiary education sector. It advocates for the rights of students at a national level, runs national education, environment and social justice campaigns and lobbies the Government on issues that directly affect us.

Students from the ELEVATE! team are progressive and strongly committed to achieving positive change through NUS for all university students by fostering informed and progressive policies and running strong NUS campaigns in 2014.

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR NUS because: 2014 is a crucially important year for our university education. We are facing the worst attack on university education in a decade, with a massive $2.3 billion cut in government funding, and the placement of StartUp and Indigenous student scholarships onto student HECS debts. We cannot place a greater financial burden on students, many of whom already face crippling HECS debts when they leave university. We cannot afford to let access to higher education diminish next year. This is why it’s vitally important that you vote for an experienced team of students who have been educating fellow students about the cuts and campaigning for your rights throughout the year – lobbying politicians, universities and corporations and running national anticuts actions to benefit students across the country.

In order to ELEVATE! your education, you need a team of students that has kept up to date with the latest impacts on the tertiary education sector, and has campaigned on crucial issues that affect all of us. The ELEVATE! team have run public demonstrations against the cuts that have garnered the support of fellow students, university administration, various unions including the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), United Voice (UV), the NSW Teachers’ Federation and ‘I Give a Gonski’ campaign, community groups and general public. We were even featured on ABC’s 7:30 Report.

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR NUS because: The ELEVATE! team has been extremely

active on various tertiary education issues this year. We believe that the best way to achieve progressive reform is through collective action – on a campusbased and on a national scale. In particular, we have run the NUS ‘Our Education is Not For Profit’ campaign, which involved UTS students signing of hundreds of postcards addressed to the Minister of Education to oppose the deregulation of HECS fees. HECS deregulation would inevitably lead to an increase in the cost of university degrees, as universities would then be permitted to charge whatever they like for their degrees. This lobbying tool was successful, with the Federal Government publicly denouncing any move to deregulate HECS fees, and the then Liberal National Coalition backing down from any announcement of HECS fee deregulation. Throughout the year we collaborated with other Sydney university student groups to run the NUS National Day of Action which saw hundreds of university student s from around the Sydney area marching from UTS to oppose HECS fee deregulation, the Snap Action against the $2.3 billion funding cuts to universities and the march from UTS to Town Hall to protest the cuts which took place in semester 2.

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR NUS because: Last year the Student Ser vices and Amenities Fee (SSAF) was introduced, which breathed new life into student services on campuses across the countr y that were starved of funds and depleted under Voluntary Student Unionism (VSU). The ELEVATE! team wants to fight to keep the new services we were able to establish with increased funding from the Student Services and Amenities Fee, such as the UTS Legal Service, which provides free legal advice for all UTS students, and the expanded Bluebird Brekkie Bar which now operates weekly at the Haymarket and Broadway campus. Abbott is threatening to remove the SSAF, which would lead to the collapse of not only some student services, but also strip funding from student clubs, Collectives, events and student subsidies.

So in order to ELEVATE! student support services and campus life, you need to vote for a team that can fight to keep the SSAF, and push for fairer distribution of the SSAF to respond to students’ diverse needs.

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR NUS because: Members of the ELEVATE! team, over a number of years, campaigned for concession cards for International Students. This year, through collective action, we were able to secure concessions for International students, working and parttime students, however we are aiming higher for a national, unconditional student concession card.

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR NUS because: We will hold the National Union of Students to account and ensure that it continues to fight for a fair and accessible education system. We want an active, inclusive and diverse National Union in 2014 and each

candidate on the ELEVATE! team has a wealth of knowledge, skills and experience to make that happen in 2014. Stand up for student rights and progressive change, Vote [1] ELEVATE! VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR SRC AND NUS Alison Whittaker for President Lucille Bonanno for Secretary Carisse Martis for Treasurer Freya Newman for Women’s Officer Jake Witchard for Indigenous Officer Xiaozhong Dong for Overseas Officer Erin Stewart for Postgraduate Officer Chris Augustine for Broadway Campus Convenor Robert Guzowski for Markets Campus Convenor Casey Webster for KuringGai Campus Convenor

THE LEGION OF DOOM james wilson, liam shand egan, richard hansen, andrew carroll

The Legion of Doom is determined to infiltrate this shadowy organisation, known as the National Union of Students, that each year sees hundreds of so-called heroes sit in a room in outer Melbourne for a week, relentlessly fapping on about who will lead their new Justice League for the year.

The Legion is committed to running as delegates to this conference for the following reasons: -Infiltration of our arch-enemies lair shall enable us to perhaps, one day, take it over.

-Labor Lef t makes amazing absinthebased punch.

-Super-villains can learn a great deal from NUS on how to destroy campaigns.

-Captain Boomerang is on the lookout for love.

With several packets of Sao in tow, we plan to head down to Melbourne and soak up the atmosphere, getting the most of the free feed while meeting and corrupting would-be heroes.

Once this has been achieved, we will launch Stage Two of our plan for domination, that will surely be thought up in the middle of a drunken conversation at some stage during the conference.

VOTE [1] JAMES WILSON FOR PRESIDENT! VOTE [1] THE LEGION OF DOOM FOR SRC & NUS! VOTE [1] THE LEGION OF SPOON FOR VERTIGO!

VERTIGO

LEGION OF SPOON james wilson, andrew carroll, aimee miller, christopher mckay, liam shand egan, ryan auberson walsh

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The Legion of Spoon is dedicated to providing you with the hippest, daggiest, sexiest, ugliest and most confused issue of Vertigo in years! Comprising of a range of people with dif ferent backgrounds*, we are a diverse ticket that feels it can adequately call up people and ask them to write for us.

We have a range of ideas on how Vertigo can be improved, including pages made entirely of magnets, free cheese samples, and creating unwinnable Sudoku puzzles. We want a Vertigo that has a range of articles, from long essays you will probably skip over after a few paragraphs, to short poems you’ll want to burn from your memory after reading.

We want a Vertigo that makes you sit up, take notice and go, ‘Who do these wankers think they are?! I’m going to write a letter to them!

Blah blah blah…,’ that we’ll probably ignore.

So write something or draw something and vote for the ticket that will give you the utensils to scoop up a copy! * None of us could agree on a preferred wallpaper.

VOTE [1] THE LEGION OF SPOON FOR VERTIGO! VOTE [1] THE LEGION OF DOOM FOR SRC & NUS!

WILD lily murray, nathalie meier, thomas lodewyke, rachel eddie, larissa briars, andrea thang, harriet o’donnell, lachlan mackenzie, kristen tray, cyndall mcInerney, nicola parise

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single student in possession of a sizeable HECS debt must be in want of a good read.

That’s what Vertigo is all about – a good read.

Vertigo should be the high point in your day when you can blissfully ignore rent payments, assignment deadlines and anything else that’s rustling your jimmies. You need something that’s edgy, thought-provoking, libido-inspiring and most of all, entertaining. That’s why WILD pledge to unleash a wilder side of Vertigo.

Not quite as WILD as ‘Bear Grylls’, but definitely wilder than ‘Girls Gone Wild’ (sans the nudity….mostly).

In shor t, WILD will promote more interactivity, presence, culture and punch for Vertigo 2014. We unashamedly adopt this Diaz-esque generality to sum up our wildest editorial aspirations and dreams, because if the last election has taught us anything, it’s that slogans get the vote. In all seriousness though, we want to take this opportunity to flesh out the finer facets of our four-point-plan.

(It’s actually pretty legit).

1. Interactivity No more hiding behind the pages of this publication – we want to get to know you!

Next year we will ensure that Vertigo is more interfaculty-friendly by diversifying its contents.

We will expand Vertigo beyond the predictable and routine, introducing a fresh perspective on the old classic. We are proud of student innovation and creativity, and we want to continue the tradition of highlighting your amazing projects. WILD are devout members of the Vertigo readership, and while we are committed to delivering the usual classics we also embrace dynamic fruition. We’ve got our fingers in a lot of pies, and because we’ve got a lot of fingers you better we believe we’ve got a whole lot of pies. Our team wants to broaden the submission spectrum: • Wrote an imaginative or revolutionary lab report? Experiment with us.

• Designed a building better than Frank Gehry? We want your blueprints.

• Have a physics-based explanation for an ordinary life phenomenon? Enlighten us.

• Got a quick-rich business pitch? We’re desperate students, we’d be into it.

• Wrote a story that you’re proud of? Send it our way.

2. Presence WILD wants to make Vertigo’s physical and online presence stronger. Our dearest ambition is to see tatty, dog-eared, and ageworn Ver tigos around campus, however, being tech-savvy and such, we are also duly dedicated to maintaining Vertigo’s online presence. On top of that we want to broaden our technological horizons. Not only are we keen to keep Vertigo’s website, Twitter and Facebook up to date, but we are itching to be hipster and shit with a little Instagram. Most importantly we crave more opportunities for face-time with you, the readers (and not the Apple-endorsed kind). We’re thinking coffee

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dates, sneaky drinks and events so we can get to know your pretty faces like you will get to know ours. However you connect with us, we promise to keep you in the know, and more importantly, entertained.

3. Culture The student experience is integral to university life. We never want you to be at a loss for places to get inspired, caffeinated, satiated, cultured or crunk. By establishing strong dialogues with a wide range of student societies and interest groups, we endeavour to make the experience of accidentally stumbling across unexplained festivities on the green a thing of the past. Besides, it’s more badass to turn up to a party fashionably late on purpose.

4. Punch Finally, the main thing we want to deliver you, the Vertigo audience, is a punchy publication that you will go WILD for. We want you to anticipate each issue as you would your morning coffee: with desperation and borderline delirium. We want you to vote for us, because we will write about what you want to read. We want to give you more that you’ll go WILD for.

It’s a pleasure to meet you.

VOTE [1] WILD! FOR VERTIGO VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR SRC AND NUS Alison Whittaker for President Lucille Bonanno for Secretary Carisse Martis for Treasurer Freya Newman for Women’s Officer Jake Witchard for Indigenous Officer Xiaozhong Dong for Overseas Officer Erin Stewart for Postgraduate Officer Chris Augustine for Broadway Campus Convenor Robert Guzowski for Markets Campus Convenor Casey Webster for Kuring-Gai Campus Convenor

CRUNCH FOR VERTIGO johanna fisher, shannan stedman, siobhan kenna, madelyn libnes, joshua cram, andrea reitano, tom cameron, jordan rowland-wild, tessa o’donnell robinson, david bouden

Hey there.

We’re CRUNCH. Ten students in the running for the 2014 editorial team for UTS VERTIGO

ISS09

Vertigo. Your student magazine should be your student voice. Let’s give it some teeth.

We’ll need you to do that, in this election and beyond. CRUNCH will have a policy of accessibility. This doesn’t just mean an open door—we plan to be actively seeking your work, hunting you down for something CRUNCHY. We’ll lure you in with semestral launch parties, (and a chance to hone your writing. Think of Vertigo as your sandbox.)

CRUNCH for Vertigo equals close consultation with UTS societies, collectives, and activist communities. Big event scheduled for Backstage or the Build Society? Protest happening? You should know about it. We want regular autonomous columns for collectives—CRUNCH believes that voices should be heard.

CRUNCH will hold student politicians accountable; we’ll ensure the people you elect do right by students. Trust CRUNCH. We’ll go for the throat.

Sometimes this might be entertaining.

And we’re not above that. CRUNCH means a greater emphasis on satire, arts, and culture, as well as analysis and opinions.

Something tasty to CRUNCH on, before/ between/during classes. Like what? Think expanded reviews and car toons, games, competitions, and discussions.

BROADWAY CAMPUS CONVENOR

LARA PAIJMANS Fellow students, I’m running for Broadway Campus Convenor because I believe in the ability of students to create positive change.

I reject the increasingly neoliberal structuring of our university. I believe that UTS belongs to us, the students, and not to corporations. These corporate interests have continually shown themselves to be belligerent and unethical in their prioritising of profits over people and the environment.

As a student at UTS and a member of the UTS Enviro Collective I was involved in the nationwide “Fossil Free” campaign. This campaign aims to end our universities’ ties to the fossil fuel industry and to refuse donations or support of any kind from coal mining and coal seam gas interests.

GRASSROOTS is committed to challenging this unhealthy relationship with the fossil fuel industry by opposing the university’s tri-generation plans. We oppose this plan because there are no guarantees that it won’t use coal seem gas, a nasty and unsustainable power source. And if it’s carried

out, the plant situated in Building 10 will directly af fect students in the Broadway campus and the wider university. As students we have the ability to erode the legitimacy and viability of the entire fossil fuel industry by encouraging UTS to divest from unsustainable energy sources and the tri-gen plan.

GRASSROOTS as a group of student activists will continue to fight against the expansionist corporate mindset that governs the current approaches to our planet. We are committed to fighting for a more sustainable campus and a university free of corporate interests.

VOTE [1] GRASSROOTS FOR SRC VOTE [1] GRASSROOTS FOR NUS VOTE [1] ANDY FOR PRESIDENT

CHRIS AUGUSTINE Hey! My name’s Chris Augustine and I’m running for the SRC position of Broadway Campus Convenor.

VOTE [1] CHRIS AUGUSTINE FOR BROADWAY CAMPUS CONVENOR because: This is my second year at UTS and it’s been an amazing journey so far. I’ve been a Peer Networker, a SPROUT, a Big Lifter and lucky enough to be a member of our two amazing joint clubs of the year; FRESS and BSS. I’ve even found the odd moment to study my IT coursework.

VOTE [1] CHRIS AUGUSTINE FOR BROADWAY CAMPUS CONVENOR because: I’m a strong communicator, good with people and an experienced student rep. If elected I’ll continue to get involved on campus, attend SRC meetings, volunteer, talk to people, and learn everything I can about the university that’s been so great to me.

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR SRC and NUS Alison Whittaker for President Lucille Bonanno for Secretary Carisse Martis for Treasurer Freya Newman for Women’s Officer Jake Witchard for Indigenous Officer Xiaozhong Dong for Overseas Officer Erin Stewart for Postgraduate Officer Chris Augustine for Broadway Campus Convenor Robert Guzowski for Markets Campus Convenor Casey Webster for KuringGai Campus Convenor

ANDREW CARROLL Hi, my name is Andrew Carroll and I am running to be the Broadway Campus Convenor.

As part of the Legion of Doom, I have a long history with my running mates, often running out to get coffee for them, or bringing in the mail. As such, this puts me in good stead for the roles and responsibilities traditionally encapsulated by the Broadway Campus Convenor.

If elected, I plan to follow in the footsteps of previous Broadway Campus Convenors by being a faceless person on the SRC, whose job is not properly defined by the Constitution.

I will occasionally walk around the university, and will do my utmost to sit down occasionally, particularly when my feet are tired, or if I’ve been running.

If you see fit to put your trust in me, I will return the favour by occasionally going to the food court to get crack chips, and perhaps a can of drink and eating them in private.

Remember, a vote for me, is a vote for us all.

VOTE [1] ANDREW CARROLL FOR BROADWAY CAMPUS CONVENOR! VOTE [1] THE LEGION OF DOOM FOR SRC & NUS! VOTE [1] THE LEGION OF SPOON FOR VERTIGO!

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ZHANG YANYUN (EVE)

No statement handed in.

BROADWAY CAMPUS SECRETARY

KRYSTLEJAYNE NG VOTE [1] KRYSTLEJAYNE-NG FOR BROADWAY CAMPUS SECRETARY: Hey, I’m Krystle and I’m an IT student.

I’m running for Broadway Campus Secretary because I support progressive student representation and standing up for student

rights at uni.

VOTE [1] KRYSTLEJAYNE-NG because: I have been involved in many clubs, societies and events within the UTS community. I am the current President of the UTS BiG club, Secretary of the BUiLD Student Society, and current IT students representative on the FEIT Faculty Board and Academic Board. I am an experienced and driven student representative with a passion for creating a better education for students at UTS. VOTE [1] KRYSTLEJAYNE-NG because: Together with the ELEVATE! team I want to improve UTS campus life and ensure that the Students’ Association can build upon a culture of active, progressive and inclusive student representation.

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR SRC and NUS Alison Whittaker for President Lucille Bonanno for Secretary Carisse Martis for Treasurer Freya Newman for Women’s Officer Jake Witchard for Indigenous Officer Xiaozhong Dong for Overseas Officer Erin Stewart for Postgraduate Officer Chris Augustine for Broadway Campus Convenor Robert Guzowski for Markets Campus Convenor Casey Webster for KuringGai Campus Convenor

RICHARD HANSON As Broadway Campus Secretary, it will be my role to take minutes at the one meeting that will happen during the entire year, and even then, maybe not. Whoever wins this role will do a similar amount of nothing, so to prove how much better at nothing I am, I won’t even finish this sente VOTE [1] RICHARD HANSON FOR THIS POSITION! VOTE [1] THE LEGION OF DOOM FOR SRC & NUS! VOTE [1] THE LEGION OF SPOON FOR VERTIGO!

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XIE XIN (XAVIER)

BROADWAY CAMPUS WOMEN’S

ANGELICA CASADO VOTE [1] ANGELICA CASADO FOR BROADWAY CAMPUS WOMEN’S OFFICER: Hi, I’m Angelica and I’m an active member of the UTS community. I’m running for Broadway Campus Women’s Of ficer because I support active and inclusive student organisations, and I am a passionate advocate for women at UTS and around the world.

VOTE [1] ANGELICA CASADO because: I have been involved in various clubs, societies and initiatives within the UTS community. I am the current President of the UTS Thai Society, member of the UTS BUiLD program, and currently undertaking the UTS Accomplish Award. Last year I was elected UTS EthnoCultural Officer. In this role I worked with the UTS EthnoCultural Collective as well as other student groups to run the first UTS World Fiesta, which was a huge success.

I am an experienced and innovative student representative with a passion for creating a better student experience at UTS. VOTE [1] ANGELICA CASADO because: Together with the ELEVATE! team I want to invigorate UTS campus life and ensure that the Students’ Association can build upon its culture of active, progressive and inclusive student representation.

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR SRC and NUS Alison Whittaker for President Lucille Bonanno for Secretary Carisse Martis for Treasurer Freya Newman for Women’s Officer Jake Witchard for Indigenous Officer Xiaozhong Dong for Overseas Officer Erin Stewart for Postgraduate Officer Chris Augustine for Broadway Campus Convenor Robert Guzowski for Markets Campus Convenor Casey Webster for KuringGai Campus Convenor

BROADWAY CAMPUS COMMITTEE (10 TO BE ELECTED)

No statement submitted

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ELEVATE lucille bonnano, adwoa humphreys, marcel gemparle, xinhang li (leonie), lyndal butler

OVERSEAS STUDENTS ASSOCIATION yu, pengyang (nick)

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No statment submitted VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR BROADWAY CAMPUS COMMITTEE We are a group of passionate and progressive students who want to push UTS to provide a fair and accessible education for every student.

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! For BROADWAY CAMPUS COMMITTEE because: We are committed to raising the concerns of Broadway students with the university and pushing for change. This year, as a result of lobbying and campaigning with and by Broadway students, the ELEVATE! team was able to introduce Practical Legal Training placements into the UTS Legal Service (a free legal service for all students), increased access to wireless on in UTS Housing and increased security to improve the safety of wom*nidentifying students by upgrading facilities in the UTS Wom*n’s Room. More can be done, and we need to continue to advocate for education quality and accessibility at UTS. VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR BROADWAY CAMPUS COMMITTEE because: We want to ensure you get the most out of your university experience. We are committed to making sure there is a vibrant campus culture at UTS. We want a Students’ Association for ALL students. If you are a local, international, parttime, postgraduate, or undergraduate we want to ensure you can access Students’ Association Services and can get involved in Students’ Association activities.

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR BROADWAY CAMPUS COMMITTEE because: We are active and passionate and will listen to what you want and stand up for your rights!

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR SRC and NUS Alison Whittaker for President Lucille Bonanno for Secretary Carisse Martis for Treasurer Freya Newman for Women’s Officer Jake Witchard for Indigenous Officer Xiaozhong Dong for Overseas Officer Erin Stewart for Postgraduate Officer Chris Augustine for Broadway Campus Convenor Robert Guzowski for Markets Campus Convenor Casey Webster for KuringGai Campus Convenor VERTIGO

ISS09

MARKETS CAMPUS CONVENER

VANESSA JIANG Hey UTS! I’m Vanessa, running for Markets campus convenor, and I believe it’s time to make some real change. I stand for the student voice to rise above the corporations. For too long, the efforts of student groups to push UTS towards sustainability have been quashed by the board authorities. GRASSROOTS continues to fight for a university with a future of which we would be proud.

Decisions within universities should be heavily influenced by student expression.

We stand for equal rights and opportunities.

We serve justice as our main dish.

Identifying issues is fundamental to our game plan. As your Markets campus convenor, I will source the issues, and fight for the just solution. Issues as minor as inequitable exam questions and as major as education cuts do not pass Grassroots. Nothing will slip by our vision of student choice and positive change.

I have spent the majority of my university life volunteering with the Australian League of Immigration Volunteers. This charity puts aside all politics surrounding asylum seekers and refugees and simply offers support to families in tough conditions and community detention, as well as strengthen the kids psychologically, building on their talents, engaging with them, and teaching them to express themselves. In 2014, I will strive to translate these organisational virtues to the Markets campus. I will focus on the betterment of a uni for the people deserving quality support and attention - the students, through continuous campaigning against decisions determined by authorities if found unjust by the student body. I will place a focus on

engagement, expression and equality, from women’s rights to queer rights, as well as environment-forward restoration.

We want you to be proud to be a UTS student. You do not deserve to sit in the background as a so-called ‘student representative body’ makes your decisions for you.

Your expression is central to our ideology.

With Grassroots, you will decide the future of UTS. Vote Grassroots for a just, engaging student representative body that will fight for you. Stand with us and let your voice be heard.

VOTE [1] GRASSROOTS FOR SRC VOTE [1] GRASSROOTS FOR NUS VOTE [1] ANDY FOR PRESIDENT

ROBERT GUZOWSKI VOTE [1] ROBERT GUZOWSKI FOR MARKETS CAMPUS CONVENOR Hi there, I’m Rob Guzowski and I’m a Science/Law student at UTS. VOTE [1] ROBERT GUZOWSKI FOR MARKETS CAMPUS CONVENOR because: I believe Markets students deserve strong student representation so that our voices can be heard on issues that matter to us including accessible and safe 24hour study spaces particularly during exam periods, study vacation (STUVAC) between the end of teaching and exams, all our resources online for revision purposes and an invigorated campus life.

The ELEVATE! team and I are committed to listening to Markets students to ensure that their issues and concerns do not go unnoticed.

This year we introduced Practical Legal Training places at the UTS Student Legal Service to provide placement opportunities for Law students at UTS. The ELEVATE! team has also worked hard to increase feedback on assessments and introduce facetoface tutor consultation by fighting excessive tutor casualisation, no Saturday exams for Undergraduate students and for the return of a Study Vacation (STUVAC). I frequently attend the Bluebird Brekkie Bar, which the ELEVATE! team introduced to the Markets campus this year. We want to build on the work we have done to achieve wins in these areas. More can always be done, and you need progressive, experienced and inclusive students to continue to ELEVATE! the student experience for you at Markets.

VOTE [1] ROBERT GUZOWSKI FOR MARKETS CAMPUS CONVENOR because: The ELEVATE! team and I are keen to expand Students’ Association services and reach so that you feel supported at university and that your rights as a university student are upheld. The ELEVATE! team and I are committed to getting the best possible

outcome for students so vote to ELEVATE! your student experience at Markets!

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR SRC and NUS Alison Whittaker for President Lucille Bonanno for Secretary Carisse Martis for Treasurer Freya Newman for Women’s Officer Jake Witchard for Indigenous Officer Xiaozhong Dong for Overseas Officer Erin Stewart for Postgraduate Officer Chris Augustine for Broadway Campus Convenor Robert Guzowski for Markets Campus Convenor Casey Webster for KuringGai Campus Convenor

MARKETS CAMPUS SECRETARY

JESSE WRIGHT VOTE [1] JESSE WRIGHT FOR MARKETS CAMPUS SECRETARY: Hi everyone! My name is Jesse and I’m a proud Ngarabal Man from a small country own on the Far Sauth Coast of NSW called Narooma. I am running for the Markets secretary position as I am passionate for the wellbeing and culture of the Haymarket campus and its students.

VOTE [1] JESSE WRIGHT FOR MARKETS CAMPUS SECRETARY because: I have a vast array of networks to access as I am been heavily involved in groups such as the Indigenous Collective, UTS Indigenous games team, HUTS, and the UTS Business Society. Recently, I have also been promoting UTS to prospective Indigenous students helping with tours around UTS and also attending the annual Australian Stock Exchange Thompson Reuters Dinner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander secondary students.

VOTE [1] JESSE WRIGHT FOR MARKETS CAMPUS SECRETARY because: If I become Markets campus secretary I will keep student representation relevant to the students on campus and their needs so that we can address key issues. I will work towards increasing students’ ability to demand a greater quality of education and ensure that the services at Haymarket are maintained at a respectable state.

VOTE [1] JESSE WRIGHT FOR MARKETS CAMPUS SECRETARY because: I want to maintain a progressive and safe campus that is free from discrimination and give equal opportunities for students of all backgrounds. I have chosen to run with

Elevate due to the progressive, inclusive and diverse nature of the group. Elevate is an exceptionally competent group that encompasses people from a vast range of backgrounds and is actively involved in campus life. We are students, living students lives and are approachable and here to help.

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR SRC and NUS Alison Whittaker for President Lucille Bonanno for Secretary Carisse Martis for Treasurer Freya Newman for Women’s Officer Jake Witchard for Indigenous Officer Xiaozhong Dong for Overseas Officer Erin Stewart for Postgraduate Officer Chris Augustine for Broadway Campus Convenor Robert Guzowski for Markets Campus Convenor Casey Webster for KuringGai Campus Convenor

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR SRC and NUS Alison Whittaker for President Lucille Bonanno for Secretary Carisse Martis for Treasurer Freya Newman for Women’s Officer Jake Witchard for Indigenous Officer Xiaozhong Dong for Overseas Officer Erin Stewart for Postgraduate Officer Chris Augustine for Broadway Campus Convenor Robert Guzowski for Markets Campus Convenor Casey Webster for KuringGai Campus Convenor

MARKETS CAMPUS COMMITTEE (10 TO BE ELECTED)

ELEVATE MARKETS CAMPUS WOMENS OFFICER

KATE PLAYFORD VOTE [1] KATE PLAYFORD FOR MARKETS CAMPUS WOMEN’S OFFICER: Hi, I’m Kate Playford. I’m running for Markets Campus Women’s Officer because I support inclusive student activism, and I am a strong advocate for the rights of women worldwide.

VOTE [1] KATE PLAYFORD because: I am involved in a number of student clubs and Collectives on campus, including UTS Nerdfighters and the UTS Wom*n’s Collective. I want to encourage more campaigns and events to be held at the Markets campus such as the ‘Make Your Own Damn Sandwich’ stall hosted by the UTS Wom*n’s Collective this year. In 2014 I want to expand upon the work of the Wom*n’s Collective by helping the 2014 Wom*n’s Officer to run stalls, forums or campaigns that benefit wom*nidentifying students at the Markets campus.

VOTE [1] KATE PLAYFORD because: Together with the ELEVATE! team I want to engage UTS students in campaigns around improving our student experience, and making campus life safer and more accessible for wom*nidentifying students. I want to reinforce the ELEVATE! ethos by building a culture of active, progressive and inclusive student representation for Markets campus students.

michael kennedy, douglas mcdonald

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR MARKETS CAMPUS COMMITTEE VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR MARKETS CAMPUS COMMITTEE because: As Markets students, we understand your issues. We understand the need for safe and accessible 24hour study spaces, particularly during exam periods and the need for the return of study vacation (STUVAC) between the end of teaching and exams. As Markets students we hear your concerns, and commit to advocate for your interests, and as a result of consultations we have done previously, we will commit to making the fight for STUVAC a priority in 2014.

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR MARKETS CAMPUS COMMITTEE because: We understand that the lack of campus life at Markets is an issue. This year the ELEVATE! team has expanded the Bluebird Brekkie Bar, the Students’ Association weekly free welfare breakfast, down to Markets. This year we have secured greater funding to the Students’ Association through the Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF) to make it possible to extend the bookshop’s hours of operation and to bring Bluebird Brekkie Bar to Markets on a more regular basis, as it was funding constraints that limited the ability of the Students’ Association to make this a weekly occurrence on our campus. The ELEVATE! team have also managed to expand the UTS Student Legal Service to take on Practical Legal Training students this year.

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR MARKETS CAMPUS COMMITTEE because:

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Student debt is already enormous, there are not enough resources in the library to meet student demand, and students are already facing enough financial difficulties without the extra burden of paying for essential course material. We will fight for, all lecture materials to be put up online for the purposes of study and revision to ELEVATE! the fight to ensure that you have access to all the essentials.

Members of ELEVATE! have already pushed for more textbooks per student in the library, and we will continue to do so next year if elected.

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR MARKETS CAMPUS COMMITTEE because: The ELEVATE! team recognises that the voice of students at Markets often gets drowned out and treated as part of the “city campus”, but Markets students have definite and specific concerns of their own. This is why Markets students need a strong voice on SRC. We are committed to keeping the doors of the Markets Students’ Association open, so that we can facilitate communication between Markets students, the SRC and the university administration.

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR SRC AND NUS Alison Whittaker for President Lucille Bonanno for Secretary Carisse Martis for Treasurer Freya Newman for Women’s Officer Jake Witchard for Indigenous Officer Xiaozhong Dong for Overseas Officer Erin Stewart for Postgraduate Officer Chris Augustine for Broadway Campus Convenor Robert Guzowski for Markets Campus Convenor Casey Webster for KuringGai Campus Convenor

KURING-GAI CAMPUS CONVENOR

CASEY WEBSTER VOTE [1] CASEY WEBSTER FOR KURINGGAI CAMPUS CONVENOR I am a Primary Education student here at Kuringgai campus. I am passionate about education for people of all ages and creeds, and I believe that education is a powerful and important tool in creating and equal and just society.

VOTE [1] CASEY WEBSTER FOR KURING-GAI CAMPUS CONVENOR because: I’ve worked this year with the Student Association, including the Wom*n’s VERTIGO

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Collective, and as the Vice President of RU4MyChoice?. I’m a dedicated student, and I am passionate about everything I do.

VOTE [1] CASEY WEBSTER FOR KURING-GAI CAMPUS CONVENOR because: I hope to, as convener, reinvigorate student life at Kuringgai campus, and bring services that have previously not been available (such as the Blue Bird Brekkie Bar) to Kuringgai.

I hope to represent the students of Kuringgai, and to act as a voice for what is often an unheard group of students.

VOTE [1] CASEY WEBSTER FOR KURING-GAI CAMPUS CONVENOR because: The ELEVATE! team I am running with represents the values of Action, Progression and Inclusiveness. They stand for equality and fairness in all they do, especially in education, and I believe that these are the values we should all strive for.

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR SRC and NUS Alison Whittaker for President Lucille Bonanno for Secretary Carisse Martis for Treasurer Freya Newman for Women’s Officer Jake Witchard for Indigenous Officer Xiaozhong Dong for Overseas Officer Erin Stewart for Postgraduate Officer Chris Augustine for Broadway Campus Convenor Robert Guzowski for Markets Campus Convenor Casey Webster for KuringGai Campus Convenor

KURINGGAI CAMPUS SECRETARY

CHAU AU VOTE [1] CHAU AU FOR KURING-GAI CAMPUS SECRETARY Hi, I’m Chau and I study at the KuringGai campus.

VOTE [1] CHAU AU FOR KURING-GAI CAMPUS SECRETARY because: I want to be an active and effective student representative for KuringGai students. I believe that with better student support, and a more engaging campus life, Kuring-Gai could be a greater campus and provide a better student experience.

VOTE [1] CHAU AU FOR KURING-GAI CAMPUS SECRETARY because: The ELEVATE! team and I will work to make

sure that Kuring-Gai isn’t neglected, and to encourage active, progressive and Inclusive student advocacy and activities on campus.

VOTE [1] ELEVATE! FOR SRC and NUS Alison Whittaker for President Lucille Bonanno for Secretary Carisse Martis for Treasurer Freya Newman for Women’s Officer Jake Witchard for Indigenous Officer Xiaozhong Dong for Overseas Officer Erin Stewart for Postgraduate Officer Chris Augustine for Broadway Campus Convenor Robert Guzowski for Markets Campus Convenor Casey Webster for KuringGai Campus Convenor

KURING-GAI CAMPUS WOMEN’S OFFICER

No Nominations received

KURING-GAI CAMPUS COMMITTEE (10 TO BE ELECTED)

No Nominations received

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