Category: Campus

• An Essay on the Environment Department 

  March 25, 2025 3:03 pm Comments Off on An Essay on the Environment Department 

  A principled justification for these changes.
  ANUSA’s department structure is one of its biggest strengths when it comes to its governance. Departments are fantastic — they give historically marginalised groups autonomy within ANUSA to serve their communities through advocacy and spending money as seen fit by that autonomous group. However, all students should have an equal say on the environment — it’s not autonomous to any group. Students are all equally entitled to have their perspectives and opinions heard.
  At last year’s ANUSA election, 3000 students chose their preferred direction for ANUSA. This happens every 12 months. At a general meeting, notice is very widely distributed, and a quorum of 40 ordinary students is needed to pass the budget as prepared by the elected Executive. Comparatively, the Environment Department can choose to spend money if ten ordinary students show up — this is fundamentally and principally undemocratic.
  The spending of money — on a non-autonomous issue — should be determined by representatives elected by the students, that is, the Environment Officer and the Executive.
  This is why the governance review proposed this change in 2024 — before there was any discussion on the Environment Department’s misconduct. This is a principled change — to ensure that students have a say over the spending of their Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF) by their student union. This is a democratic change, and that’s where it comes from.
  Why there is an imperative to make this change now.
  However, it is imperative that this be done now. The Environment Department report — that I encourage everyone to read — details immense financial mismanagement over two years: $6,000 of student money used for Marxism and Keep Left conferences. This breaches the SSAF agreement we have with the ANU. It breaches our regulations, our Constitution, and our policies. It is severe mismanagement of student money.
  I will note here that the 2025 Environment Officer claimed at SRC 1 that some of the SAlt spending happened under the 2023 Officer, who wasn’t a SAlt member. I think this is precisely why the change is so necessary. As I said above — this is a structural problem. Ten students who come to a meeting can spend money in such an egregious way, regardless of the elected Officer’s own views. 
  To this year’s Officer’s credit, she has and will continue to block spending in order to adhere to the regulations. But, as an association, we cannot guarantee that an officer in future will always, every single time, stand up to the Department and stop this breach. The structural way the Environment Department operates means there is considerable risk this will happen again.
  We must have a system that addresses these structural problems  and prevents any spending issues in the future.
  To do this, the Environment Department must be removed from the department infrastructure. All departments are governed under Section 11, which entrenches and ensures autonomy (as well as explains how the departments are governed). The only way to ensure financial probity is to remove the Environment Department from this section entirely and move it to a different part of our Association. To do nothing, after being presented with clear structural problems and a clear breach of our rules and policies, would be an abrogation of our duty to the Association.
  Addressing concerns, ensuring probity, and maintaining safeguards.
  People have asked me, “Why can’t you just increase financial oversight?”
  I say that this is precisely what we are doing. Our goal is not to change how the Officer and team do activism, but to ensure their spending aligns with the Constitution, regulations, and conflicts of interest policy. The only way to do this is to remove it from the Department governance.
  The main change is that the Environment Officer won’t be able to spend autonomously anymore — we are doing this to prevent the risks of unconstitutional spending. This is also a principled change — the students vote for the Executive, who is enfranchised by these students to act in the best interests of the Association.
  That is, if proposed spending by the Environment Officer is unconstitutional — they should, rightly, stop it. The Executive is accountable to the SRC and the student body, and that is why they are able to decide what spending is and is not within the Constitution, regulations, etc.
  Regarding people’s concerns about the Executive overreaching and stopping activism, allow me to respond clearly and directly. There is absolutely no power for the Executive to influence the work of any officer. Only a general meeting can direct an officer of the Association, and the President cannot tell the Environment Officer what to do or what not to do. There is absolutely zero change in the powers to tell the Environment Officer what to do. I support the Environment Department’s work, and so long as it is in line with the Constitution and regulations — I will always fight to defend its right to activism.
  Another concern is, “What if the Environment Officer has bad political views? Shouldn’t the Department be able to overrule them?” 
  In response, I refer you back to the principle I started with — that to elect the Officer last year, 1,600 students voted, and a majority selected the current Officer. Does anyone here who truly supports principles of democracy believe that ten ordinary people should be able to overrule the will of the election?
  If, on principle, you think that ten random students should not be able to overrule 1,600 — then this alone should get you to vote this up at the OGM this week.
  The next concern is: “What happens if an Executive gets elected wanting to defund it?” 
  In our Regulations for the Environment Committee, we have enshrined a minimum budget line of $2,000 — this money is always, every year, to be made accessible to the Environment Officer, and they can spend it on things within the Constitution, Regulations, and Policy — these same guardrails do exist currently, it’s just they are not followed. With the Executive approving spending now, we ensure they are followed. But, I’d also like to quote the answer I got from the 2025 Environment Officer, Sarah, when speaking to her about this issue. She told me that if this happened, then it would be the will of the students to elect the Executive that does this and democratically, that’s fine.
  Regarding safeguards, here are all the things enshrined in the regulations we will pass to complement these changes to guide the new Environment Committee. I’ve mentioned a $2,000 minimum budget line to ensure the Environment Committee is funded, but these regulations also:

  Provide the ability to elect co-convenors to support the Officer in their actions — this is no change from the current Department model.
  Require the Committee to meet regularly — this means the Officer can’t abandon their Committee and not call meetings.
  Bind the Officer to put any policies passed by the Committee to the SRC — this gives the committee power to suggest and recommend policy of ANUSA.
  Force the Officer to report to the SRC every week on the actions of the Committee — this ensures transparency and accountability to the SRC, as occurs with the current Department.

  I ran through these with the 2025 Environment Officer and asked for any further suggestions. The minimum budget selected was the highest point of the range that the Environment Officer recommended. The Environment Officer was happy with these regulations to help resolve her concerns and didn’t have more recommendations to add to develop them further. I am satisfied that this ensures the Committee is democratic, empowered, supportive, and effective in assisting the Environment Officer in continuing their activism.
  These Regulations are guardrails to ensure environmental activism continues, while  ensuring that it comes within the rules that  we all must obey when spending student money.
  Conclusions
  I think it’s clear that the Environment Department changes make both principled and practical sense. This improves democracy within ANUSA, prevents further risks to ANUSA from unconstitutional spending, and ensures ANUSA will continue Environmental activism.
  The Environment Committee will still back the Officer. The Environment Officer can still do activism. More power is in the power of all students and more students than ever before. Importantly, we protect the Association from severe mismanagement and breaches of our Constitution and Regulations. 
  I believe this change is incredibly positive and only strengthens our union further. I encourage everyone to go to the OGM on Wednesday, either in Marie Reay 2.02 or on Zoom, and vote in favour of these constitutional changes.
  This article presents the opinion of its author and not that of Woroni. 
  Have an opinion you wish to share? Send it to our submissions inbox at write@woroni.com.au.

  Sam Gorrie

• Whose University?

  March 18, 2025 2:46 pm Comments Off on Whose University?

  On the ground floor of the Marie Reay Teaching Building, a mural tracks the history of student activism at ANU from the 1960s to the present. Each of these campaigns or protests (according to the website and mural) had a distinct target but references to how these protests failed or succeeded are often frustratingly vague. Though the university is happy to use the student activism of previous decades to improve its public image as a place of free speech and open debate, it’s unsurprisingly unwilling to go into much detail when free speech is directed at the university itself. 
  I received dozens of emails last year, particularly when the pro-Palestine encampment was active, proclaiming ANU as proud of its long history of student activism and its long-standing commitment to academic and political freedom of speech. Predictably, none of them responded to the circumstances that had led to the protest in the first place, even though the objections of the encampment and the various other pro-Palestine actions last year were mostly clear: the university has direct financial ties to companies that are facilitating a genocide and continues to cut CASS courses while introducing degrees purpose-built to meet the industry demand created by the AUKUS deal. 
  The apolitical language the ANU uses to describe student and staff activism frames the relationship between protestors and the institution they are fighting against as mutualistic. The university facilitates the freedom of political expression, and students and staff exercise those freedoms. The university’s ‘commitment’ to free speech enables the protests to take place and is framed as university management upholding their end of the bargain. Never mind why the protestors are there; the protest itself is political enough.
  It isn’t surprising that the ANU is reluctant to translate the protest demands of students and staff members into policy or investment changes However, it’s still important that the link between activism and change is clearly drawn. The collective memory of the student body at ANU is relatively brief—an undergraduate degree is only three years, and Canberra isn’t the sort of place where most people settle down after they graduate. If we can’t learn from the campaigns of the past and demonstrate how real change is possible, we can’t be successful in the campaigns we need to fight now. 
  2017 Sydney College of the Arts
  In 2016, the University of Sydney announced that the university’s Visual Arts school, the Sydney College of the Arts (SCA), was in deficit and would be merged with the UNSW School of Art and Design. Students, alumni and faculty rejected this move as damaging the quality of education students would receive, as well as the specific advantages associated with the use of studio spaces at the heritage-listed campus at Callan Park and the major staff and course cuts that would be inevitable should the merger go ahead. At a rally held in August 2016, SCA students announced they would occupy the school administration’s offices at the SCA campus unless student demands were met by the following week. They were ignored.
  The ensuing occupation was initially expected to last less than a week, but students ended up staying in the offices of the Callan Park campus for 65 days. Until last year’s pro-Palestine encampments, it was the longest-running student occupation in Australian history. 
  The campaign resulted in several wins, though the Callan Park campus was closed 12 months later. The merger that would have effectively ended the SCA was quickly abandoned; there was a 50% reduction in job losses attributed to the cuts to the College, and all courses that would have been lost under the original proposal were preserved. 
  1994 No-Fees Chancelry Occupation 
  ANU has seen its own share of student protests opposing course cuts, fee increases, and other austerity measures taken by the university. In 1994, emboldened by the ALP’s recent deregulation of postgraduate course fees, the ANU introduced an upfront fee of $9000 for the Legal Workshop course, which was effectively mandatory for law students in order to graduate. 
  Following the announcement, the law society organised a snap meeting, which rapidly drew broad support from students from other academic disciplines who recognised that the legal clinic fee was the first step towards up-front fees for everyone. On 15 September, around 500 students stormed the Chancelry and occupied it for eight days before the police evicted them in the afternoon of 23 September. Though the short-term outcome of the No-Fees campaign and accompanying occupation was unclear, there was an immediate compromise of a $4000 reduction in the fee for the Legal Workshop course. In the longer term, it led to a significant increase in political mobilisation across the student body, which enabled an effective fight-back against up-front fees when the ANU attempted to introduce them university-wide in 1997.  
  2022 School of Art and Design Occupation
  Campaigns employing similar strategies have also succeeded in more recent years. In 2020, due to COVID-19 staffing and social distancing limitations, Visual Arts students had their studio access hours cut by over 50%. Two years later, despite most other parts of the university returning to in-person teaching, Visual Arts students had yet to see a return to pre-COVID access hours. The delay was such that an entire cohort of Visual Arts students had nearly graduated without ever having full access to the resources they were promised when they commenced their degrees. In response, a year-long student-run campaign culminated in a four-hour occupation of the School of Art and Design Foyer in October 2022. A return to after-hours access was announced by the end of the week. 
  Teaching Less
  Last year, the ANU announced sweeping restructures in the face of a deficit of over $200 million. The plan, optimistically termed ‘Renew ANU’, is to reconcile the deficit by cutting $250 million in operating costs by the start of 2026. $100 million of that will come from ‘salary spending’—in other words, the ANU will cut $100 million worth of staff. The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) estimates this will amount to around 638 full-time-equivalent staff. Still, since many of the staff hours cut will come from part-time and casual staff, the actual number of staff who will lose their jobs might be much higher. The ANU employs around 4700 staff, many of whom are not full-time; at a minimum, Renew ANU, as it is currently being implemented, will involve the university shedding 1 in 8.
  ANU has used the same slogan to justify its austerity measures as a necessary and positive step forward since at least 2022. Leaked slides from discussions on the 2022 degree cuts to the College of Arts and Social Sciences show that the University—trademark symbol included—framed the loss of 10 specialist CASS degrees with the slogan: ‘teach less, better.’ Eerily familiar was the phrase used by the Vice Chancellor last October when formally announcing Renew ANU: ‘We will do less, but we will do it better.’ 
  But for staff and students at a Renewed ANU, what does ‘better’ mean? Not much, for the staff that have and will lose their jobs. Similarly, for students who have to deal with increased tutorial sizes, teacher-to-staff ratios, and cut or infrequently run courses, the mechanism by which the university is going to make good on the ‘better’ is increasingly unclear.
  Regardless of who leads the university, ANU’s methods for dealing with its financial problems will be driven by the same corporate logic that has driven higher education for decades, in the wake of plummeting federal higher education funding and increasing reliance on the private sector. Rounds of staff and course cuts predate Genevieve Bell’s tenure as Vice-Chancellor and will almost certainly continue whether or not she continues to occupy the position. 
  Neither the 1994 occupation nor the 2022 sit-in at the School of Art and Design occurred spontaneously. Both campaigns’ short and long-term successes were backed by open, democratic organising amongst the student body, in alliance with the NTEU and other unions. The concession the ANU council made last year to introduce a negative screen on investments in companies that manufacture ‘controversial weapons’ and civilian small arms—while inadequate, is recent proof that on-campus protest movements can make it more difficult for the university to implement the changes than to abandon them or seek alternatives. When we fight collectively, openly, and democratically, we can win. 
  Michael Reid is a member of Save Our Studies, Save Our Staff ANU.

  Michael Reid

• A Kambri Lawns State of Mind

  March 17, 2025 11:38 am Comments Off on A Kambri Lawns State of Mind

  Kambri is undoubtedly the hub of campus activity, and in 2025, this will be no different. I will continue to look to Kambri lawns to preempt the fashion trends of the semester and lean on the $5 Barley Griffin from Badger when times get rough. And yet, as much as I value what Kambri means to me in the present day, it is only with a deep appreciation of the area’s history that my relationship with the precinct can really get to the next base.
  University Avenue became a pedestrian plaza in 1972. Around the same time, the ANU Union building was developed, most well-known for housing the beloved ANU Bar (and the ANU union, I guess). The bar hosted Cold Chisel in 1979. In 1990, it was Midnight Oil, and in 1992, Nirvana.
  This area was more officially developed as a student space in 2001 following the redevelopment of the carpark in front of Chifley Library into a large open courtyard. Union Court was officially born.
  Where the Di Riddell Building, Marie Reay, Fenner Hall and Badger currently stand, was once an expansive courtyard supervised dutifully by those watching above from Chifley Library. If you love sitting on Kambri Lawns now, imagine how great it would have been when you didn’t have to compete for a patch of grass.
  The university announced the Union Court Redevelopment project in 2016, with the aim of “putting the heart back into campus” and accommodating the growing need for updated student facilities. The redevelopment was expansive and cost the university around $263 million. It included:

  Relocating, repurposing, and rebuilding the Union Building (now the Di Riddell Building)
  Relocating Fenner Hall from Northbourne Avenue and constructing its new residence in the precinct
  Constructing a 6-storey student building with classrooms and study spaces (now, Marie Reay)
  Constructing a Health and Wellbeing Centre, including pool and gym facilities, accessible to the general public

  Fret not, however, as whilst it appears that next to nothing of old Union Court remains, rest assured there are survivors of the redevelopment — Chifley Library and Sushi Smith.
  Demolition of the buildings in the area began in 2017, with construction of the new precinct commencing in mid-2017. The Kambri Precinct officially opened for the start of Semester 1 in 2019. The name “Kambri” was gifted to the ANU by Ngambri, Ngunnawal, and Wiradyuri elder Dr Matilda House following consultation with representatives of four ACT Indigenous groups.
  The Kambri Precinct as we know it today is only six years old — but with only a quick glance at its history, it is clear that this area has been the centre of student life on campus for almost as long as the university has existed. What feels like home to us now is unrecognisable to students who graduated not long ago.
  Pages and pages of old editions of Woroni hold student love letters to the courtyard that was. The Union Court redevelopment worried students about the potential gentrification of campus. In Edition 2 of Woroni 2019, Vanamali Hermans writes, “As it stands, Kambri represents only the gentrified shell of…possibility, pricing too many of us out.” She expresses concern at the practicalities of Kambri honouring its name and truly serving as a meeting place, given the influx of external businesses announced to have leases in the precinct. These concerns remain all too true in the present day, however it’s hard to really compare how much of an impact this has had on campus activity. Whether fortunately or unfortunately, today’s students will know no difference. I’ll continue to buy my lunch bowls from Urban Tiger and pretend as if the price wasn’t lower last year. 
  Students of the time also expressed concern that the new buildings in the area would make protests and gatherings on campus far more difficult with the reduced space available. These concerns were and continue to be very real — it’s no wonder that a university campus in the heart of the nation’s capital has a rich history of activism, one which even the ANU itself cites as making our history so unique.
  In February 1989, the National Union of Students organised a campaign at the ANU against the introduction of HECS. In 2014, students protested the Liberal Government’s deregulation of university fees. In both instances, students hung banners on the bridge crossing Sullivans Creek onto North Road, then marched to the Chancellery demanding the support of the Vice Chancellor. Protests at ANU continue to follow this pattern, gathering in Kambri before confronting the Chancellery Building.
  In 1992, students established “Tent City” outside Chifley Library as part of a student housing protest and against university plans to sell off housing stock. In 2024, the ANU Gaza Solidarity Encampment was established on Kambri Lawn, protesting ANU’s investment in weapons companies arming the genocide in Palestine. It followed similar student movements at universities internationally and was the longest lasting encampment across Australia, lasting for over 100 days.
  This is all to say that things are not as different as they may seem — student activism is alive and well in Kambri and in familiar company. Whilst I may never experience the “culture” that students of years past tell me they miss about Union Court, I don’t feel as if I’m missing out, and it has certainly stifled nothing. While Union Court and Kambri differ in almost every regard, student passion and protest have nonetheless endured.
  Next time you’re sitting on Kambri Lawns, perhaps instead of merely watching the people around you, think about all that has come before you in that very same spot.
  For First-Year ANU students, Kambri may seem intimidating at times. Find solace in knowing that across the last five decades, Kambri has been hundreds of thousands of students’ backyard for but a brief point in their lives. You’re in great company.

  Charlie Crawford

• Woroni Content and News Teams are Hiring!

  January 31, 2025 11:09 pm Comments Off on Woroni Content and News Teams are Hiring!

  Woroni is hiring for Semester 1 2025 Content and News Teams. Applications close on Monday the 17th of February.
  At Woroni we are committed to:

  producing interesting, entertaining, informative and regular content across our print, multimedia, radio and online media platforms;
  contributing to a sense of university identity and reflecting the scholarly and cultural diversity of the ANU community;
  promoting open public dialogue and debate in the ANU community;
  promoting awareness of the variety of curricular and extra-curricular activities undertaken by students at ANU;
  discovering and developing the creative talents of students at ANU in journalism and the media arts;
  promoting the best practice in professional journalism; and
  being innovative and exploring new media forms.

  A great student media organisation is for everyone. Student media should promote conversations, and provide a platform for people with different views, identities and lived experiences. Our ultimate aim is to build a culture of inclusivity and diversity across our platforms. A large portion of ANU’s students relocate to Canberra to study, which means our community is extremely diverse. Woroni is funded by, created by and consumed by ANU students, and our mission is to produce print, radio and television content that truly reflects this community.
  Woroni is committed to diversity in hiring and encourages applications from ANU students of all backgrounds. These are volunteer positions, however individuals may receive an honorarium based on their commitment to the role. If you have questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact woronieic@gmail.com. If you would like to contribute to our mission, see below for how you can get involved with student media!
  CONTENT
  The Content Team oversees sourcing, editing and production of written content for our magazines and website. It’s a fantastic opportunity to work in print production, understanding the editing and sourcing process, or to get your hands dirty writing creative stories, poems or insightful essays. Generally, the team is split into print and online — though working in one doesn’t prevent you from dabbling in the other.
  Print:
  Print sub-editors focus on the magazine. They work to produce six every year, each with their own distinct theme. They source and edit student contributions, as well as publishing pieces of their own. Best suited for somebody who is interested in print production and editing.
  Online:
  Online sub-editors create content for the website. We are primarily looking for reviewers and columnists. Reviewers are supported by Woroni to review the latest films, novels and whichever other media interests you, producing semi-regular content for the website. Columnists will semi-regularly contribute opinion pieces, cultural comment and analytical work for the website. Best suited with somebody who wants to write regularly and has a lot to say.
  Senior Sub-Editors:
  Senior sub-editors oversee the work of sub-editors. Mentoring, copy editing and taking on more challenging pieces.
  Apply herevar gform;gform||(document.addEventListener(“gform_main_scripts_loaded”,function(){gform.scriptsLoaded=!0}),document.addEventListener(“gform/theme/scripts_loaded”,function(){gform.themeScriptsLoaded=!0}),window.addEventListener(“DOMContentLoaded”,function(){gform.domLoaded=!0}),gform={domLoaded:!1,scriptsLoaded:!1,themeScriptsLoaded:!1,isFormEditor:()=>”function”==typeof InitializeEditor,callIfLoaded:function(o){return!(!gform.domLoaded||!gform.scriptsLoaded||!gform.themeScriptsLoaded&&!gform.isFormEditor()||(gform.isFormEditor()&&console.warn(“The use of gform.initializeOnLoaded() is deprecated in the form editor context and will be removed in Gravity Forms 3.1.”),o(),0))},initializeOnLoaded:function(o){gform.callIfLoaded(o)||(document.addEventListener(“gform_main_scripts_loaded”,()=>{gform.scriptsLoaded=!0,gform.callIfLoaded(o)}),document.addEventListener(“gform/theme/scripts_loaded”,()=>{gform.themeScriptsLoaded=!0,gform.callIfLoaded(o)}),window.addEventListener(“DOMContentLoaded”,()=>{gform.domLoaded=!0,gform.callIfLoaded(o)}))},hooks:{action:{},filter:{}},addAction:function(o,r,e,t){gform.addHook(“action”,o,r,e,t)},addFilter:function(o,r,e,t){gform.addHook(“filter”,o,r,e,t)},doAction:function(o){gform.doHook(“action”,o,arguments)},applyFilters:function(o){return gform.doHook(“filter”,o,arguments)},removeAction:function(o,r){gform.removeHook(“action”,o,r)},removeFilter:function(o,r,e){gform.removeHook(“filter”,o,r,e)},addHook:function(o,r,e,t,n){null==gform.hooks[o][r]&&(gform.hooks[o][r]=[]);var d=gform.hooks[o][r];null==n&&(n=r+”_”+d.length),gform.hooks[o][r].push({tag:n,callable:e,priority:t=null==t?10:t})},doHook:function(r,o,e){var t;if(e=Array.prototype.slice.call(e,1),null!=gform.hooks[r][o]&&((o=gform.hooks[r][o]).sort(function(o,r){return o.priority-r.priority}),o.forEach(function(o){“function”!=typeof(t=o.callable)&&(t=window[t]),”action”==r?t.apply(null,e):e[0]=t.apply(null,e)})),”filter”==r)return e[0]},removeHook:function(o,r,t,n){var e;null!=gform.hooks[o][r]&&(e=(e=gform.hooks[o][r]).filter(function(o,r,e){return!!(null!=n&&n!=o.tag||null!=t&&t!=o.priority)}),gform.hooks[o][r]=e)}});

  Content Team Applications Semester 1 2025
  Join our Content Team for 2025!

  Woroni is looking for a full content team of dedicated Senior Sub-Editors and Sub-Editors to become part of our passionate print and online team at ANU Student Media in Semester 1, 2025.

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  NEWS 
  Woroni’s News Team reports on the current affairs impacting the ANU community and students in particular. It is a fast-paced work environment where members of the team report on a variety of topics, ranging from student politics, changes to the University’s policies, to the Federal Budget. The News Team meets each week and everyone meets tight deadlines. It is a fun, closely-knit team that helps create excellent writers who work well under pressure. If anything can be done to make the application process more accessible, or if you have questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact woroninewseditor@gmail.com.
  Senior News Reporter:
  Senior News Reporters are responsible for the coverage of news stories and relevant information, while also sourcing news leads, researching and investigating stories, writing drafts and also editing the drafts of news reporters. They must be highly active in their communication, with the role requiring a commitment of 10-15 hours per week. Senior reporters should be confident writers, able to give clear, constructive feedback, work to tight deadlines, competent in pitching articles and capable of instructing news reporters. Prior experience in student journalism is a strength.
  News Reporter:
  News Reporters regularly write articles for Woroni News on events and issues that impact ANU students. They are expected to engage with campus life, write, on average, an article a week, and attend weekly team meetings. The role will also involve attending various events throughout the semester, like festivals, non-autonomous collective meetings, protests etc. News Reporters must be able to: write concisely and accurately; meet deadlines at short notice; pitch story ideas; work well in a team environment; and be confident in independently investigating issues further. A Woroni News Reporter is required to dedicate 5-10 hours per week to their role, and must write one article per week.
  News Columnist:
  News Columnists write articles that include the usual reporting with some additional commentary and analysis. They will primarily be tasked with news topics which require more contextualisation than a regular news article can provide. A columnist should show an appetite for complex topics and should demonstrate an ability to create comprehensive and sophisticated analysis. A Woroni News Columnist is required to dedicate 5-10 hours per week to their role, and must write one-two articles per fortnight.
  Columnist Application: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfuFv3gBEEQv0awsAhKC_nnG2Qh__q0LmATNWvfK-T0RWUajQ/viewform?usp=sharing
  News Reporter Application: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScZiz5kwkSsgn6pd5abjRL_yWsqD89YLmWMDOxz1_gapperHg/viewform?usp=sharing
  Senior Reporter Application: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfkkTkorKNUXIecIRszDu-Nh4kf2_GBS_0A6diEnJ_R_dTv3Q/viewform?usp=sharing 
   

  Woroni Editor

• Television Editor Casual Vacancy Semester 1 2025

  January 27, 2025 9:07 pm Comments Off on Television Editor Casual Vacancy Semester 1 2025

  ANU Student Media is looking for an ANU student to fill a casual vacancy on our Board of Editors.
  The successful applicant will take on the role of Television Editor. The TV Editor’s responsibilities include, but are not limited to, oversight of the Television Team in the production of video content for the Woroni TV platform. This includes working with the Television sub-editors to execute videos through the development of scripts, conducting of interviews, filming and editing of footage. The TV Editor oversees the production process from start to publication, working with sub-editors to produce engaging student-driven content within existing video formats, as well as expanding the Woroni TV platform through the creation of new segments.
  The successful applicant will be expected to put in around 15-20 hours a week on average and can expect to be paid an honorarium to compensate for their time. The position will commence as soon as possible and conclude on the last day of the semester two examination period. The role requires close collaboration with the seven other Board members, so an ability to work in a team is a must.
  Applicants must answer the questions below, and if successful, will be interviewed by a panel of three current Editors. Applications close on 5 February 2025.
  Woroni is committed to accessible and diverse hiring. If the hiring process can be made more accessible for you or if you feel you have different requirements for any reason, please email woronideputy@gmail.com and we will do our best to accommodate your needs. If you have any questions, please email woronideputy@gmail.com.
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  Television Editor Casual Vacancy Semester 1 2025

  Step 1 of 2

  50%

  Name*

  First

  Last

  PronounsEmail*

  Student Number*Year*Degree*

  QuestionsWhy do you want to be Television Editor and what relevant experience do you have? (350 words)*What is your vision for the Television portfolio? What do you want to do that is different, and what do you want to keep? (350 words)*Please declare any relevant Conflicts of InterestIf you need clarification on this you can see clause 9.2 in Woroni’s Electoral Regulations: https://www.woroni.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Electoral-Regulations.pdf or speak to the Deputy Editor-in-Chief at the email above CommentsThis field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

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  Woroni Editor

• Love in Time

  September 17, 2024 11:33 am Comments Off on Love in Time

  Love. It may very well be the only reason that people do anything at all! In an attempt to be loved, and for the sake of loving others, people twist themselves and their lives into all sorts of shapes. That the question ‘What Is Love?’ has never failed to receive answers — though those answers have been varied — isn’t all that surprising. From the grandiose poetry of Shakespeare to good morning texts, love has never gone without a language to speak in, nor people to be spoken by. 
  So, in what language is love spoken here at the ANU? In the language of ANUCrushes of course! And if we want to understand what it means to love, and how to become better lovers in the future, I believe we need to look both to the past and the present.
  The ancient Greeks (in all their wisdom) didn’t just have one word for love, they had eight. For example, there was Agape for selfless, universal love; Storge for familial love; and above all, Eros, for romantic, passionate love.
  And yet, despite all their fancy words, even the Greeks failed to capture love’s essence.
  Plato, for example, ever the contrarian, decided that love couldn’t possibly be beautiful. According to Plato, love is forever out of reach, forever elusive and an eternal search for something we will never really have no matter how much we want it. #ANUCrushes32721 captures Plato’s love here: “Sometimes I wish I’d never met her ’cause of how much I hurt when she pushes me away, but then she pulls me back in, and I just want it not to end.”  
  And so, whether he wished it or not, Plato may have been the first in a long line of those who proclaimed love too risky, too unpredictable, and far too messy to be worth the trouble that accompanied it. Frowning upon romantic poetry, sidelining human emotion, taking the romance out of life and replacing it with ‘reason’, Plato unknowingly invented the very ‘reason’ that philosophers have had such a hard time getting lucky.
  But, to be fair to our friends with comically large brains, love isn’t all sunshine and roses. As #ANUCrushes32525 laments, “Why must grief be the price of love? … Is the hurt and pain that follows love ever worth it? … Why must you tear apart my heart, my being?” Maybe love really is far too painful, to the point where the means simply cannot justify the ends. Maybe it really would be wiser to focus on other things, like, you know, the divine, or numbers, or your GPA or something?
  Those of us struck by Cupid’s arrow know otherwise. Enter the untimely rebels — those daring souls who argued that love, no matter how messy, how chaotic, how dangerous, was ultimately still something worth fighting for. They were the champions of love, who defended Eros to their dying breath.
  Take, for instance, Spinoza. While his definition of love in his masterpiece, The Ethics, is as dry as Lake Eyre — “pleasure accompanied by the idea of an external cause,” — above all he was concerned with self-determined love. Passionate love, grounded in mutual respect and personal freedom and in all honesty, the type of love that we all look for in our own lives. Which is what #ANUCrushes32538 captures so well when they write: “I know they are the one, and I think they do too. … She is so cute, I enjoy who I am when I am around her. I feel… complete!”
  And then there is Sappho, who wrote of love’s intensity, its emotional depth and its power to overwhelm and embolden the human spirit. To Sappho, love is not merely affectionate and tender, but profound and elemental, capable of shaking the very foundation of the world. Love has often incarnated wills of resistance and revolution for no sake but its own, leading people like #ANUCrushes32683’s writer to pledge to “change the world to be with you and make you happy again.”
  And let’s not forget Nietzsche, who, in The Gay Science, argued that true love demands our full attention and puts us in such a position where “the whole rest of the world appears indifferent, pale, and worthless.” For Nietzsche, doing anything less than loving would render life itself meaningless. Perhaps such an outlook is reflected most concretely in #ANUCrushes32549: “I’ve been thinking for weeks and I figured that I’d rather live the best present moment with you by my side than doing nothing and staying in the void.”
  So, where does our little excursion through history bring us? Right back to the start.
  Whether drinking with Socrates or glancing at someone across Uni Ave, love remains as perplexing as ever. It can feel beautiful, fulfilling and forever, and yet fall to pieces all the same. The heart can burn so hot it turns to ash, it can beat so hard it shatters, it can stop altogether, but even still, people never stop falling in love.
  Here at ANU, love takes more than one form: be it a casual hookup, an unrequited crush, or a sweet gesture from a significant other. At this university, and perhaps on this Earth, there is no one way to love someone correctly, nor a proper way to be loved. Love doesn’t have to be forever, nor does it have to be never — though I do believe that it has to be kind.
  Ultimately, I think Socrates put it best when he said:
  “Human nature can find no better helper than love.”

  Emanuel Foundas

• What arts degrees are really costing us

  September 6, 2024 11:41 am Comments Off on What arts degrees are really costing us

  Upon making the ever-predictable switch from the flashy PPE degree to the humble Bachelor of Arts at the end of my first semester of university, the typical reaction — after a cursory glance at my outfit, followed by a quip that I ‘look more like an Arts student anyway’ — was that of good-natured derision: ‘studying unemployment, then?’. After all, as one jokes, I may as well have taken several tens of thousands of dollars and tossed them in the creek. The disdain towards arts degrees as endeavours of childish passion or directionless experimentation is one which I have internalised since learning of their existence and the attitudes they elicit, and one which has been perpetuated for generations. The idea that the BA is professionally futile sits smugly in the minds of Australians, young and old, not budging for any desperate attempts by arts students (myself included, of course) made to polish its colloquial reputation. They’re unemployable, plain and simple!
  Adding fuel to the fire for the status of arts degrees is the ever-looming rise in their prices, a lingering hangover from the Coalition government’s 2021 implementation of the ‘Job Ready Graduates’ (JRG) scheme, which increased student contribution to humanities degrees by 113 percent. 2024 is the first year that the average arts degree costs a student over $50,000. The scheme has been subject to heavy criticism by Australian universities but nevertheless forced the tightening of their budgetary belts to respond to the withdrawal of government funding to the humanities. Close to home, several Bachelor programs such as Development Studies and Middle East and Asian Studies have been struck off the ANU’s degree offerings in light of the changes. 
  The JRG scheme has, however, proven a failure, with the subsidisation of ‘in-demand’ non-humanities degrees making negligible changes to interest in the arts. The Labor government is soon set to reflect in new policy a need to reconstruct the scheme and its fee arrangements ‘before it causes long-term and entrenched damage to Australian higher education’, according to education minister Jason Clare.
  However, the impacts have already been felt. Pre-existing notions of arts degrees as futile, unemployable ventures have snowballed, with their emergent association with financial irresponsibility and privileged pretension. All this against the backdrop of the cost-of-living crisis and persistent HECS-HELP indexation has led to the warped image of the BA as being accessible exclusively to those cushioned by wealth and guarantees of stability.
  This image is not innocuous, and threatens not only a new arts student’s fragile ego but the essence of the study of humanities itself. Studies of politics, literature, history, anthropology, development and sociology rely inherently on diversity of perspective and challenge the structures that govern human interaction to foster the critical thinking skills required to maintain it. For as long as arts degrees are believed, understandably, to be lying behind significant social and financial barriers, the arts degree will fall victim to the fatal flaw of any area of study: homogeneity.
  ANU’s status as the university with the lowest proportion of low-income students in the country makes this all the more apparent. The mere fact that the typical ice-breaker question in the first tutorial of Introduction to Philosophy was which inordinately expensive residential hall each of us resided at was evidence enough that diversity of background and perspective is, for the most part, not the forte of the arts cohort. The reality remains that for many prospective students from low socio-economic backgrounds, these expensive courses are cast as a rich kids’ playground, where ideas from well-funded high school philosophy classes are recycled and jargon is revered. Admittedly, epiphenomenal consciousness can have even the most avid wordsmith’s eyes rolling. Still, it is the critical thinking skills that humanities courses seek to attune that are the victims of the stereotype of pretentiousness that surrounds them.
  The development of literacy, critical analysis and communication skills — emboldening the idea that more than one solution to a problem exists and that subjectivity holds value — are the arts degree’s overt strengths and those its defenders eagerly spout. However, as far as their usefulness is concerned, for every prospective student who refrains from pursuing tertiary education by virtue of its financial impossibility, the quality of these skills diminishes. 
  Suppose there are not wide ranges of perspectives and criticism in the classrooms of these courses. In that case, they will never truly serve to develop the ‘adaptability and ability to help shape change’ proclaimed by our university as the degree’s purpose. What’s more, at a time when artificial intelligence has thrown the replicability status of human critical thinking and retrospection into question, to hike the prices of the courses designed to foster them such that they are confined to the realm of academic indulgence, rather than the accessible mainstream, is irresponsible. It only acts to give arts degrees unique futility.
  In a time where HECS no longer universally cushions young people’s tertiary education decisions and university education maintains its culture of exclusivity, a costly course thought to be undertaken by those with the assurance of employability and financial stability is ‘useless’ insofar as it remains restricted and stained by elitism. Change to the JRG scheme is imperative; job readiness is never achieved through punishing students’ pursuit of passion, but by opening opportunities to bring invaluable diversity of attitude and perspective to the classrooms, training the future (very employable, thank you very much) professionals of Australia.

  Greta Clark-Walsh

• Eight Years Later: Schmidt’s Legacy

  December 4, 2023 10:15 pm Comments Off on Eight Years Later: Schmidt’s Legacy

  On the last day of the mid-semester break, campus is quiet when we sit down with Brian Schmidt. The brown brick Chancellery building is not a hub of student activity, and as we walk over it appears a bit like ANU’s own Battersea power station. Inside, it has been done up in traditional Australian colours: rusty red, muted orange, yellow here and there, brown wood panelling, and a soft sense of beige. As we wait in the lobby, the building feels a bit empty, except for when someone walks through and jumps into the elevator. 
  The tranquillity is pierced, but not broken, by ANU’s departing Vice-Chancellor and Nobel laureate, Brian Schmidt. He is not loud, but passionate, and he has a lot to say on a lot of things. But most notably, he is an arm-waver. As he speaks, every concept is given a corresponding gesture. Dwelling on the aim of an inclusive community, he swings his arms out wide, and when he waves off criticism about large capital purchases, he points to where the two purchases sit, beyond the office and the gum trees outside. 
  In February this year, at his State of the University speech, Schmidt announced that this year would be his last in the role and that he will be returning to research and teaching. It is hard to know if Schmidt’s status as a cultural icon comes from who he is, or from his last name, which has proved endlessly punnable for ANU students.

  Having spent eight years in the top full-time position at the University, he is tired of the work.
  When we ask him about his pay, which is less than most other Vice-Chancellors in the country, he is clear that he would never be a Vice-Chancellor at another university, and that he did this for the ANU. Of course, he is still paid in the ballpark of $500,000. He argues there would be a “disequilibrium” if he were paid less than the people he hires, and the people he hires are paid around that much. 
  Schmidt is distinctly American as well. Listening to this thick accent while tall gum trees sway outside, with classic Canberra pollen in the air, feels slightly anachronistic. It extends beyond his accent though. When he speaks of his aims as Vice-Chancellor, it is about putting ANU in the same league as other word-class institutions. The first that comes to him is Harvard. When he discusses inclusion on campus, he does so in a distinctly American liberal tone: disagreeing with what may be said, but defending people’s right to say it. 
  As we begin to ask Schmidt about his time at the ANU, the first thing that becomes apparent is his candour.

  He wants to talk about the areas where the ANU is not doing well.
  We open by asking him if he is excited to return to a quieter pace of life, and he is quick to describe the job as relentless, throwing his life out of balance. There is, he says, a lot of unpleasantness to it. To explain further, he uses what sounds like a frequent anecdote: 20,000 people come to the ANU everyday, and most people work 20,000 days in their life, meaning that everyday is bound to be the best day of one person’s life and the worst day of someone else’s. And he estimates they deal with one out of ten people who are having the worst day of their life. Throughout the interview he returns to the issue of sexual assault, and it seems he sometimes has to address events like this. He admits that this includes executing the procedural fairness of the university. 
   
  The Long View 
  With a mammoth institution like the ANU, it is difficult to know what gives it momentum and what can push it to change course. Schmidt says his focus has always been on students, despite the expectation that as an academic he would focus on research. In his eyes, his impact has been to give the campus and the University’s research “the foundation of a vibrant student community,” including a distinctly Australian undergraduate experience. ANU, he believes, may lack the “gold plating” of Harvard, but he maintains that

  “if you get a degree from ANU, it’s as good as a Harvard degree.”
  Schmidt attended Harvard for his postgraduate and then taught at the ANU, so he is better placed to comment on the two universities than most. But ANU did slip this year in the Global QS rankings, suggesting that the gold plating may not be the only thing ANU is missing. Schmidt has clearly thought about this or at least had this discussion before. He rejects the methodology of rankings, like QS or Times Higher Education, arguing they don’t reflect the ANU’s mission. He says the focus should be on students’ experiences on campus, and that Quilt surveys show that ANU students have good experiences on campus, better than most other Australian universities. He also questions the methodology, asking rhetorically how something like QS can measure satisfaction better than Quilt. The value of ANU lies in breaking people out of their “high school clique” and exposing them to the diversity of Australia. Schmidt believes on-campus life and ANU scholarships and programs achieves this. 
  Some ANU students may reject this characterisation of the on-campus experience. ANU has one of the lowest enrollment rates for low socioeconomic students, and the interstate move for many students presents a cost barrier not often found at other major universities. On-campus rent is itself more expensive than off-campus, further alienating the people who Schmidt wants to include. But, this may also reflect the growing cost of tertiary education in Australia, as higher inflation means that HECS has now become an important, if not crippling, debt for many young people.

  The government, in Schmidt’s eyes, is not doing enough to support inclusivity and diversity across the sector, but to him ANU is doing more than most,
   in an area where it matters more. 
  When he talks about inclusion, Schmidt means more than just making students feel included. He chastises the idea that certain people should not be allowed to speak at the ANU, and he is clearly frustrated when he brings up the example of Michele Bullock’s address. Bullock, now the Reserve Bank Governor, gave an address on campus which was briefly interrupted by students who said that if unemployment had to increase to reduce inflation, Bullock’s job should be the first to go. Holding an enlarged Jobseeker application form, the students walked past the stage, yelling with a megaphone, before being escorted out. As he explains his philosophy on free speech, he echoes historian Evelyn Hall’s famous quote, often attributed to Voltaire: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” 
  Schmidt’s line of thinking fits into the broader issue of free speech on university campuses across the anglophone world. In Britain, the US and here, many controversial speakers have had events brought to a standstill by students protesting. The subject matter of the speakers has ranged, from Malcolm Turnbull at the University of Sydney, to transphobic speakers and academics. Schmidt wants students to ask hard questions, not stand up and shout, or to protest outside the event. Of course, a student asking a question gets probably half a minute of airtime, someone like Bullock gets the full hour. 
   
  More Recently
  Serving as Vice-Chancellor for eight years – two four year terms – Schmidt has gone round the block more than a few times. His second term, though, was dominated by COVID-19, which presented a short-term and a long-term challenge. With one of the largest on-campus populations in the country, ANU administered its own lockdown. This presented immediate issues, from food provision for students living with communal kitchens or eateries, as well as the money spent on Rapid Antigen Tests and personal protective equipment. Part of the ANU lockdown involved Senior Residents distributing food to rooms, something they were not paid for and which led to protests, especially from Burton and Garran Hall. He noted the pay freeze agreed to in early 2020 as an example of a hard decision he had to make about the University’s staff: had staff not agreed to it, he says he would have had to make 90 more staff redundant. 
  In the long term, COVID-19 tightened the belt of ANU, and Schmidt has found that the financial constrictions stemming from the pandemic have impacted everything they do. “It’s one thing,” he says, “just being flat, but

  it’s another thing having pressure to become smaller and… it’s not an easy place to be squeezed.”
  There is, for him, no easy way to make things work. With staff enterprise bargaining having concluded this year, one of the centre points of the debate was how much the ANU could afford to pay. 
  Schmidt, from his own description, was not a diehard unionist before he became Vice-Chancellor, he only took note of union opposition to hiring young researchers, chiefly because he was a young researcher. However, he now sees the value in having the views and values of staff represented, because otherwise “there’s no one to talk to and you can’t actually get a sensible agreement.” But, he follows this up with an admonishment of what he calls “the theatre of the strike…

  call it whatever you want, it’s theatre from my perspective.”
  He doesn’t see the cause for the half-day strike, which, with around 300 participants, was one of the largest protests on campus in the last few years. He claims that it didn’t matter in the end, as the bargaining ended up where he wanted it to, although he would have taken the first deal: a payrise of about 16% over five years (compared to the 18% in the final deal).  He believes that on casualisation, he was offering terms that were “far more exciting” than the language “that the Melbourne union office was using.”
   
  Key Issues
  Another recurring challenge for him, and for university administration across the country, has been sexual assault and harassment (SASH). Last year, the National Student Safety Survey (NSSS) found that ANU had the second-highest rate of assault in the nation, and the highest of all Group of Eight universities. This year saw the establishment of the Student Safety and Wellbeing Committee (SSWC), which Schmidt points out is the only committee of its stature – reporting directly to ANU Council – in the country. Last year the University also established the Student Safety and Wellbeing Team to provide assistance for students and to walk them through the often quite complex processes of the University. These are two key student demands that the ANU has met, and Schmidt is now “much more comfortable” with the position and work that the University is doing on SASH. 
  Sexual assault in the university sector is more likely to happen the more people live on campus, and Schmidt both understands that ANU has substantial work to do, but also thinks that ANU’s on-campus nature contributes to its poor performance. However, this is not an excuse for him, and he believes it only increases the University’s responsibility. With the SSWC reporting to the Council and having both students and sexual violence experts sit on it, it is likely that ANU is entering a new era in reform around SASH. Whether the University takes up the committee’s recommendations, will be the work of the next Vice-Chancellor. Earlier this year, Woroni reported on the ANU’s failure to progress its Disability Access Plan; it remains to be seen if the University has learnt from its mistakes. 
  Another alleged mistake the ANU, and Schmidt personally, are often charged with is the purchase of large capital assets to be developed in the future. In 2021, he oversaw the purchase of a $17 million disused bus stop from the ACT, and this year he announced another similarly large purchase of a parking lot to build a new health sciences precinct on. Schmidt denies that the purchases are too expensive, noting that the cost of the acquisitions are amortised to be paid over a number of years and that the land will be used to realise the University’s long-term goals. He also says the purchases were a drop in the ocean compared to the pay rises the NTEU demanded.
  The conversation next turned to the ANU’s involvement in AUKUS, which Schmidt denies: “It’s news to me.” Schmidt made a point not often discussed by students which is that the ANU, as the national university, ought to meet the educational needs of government policy. Hence, if there is to be a nuclear-powered submarine program, and Schmidt does not express his views on the alliance itself, then the ANU should provide the requisite education. It’s a reason which doesn’t seem to always be applied evenly at the University, which attempted to cut its Bachelor of Public Policy (BPP) last year, a degree which surely aligns to the government’s interests, even if broader society may not care.  Of course, the BPP does not map onto any specific government policy, but one can imagine that if any university is to teach it, it should be the ANU, along similar lines to Schmidt’s thinking.
  Education and research into nuclear energy and nuclear-powered submarines is also part of successful nuclear stewardship, Schmidt believes. This argument is a bit more familiar to students, with speakers at the student union arguing that there is a space for nuclear research. However, the controversy revolves around the conditions of any AUKUS-related scholarship that the Department of Defence offers. Will recipients be expected to work on AUKUS submarines, and what steps will be taken to ensure the education can’t be easily applied to nuclear armament? Without more details, these are moot questions, and we will have to wait until the scholarship program is formally announced. 
  No one person can accomplish everything, so what would Schmidt like to have achieved as Vice-Chancellor but never did? An academic overlay in on-campus residences, something he promises he’ll work on after his term, and hence tells us to stay tuned for. The second aim is more equity scholarships. The goal “is that every person who needs a scholarship in first year should get one.” ANU has a growing asset pool, and it may be that, like Harvard, Schmidt wants to fund equity scholarships from this pool. He doesn’t pull his punches though, and says the federal government could do more to fund tertiary education. 
   
  Looking Forward
  On Tuesday the 26th August, ANU announced that Professor Genevieve Bell would be its 13th Vice-Chancellor. She will be the first woman in the position, and Schmidt mentioned his passion for a more equitable hiring as Vice-Chancellor. Bell, like Schmidt, comes from the ANU, however she has worked as the Director of the School of Cybernetics, a more administrative role than academic. But, her experience in computing and anthropology makes her well-poised to lead the University in the age of AI, or at least the age of paranoia around AI. 
  Schmidt’s advice for Bell is clear: “Get out and talk to people, talk to students, include the students in the decision making that affects them.” At the conclusion of our interview, Schmidt mentioned that he doesn’t want to be an “alien overlord” believing that Vice-Chancellors must be “a part of the community, not an alien overlord.” Schmidt can be seen around Kambri fairly frequently, including in the queue at Daily Market. Having provided the name of ANU Schmidtposting, the ANU community’s largest online community, he is in a sense, instantly recognisable, and understood to be a part of the ANU. Whether he seems like a member of the ANU community is up to the reader. 

  Alexander Lane

• SUPREME LEADER CAMPAIGN LAUNCH

  September 25, 2023 3:54 pm Comments Off on SUPREME LEADER CAMPAIGN LAUNCH

  Greetings fellow students, my name is [SUPREME LEADER] and I am putting myself forward for the position of [PRESIDENT] of your student union! I am running on an [INDEPENDENT] ticket with fellow [STAUNCH UNIONISTS]. Vote 1 [INTERLINK ANUSA] for a [UNION] union.
  I am running for [PRESIDENT] because, having spent the last year as [VICE SECRETARY], I’ve seen the breadth of what a [LEFT-WING ACTIVIST] union can do! In my term I will [ABOLISH CAPITALISM] and [BOMB THE CHANCELLERY]. I will advocate for and represent all students because I am one of you – a person.
  I am a truly Independent candidate whose funding comes solely from [THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX] and this means I am the best candidate to advocate for you and your interests, such as the expansion of [AUKUS].
  I will personally achieve [FREE TERTIARY EDUCATION] by [DEFUNDING THE BKSS]. I am an [ENERGISED] and [AUTHENTIC] biological human being who truly has your interests at heart. I am sick of seeing our University troubled by [PESTILENCE AND LOCUSTS] and I will draw on my extensive experience in [CORPORATE LOBBYING] to put an end to this injustice. I plan to put an end to [SERVICE PROVISION] and will direct ANUSA’s resources to funding [SCHMIDTPOSTING DEBATES]. 
  I know students are stressed about [COURSE CUTS], I will remove this uncertainty and stress by [CUTTING ALL COURSES]. I will bolster the rights of students on-campus by having the University recognise them as [LANDLORDS] and assigning them a [SECOND, POORER] student, to [PAY THEM A WEEKLY DIVIDEND].
  I have lived on campus at [BURGLODGE] throughout my [LAW]/[LAW] degree and in that time I have become familiar with the struggles of the average student. I have met with and heard from a kaleidoscope of perspectives, ranging from [FIRST YEAR LAW STUDENT] to [SECOND YEAR LAW STUDENT] and this extensive consultation has informed my [112 PAGE POLICY MANIFESTO].

  Rose Dixon-Campbell

• Who will the next President be?

  3:51 pm Comments Off on Who will the next President be?

  We have entered a hallowed time in our University’s political calendar. You can probably feel it in the air; the energy of texts flying from candidates begging for votes to people they met once two years ago charges each election season with the usual levels of hackiness and desperation. Nothing fills me with more nostalgia for elections gone-by than observing the same three people commenting on every Schmidtposting post, engaging in enlightened and nuanced debate which we all care very much about. Which one of your vaguely popular college friends will be approached to run for a General Representative position? Which of your vaguely popular college friends, who also happens to be a person of colour, will be approached to run for Treasurer?
  But ultimately no position draws more clout, ire or admiration than ANUSA President. Step aside, Clubs/Education/Environment/Welfare Officers! Return to your agenda-making, General Secretaries! Go back to pining for the banishment of your prefix, Vice-Presidents! The President is the one who enjoys the privilege of sending all student emails, of having their name appear in the ANUSA wikipedia article, and of being mostly unknown according to Observer.
   At the time of writing four candidates have signalled they believe their neck is strong enough to bear the heavy weight of the SSAF-bejewelled crown. It is not unheard of for the position to be uncontested, and yet it is a profoundly important one! The ANUSA President is expected to work full-time, prioritising the role even above their studies, and receive a salary of $54,000 indexed for inflation. The ANUSA President also typically nominates to be one of fifteen to sit on the ANU Council, a body which provides strategic oversight of the University, appoints senior leadership and ensures the financially responsible acquisition of more bus stops.
   In theory, the ANUSA President is the person among us with the most enthusiasm for attending SRCs and answering emails, both profoundly burdensome tasks that I do not envy and you shouldn’t either. So what makes a President, beyond their obvious penchant for martyrdom? Who are they? Where do they come from? What were they even thinking?!?!
   In this brief and amateur demography I will guide us on a tour through Ghosts of Presidents Past and find that the true meaning of the ANUSA Election is not the crown-bearer, but the friends we made along the way.
  Scope:
  This article examines the successful Presidential Candidates from 2003 to 2023. Where possible, I have collected data on the individuals’ gender, their schooling prior to university, their degree at the time of their election, notable positions the individuals occupied prior to their election, the Hall(s) the candidates lived in, the political affiliation of their ticket and any exhilarating miscellaneous facts. The Presidents covered in this piece are:
  Ben Yates (2023), Christian Flynn (2022), Madhumitha Janagaraja (2021), Lachlan Day (2020), Eden Lim (2019), Eleanor Kay (2018), James Connolly (2017), Ben Gill (2015, 2016), Cam Wilson (2014), Aleks Sladojevic (2013), Dallas Proctor (2012), Fleur Hawes (2012), Leah Ginnivan (2011), Tully Fletcher (2010), Sham Sara (2009), Jamila Rizvi (2008), Claudia Newman-Martin (2007), Laura Crespo (2006), Aparna Rao (2005), Max Jeganathan (2004) and Steve Michelson (2003).
  Sources covered to obtain this information were the individuals’ linkedin profiles; Woroni archives via the website, issuu and Trove; Observer articles via their website; the ANUSA Wikipedia page; some misc ANU articles; and Candidate posts via Facebook and Youtube.
  Gender:
  I’ll be honest, consistent with all other spheres of politics, I expected the data to show more of a sausage party than is present. Since 2003, there have been ten female Presidents and twelve males. 

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  The majority of Presidential scandals sit amongst the men, but we will detail those later. Meanwhile, some of the notable achievements of female presidents sit with Claudia Newman-Martin, who created new electoral disclosure requirements around tickets’ finances and expenditure in 2007, and Leah Ginnivan, who established the Student Housing Co-Op and is credited with being the first true independent candidate in 2011, triggering the streak of Independent success that persists today.
  Schooling:
  I could only find this information for seven of our Presidents, and they all went to private schools. Credit where credit is due though, we can at least say those presidents (and likely a few more within the undetermined lot) are representative of the broader ANU, also being majority private school students.
  Degree:
  The data shows that an ANUSA President can boast diversity when they don’t study a law degree. Yes, it’s a low bar, but the data doesn’t lie. Eleven of our candidates studied a flexible double degree comprising Law, and something else, most often Arts.

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  The next most popular choice is a straight Bachelor of Arts, boasting two Presidents (Sara and Ginnivan) and the rest are groups of one. Ben Gill, our only two-term President, studied a Science/Engineering double degree – so we technically elected that degree twice.*
  Prior Position:
  Most Presidents don’t just waltz into ANUSA and immediately assume the position of Top Dog. Most Presidents work that greasy pole, and they work it hard.**

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  Data shows ANUSA Presidents are highly likely to have done prior time in ANUSA. The cohort boasts three former Gen Secs and three former VPs, which neither confirms nor dispels the rumour that either of those positions are a pipeline to President. Ben Gill has the notable honour of having been ANUSA President before then becoming ANUSA President again (he was Queer Officer prior). Then we have appearances from a Treasurer and an Education Officer. If you weren’t previously in ANUSA you were probably the Editor-in-Chief of Woroni, which means there is hope for me yet!
  Hall:
  Is it essential to have been or currently be a member of a Hall to become the ANUSA President – yes, undoubtedly yes. Ideally as well you live at either Burgmann or a UniLodge, as both of these halls boast three Presidents each.***

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  Ben Gill (again, the guy who got elected twice) is our only off-campus entrant, being from Griffin Hall.
  Ticket Affiliation:
  Whether they are independent or not, most ANUSA tickets have always known that calling yourself independent is just cooler. “Independent” just has a sex appeal that “funded by Labor” can’t beat. This made this portion of the data somewhat difficult, because most of the tickets that were funded and populated by Labor preferred to identify as Independent. Still, Labor hasn’t held office in ANUSA since Ginnivan’s victory in 2010, leading us to four Labor Presidents and fourteen Independents.****

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  The process of identifying whether someone was Labor in disguise was greatly aided by discerning Woroni reporting. An interesting story emerged in Jamila Rizvi, who is said to have “orchestrated” her predecessor, Claudia Newman-Martin’s, success by sourcing Labor Party money and resources. Rizvi then endorsed Sham Sara, who would become her successor, while she herself was still President. Sara was a former Kevin Rudd intern and Rizvi worked in Rudd’s office immediately following the end of her Presidential term. Sara’s ticket was convened by the ANU Labor Club’s President and Labor Club members assisted in the campaign. Sara and Rizvi both claimed to be Independent, but having presented the facts, I will leave the final verdict up to you.
  After Rizvi delivered her an election victory, Newman-Martin moved to change regulations to prevent such arrangements and require greater transparency around ticket funding and expenditure. Rizvi and then Labor Club President, Josh Gordon-Carr, attempted to end the ANUSA Ordinary General Meeting and kill Newman-Martin’s agenda. They staged a Labor Party walkout and the OGM lost quorum, however Newman-Martin managed to restore quorum and passed her regulations.
  Misc
  2003 President Steve Michelson resigned from Bill Shorten’s office in 2017, after a photo of him in blackface emerged. Michelson also identifies as a ‘proud dad’ on Linkedin, which is wholesome.
  2010 President and former Woroni Editor-in-Chief, Tully Fletcher, initiated the separation between Woroni and ANUSA, allowing Woroni editorial independence for the first time in its then sixty year history.
  2012 President Fleur Hawes was forcibly removed from office due to academic exclusion after she failed more than 50% of her courses across two semesters. Her replacement, also 2012 President, Dallas Proctor, only held office for a few months before he fucked off on exchange to America.
  2014 President and former Woroni Editor-in-Chief, Cam Wilson, survived a motion of no confidence led by members of various Departments over grievances with how ANUSA Departments are funded. Wilson nowadays is a very good reporter for Crikey.
  2023 President Ben Yates notoriously dropped an 80 page manifesto– uhhh policy document and will personally liberate us from the tyranny of ANU Parking.
  Who will the next President be?
  Campaign Launch
  Post-Script:
  Here’s a list of all the ticket names discussed above to prove they’ve always been shit: Momentum Nexus, Excite Nexus, Innovate, Engage, Golden Ticket, Back to the Future, Common Thread, Bounce!, Connect, Let’s ANUSA, Amplify ANUSA, Lift ANUSA, Refresh ANUSA, Turn Over a New Leaf, Brighter Together, Grassroots ANUSA and Power in Community.
   
  *Information for Max Jeganathan could not be found.
  **Information for Aleks Sladojevic, Fleur Hawes, Leah Ginnivan, Sham Sara, Jamila Rizvi, Claudia Newman-Martin, Aparna Rao, Max Jeganathan and Steve Michelson’s prior positions could not be found. 
  ***Information for Madhumitha Janagaraja, Cam Wilson, Aleks Sladojevic, Leah Ginnivan, Tully Fletcher, Sham Sara, Jamila Rizvi, Claudia Newman-Martin, Laura Crespo, Aparna Rao and Max Jeganathan could not be found.
  ****Information for Laura Crespo, Aparna Rao, Max Jeganathan and Steve Michelson could not be found

  Rose Dixon-Campbell