ideas

I've got a few different ideas for what to write about in the next little while. So I thought I might as well see what people want to see (and, by-the-by, work out who's actually reading this).

1. 'What is a councillor?'

2. Explanation of the factions - where they come from, where they're going. Probably a series of posts.

3. 'what is a small-i'

4. looking at how the SRC fits into the overall Arc structure

5. looking back over the fiasco that was last year's NUS conference, then the various deals and collapses involved in the SGM. This one I'd like to leave a bit, see what else comes to light. Plus I would be very surprised if one of the Tharunka editors doesn't write about it themself.

6. explanation of the SRC election methodology - forming tickets, the process of voting, 'what is a valid vote' etc. Almost definitely a series of posts, way too big to fit into one.

7. The proposed Post-grad council - who's in favour, who's against, how the whole shebang is meant to work, and why it's all taken so long.

8. Anything else you'd like me to take a look at?

Let me know.

Attack?

Before things go any further, I'd like to clarify something. I'm not trying to just mindlessly attack people. There is a method to my madness (or perhaps there's madness in my method, we'll see).

I want to see our student reps do well. A big, massive part of that is checking up on them. Not just at elections each year - it's incredibly rare for anyone to actually stand for re-election, so the ballot isn't a good way of holding anyone to account. Rather, we need to look in on them throughout their term.

I want to know what the people I voted for are doing. I also want to know what the people I didn't vote for are doing (and there's a few of them, the wonders of below-the-line voting). If someone's being competent, then that person deserves congratulations. If someone's being incompetent, on the other hand, that person should be getting in trouble.

There are a whole lot of things wrong at uni. The point of the SRC is to try to better the student experience. If someone on the SRC isn't pulling their weight, this needs to be realised. If the whole SRC isn't pulling their weight (which I sincerely hope will never happen) then that definitely needs to be publicised.

That doesn't mean our reps should be held with their noses to the grindstone. They are, after all, students, and every now and then things like parties, work, general life and (last, and sometimes least) actual study intrude. This helps keep you sane in such a position.
But an SRC member can't just fall back on excuses all the time. They need to do something, or at least keep trying to, or else move away.

And I don't want to hear that tired old refrain that 'UNSW students are never activists, the activists all go to USyd'. To be frank, that's bullshit. It's offensive to the very character of our student body. It's also readily disprovable - the Queer Collective, twice, got quite large turnouts to the Marriage rallies (one well outside of semester). Turnouts that were well above what the USyd collective managed to muster.

To fall back on the old stereotype that UNSW students don't participate in activism is sheer laziness. It's proof that you either haven't tried, or you don't have a clue as to how to mobilise people.

Fact-checking and typos

So far I've noticed a few errors, mainly in the typographical area, which I've then gone and corrected. If anyone else sees anything, please let me know and I'll adjust/respond. Just because these posts are being written in the heat of the moment is no reason not to correct errors later on once they come to light.

The Thinking Snake's Guide

So here I am, starting something that might just crash and burn in a few days. Or it might continue for a while. We'll see. My first serious attempt at a blog.

So, after two years, I'm no longer a member of the UNSW SRC. I've been a Tharunka editor, then an Office-bearer, and last year I did one last roll of the dice trying to get preselection for President. Obviously, that didn't happen. But it doesn't mean I'm not still involved, in my own way. I'm around a lot, I talk to various people, I get emailed documents that may or may not have been meant to be confidential.

Pretty much, I'm trying to clear the air somewhat on how student politics works. It's too important to leave to the student politicians. I'd love to see more and more people getting involved. Without having to be a member of any party or faction.

Since it's where I am, I'm mainly going to be looking at UNSW (the SRC, the coming Post-grad Council, plus also uni-based elections). I'll also do some commentary on the ever-changing bizarreness that is NUS, plus also quite possibly some things about what's going down at other unis.

I'm doing a bit of writing for Tharunka this year. Anything I write there will end up here as well, but after publication. (If an article gets rejected from there, it'll still end up here regardless).
Also, it should go without saying that this is all personal opinion, and some of it will get very personal. That, after all, is the point of this being a blog.