University of Sydney Students' Representative Council
Encyclopedia
The University of Sydney Students' Representative Council (SRC) is the representative body for undergraduate students at the University of Sydney
.
The Executive of the SRC is elected annually by the Council, and consists of the President, Vice-President, General Secretary, and five general members, elected proportionally out of Council. Meeting weekly, the Executive makes most significant decisions regarding the SRC.
The day-to-day operation of the SRC is generally conducted by paid staff and paid office-bearers, being the President (directly elected by students), the General Secretary, the Education Officer(s), and Women's Officer(s).
Annual elections are held in September each year, to elect the Council, the President, 7 NUS
delegates, and the editors of Honi Soit
, the student newspaper. Unlike most student organisations, other office-bearers are elected by the Council, and not directly by students. All undergraduate students have a right to vote in annual elections.
Prominent former Presidents of the SRC include cabinet ministers, Justices of the High Court of Australia
and Members of Parliament. Presidents of the SRC have regularly gone on to become President of the National Union of Students, with the 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, and 2007 Presidents being immediately elected to the peak office in NUS.
, which administers Clubs and Societies, provides food services, and runs the Manning, Holme and Wentworth buildings. However, the SRC does exercise control over certain student services: its caseworkers give free advice on legal issues, Centrelink
and conflicts between students and university administration, and it runs a second-hand bookshop. It also publishes Honi Soit
, Australia's only remaining weekly student newspaper, as well as Growing Strong, the Women's handbook and the Orientation Handbook.
The SRC is also home to broader political campaigns organised around its mass-member collectives, which are highly involved in the movements for free speech, free education, women's and queer liberation and compulsory student unionism. It has collectives in the areas of Education, Women's, Queer, Environment, Humanitarian Aid and Anti-Racism, and co-ordinates its activism with the National Union of Students
.
have a presence at Sydney University, such as National Labor Students, Centre Unity
(Labor Right), the Greens, Grassroots Left and several factions of the Liberals
, although since 2010 there has been a noted absence of the Socialist Alternative
on campus.
Since 2000 the SRC has been controlled by what is now National Labor Students (formerly the National Organisation of Labor Students), the student arm of Labor's Socialist Left. Prior to that, from the late 1980s until 1997, the SRC was controlled by the Left Alliance, a former NUS faction made up of a coalition students to the left of Labor
such as Socialist Alternative, Grassroots Left style groupings and what would later become Solidarity
.
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
.
Structure
The SRC is governed by the Council, which consists of 33 Representatives elected annually by undergraduate students. The Council meets once a month. It is the supreme decision-making body in the SRC.The Executive of the SRC is elected annually by the Council, and consists of the President, Vice-President, General Secretary, and five general members, elected proportionally out of Council. Meeting weekly, the Executive makes most significant decisions regarding the SRC.
The day-to-day operation of the SRC is generally conducted by paid staff and paid office-bearers, being the President (directly elected by students), the General Secretary, the Education Officer(s), and Women's Officer(s).
Annual elections are held in September each year, to elect the Council, the President, 7 NUS
National Union of Students of Australia
The National Union of Students is the peak representative body for Australian university students. Most student unions in Australian campuses are affiliated to NUS...
delegates, and the editors of Honi Soit
Honi Soit
Honi Soit is the student newspaper of the University of Sydney, first published in 1929 and produced by an elected editorial team as part of the activities of the Students' Representative Council...
, the student newspaper. Unlike most student organisations, other office-bearers are elected by the Council, and not directly by students. All undergraduate students have a right to vote in annual elections.
History
The SRC was founded in the late 1920s, and is one of the oldest student organisations in Australia. The SRC was prominent in student campaigns against the war in Vietnam and numerous other political issues. The SRC was also deeply involved in the campaign to create the separate Political Economy department within the School of Economics in the late 1970s.Past SRC Presidents
| Name | Year | Grouping |
|---|---|---|
| J.M. Gosper | 1930 | |
| Frank Wood Bayldon | 1931 | |
| V.J. Flynn | 1932 | |
| C.R. Laverty | 1933 | |
| J. Bowie-Wilson | 1934 | |
| D.R. Lewis | 1935 | |
| G.P. Campbell | 1936 | |
| Kevin Ellis Kevin Ellis (Australian politician) Sir Kevin William Collin Ellis KBE was an Australian politician, elected as a Liberal member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly.... |
1937-38 | |
| P.J. Kenny | 1938 | |
| W. Granger | 1939 | |
| J.H.E. Mackay | 1940 | |
| J.S. Collings | 1941-42 | |
| P.P. Manzie | 1942 | |
| Moya McDade | 1943 | |
| Keith Dan | 1944 | |
| Marnie Watt | 1945 | |
| John Nash | 1946 | |
| John Redrup | 1947 | |
| Ted McWhinney Ted McWhinney Edward Watson "Ted" McWhinney, QC is a Canadian lawyer and academic specializing in constitutional and international law. He was a Liberal Party Member of Parliament from 1993 to 2000 for the electoral district of Vancouver Quadra.... |
1948 | |
| Alan Beattie | 1949 | |
| Jim Brassil | 1950 | |
| Peter J. Curtis | 1951 | |
| Phillip Jeffrey | 1952 | |
| Gregory Bartels | 1953 | |
| Philip Berthon-Jones | 1954 | |
| Greg Dunne | 1955 | |
| Tony Reading | 1956 | |
| Jim Carlton | 1957 | |
| Malcolm Brown | 1958 | |
| Brian L. Hennessy | 1958 | |
| M.G.I. Davey | 1959 | |
| Robert J. Wallace | 1960 | |
| Peter Wilenski | 1961 | |
| John Boyd | 1962 | |
| Michael Kirby Michael Kirby Michael Donald Kirby AC, CMG, is an Australian retired judge, jurist, and academic who is a former Justice of the High Court of Australia, serving from 1996 to 2009.-Biography:Michael Kirby attended Fort Street High School in Sydney... |
1963-64 | |
| Bob McDonald | 1964 | |
| Michael A. Weber | 1965 | |
| J. Richard Walsh | 1965-66 | |
| Geoffrey Robertson Geoffrey Robertson Geoffrey Ronald Robertson QC is an Australian-born human rights lawyer, academic, author and broadcaster. He holds dual Australian and British citizenship.... |
1966-67 | |
| Alan Cameron | 1967-68 | |
| Jim Spigelman | 1968-69 | |
| Percy Allan | 1969-70 | |
| Barry Robinson | 1970 | |
| Chris Beale | 1970-71 | |
| Chris Sidoti | 1971-72 | |
| Brett Mattes | 1974 | |
| John McGrath | 1975 | |
| David Patch | 1976 | |
| Peter Byrnes | 1977 | |
| Barbara Ramjan | 1977-1978 | |
| Tony Abbott Tony Abbott Anthony John "Tony" Abbott is the Leader of the Opposition in the Australian House of Representatives and federal leader of the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. Abbott has represented the seat of Warringah since the 1994 by-election... |
1979 | Democratic Labor Party Democratic Labor Party The Democratic Labor Party is a political party in Australia that espouses social conservatism and opposes neo-liberalism. The first "DLP" Senator in decades, party vice-president John Madigan was elected to the Australian Senate with 2.3 percent of the primary vote in Victoria at the 2010 federal... |
| Paul Brereton | 1980-81 | Centre Unity |
| Paul Rickard | 1982 | |
| John Martin | 1983 | |
| Belinda Neal Belinda Neal Belinda Jane Neal , a former Australian federal politician, was a Member of the House of Representatives representing the electorate of Robertson between 2007 and 2010; and representing the state of New South Wales in the Senate from 1994 to 1998, both of behalf of the Australian Labor... |
1984 | Centre Unity |
| Mark Heyward | 1985 | Liberal |
| Helen Spowart | 1986 | Labor Left |
| Joe Hockey Joe Hockey Joseph Benedict "Joe" Hockey , is an Australian politician and member of the Australian House of Representatives, representing the Division of North Sydney for the Liberal Party of Australia since 1996.... |
1987 | Liberal |
| Liz Gardiner | 1988 | Left Alliance |
| Rod McDonald | 1989 | Left Alliance |
| Vanessa Chan | 1990 | Left Alliance |
| Caitlin Vaughan | 1991 | Left Alliance |
| Amanda Lees | 1992 | Left Alliance |
| Anna Davis | 1993 | Left Alliance |
| Heidi Norman | 1994 | Left Alliance |
| Nadya Haddad | 1995 | Left Alliance |
| Catherine Burnheim | 1996 | Left Alliance |
| Katrina Curry | 1997 | Left Alliance |
| Adair Durie | 1998 | Students First (Liberal) |
| Luke Whitington | 1998-1999 | Labor Left |
| Natasha Verco | 2000 | National Broad Left / Activist Left |
| Moksha Watts | 2001 | Labor Left |
| Daniel Kyriacou | 2002 | Labor Left |
| Jo Haylen | 2003 | Labor Left |
| Felix Eldridge | 2004 | Labor Left |
| Rose Jackson Rose Jackson Rose Jackson is a Councillor for Waverley Council in Sydney, Australia. She was the former President of the Australian National Union of Students... |
2005 | Labor Left |
| Nick Wood | 2006 | Labor Left |
| Angus McFarland | 2007 | Labor Left |
| Kate Laing | 2008 | Labor Left |
| Noah White | 2009 | Labor Left |
| Elly Howse | 2010 | Labor Left |
| Donherra (Dee) Walmsley | 2011 | Labor Left |
| Phoebe Drake | 2012 | Labor Left |
- Peter Byrnes resigned midway through his term, and was replaced by Barbara Ramjan. Ramjan subsequently won election to the presidency in her own right.
- Adair Durie was removed from office following the 1997 election.
- Luke Whitington was elected in the 1998 by-election following the removal of Adair Durie, and was elected again at the 1998 general election to serve in 1999.
Prominent former Presidents of the SRC include cabinet ministers, Justices of the High Court of Australia
High Court of Australia
The High Court of Australia is the supreme court in the Australian court hierarchy and the final court of appeal in Australia. It has both original and appellate jurisdiction, has the power of judicial review over laws passed by the Parliament of Australia and the parliaments of the States, and...
and Members of Parliament. Presidents of the SRC have regularly gone on to become President of the National Union of Students, with the 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, and 2007 Presidents being immediately elected to the peak office in NUS.
Functions
The SRC focuses its work on lobbying the university to uphold student rights and maintain fair and accessible education, rather than directly providing services. This sets it apart from the University of Sydney UnionUniversity of Sydney Union
The University of Sydney Union is the student-run services and amenities provider at the University of Sydney. The Union's key services include the provision of food and beverages, live music and other entertainment, the Verge Arts Festival and other cultural activities, Orientation week and...
, which administers Clubs and Societies, provides food services, and runs the Manning, Holme and Wentworth buildings. However, the SRC does exercise control over certain student services: its caseworkers give free advice on legal issues, Centrelink
Centrelink
Centrelink is the trading name of the Commonwealth Service Delivery Agency , a statutory authority responsible for delivering human services on behalf of agencies of the Commonwealth Government of Australia. The majority of Centrelink's services are the disbursement of social security payments...
and conflicts between students and university administration, and it runs a second-hand bookshop. It also publishes Honi Soit
Honi Soit
Honi Soit is the student newspaper of the University of Sydney, first published in 1929 and produced by an elected editorial team as part of the activities of the Students' Representative Council...
, Australia's only remaining weekly student newspaper, as well as Growing Strong, the Women's handbook and the Orientation Handbook.
The SRC is also home to broader political campaigns organised around its mass-member collectives, which are highly involved in the movements for free speech, free education, women's and queer liberation and compulsory student unionism. It has collectives in the areas of Education, Women's, Queer, Environment, Humanitarian Aid and Anti-Racism, and co-ordinates its activism with the National Union of Students
National Union of Students
-British Isles:*National Union of Students**National Union of Students-Union of Students in Ireland**National Union of Students Scotland**National Union of Students Wales-Scandinavia:*Danish National Union of Students*National Union of Students in Finland...
.
Politics
From the mid-1960s the SRC has been at the centre of student activism in Australia. Most activist groupings in the National Union of StudentsNational Union of Students
-British Isles:*National Union of Students**National Union of Students-Union of Students in Ireland**National Union of Students Scotland**National Union of Students Wales-Scandinavia:*Danish National Union of Students*National Union of Students in Finland...
have a presence at Sydney University, such as National Labor Students, Centre Unity
Labor Right
The Labor Right, or Labor Unity in some State branches, or Centre Unity in NSW, is the organised faction of the Australian Labor Party that tends to be more economically liberal and socially conservative than Labor Left....
(Labor Right), the Greens, Grassroots Left and several factions of the Liberals
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
, although since 2010 there has been a noted absence of the Socialist Alternative
Socialist Alternative
Socialist Alternative can refer to any of several Trotskyist political organizations, many affiliated to the Committee for a Workers International or Reunified Fourth International:-See also:...
on campus.
Since 2000 the SRC has been controlled by what is now National Labor Students (formerly the National Organisation of Labor Students), the student arm of Labor's Socialist Left. Prior to that, from the late 1980s until 1997, the SRC was controlled by the Left Alliance, a former NUS faction made up of a coalition students to the left of Labor
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
such as Socialist Alternative, Grassroots Left style groupings and what would later become Solidarity
Solidarity (Australia)
Solidarity is a Trotskyist organisation in Australia, formed in 2008 from a merger between three out of four groups emerging from the International Socialist tradition: the International Socialist Organisation , Socialist Action Group and Solidarity. The group is a member of the International...
.
See also
- University of Sydney UnionUniversity of Sydney UnionThe University of Sydney Union is the student-run services and amenities provider at the University of Sydney. The Union's key services include the provision of food and beverages, live music and other entertainment, the Verge Arts Festival and other cultural activities, Orientation week and...
- Sydney University Postgraduate Representative AssociationSydney University Postgraduate Representative AssociationThe Sydney University Postgraduate Representative Association is the peak body of elected representatives who campaign on behalf of the Research and Coursework Students at The University of Sydney, alongside the University of Sydney Students' Representative Council.-About the Council:The Council...