SRC mania!

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By Conrad Reyners | 9 Apr, 2008

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Today VUWSA held an SRC (Student Representative Council) meeting at Mount Street Bar and Cafe. Surprisingly it got quorum. Some contentious issues were discussed and farcically debated. But one issue wasnt, and that issue is that SRC’s are a crock of shit. They are not ‘councils’ and they are not fucking ‘representative’.

In todays hubbub, we saw a motion passed that stated that students are against free printing. A pretty good motion from Gecko, and one that makes economic sense. Unfortunately it also destroyed half of Joel’s Mandate. Its pretty fucking strange when a group of 50 people can effectively override the majority who voted for Joel. Im not being spurious, I find the whole situation pretty alarming. It can effectively neuter a student politician in the eyes of the student body.

Another motion that was passed was “that VUWSA (and vic students) support fair trade”. I have no beef with VUWSA exec members or individual students supporting fair trade. But I find it absolutely repugnant that an SRC can label all students under one political position. Argh, it really grind my gears. What also ground my gears was the awful advertisement for the SRC. As well as the fact that the topics discussed were NOT the ones mentioned in the single ad that was published. If they were, im sure more people would have attended. In VUWSA’s defense, it appears there was some managerial confusion as to which topics to publish. But thats no excuse. I strived in vain to find a reading of the constitution that would make the SRC judicially reviewable, alas I could not find one. But that does little to seethe my anger at the improper running of this SRC.

A group of fifty students is NOT representative of the student body. It also doesn’t have enough critical mass to be called a council. VUWSA should make sure that on issues of public opinion they either have a very large quorum, or even better, make sure that motions of political opinion are not allowed at all.

Comments

Inadvisable Hand
April 9th, 2008 at 9:04 pm

What do you propose in the place of SRC’s if they’re not effective and destroy the mandate of the VUWSA exec (which in itself is not representative of most of the student body). Larger ones? If by that you mean SRC’s that no ones turn up to?

Also how do you stop motions of “political opinion”. Most moves that VUWSA makes are political, the fact that the exec is made up of lefty’s is in itself political. It is a tough distinction to make.

This almost sounds like an argument for VSM…

Small groups shanghai’ing SRCs and SGMs, is something that goes back to the 50’s and 60’s when the Anarchists were prominent on campus, and in the 70’s when the exec gave money to the Vietcong for a tank. No way can we have a union body that is always going to represent all of the students in their constituency all the time. What we do have at the moment is a way in which students, can run for the exec, and have their say, and hold those elected accountable.

I can see all the VSM people going Ohhhhhhh giggity giggity VUWSA’s going down, and saying things like:

“It is a logical argument that with fewer numbers, once people opt out of being a member of VUWSA, elections, SRCs and AGMs will be more compact and be able to make quorum, and pass motions that a majority of people in that quorum, and of this VSM VUWSA agree with.”

Instead of saying ‘it doesn’t work, lets just throw it away,’ students should be seeing the flaws in the system and saying, shit this system is broken, I need to get involved, and help change the course that VUWSA is on. That is where most of the dissatisfaction with student politics comes from, the fact that mainly loonies run for office, and the small group of students who elect them in, are apathetic the rest of the time.

RANT OVER

Conrad Reyners
April 9th, 2008 at 9:25 pm

I agree with you, I’m merely highlighting one of the ways in which the system is broken — the way SRCs are run. Perhaps they could be fewer in number, properly advertised and have rule clauses embargoing the proposal of overtly political motions such as “Students support Fair Trade” I never advocated the removal of SRCs, lrn2read plz.

As with politics, I understand that VUWSA may be political, I was never arguing this contention. But that concession does not extend to the public meetings VUWSA constitutionally has to hold. There is no need for VUWSA to extend a political image during those meetings, or to allow one to be extended. And IF they were held less frequently, AND publicized phenomenally better — then not only would the SRCs be afforded a better quality debate, they would also allow greater representation of the plethora of viewpoints prevalent on campus around ISSUES, not ideologies.

I still stand behind my points. Issues of personal politics that are of no direct relation to student politics have no place in SRCs. Allowing them is just self congratulatory wank off sessions for the interested parties involved. You could probably suggest a motion asking for “vic students to support the ban on Di-hydrogen monoxide” and it would pass.

Inadvisable Hand
April 9th, 2008 at 9:47 pm

Ahhhhhh C-Rad I never actually said that you advocated the removal of SRC’s, lrn 2 rd plz.

I agree with the rest of what you have said. Dick.

Conrad Reyners
April 9th, 2008 at 10:00 pm

put your finger up your bum J-w

peteremcc
April 10th, 2008 at 10:17 am

Again, VUWSA can’t represent all students, because not all students have the same view.

Either VUWSA becomes a-political or it becomes voluntary.

An a-political VUWSA doesn’t mis-represent the majority of students who don’t care what goes on at the SRC, a voluntary VUWSA can do whatever it wants because it only represents those who choose to have their views represented.

Matty Smith
April 11th, 2008 at 4:40 pm

I’m confused. Why is there an apostrophe on SRCs? It isn’t a possessive.

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Conrad Reyners

Conrad is a very grumpy boy. When he was little he had a curl in the middle of his forehead. When he was good, he was moderately good, but when he was mean he was HORRID. He likes guns, bombs and shooting doves. He can often be found reading books about Mussolini and tank warfare. His greatest dream is to invent an eighteen foot high mechanical spider, which has an antimatter lazer attached to its back.