USyd Students - the VSU Era - What will you do? (2 Viewers)

[bradc1988]

Hell no

That $604 I paid this year could have paid for all my textbooks with change, and for what, using my access card a few times?

And hopefully this will stem all the pamplets and such floating around Uni, which are annoying as hell. Don't they understand I don't care? Oh and whoever keeps giving these people chalk, stop!

 

[Mambomeg]

Of course it will, as I said anyone who signs up to the SRC will be directly funding protests, because the rest has been covered by the university.

Thats a shame if its true because the SRC fees were the only ones i was definately going to pay next year.

I agree with the services the SRC offers (Centrelink help, legal advice, short term loans etc) but i dont agree with the rallies where a select few students go on a rampage and assault police officers and block roads, generally pissing people off and giving all students a bad name.

Perhaps since the uni is already paying for all this i might contribute my $60 odd dollars to the building fund instead, thereby paying for what i wanted to pay for in the first place.... if that makes sense.

 

[veridis]

does nobody understand that SA =/= SRC union? the pamphlets will continue as always. we might see a slight decline in the anti-VSU ones and hte protests will have less publicity but the pamphlet handers for SA, EU and recently the muslim group(whose massive posters i thought were more effective than pamphlets anyway) will continue as these groups have significant member bases and can easily raise most of the funds they need anyway.
while i'm as annoyed as anyone at leafleters and the lack of poster ettiquite(i mean cmon 1 or 2 posters per board is enough people, no need to wallpaper over everyone elses just so they can do it back to you tomorrow) VSU wont cahnge much of this.
i also find it amusing that everyone is WOO 500 BUCKS yet fail to realise HECS increases over the last 2 years outweight this and that over the last 5-10 years the SRC and NUS have easily saved us more than 500 a year by putting pressure on the gov to keep increases to a minimum.
the system was in need of a reform to make it mroe relevant to the avg student but VSU wont to much to solve this.

 

[bradc1988]

Who cares, I'd rather pay nothing now and $500+ later on HECS, because I don't have $500+.

 

[withoutaface]

does nobody understand that SA =/= SRC union? the pamphlets will continue as always. we might see a slight decline in the anti-VSU ones and hte protests will have less publicity but the pamphlet handers for SA, EU and recently the muslim group(whose massive posters i thought were more effective than pamphlets anyway) will continue as these groups have significant member bases and can easily raise most of the funds they need anyway.
while i'm as annoyed as anyone at leafleters and the lack of poster ettiquite(i mean cmon 1 or 2 posters per board is enough people, no need to wallpaper over everyone elses just so they can do it back to you tomorrow) VSU wont cahnge much of this.
i also find it amusing that everyone is WOO 500 BUCKS yet fail to realise HECS increases over the last 2 years outweight this and that over the last 5-10 years the SRC and NUS have easily saved us more than 500 a year by putting pressure on the gov to keep increases to a minimum.
the system was in need of a reform to make it mroe relevant to the avg student but VSU wont to much to solve this.

I'd rather pay for, and subsequently get, a better education than fund protests and childcare.

 

[KeypadSDM]

I'd rather pay for, and subsequently get, a better education than fund protests and childcare.

In that respect you could argue taxes are useless because they fund things we don't want sometimes...

 

[withoutaface]

In that respect you could argue taxes are useless because they fund things we don't want sometimes...

 

[Phanatical]

There's a difference between a government of people in a nation, and a university SRC full of povo students. In the first instance, it is often justified to charge a tax for the benefit of the greater good. In the second, it is not because the benefit of the greater good is not found in increased spending on campus.

The overwhelming majority of students will not join the SRC/Union/Sport next year unless they're free (as SRC should be). That's because most students do not consider the cost of membership to be less valuable than the benefits they may receive from membership of our student organisations. The example of (for example) Tasmania University Union has demonstrated that even without mandatory fees, most (if not all) of the services provided by SRC/Union could continue under a VSU environment. At TUU, SRC membership is free, and Union membership is $60 (less than 20% of the USYD Union fee) - which most TUU students would consider a worthwhile investment for the very same services we supposedly receive (and a few that we don't).

 

[veridis]

I'd rather pay for, and subsequently get, a better education than fund protests and childcare.

yet you support reductions in funding. nice logic. i would rather maximise my cash to education ratio, which even with the inefficient use of union/src funds under the current system is done by supporting it. people think they get no benifit, as soon as you look at initial proposals and what got past student lobying for fee increases you see that it worth it.
yes there is need for reform but if everyone moderate just cuts and runs its hardly going to decrease the left protest activity now is it.
on the childcare issue you're a heartless bastard so i wont argue there.personally i dont mind 10 bucks of mine going towards it

 

[withoutaface]

yet you support reductions in funding. nice logic. i would rather maximise my cash to education ratio, which even with the inefficient use of union/src funds under the current system is done by supporting it. people think they get no benifit, as soon as you look at initial proposals and what got past student lobying for fee increases you see that it worth it.
yes there is need for reform but if everyone moderate just cuts and runs its hardly going to decrease the left protest activity now is it.
on the childcare issue you're a heartless bastard so i wont argue there.personally i dont mind 10 bucks of mine going towards it

I support funding from the government being cut to zero, as espoused in "the argue with waf thread" and some 12 page policy paper I since lost, but can probably dig up if anyone's interested.

And yes, sure I'm a heartless bastard for supporting the abolition of subsidies for childcare for union staff who earn more than I do and thus are in a better position to fund such childcare.

 

[ujuphleg]

Hah USYD fags, I skewed your results and voted to 'Not support any of the student organisations' LOLOLOLOLLOLZ

Great.

And because I'm not using this information for demographics because of people like you, it doesn't matter in the slightest.

Have a nice day.

 

[Collin]

VSU - bloody awesome.

 

[Phanatical]

Let's put it this way. If you don't vote for Sonia and her team this year, next year the Union, SRC and Sport will be receiving huge "grants" from the University that won't be used to reduce class sizes, the cost of course readers (which are far more reasonable than Union fees), or the day-to-day expense of being a university student.

In 2006, the SRC spent an unbelievable amount of money protesting VSU, and if you Don't vote for Sonia and Voice, that figure will climb exponentially. That's already a promise of Angus, Alma and Dan.

It only takes 40 votes to get a seat on the SRC. It could be YOUR vote that means the difference between an SRC that gives students a VOICE, and an SRC that steals our money.

Edit: Also, Sonia is by far the hottest candidate this year.

 

[yulia]

Major lag.

If I'm even at USyd, I'll pay for SUSport...and...I dunno I couldn't be bothered to download the PDF to see how things are restructured. But whatever pays for sport is what I'll be paying for.

And in respect to the childcare thing, I think they think you're heartless because of the comment about women should think about how babies would impact their education. Accidents can happen, and abortion can often conflict with a woman's beliefs and morals - i'm sure they have thought about how much harder having a child would make not only their education but their entire life, but the thought of the impact on her education won't, and shouldn't impact on whether or not that child gets to live

Anyways, go SUSport! Yay! They have TVs in the gym which have helped me through this difficult period of my TV dying.

 

[ElGronko]

I think the union should close off Manning and only allow those who are members of the union to enter and charge a fee for everyone else.

Obviously the businesses would go broke, but it would still be funny.

Except that the fucking socialists would probably pay their fees too and invade.

Fuck, this scenario is getting less amusing by the second.

 

[ElGronko]

Let's put it this way. If you don't vote for Sonia and her team this year, next year the Union, SRC and Sport will be receiving huge "grants" from the University that won't be used to reduce class sizes, the cost of course readers (which are far more reasonable than Union fees), or the day-to-day expense of being a university student.

In 2006, the SRC spent an unbelievable amount of money protesting VSU, and if you Don't vote for Sonia and Voice, that figure will climb exponentially. That's already a promise of Angus, Alma and Dan.

It only takes 40 votes to get a seat on the SRC. It could be YOUR vote that means the difference between an SRC that gives students a VOICE, and an SRC that steals our money.

Edit: Also, Sonia is by far the hottest candidate this year.

Nah, she fully wasn't the hottest.

That socialist refugee was a bit of a fox, too bad about her voice though.

 

[ElGronko]

Thank you Santa.

I am not basing this on merely her posters, she came and raved at my lectures on many occasions, as did all the candidates, and seeing as I didn't give a fuck about what they were saying my mind would wander and examine them on appearance alone.

The refugee wench was the most physically attractive.

Having said that, I reckon Sonia would be a wild one on the mattress.

 

[Phanatical]

One of my old high school classmates dated Alma for a while. She refused to put out.

 

[Deathby]

I agree the SRC shouldn't be funding protests, but this isn't the way to do it. There should be greater accountability in the system, that forces the SRC to disclose how much it spends on what and who spends it. VSU won't stop the SA's vocal and annoying pamphlets. The SA doesn't get enough members voted on to do anything with the SRC, its NOLS who have the power but they're politically minded enough to not do anything too annoying.

You've forgotten that the SRC/Union isn't all just protesting it also:
1) Prints the Honi.
Some may disagree with its politics, but they got elected for those politics and I find it very useful as a source of info about what's happening in uni politics

2) Legal, financial help/advice
Its not just lazy bums who need this, my friend shouted out "why won't this fucking balance" during an accounting exam and from what he tells me, someone from the SRC was most helpful in stopping him losing all his marks from that test. Quah raised legal aid as a substitute. Legal Aid won't help with such petty matters, its overworked as it is so even if it did, it would take far too long to be of any use.

It also protects the rights of minorities. Except Jews But seriously, Women's Space and Queer Space are useful.

3) Clubs and Societies (including sport)
These are entirely funded by the Union and most of them will be gone. IMO the only ones that survive are CommSoc and the other careers based ones because they can get corporate financing which is just bloody stupid.


So ask yourself- if taxes were voluntary, would you pay? The arguments against VSU can be applied to govt.
1) politics
If you disagree with the Iraq War, your tax money is funding it. If you disagree with abortions, your tax money is helping fund abortion clinics and abortion helplines.

2) I don't use it.
Yeah, you don't get social security payments either. Isn't one of our core values the belief that we should help those less fortunate than ourselves (referring to legal advice, protecting minority rights etc?)

 

[Phanatical]

There is a difference between taxes and mandatory union fees however - taxes are spent to benefit the entire community (theoretically). While mandatory union fees are intended to fulfill the same purpose within the university community, in practice it does not (moreso than taxes), to the extent that students would be better off without them. I don't think anybody here, except the most hardcore Liberal, could argue that this is also true of our taxation system.

Another key difference is the fact that (grossly simplified) taxes are charged according to how much you earn, and how much you spend. The Union/SRC/Sport fee is/was the same for every student, whether or not a student lives on campus and can make full use of those facilities, or a student lives an hour and a half away from campus and spends more time travelling to uni than they do At uni.

Also, consider that the mandatory fee was, until this year, an undeferable fee of up to $600 per student. For many students, this represents easily two weeks earnings. In extreme cases students can choose to eat, or to pay Union fees. I would argue that there are VERY few students who will recoup their Union fees through Union/SRC/Sport activities - and that these VERY few students are those who are in a secure enough financial position to be living on campus anyway.

In regards to the individual issues you raised:

Legal/Financial services: these represent an incredibly miniscule amount of the SRC budget because many of these services are provided pro bono.

Clubs and Societies: Many C&Ses have been forced to close because they are unable to secure Union funding - and have moved to become financially independent from the Union. As a former Society Vice-President, my final duty was to wrap up SECS because the Union owed us over $3000 in funding that was promised to us, but we never received (and ultimately cost our former President $1000, me $400 and our Secretary $400 covering debts - money which we'll probably never see again).

SRC Publications: Honi Soit is a shit rag, but it also comes at a minimal cost to the student body as somebody has to pay for all those advertisements.

Women's Space/Queer Space: Where's the "Men's Space"? Where's the "Chinese Space"? Where's the "Goth's Space"? Women's Space and Queer Space only exist for feminists and "Queer" activists. One of my gay classmates once asked me to fight the SRC on this issue - because he felt the term "Queer" to be derogatory, and that "Queer Activism" aims to be divisive, rather than inclusive in society.

Rights of Minorities: If, by "rights of minorities", you mean terrorist organisations and the politically advantageous ethnic group of the day, then sure. If you mean real discrimination against those of ethnic minorities, then (being of the one ethnic minority that faces greater discrimination in Australian society than any other, with the possible exception of the dirty, dirty Abos) I can promise you that I could find better advocacy from the maggots living in a hippie's hair.

Politics: Why the fuck should I pay for protests and politics, when the student union/SRC can't even provide basic services to my campus? About the only meaningful thing my campus has been able to get out of our Union in the last four years is food poisoning. It's all well and good to say that hippie politics is wonderful. But if it's at the expense of students and the services we are forced to pay for (and it is), then it's not acceptable.