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University of Melbourne Student Union

Meeting of the Students’ Council

Agenda

12 PM, 26.08.2015

Meeting 20

Private Dining Room, Union House

1. Procedural Matters

1.1 Election of Chair

1.2 Acknowledgement of Indigenous Owners

1.3 Attendance

1.4 Apologies

1.5 Proxies

1.6 Adoption of Agenda

1.7 Membership

Ezgi Bridger and Charles Gerrand are no longer members of Students’ Council due to failure to meet the attendance requirements.

2. Confirmation of Previous Minutes

3. Matters Arising from the Minutes

4. Correspondence

National Student Leadership Forum Sponsorship – Julian Fang

Big Bazaar Report

5. Office Bearers’ Reports

6. General Manager’s Report

7. Other Reports

8. Operational Business

8.1 C&S Regulation Changes

8.2 Safety in Clubs

9. Motions on Notice

9.1 UMSU/SSAF Banner

9.2 AllSex Program

10. Motions Without Notice

11. Other Business

12. Next Meeting

13. Close

5. Office Bearer Reports

President

General Secretary


Report of

Hana Dalton General Secretary

To Students’ Council 20/15

26/08/2015

Constitutional Working Group

The Constitutional Working Group is now meeting on a weekly basis in an effort to develop

proposals before the end of the year. Following a discussion about the enfranchisement of trans

women, we have also discussed the possibility of granting the Burnley Campus Coordinator an

honorarium, and closing loopholes to ensure that there is no ambiguity around Office Bearers who

graduate after being elected as students retaining office. At the most recent meeting, we discussed

the current committee structure and associated issues, such as achieving quorum. There were a

number of ideas put forward, both for constitutional and cultural change within the organisation to

ensure the system operates effectively.

Operations Sub-Committee

The latest meeting of the Operations Sub-Committee was held on the 20th August. Expenditure was

passed for the Dis-Orientation BBQ and for snacks and drinks for the upcoming Student Forum about

the level 1 bar space.

Elected Representatives Meeting

On Thursday 20th August, myself along with the President and Education (Academic Affairs) Officers

met with Wendy Holden (Acting Director, Students and Equity) and Sue Elliot (Deputy Vice-

Chancellor – Engagement). We discussed a number of important issues, including the forthcoming

changes to allow students to alter their listed gender on University enrolment forms, the University’s

approach to ensuring academic integrity in relation to plagiarism, and the approach to creating study

spaces funded by SSAF. We also began a conversation about the safety of women students on

campus, especially in relation to sexual assault and harassment. It is positive to see that the

University is being proactive on many of these issues, and I look forward to following up on these

issues to ensure outcomes for students.

Activities

Clubs & Societies

Creative Arts

Education (Academic Affairs)


Report of Nellie Montague & Shanley Price

Education (Academic Affairs) Officers

To Students’ Council 19/15 13/08/2015

Gender X In line with Australian Law, the University will be providing a third gender option on all forms. Ed Ac and Queer have been and will continue to be involved with the process to ensure the correct terminology is used. This update will be available to all students, to edit on their my.unimelb by self nomination (no documentation required). We will be working together to make sure adequate prefix options are provided to ensure all those changing their gender listing. Developments to come on how this impacts Electoral regulations for autonomous positions.

Big Bazaar All money and items have been returned to students. There was also a thank-you dinner held last Thursday (20th August) for the volunteers who gave up countless hours and ensured it all went smoothly. The remaining books have since been donated to the book co-op, Items to the Welfare department’s food bank, some clothing to the Queer Department’s trans* clothing drive and the remainder to the clothes swap outside the book co-op/enviro office. A full report is attached in the correspondence. Queer Scholarship Shanley is in the preliminary stages of securing a scholarship for a queer student from a disadvantaged background to attend university. It is the hope the scholarship will cover relocation and living costs for a student from an underrepresented are in Australia. Accommodation will hopefully be provided at Trinity College. An ex-trinitarian and Rhodes Scholar has expressed interest in providing funding to the project. This will provide invaluable support to a future University of Melbourne student who may not otherwise be able to attend Unimelb. BSc There is a survey circulating for Bachelor of Science students to gauge their interest in double majors on transcripts. EdAc is in ongoing conversations with the faculty and the course standing committee on this issue. Please pass the survey (UMSU Edu FB has the link) to everyone you know in the BSc.

Special Consideration Procedure The Education department was invited to workshops for developing the new Special consideration procedure. These are ongoing and at this point have only attended the review of the HPR forms. However, it appears equitable and more accessible. Coming up will be a review of the new

application process both online and in student centres. Furthermore, we will be launching a push to remove ‘hay fever, colds and period pain’ from the ineligible ailments for special consideration. Incorrect results on LMS There have been cases reported to us of incorrect results appearing on the LMS from last semester. We had confirmation from the university that if this has happened to a student and as a result, were ineligible for a scholarship, further study or similar, to lodge a grievance to have the issue addressed. The University will do all they can to re-evaluate your applications in light of the mistake on their behalf. Academic Misconduct FAQ A FAQ was circulated to all faculties regarding Academic Misconduct procedures. This will hopefully create a more homogenous approach to misconducts across faculties. This is tied with the release of an integrity report from the University which will ensure a better follow-up and scrutiny of academic misconduct. Swinburne We had a cross-campus meeting with the education officer from Swinburne Uni. It was great to hear how their Education Council works (comparable to our SRN). They have a lot of faculty involvement which is something we have been really pushing to increase this year. We look forward to greater collaboration between campuses and seeing alternative forms of representation. Content Warnings We have been having discussions with Disabilities department and faculties on getting content warnings put on subjects, where relevant. This would be important for students suffering from PTSD, and would allow students to have greater control of their approaches to learning. This empowering campaign will hopefully be implemented in particular classes with graphic or intense content. NDA Another NDA was held on August 19. It was great to see new faces turn up and show their support for the campaign. We had speakers including Wom*n’s officer Allie and Indigenous officer Tyson, who spoke on how deregulation will disproportionately impact already disadvantaged groups. The NTEU were more heavily involved in this NDA than previously, and we are looking to hold another event together in the coming weeks. International Liaison There will be greater collaboration between the UMSU Edu department and INTL department on future events following the success of the Big Bazaar. The INTL president is keen to see greater mingling between domestic and international students. Hopefully this partnership will work to improve relations between the two groups on campus.

Education (Public Affairs)


Report of Conor Serong

Education (Public Affairs) Officer To Students’ Council 20/15

26/08/2015

Key activities:

National Day of Action

The National Day of Action against fee deregulation and funding cuts was held on Wednesday 19

August, with students around the country simultaneously protesting. On our campus, we held a very

successful free BBQ, which saw hundreds of students fed before our contingent marched down to

the State Library to meet up with students from other campuses. We made use of the new UMSU

portable PA system, which allowed for music to be played at the BBQ, and was much louder and

clearer than a megaphone during the rally itself.

Academic Services Buyers Committee

As per my previous report, I am still attempting to secure UMSU a place on the Academic Services

Buyers Committee, however unfortunately communication has not been as forthcoming as it was at

the time of the last report.

Ivory Tower

On Tuesday 11 August we held a free film screening of the documentary Ivory Tower, alongside the

NTEU. It was held in the Union Theatre, and saw approximately 75 attendees, with a mix of students,

staff and other guests. We had free pizza and soft drinks afterwards, and I engaged in constructive

discussions with a number of attendees who found the documentary insightful and wanted to know

how to get involved in the education campaign.

Pathways Taskforce

I have been designated as the UMSU representative on a new Pathways Taskforce that the

University is convening to look at graduate pathways, employment opportunities and more. The first

meeting is being held on Friday 21 August, so I will report further after this occurs.

Portable PA system

As directed by Council at the last meeting, I bought a portable PA system for UMSU. It functions

exceptionally well, and three departments have already made use of it. The total cost, including for

additional leads and components was approximately $700 (see below for information regarding

expenditure reporting difficulties)

Expenditure since last report:

Ongoing and frustrating issues with Microsoft Outlook has meant that accessing email records has

not been possible this week. This has meant that invoices, minutes and other records required to

report on expenditure have not been accessible.

Nonetheless, here is a partial breakdown of expenses since the last report, which will be updated, to

include full information including meeting numbers and dates, and currently missing expenditure,

once these issues have been resolved.

Note, the figures below are excluding GST.

Ivory Tower screening - soft drink and other supplies: $135.18

NDA BBQ supplies: $276.24

Environment

Disabilities

Indigenous


Report of Tyson Holloway-Clarke

Indigenous Officer


Arts and Engagement As I’m sure you are all aware Mudfest has been ticking away in the quiet until recently and the Indigenous department has been collaborating with the Creative Arts department to support our amazing Indigenous artists in the form of grants and whatever else we can facilitate. I hope you all get down to the festival and bask in it’s glory- I couldn’t applaud the Creative Arts department, it’s Office Bearers or its amazing array of volunteers any more! Their efforts to be as inclusive as

possible has established a healthy culture of accessibility and I am proud to have been able to support and bring the Indigenous collective into the festival. Keep an eye out for our Night Under Bunji on the 26th of August as we take over the Mud Club and enjoy our amazing performers! Sports The Indigenous collective is amazingly talented and has secured a number of spots representing the University of Melbourne at the University Games on the Gold Coast. Coordinating with Murrup Barak we will be issuing sponsorships to ease the financial burden of attending the Games. Sponsorship applications opened on Friday the 21st and close the week before the Games. Under Bunjil Our publication is bubbling away with submissions closing on the 6th of September. Having seen a

number of early drafts we anticipate a potentially more politically charged volume and anticipate

more writers than previously. We are in discussion with a great number of off campus profess ionals

about the ways in which we could improve the magazine and establishing a sustainable culture

surrounding its publication so it carries on into the future.

Media


Report of Madeleine Cleeve Gerkens, Martin Ditmann, Lynley Eavis and Simon Farley

Media Officers


Hey guys! A bit of a shorter report from us this time – we thought we’d keep it short and sweet.

Above Water

Has arrived! Woohoo!

Behold: Edition 6

Edition 6 is complete and really for authorising and printing! It should arrive just before the start of

September. In terms of spending, we received an invoice for Edition 5, which has sent to Finance.

Coming Together

At time of writing, the Above Water launch party at Mudfest is also set to be a big hit!

Distro

We had a massively successful Open Day, handing out every copy of Farrago we’d earmarked for

that purpose. This helps us ensure Farrago remains at the heart of the university, and reaches out to

a range of future students from the very beginning. We now only have the copies of Farrago we’ve

left aside for archives and similar purposes.

Events

Wordplay was super successful, including everything from prose readings to Hill Kuttner’s choose

your own adventure story. In terms of spending, an invoice for food and drink for this event will be

sent to Finance.

Queer


Report of Andrea Bozic and Lloyd Rouse

Queer Officers


Welfare


Report of James Bashford Welfare Officer


Disorientation Week

For Disorientation Week the Welfare Department hosted a bean bag cinema in the Grand Buffet Hall

showing The Hunger Games Mockingjay: Part 1. The turnout to this event was quite disappointing

with only around a couple of dozen students, though those that did come had a very enjoyable

evening. The Hunger Games was our third preference for a movie choice after Mean Girls (the event

was on a Wednesday night, and “on Wednesdays we wear pink”) and Skyfall. The set up in Grand

Buffet Hall makes for a fantastic event however this experience shows the importance of having a

popular movie choice and greater promotion in the lead up to the event. The poor turnout may also

have a lot to do with the timing, while big movie nights have worked well in O-Week and at the ends

of the semester, perhaps they’re less likely to pull a crowd in the middle of semester. This

experience will at least be helpful in planning future events.

Wellness Week

Next week is Wellness Week, organised by Wellness@Melbourne.

UMSU Welfare will be hosting the Melburne Mingle on Monday as part of the week. This is a joint

event with UMSU Intl aimed at fostering greater interaction between local and international

students and helping students meet new friends in general. The Mingle will consist of speed

friending, group activities and then free pizza (funded by UMSU Intl). We’re currently expecting a

turnout of at least 100 students.

Our other major contribution to the week will be our Stress Less Puppies stall. We’re working with

Pet’s Haven, a not for profit animal rescue organisation, to bring their rescued dogs to uni for free. In

exchange, we’re covering the costs for setting up an enclosure for the dogs and will be collecting

donations from students to enter the enclosure, with funds raised being donated back to Pet’s

Haven. These events are always very well received by students and this has been set up in a way to

ensure it is beneficial both for students and the animals too!

Rachel and I have also been involved in ongoing discussions with the University and YEAH (Youth

Empowerment Against HIV) to set up a peer education network on campus following the YEAH

model. As part of Wellness Week, a sexual health and consent workshop has been organised to be

run by YEAH which will be a chance to begin building interest and momentum amongst students for

this initiative.

Additionally, Welfare’s regular events will also be advertised as part of the week and I plan on buying

particularly large quantities of fruit for this week’s Breakkie to further engage in the “wellness”

theme.

Expenditure

Date Amount Purchase Notes 19/8 $220.00 Movie rights The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1

19/8 $550.00 Fence Hire For Wellness Week Puppies

18/8 $217.30 $149.21

Woolworths Delivery Popcorn for movie night and Wk 4 breakkie. *Woolworths lost our order and subsequently could not deliver it meaning it had to be picked up. They were unable to give us the full amount of popcorn ordered and subsequently refunded $68.09. I’ve complained to Woolworths about this delivery.

11/8 $150.23 Woolworths Delivery Week 3 Breakfast

Wom*n’s


Report of Allison Ballantyne & Lucy Curtis

Wom*n’s Officer


Key activities:

Women in Higher Education Week

Last week was Women in Higher Education week – it was quite a successful project. Both the panel

event and our trivia night were well-attended and we got good feedback for both of them.

I Am A Girl film screening and panel discussion

This week (Wednesday 6pm) we will be hosting a joint film screening of the documentary I Am A Girl

in collaboration with the Amnesty International club, Women in Science and Engineering, Women in

Philosophy at the University of Melbourne and and the Amnesty Women’s Rights Defenders

Network. Dr Maree Pardy from the School of Social and Political Sciences and Dr Alison Morgan,

Senior Technical Advisor in Maternal Health at the Nossal Institute for Global Health, will be

speaking on the panel. We are currently looking for 2 more speakers.

Talk About It survey

The NUS Talk About It survey launched on August 3 and so far the roll out has been reasonably

successful – Melbourne Uni has received the most responses out of any university so far. We have

been promoting the survey through social media, via email and on the student portal. On Thursday

last week we had a stall at the Disorientation Week Clubs Carnival in order to promote the survey.

We are also going to try to get a whole of university email sent out about it.

Women’s Mentoring Network

Our first networking night for the semester was last Monday. There was a good turnout to the event

and it received good feedback. Our next networking event has been scheduled for Tuesday 15

September.

Sexual health workshop

This week (Thursday 3.30pm) we are hosting a free sexual health workshop which is open to all. It

will be run by a sexual health nurse.

Budget expenditure since last report:

VCA

Meeting

no. Date Description Amount Line-Item Comments

13/15

Venue Management event

support for I Am A Girl

screening $352

Special

projects/events

18/8

Food for Wom*n’s Collective

weeks 5 + 6 $80

Special

projects/events

Food for Queer and

Questioning QTs weeks 5+ 6 $80

Special

projects/events

Food for Wom*n of Colour

Collective weeks 5 + 6 $168

Special

projects/events

Payment for sexual health

nurse to run workshop $100

Special

projects/events


9.1 UMSU/SSAF Banner

Motion: To pass up to $250 from Whole of Union to purchase a large “THIS SERVICE BROUGHT TO

YOU BY YOUR SSAF/UMSU” circle banner to use at large UMSU events (for example the Tuesday

Bevs, Bands and BBQs).

Mover: Rachel Withers Seconder: James Baker

9.2 AllSex Program

Preamble: AllSex is a sexual liberation and empowerment forum that started in Universities in the

US. It is a discussion group facilitated by previous participants over a 14 week program which

provides a safe and inquisitive space to discuss issues of sexual liberation and personal

empowerment including power & privilege, masturbation and other taboo topics that aren't

frequently discussed in general public. AllSex was advertised as a program during mid-year o-week

with help of the wom*n's department and attracted substantial interest. There were 10 successful

applicants and the forum, facilitated by two Unimelb students (Brittany Bertram and Jessie Gray) has

been running for two weeks now.

Motion: to pass up to $500 from Special Activities Weeks to cover expenses for the remaining 12

weeks of the program

Mover: Shanley Price Seconder: Lucy Curtis


Meeting of the Students’ Council

UNCONFIRMED Minutes

12 PM, 13.08.2015

Meeting 19

Private Dining Room, Union House

Meeting opened at 12.19pm by Hana Dalton

14. Procedural Matters

1.8 Election of Chair

Motion 1: That Hana Dalton be elected Chair.

Mover: Rachel Withers Seconder: Stephen Smith

CARRIED

1.9 Acknowledgement of Indigenous Owners

So acknowledged.

1.10 Attendance

Councillors: Destan Dikbas, Oliver Sui, Itsi Weinstock, Karly Banks, Lachlan McCall, Lia Vassiliadis, Stephen Mitas, Steven Connolly, Annto Hassen, Pat Dollard

Office Bearers: Lloyd Rouse (Queer), Bella Vadiveloo (Creative Arts), Andrea Bozic (Queer), Daniel Sullivan (Environment), Hayden Michaelides (Activities), Simon Farley (Media), Martin Ditmann (Media), Stephen Smith (Clubs & Societies), James Baker (Activities), Conor Serong (Education Public), Claire Pollock (Clubs & Societies), Shanley Price (Education Academic), Hana Dalton (General Secretary), Rachel Withers (President), James Bashford (Welfare), Allison Ballantyne (Wom*n’s), Van Rudd (VCA), Nellie Montague (Education Academic).

Staff: Justin Baré (General Manager)

Other: Joshua Rose, Baya Ou Yang, Caleb Triscari, Justin Chua, Ryan Davey, Sarina Murray, Ben Volchok.

1.11 Apologies

Ashok Munoz, Danielle Bagnato, Sarah Xia, Jakob von der Lippe

1.12 Proxies

Ashok Munoz to Joshua Rose

Danielle Bagnato to Caleb Triscari

Sarah Xia to Destan Dikbas

Jakob von der Lippe to Baya Ou Yang

1.13 Adoption of Agenda

Motion 2: To adopt the Agenda as presented.

Mover: Chair

CARRIED

1.14 Membership

Feifei Liao has graduated and is thus no longer eligible to be a member of Students’ Council.

Office Bearer leave – Nellie Montague (21st-27th September)

Motion 3: To approve leave for Nellie Montague from 21st September to 27th September.

Mover: Stephen Smith Seconder: Rachel Withers

CARRIED

15. Confirmation of Previous Minutes

Motion 4: To confirm the minutes from 18/06/15 and 30/07/15 as true and accurate records of those meetings.

Mover: Chair

CARRIED

16. Matters Arising from the Minutes

17. Correspondence

UMSU Assessment Survey Preliminary Report to ACCC – Conor Serong

Education Department ran a survey about the most recent exam period, which will be tabled for discussion at the next ACCC meeting.

National Student Leadership Forum Sponsorship – Sam Sautelle

Discussion around Sam’s application – it was generally agreed that we would not be able to fund the full amount.

Hana confirmed the highest we could possible grant to Sam was $700.

Allison Ballantyne arrived at 12:26pm

Rachel said that it was not out of character for UMSU to give money to students as individuals to attend conferences, citing Education Conference.

Motion 5: To grant Sam Sautelle $350 from budget line Student Initiatives to attend the National Student Leadership Forum, conditional upon him reporting to Students’ Council after the Forum.

Mover: Chair

CARRIED

Joshua Rose arrived at 12:30pm

Hayden Michaelides left at 12:31pm

18. Office Bearers’ Reports

James Bashford presented a Welfare Officer report at the meeting to be tabled.

Motion 6: To accept the Office Bearers’ reports en bloc.

Mover: Chair

CARRIED

19. General Manager’s Report

Justin Baré spoke to his report.

The volunteering papers circulated are for future discussion and were tabled for noting only.

There will be a report on Advocacy and Legal Service compiled and circulated to Councillors soon. UMSU is currently working on the bar. Earlier in the year a motion was passed regarding collective bargaining – the first negotiation is tomorrow with updates to Students’ Council in due course.

Motion 7: To accept the General Manager’s report.

Mover: Chair

CARRIED

20. Other Reports

21. Operational Business

It was noted that Ezgi Bridger and Charles Gerrand’s memberships lapsed at 12.30pm as a result of not being present at the meeting.

8.1 C&S Regulation Changes

8.2 Safety in Clubs

As there was not a two-thirds majority of Councillors present we were unable to vote on 8.1, and as 8.2 assumes 8.1’s adoption, these were both deferred until a later date.


9.1 Media Department Expenditure

Motion 8: That Students’ Council approves the following expenditure from the Media Department budget:

- To reimburse Simon Farley $399.60 from the ‘Special Projects’ budget line for the Launch Party of Edition 5 of Farrago.

- To reimburse Maddy Cleeve Gerkens $60 from the ‘Special Projects’ budget line for the Launch Party of Edition Five of Farrago.

- -Up to $600 from the ‘Special Projects’ Media Department budget line for the launch party of Edition Six of Farrago.

- -Up to $150 from the ‘Special Projects’ Media Department budget line for Wordplay - -Up to $14,000 from the ‘Printing’ Media Department budget line for Edition Six of

Farrago. - -Up to $13,000 from the ‘Printing’ Media Department budget line for Edition Seven of

Farrago. - -Up to $13,000 from the ‘Printing’ Media Department budget line for Edition Eight of

Farrago.

Mover: Simon Farley Seconder: Martin Ditmann

CARRIED

9.2 Fairy Floss Machine

Motion 9: To approve up to $500 from Whole of Union for the purchase of an UMSU Fairy

Floss Machine, to complement our Popcorn Machine and save further costs (and hassle)

associated with hire into the future.

Mover: Rachel Withers Seconder: Itsi Weinstock

CARRIED

23. Motions Without Notice

10.1 Comedy Festival – deferred from Meeting 16

Preamble: Ben Volchok and myself (S Murray) have been appointed Comedy Festival

Directors for the inaugural UMSU Comedy Festival. We have blocked out October 5-10 in the

second floor and Member’s lounge to showcase performances.

We need a starter fund and we are actively approaching sponsors to give us the money

necessary to create something magical. But in the meantime, we don’t want to be focusing

on the specifics of how much security, cleaning, AV, in union house will cost per hour.

We are in the process of creating both broad and targeted cal l-outs for performers. One of

my personal artistic precursors is creating creative space for people who are usually forced

to be on the defensive. Letting people look at their daily aggressions – racism, sexism,

homophobia, ableism, etc (UMSU constitution) – and be allowed to explore that with

humour BUT also creating performances that get beyond the self -consciousness inherent in

having to justify your existence.

We need to spend active time on the ground working with people who are usually about the

defensive rather than the offensive.

We need our energy to go there rather than worrying about scheduling security guards,

cleaning, AV equipment, etc.

With this contingency fund, we have some security that our approaches to sponsors aren’t

life or death. The first 4k are pretty much the minimum amount we need to fund AV and

security. The extra 5k is the bare threads of what you need to start something amazing. And

it is a contingency, which is the point of that budget line. We are very confident that we can

attract tens of thousands in sponsorship, but in order to start planning we need something

in the bank.

Motion 10: To pass $2,000 from Whole of Union, $2,000 from Special Weeks, $5,000 from

contingency fund to support the inaugural UMSU Comedy Festival

Mover: Sarina Murray Seconder: Pat Dollard

MOTION WITHDRAWN

There is a new motion without notice that was tabled at the meeting, to be discussed at 10.7

10.2 Creative Arts Department Expenditure – Grants

Motion 11: To pass a total of $2400 towards grants for those successful from grants round 3. These applicants are; Paula Hunt, Elle Marsh, Caroline Phillips, Jai Leeworthy, Camde n Tilly. From budget line 3531.

Mover: Isabella Valdiveloo Seconder: Stephen Smith CARRIED

10.3 MUDFest Expenditure

Motion 12: To pass money for the following payments associated with Mudfest:

-Second instalment of Production Manager’s payment of $1500

-Second instalment of Access Officer’s payment of $1000

-Reimburse payment of van hire for Bonnie Leigh-Dodds of $90 for the collection of props and set pieces

-Reimburse payment of set collection and moving for Christa Jonathan for $110

-Reimburse payment of $100 for reverse art truck purchases by Bonnie Leigh-Dodds (these include timber/set/hub supplies)

-Up to $3000 for wine/spirits/non-alcoholic drinks

Mover: Isabella Valdiveloo Seconder: Stephen Smith CARRIED

10.4 Level 1 Bar Space

Preamble: On August 6 UMSU communicated to MUSUL its position that it be responsible for the operation of a bar in the recently vacated space on Level 1 of Union House. The MUSUL Board met on August 10 and agreed, in principle, to this proposal.

While MUSUL will prepare the space for operation as a lounge and bookable licensed venue from September 1, UMSU now needs to plan to commence operations in February 2016.

This motion proposes a framework for the management of this process.

Motion 13:

That Students’ Council directs the President, General Secretary and General Manager to:

1. Coordinate a project management plan to facilitate the opening of an UMSU Bar in February 2016;

2. Undertake this project in a manner that includes:

a. A project steering group comprising internal stakeholders; and

b. Extensive consultation and engagement with students, beginning with a student forum on the 25th August to inform and include the wider student body in the process.

3. Ensure that the management of the project addresses the following key issues:

a. An overarching mission and vision

b. Liquor licensing

c. Venue management

d. Layout and fit out

e. Staffing

f. Arrangements for the provision of food and alcohol service

g. Naming

h. Branding and marketing

i. Other matters as required

4. Report to Students’ Council regularly on progress in relation to this project, identifying issues that require Council’s authorization;

Students’ Council authorizes the expenditure of up to $15 000 from the Contingency line to undertake activities consistent with this motion.

Moved: Rachel Withers Seconded: Hana Dalton

CARRIED

10.5 Woolworths Strike

Preamble: As of Monday the 10th of August several hundred workers at the Melbourne Liquor Distribution Warehouse in Laverton have been on strike. The action has come in response to the introduction of labour hire in the workplace, with casualisation set to massively undermine conditions and rights within the workplace. Workers voted unanimously in favour of calling a wildcat strike, bi-passing the union officials to stand up for their rights and their own jobs. This attack comes in the midst of broader job losses in Woolworths stores across Melbourne, and as part of a ‘de -unionising’ campaign by the supermarket giant hoping to casualise warehouses.

Motion 14:

1. That the student union support the strike action of these workers in their fight for j ob security and better working conditions.

2. That UMSU will send a message of solidarity to the striking workers.

3. That UMSU and Office Bearer’s are encouraged to spread word of the action via the networks available to them to encourage students to show their support/attend the picket.

4. That a message about the picket will be posted on the UMSU website.

Mover: Lia Vassilidis Seconder: Patrick Dollard

CARRIED

Itsi Weinstock asked if it was amenable to change action point 3 to say “will spread the word” to “are encouraged to.” This was amenable to the mover and seconder.

10.6 Portable PA System

Motion 15: To approve an additional $500 from budget line Whole of Union to purchase the Portable PA system.

Mover: Conor Serong Seconder: Claire Pollock

CARRIED

10.7 Comedy Festival

Preamble: The first UMSU Comedy Festival will take place from October 5 til October 10. After consulting with AV and securing $3,000 in infrastructural support from UMSU Entertainment, we have received costs for our venue and equipment hire. While we the Directors are constantly sourcing sponsorship funding, we need to confirm and secure our bookings to ensure our festival can take place. We apologise for the lack of notice – AV have been very busy and were only able to deliver our quotes yesterday.

Motion 15: To pass $5,000 from budget line Special Activity Weeks for the UMSU Comedy Festival, to fund venue and Audio Visual hire, and pay the necessary skilled workers to do their jobs.

Mover: Ben Volchok Seconder: Sarina Murray

CARRIED

Ben and Sarina spoke to the motion and said why they needed the money. Stephen Smith said that it was important for Students’ Council to get behind this and that Clubs & Societies were promoting this event to clubs.

10.8 Union Stalls

Procedural motion: To discuss item 10.9 before 10.8. Mover: Chair CARRIED

10.9 DUSA Queer Department DUSA currently has no autonomous representatives – including Queer, Women’s, and Disabilities.

Preamble:

The University of Melbourne Student Union has a proud history of actively supporting the

representation of students from disadvantaged and marginalised groups. Queer Officers,

Wom*n’s Officers, affirmative action on committees and councils and a queer

representative on Students’ Council have been a part of UMSU’s structure since it was first

incorporated 10 years ago. These representatives are vital to ensuring that the voices of all

students are heard and represented in their union. Student Unions should acknowledge the

unique needs of these students and the particular issues they face in life and study.

The Deakin University Student Association (DUSA) is one of the last student organisations in

Australia without positions or funded departments representing queer or women identifying

students. The representation of these students has instead been left to student clubs. On

the current elected Board of Management, just two members are women, neither of whom

are a part of the four member executive.

The “Catch Up DUSA, Create a queer officer” campaign has been organised by Deakin

University students in response to the current lack of representation at their Union. Over the

few weeks of the campaign so far they have received hundreds of signatures in support of

the campaign and endorsements from leading political and entertainment figures. This is yet

to yield satisfactory results from DUSA, with one suggestion emerging of creating

representative positions but not granting these officers a vote on the committee of

management. This would effectively make the second class representatives.

Motion 16:

1. UMSU Students’ Council reaffirms its support for the democratic and autonomous

representation of marginalised student groups in their student union.

2. UMSU Students’ Council calls upon the Deakin University Student Association to establish

autonomously and democratically elected representatives with full voting rights on the

DUSA Committee of Management, bringing DUSA into line with the majority of other

student organisations in Australia.

3. UMSU further encourages the implementation of affirmative action in multi -member

committees and councils.

4. Students’ Council direct the President, in consultation with the Wom*ns’ and Queer

officers, to write to the President of DUSA to communicate council’s position.

5. UMSU also encourages DUSA to look toward establishing a disabilities department in the

spirit of democratic and autonomous representation.

Mover: James Bashford Seconder: Allison Ballantyne

CARRIED

Procedural motion: To suspend Standing Orders to allow Tom from DUSA to speak.

Mover: Stephen Smith

CARRIED

Tom spoke to the motion, and thanked UMSU for discussing this. DUSA is looking at the model for Queer Officer.

There is the potential for the lack of democracy and transparency for the department.

Andrea suggested an amendment to include an action item to encourage a disabilities department equal to the queer department. This was amenable to the mover.

10.8 Union Stall

Motion 17: To approve $1000 from Whole of Union for U-Week style stalls to extend the program for the rest of the semester.

Mover: Rachel Withers Seconder: Karly Banks

CARRIED

Meeting closed at 1:06pm.

5. Office Bearer Reports

President


Report of Rachel Withers

President


Key activities:

Student Precinct

Display of Architecture Studio student designs

The exhibition has now wrapped up in the Rowden White Library.

I attended the afternoon tea (as soon as I got away from U Week) and over the course of the hour

that I was there, we had Chris White, Eoin Hannassey, Fiona Downie, Sue Elliot and Jenny Ellis who

are all involved in the Student Precinct Project in some capacity (some more so than others). We

were able to have good chats to them about the work.

Workshop

Last week I attended a workshop with the usual Student Precinct suspects from chancellery as well

as a few students from the Architecture Studio who were invited along. The aim of this workshop

was to again try to conceptualise what the precinct means/what it is for/what problem it aims to

address, this time featuring a new consultant, Rosemary Kirkby who has worked on many large

architectural projects that have simultaneously been aimed at organisational culture change.

Rosemary very much seemed on the side of students, prompting staff members to remind

themselves “who is the number one stakeholder here?” and insisting they always remember it is

students.

HJC

On Thursday August 6 UMSU met with MUSUL to discuss the next steps for the bar space on Level

1. Significant progress was made in clarifying the potential scope of the future of the space and

identifying the issues that will need to be addressed in order to enable the space to recommence

operations as a food and beverage outlet.

UMSU presented an options paper that elaborated on the reasons behind the decision that

Students’ Council made at its most recent meeting. This paper included two options for the

operation of an UMSU bar:

1. UMSU operates the bar and venue itself; or

2. UMSU engages a third party for this purpose

This proposition was subject to discussion at the MUSUL Board meeting on Monday; however, the

CEO and two directors present at the meeting did not indicate any issues with this. Any UMSU bar

would seek to commence operation in February 2016.

There was also significant discussion in relation to the use of the space until that time.

Given a range of work that needs to be undertaken in relation to cl eaning and maintenance of the

space, and the transfer of liquor licence arrangements, UMSU and MUSUL agreed the following:

· That the venue be open as a student lounge from September 1;

· It was not feasible for the space to operate as a bar in the short term;

· UMSU is to investigate the possibility of food or beverage service in this space during the

interim period;

· The space will be bookable for licenced events in the same way that other rooms in Union

House can be booked

· MUSUL will assume responsibility for liquor licencing in the interim period

UMSU and MUSUL will meet weekly until the space reopens as a student lounge.

On Tuesday August 25 UMSU will be holding a student forum in the bar space to commence a

process of discussion to inform the development of an UMSU bar.

U Week Campaign

Week 2 was U Week in Week 2, a weeklong campaign aimed at getting more students involved in

student life (and specifically UMSU life) at university.

I narrowed down the volunteer applications (over 200) to around 140, factoring in that around 40

would probably not come to training, and allowing me to give all 100 volunteers a tshirt from the

$1000 passed at council last fortnight (Stephen Smith kindly picked up the tshirts on Sunday before

the week, saving on delivery costs.).

I ran a one hour training session four times over two days, to bring the volunteer up to speed on

UMSU and allow them to practice talking about UMSU. We had just over 100 volunteers attend.

Based on the responses I received through the How To Get Involved in Your Department template I

sent around, Patrick and I compiled a How To Get Involved Guide. It was going to be too late to ask

Comms for something fancy, but with the purpose of this guide it didn’t particularly need to look

flashy- hopefully the message on the front “THE HOW TO GET INVOVLED GUIDE” is enough to attract

people to the simple, black and white brochure. I would like to thank Patrick for all his superhuman

efforts and many many hours of his weekends in helping me pull this together.

https://owa.unimelb.edu.au/owa/UrlBlockedError.aspx

The volunteers were out everyday of the week rostered in a different location around campus, and

many of them reported having really fantastic conversations with students (many of who said that

the How To Get Involved Guide was exactly what they were looking for/what they’ve been wanting

to know).

I will be compiling a report over the coming days, however the effectiveness of “getting more people

involved in departments and collectives” is going to be quite difficult to measure.

However undeniable benefits of the week include:

-Those 100 volunteers who now feel more involved in UMSU and have made dozens of new friends

-A huge amount of giveaways from the UMSU marquee

-The How To Get Involved guides can be updated as needed and can remain on stands all year

General Secretary


Report of

Hana Dalton General Secretary


13/08/2015

Operations Sub-Committee

The Operations Sub-Committee met on Thursday 6th August, to approve Environment Department

expenditure, Education Department expenditure, and expenditure for Women in Higher Education

Week and U Week.

Constitutional Working Group

The Constitutional Working Group has met once so far this semester, and will meet again this Friday

14th August at 1pm in the OB Space. Various issues and ideas have been brought to the group so far,

and some potential changes are currently in the drafting process.

iTFE

I organised a meeting with iTFE on Wednesday 29th July, at which Justin, Fiona, Rachel and myself

met with representatives from the registered training organisation. We discussed the logistics of

establishing a partnership whereby iTFE would run subsidised training courses on campus for the

general student body, such as Certificate II in Hospitality. The other aspect of the partnership would

involve iTFE running RSA and Safe Food Handling courses for Office Bearers and C&S executives. As

part of this partnership, UMSU would arrange for the courses to be held according to demand from

students and promote the courses to students, which would likely become an alternative revenue

stream for the Union. Discussions are ongoing, but the meeting was certainly positive. I anticipate

this program being extremely useful to the many students who are seeking part-time or casual

employment to support themselves during their studies, but who are struggling to break into the

increasingly competitive job market.

The Bar

Along with Rachel and Justin, I attended a meeting with MUSUL on August 6th to discuss the next

steps for the level 1 bar space. We discussed amongst other things the interim arrangements for the

space, such as converting it into a student lounge until i t can be operated as a bar, and who will

operate the bar once it reopens.

Activities


Report of

James Baker & Hayden Michaelides Activities Officers


13/08/2015

Key activities:

Trivia:

We ran one of the most successful trivia nights that we have run this year on Tuesday the 4th of

August. We had over 300 people in Grand Buffet hall, and we were fully booked out for the night.

Dis-Orientation Week:

Dis-Orientation week is coming up for week 4, and this is one of the big events for the Activities

Calendar throughout the year. This is a week that is run in collaboration with the Welfare and Clubs

& Societies departments. We have at least one activity on every day of the week. So many activ ities

to be had.

Cocktail Party:

Cocktail party number 2 is currently selling tickets. To be held at the Savoy Tavern. Cheap cocktails

and the finest attire is to be expected. We will have had the ticket sales at the Tuesday BBQ,

however as of the writing of this report, that has not happened yet. Keen as a bean though.

Clubs & Societies


Report of

Claire Pollock & Stephen Smith

Clubs & Societies Officers


Key activities:

Disorientation Week:

Clubs Carnival, Dodgeball Tournament, and Clubs Trivia

As discussed in the Office Bearer meeting and alluded to in previous meetings of Students’ Council,

the C&S department is taking an active role in organising events in Disorientation Week. We will be

running the Clubs Carnival, Dodgeball Tournament, and Clubs Trivia. We aim to engage students who

may have missed out at O-Week and Mid-Year O-Week to find a club that suits them to get involved

in, and provide opportunities for interclub activities and engagement. We have sent a Google Form

to clubs inviting their participation – we will keep you posted.

New Club Affiliations:

Promoting and Building the Clubs & Societies Department

We have started a campaign in the C&S department encouraging groups on campus to affiliate new

clubs and societies. There are some gaps of areas that could be filled and we want to ensure we

have a broad, diverse, and vibrant range of clubs that reflect and are representative of the interests,

passions, and pursuits of University of Melbourne students. We have received two applications from

new clubs so far, and will be working over the next few weeks to review and process these

applications. We have also prepared an Affiliations Protocol which sets out a process for managing

affiliations for Semester 2, 2015. Last semester there were some issues regarding transparency on

this, so the protocol sets out a fair, transparent, and efficient way for the Committee to review,

consider, and make decisions on applications.

Progress on assigned actions from last report:

Executive Handbook:

We have made a gallant start to the Executive Handbook identifying what information we already

have, and what information we need to compile. Once we have done this we will then be abl e to

collate it into a comprehensive guide. There is still discussion about the exact digital formatting for

the Handbook, based on how interactive we are able to make it on the UMSU website.

We have reviewed the timeline for this project and decided that it will be continuing over Semester

2 to be finished by the 2016 Clubs & Societies Officers and launched for Semester 1, 2016.

VERDICT: Ongoing

Safety in Clubs:

The Safety in Clubs Working Group endorsed the proposed changes to the C&S Regulations includ ing

a new grievance procedure. They also endorsed the Referring Grievances in Clubs and Societies

Policy which has been distributed to Students’ Councillors. These proposed changes were also

endorsed unanimously by the C&S Committee. We would like to take the opportunity to thank those

involved in the Safety in Clubs Working Group for their contribution: Alanna Smith (UMSU

Advocacy), Allie Ballantyne, Lucy Curtis, Susannah Gordon, Sasha Chong, Andrea Bozic, Sally Coates

(Campus Communities), and Fiona Sanders.

VERDICT: Achieved

Clubs Online:

Fiona met with Olivia (Clubs Online Developer, Hidden Spark) in Sydney in early July to discuss more

of the specifics of the project and to provide further clarification and information requested. This will

help to ensure that the project is completed in line with our adopted timeline. Stephen met with

Pamela Wade (Clubs & Societies Program Manager, University of Sydney Union) while in Sydney for

the NUS Education Conference. USU also uses Clubs Online from Hidden Spark to administer their

clubs and societies. They have been very impressed with the program. We discussed elements of the

roles of staff in the department under Clubs Online and other issues and themes that are consistent

between the two organisations.

VERDICT: Ongoing

Budget expenditure since last report:

As we have yet to provide any budget expenditure, I have attached our expenditure from 1 January

2015 to 30 July 2015.

To the 30th July we had spent $91,797.32 on grants for clubs and societies. It is worth noting that the

C&S department is yet to process any camp forms for 2015. This will have a significant impact on the

grants allocation within the C&S budget.

Grants Payments to 30 July 2015

Date

Processed Amount Line-Item

23/03/15 $18,086.98 Grants

08/04/15 $17,876.38 Grants

04/05/15 $10,283.11 Grants

18/05/15 $14,367.78 Grants

21/05/15 $13,751.08 Grants

15/06/15 $17,431.99 Grants

Other Payments to 30 July 2015

Our total non-grants expenditure approved to 30/07/15 is $46,061.29. Our total approved

expenditure to 30/07/15 is $137,858.61.

Meeting

No.

Date Item Amount Line-item

1/15 30/01/15 Printing for the Clubs Guide $6,000 Advertising

1/15 30/01/15 Incidental costs (O-Week) $500 Orientation

1/15 30/01/15 2x EpiPens and First Aid Kit (Materials) $400 Special Projects

2/15 16/02/15 2x Eskys and 2x Lrg Glove Boxes $205.96 Special Projects

2/15 16/02/15 Reimbursement to Fiona Sanders (for the

purchase of keys)

$45 Special Projects

3/15 23/02/15 Fodder/Farrago launch party (to be re-

payed by Media Department)


4/15 11/03/15 AV@Melbourne – Stage for O-Week $800 Orientation

4/15 11/03/15 AV@Melbourne – Testing and Tagging $371 Orientation

4/15 11/03/15 AV@Melbourne – O-Week Production $1,300 Orientation

4/15 11/03/15 AV@Melbourne – BBQ Subsidy (Feb.) $770 Special Projects

4/15 11/03/15 C&S Collective – Food and Drinks $150 Special Projects

5/15 25/03/15 Clubs Carnival Expenditure $7,000 Special Projects

5/15 25/03/15 UMSU Activities – Kegs $600 Special Projects

8/15 15/04/15 Executives’ Luncheon $1000 Special Projects

8/15 15/04/15 Club Mergers – 1701 Star Trek Club and

FAS^2 Fantasy and Science Fiction

Appreciation Society


9/15 29/04/15 Mid-Year Orientation – Marquee Hire $4500 Orientation

9/15 29/04/15 Stephen Smith – NUS Education

Conference


Total $91,797.32

9/15 29/05/15 AV@Melbourne – BBQ Subsidy (March) $1980 Special Projects

10/15 13/05/15 AV@Melbourne – BBQ Subsidy (April) $715 Special Projects

10/15 13/05/15 MUSUL – Locker Repairs $266.73 Special Projects

11/15 27/05/15 AV@Melbourne – Testing and Tagging $187 Special Projects

11/15 27/05/15 MUSUL – Stationary $32 Special Projects

12/15 17/06/15 New Keys for Lockers $723 Special Projects

12/15 17/06/15 AV@Melbourne – BBQ Subsidies (May) $1,210 Special Projects

13/15 20/07/15 Alcohol Consultant $400 Special Projects

13/15 20/07/15 Disorientation Week Expenditure $15,000 Special Projects

14/15 28/07/15 ITFE – RSA and SFH Training $1305.60 Special Projects

Total $46,561.29

Creative Arts


Report of Bonnie Leigh- Dodds and Isabella Vadiveloo

Creative Arts Officer


Key activities:

Mudfest

It’s taken over our lives and our dreams at night, we can’t escape it. Ever.

Arts Grants

We have successfully paid out the last round, and chosen the second round of artists to be awarded

Arts Grants.

Progress on assigned actions from last report:

Publicity for Mudfest

Our publicity is underway! We have a hashtag.

Also we have done interviews and are anticipating listings on most of Melbourne’s event websites.

Mudfest Volunteers trained

All our volunteers have received disability access training, and general training is continuing.

Grants

The latest round of grants has been paid.

List of action points to be completed by next report:

Mudfest

This will be pretty much done.

Expenditure

Mountain Goat beer for Mudfest bar $2887

LX productions festoon lighting and 2x quad pack $454

Education (Academic Affairs)


Report of Nellie Montague & Shanley Price

Education (Academic Affairs) Officers


Big Bazaar

Big Bazaar went very successfully on the 5th and 6th of August - big thanks to UMSU International

and all the volunteers. We sold 783 items and are returning $3,246.50 back to 69 different students.

Week 3 we will be returning all unsold items that students wanted back and then donating all left -

over items to charity including for the Queer Department’s Trans clothing drive and textbooks for

the book co-op on level 1 pending negotiations. I am also working with the Sustainability team at the

University for any ideas they have of where to get rid of items in an environmentally friendly way.

We are also running a thank you event for all the volunteers who helped make this event happen. A

detailed report with financial break-downs and recommendations will be provided at the next

committee meeting.

Burnley

Nellie met with Stefan Arndt - the director of Burnley campus and had a very productive chat about

the circumstances at this unique campus and how UMSU can best support students. In the run up to

the elections it is hoped that a Burnley student will run for campus coordinator but the fact that the

position is unpaid is proving problematic - this is being followed up, more info to come.

Student Representative Network

We held the first Student Representative Network meeting for Semester 2 in Week 2. It went really

well with 16 in attendance and written reports from some of those that couldn’t attend. Feedback

from all committees was valuable and will inform some important work we are doing around the

assessment period following on from the Assessment Survey as well as student representatives

bringing issues such as recognition of non-academic merit to their committees. Study spaces,

allocation of SSAF and the new Growing Esteem strategic plan were also discussed. Support for our

student representatives is being discussed with GSA with a reporting form being drafted to engage

and support student reps to attend and partake in their committees.

Academic Board

A new committee has been created called the Pathways Working Group which we are currently

negotiating to have a student rep on, reports on the statute and regulations changes as well as

processes for Research Misconduct were presented.

Statute and Regulation Changes

We are keeping an eye on this process as it unfolds, we are keeping in contact with the University

Secretary as changes are drafted and assessed.

Education Council Follow Up

Follow ups with Education Officers is underway and we are hoping to engage more faculty and

subject related clubs over the following weeks.

Countercourse

Bookmarks advertising submissions are being promoted all over campus. We have had 30 new

submissions for semester 2, updated on the website. There is a $30 Standing Room voucher up for

grabs, so get submitting!

Women in Higher Education Week

In collaboration with the Wom*n’s Department and the NTEU we will be helping run a panel and a

trivia night during Women in Higher Education Week (also known as Bluestocking Week) which will

be held in week 3 of semester 2. Lots of wondering women have been invited to come along and it

should be an informative inspiring week.

Ivory Tower Screening with NTEU

A screening of Ivory Tower will be held on the 11th August in collaboration with NTEU, a very topical

movie which provides advice and warnings in relation to Universities - a must see! Free pizza and

soft drink will be provided.

Academic Misconduct Hearings

We have been sitting on the hearing committees as student representatives and talking with

faculties and UMSU Advocacy and GSA about how to best inform students and faculties of the

processes and policies around this difficult task.

Academic Misconduct Hearings FAQs

A detailed FAQ is being sent around to all faculties to ensure that student members are on every

academic misconduct hearing. We have been working with GSA and Penelope Pepperel l (Academic

Board Secretary) to distribute these to the relevant staff members. Hard copies will also be sent to

faculties.

EdCon

Reports for students that received subsidies were due last Friday and are pending Committee

approval.


Building is underway for the National Day of Action on the 19th August, a free BBQ will be provided

on South Lawn at 12 before we march down to the State Library to join others from around the

State.

Cost of Readers

Readers are still too expensive, (most hitting the $30 dollar mark). As the University holds an

ideological opposition to printed readers, movement is slow in regards to expanding how many

subjects offer a reader. However, sourcing a more affordable printer is possible for coming

semesters.

Double Majors for BSci

Shanley has met with the Dean of the Faculty of science to push for double major combinations

within the Bachelor of Science. Recently the BEnvs expanded to allow some double major

combinations. In conjunction with the new major BSci are hoping to introduce, it is possible this will

provide more traction that previously experienced in the push for double majors

MSD Opening Hours

After a successful trial period of opening hours over swotvac, Shanley is convening another meeting

of student and staff reps from relevant faculties to push for extended opening hours. The

introduction of 24hr PT in 2016 should alleviate many safety concerns that the faculty use as

reasoning for closing buildings when they do.

Education (Public Affairs)


Report of Conor Serong

Education (Public Affairs) Officer To Students’ Council 19/15

13/08/2015

Key activities:


The National Union of Students has called the next National Day of Action against fee de regulation

and funding cuts to universities for Wednesday 19 August. UMSU Education will be holding a free

BBQ on South Lawn as a pre-rally campus event, before we march down to the State Library. We

have been actively promoting this event via social media, posters and flyers, and talking to students

at UMSU events.

UMSU Assessment Survey

We are winding down the UMSU Assessment Survey that has been running for several weeks. I have

prepared a Preliminary Report on the findings thus far, which has been sent to the Students’ Council

for consideration.

Academic Consultation and Coordination Committee

The most recent meeting of ACCC was held last week. We discussed a range of issues, and I

presented the UMSU Assessment Survey Interim Report for discussion, which was well-received. As

a result of this meeting, UMSU will have a place on a working group on examinations and plagiarism

that the University has convened.

Academic Services Buyers Committee

As a result of discussions at ACCC, I am now in the process of attempting to secure UMSU a place on

the University’s Academic Services Buyers Committee, as well as other Buyers Committees. This is

congruent with the principle of student representation at every level of the University, and a student

member on these committees will prove invaluable.

Ivory Tower

On Tuesday 11 August we will be hosting a free screening of Ivory Tower alongside the GSA and

NTEU, featuring free pizza and soft drinks. This will engage students and staff alike on issues

affecting the US higher education system, many of which are relevant here in Australia. We will also

use this event to promote the upcoming National Day of Action.

Wayfinding Strategy Student Working Group

The first meeting of this working group was held recently. As the Wayfinding Strategy Steering

Committee meeting which had been scheduled to occur several days prior had been cancelled, there

was less to discuss than I had hoped, and instead it served as an introductory meeting. Attendance

was low, with two other Office Bearers and one member of the Students’ Council attending,

however valuable discussions were had, which I can take back to the Steering Committee at its next

meeting.

Education Council

Following on from Education Conference, we have been trying to increase engagement between

Faculty Clubs and the Education Department. To this end, we held a meeting of what we are loosely

describing as an Education Council, modelled after structures in place at the University of Western

Australia and La Trobe University. A pleasing number of faculty and course-related clubs were

represented at this meeting, and demonstrated a real interest in maintaining a relationship with the

Department.


Meeting No. Date Description Amount (ex.

GST)

Line Comments

9.

28/07/15

Education

Council pizza

$68.18

Campaigns,

Special

Projects and

Events

Pizzas purchased

for a meeting of

faculty club

representatives

Operations

Sub-

Committee

Meeting 6.

02/07/15

Stationery

and related

for Big Bazaar

$90.27

Campaigns,

Special

Projects and

Events

Markers, tape,

stickers etc.

5; 6.

12/05/15

27/05/15

EdCon

subsidies

$2,954.53

Conferences

A total of 15

subsidies given to

students for

travel,

accommodation

and/or

conference

registration

costs.

Environment


Report of Lauren Englefield & Daniel Sullivan

Environment Officers


Regular events have been running successfully and the Enviro Week working group has been hard at

work planning and liaising with workshop facilitators and groups across campus and externally. We

hope to have the week finalised by the next meeting of Students’ Council.

Community garden: Collaborations with the Burnley students’ new community garden have begun

and promotional materials are currently being made to ensure the garden’s regular working bees

and workshops are advertised widely.

Fossil Free Melb Uni: We have still been focussing on generating support as they place pressure on

University Council to consider divestment in the new Sustainability charter. This has been done by

through actions at recent graduation ceremonies, regular info stalls and plans for a public panel

discussion with representatives from the Graduate Students Association, Melbourne Sustainable

Society Institute, and the Fossil Free Melbourne Uni team. A new film series will also start running

this evening in the Rowden White with the aim of further raising awareness of current and future

climate injustice.


Meeting no. &

date

Description Amount

(GST Free)

Budget line

1 (19/02/15) Promotional banner for the

Melb Uni Community

Garden

$59.98 Special projects & events

5 (12/05/15) Tea, coffee & milk for bike

co-op


5 (12/05/15) Transport subsidies to aid

attendance at the Students

of Sustainability

$40/ student* Special projects & events

conference in Adelaide

4 (21/04/15) SoS registration subsidy

(for another early bird

purchaser)

$65 Special projects & events

5 (12/05/15) Play With Your Food food

(week 2)


*These payments are still being processed as we continue to receive transport receipts from

students. Twenty-five students attended in total.

Disabilities


Report of Sasha Chong and Susannah Gordon

Disabilities Officers

To Students’ Council 13/08/2015

Key activities:

Auslan Classes:

We have just run the first week of Auslan classes, which will take place over the next 6 weeks. There

are 4 classes running on Monday and Wednesday and they are all very well attended.

Mudfest Access Grants:

We have decided to give Mudfest a grant of $200 to help with the cost of hiring Auslan interpreters

for some shows to make this festival as accessible as possible.

Mudfest Sexy Access statement competition:

A winner has been announced for our access statement competition, decided by our committee.

Their work has been sent to the Access Officer of Mudfest and will be used in all promotional

material concerning the festival.

Posters for Addiction Recovery Group:

We have received promotional material from communications to use in raising awareness of our

Addiction Recovery group, which will run every second Monday (even weeks) in the Training Rooms

from 4:30.

ICan Event:

Next week we are running an event with a guest speaker from ICan, an organization that caters to

neurodiversity along the Autism spectrum. There will be food and drinks and all round good times.

List of action points to be completed by next report:

Campaigns

Our major campaigns on trigger warnings for classes and Auslan as a diploma.

Sasha has emailed various people in the Education and Linguistics and Applied Linguistics faculties

and is awaiting responses on the Auslan front.

Auslan Classes:

Supervise the running of these classes by VicDeaf.

Start Planning our Joint event with the Wom*ns department:

In conjunction with Women with Disabilities Australia

Susannah has called Women with Disabilities Victoria and as we have not yet received a response,

we have decided to run a solo event with ICan.

Indigenous

Media


Report of Madeleine Cleeve Gerkens, Martin Ditmann, Lynley Eavis and Simon Farley

Media Officers


13/08/2015

Fodder Video Team

Ash, our video manager, has now interviewed all shortlisted applicants for our video team, in both

the production and content fields. The teams will be announced soon.

We’re super excited about this! We’ve been working steadily to make sure we get this part of the

Media Department absolutely right, to set it up for stable foundations for years to come, and to

ensure it fits well with everything else we do.

This team will allow us to do everything from reporting of everything from student action to panel

discussions, and create everything from comedic to dramatic content.

Approved: NYWF Panel

We’re excited to announce that our youth and student media panel at the National Young Writers’

Festival has been approved! The NWYF is one of Australia’s most important writing and arts festivals,

held at Newcastle every year. We’ve been really proud to take contingents every year, and are super

excited to have our own panel, which we’re set to start planning.

Readings at Wordplay

Our spoken word night, Wordplay, is one our key events. At time of writing, our event on

Wednesday evening was set to once again have some great writers giving their readings, many for

the first time. We aim to make the event a warm and welcoming environment for our readers and

writers alike, and there’s set to be snack and beverages as well.

Research on investigations

We’ve committed to doing more investigations for Farrago this year, building on previous years’

work, from exposing dodgy university approaches to cleaning workers to the secre t underground

animal farm on campus. We’re continuing to work with the tens of new reporters we have. We’re

also continuing our investigations into MU Sport, are ready to send our pieces on Growing Esteem to

development and sub-editing work, and have received a reply from the Faculty of Arts around a

potentially controversial hiring.

Advertising The Fodder

We want The Fodder to be a voice for all students – and to offer opportunities, information and

music that many parts of the mainstream media don’t. We’ve recently begun to roll out our new

comms plan, to make sure The Fodder connects with everybody! Our Faces Behind The Fodder

strategy, to humanise it and showcase our diversity of presenters, is beginning on social media.

We’re also working on increasing our instagram posts, introducing day-by-day programme posts on

Facebook and broadening the reach of our newsletter and using targeting on it.

Goings on at The Fodder

We’ve had a lot going on at The Fodder, with new shows and even more training. We’re curre ntly in

the middle of training a group of roughly ten people – and there’s another roughly similarly sized

group ready to be trained after that. Thanks to our devoted-Development Manager, Ken Lim.

Our music genre mornings and nights are also going really well! And we’re getting applications

through for our new drive and breakfast flagships.

We’d also like to thank Bren Carruthers, who was instrumental in setting up The Fodder as station

manager. He’s decided to move on to new pursuits, and we’ll be taking on hands-on responsibility

for The Fodder, with the help of our dedicated core team.

On its way: Edition 6

Edition 6 is coming together! We had over seventy submissions, and have already started getting

submissions for Edition 8 as well. We’ve now done our board meeting, sent them off to sub-editing

and are beginning final processing and layout.

This edition will include coverage of everything from changes in education, to student housing

issues, to a wide range of science and culture coverage, to some fantastic creative writing. And

there’ll be a wide balance of explainers, features, interviews and some opinion pieces on big topics

of debate.

Queer


Report of Andrea Bozic and Lloyd Rouse

Queer Officers


TW HIV, ABUSE MENTIONS

There has been progress made on the awareness campaign that aims to help break queer

stereotypes by showing pictures of queer students holding a board that tells one of their stories. No

student’s faces will be included in the campaign as many queer people need to have their identity

protected. Pictures have been obtained and the last changes to the marketing campaign are being

made. Queer students found the process quite difficult emotionally and so I have been providing

support as much as possible.

The regular collectives are running well. They have matured and a protocol for running these events

in the future is in the works. Community involvement in designing the protocols will start soon.

The beginning of semester Queer Space party was a success. There was a lack of alcohol but queer

student still enjoyed themselves.

A readjusted budget has been drawn up and is being presented to the queer committee. Changes

include putting more money towards special events and projects as well as sundry expenses.

There are two promising new support groups in the making currently. One is a HIV +ve support

group which is aimed at queer students but not exclusive to them because while HIV is rampant in

the community it also has a tendency to disproportionately impact other marginalised group as well

as intersections of these groups. The other group is a support group for survivors of abuse, again

aimed at but not exclusive to queer students since studies have shown that queer people are more

likely to have experienced abuse. This group will cover many types of abuse but is geared towards

long term abuse and very intense abuse. Both of these groups focus on very sensitive topics so

flexibility is of utmost importance to help in achieving the support goals.

Welfare

Wom*n’s

VCA

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