Griffith University Student Representative Council
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Griffith University students are currently uniquely represented by three student organisations as a legacy of the Griffith University Act (Qld), political differences and campus amalgamations. The Griffith University Student Representative Council (GUSRC) represents undergraduate students in all campuses apart from the Gold Coast. Its aims are to provide services and amenities to students, as well as advocacy and the organizing of social events. The organisation also runs a magazine called Gravity and is an affiliate of the National Union of Students of Australia. In October of every year, the SRC has annual general elections to elect office bearers for the following year.
The SRC has recently had to change its operations in order to accommodate the introduction of Voluntary Student Unionism. Fortunately for the GUSRC, it is not subject to the ordinary rules of insolvency, as it is classed as a charitable organisation. The GUSRC therefore can continue to exist and trade, even if it becomes insolvent.
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[edit] Political environment
The political environment of the SRC is quite unusual in the fact that it was polarised by an anti-socialist right-wing Labor faction known as the Griffith Labor Right and an ultra-left National Broad Left (NBL) grouping, which consisted of members of groups such as the International Socialist Organisation and Socialist Alternative. This can be contrasted with most Australian university student organisations where there is a Labor-left group that is a strong force in annual general elections.
Since the introduction of VSU however, the SRC has become less political. As a result, more apolitical students have recently become involved whilst after three successive defeats, the radical left wing activists appear to have lost interest.
[edit] Recent history
The National Broad Left (NBL) had a history of being successful winning many of the annual elections during the 1990's,and having notable previous members of the SRC such as Mark Pendleton, (National Queer Officer of NUS 2001), and Camile Barbagello, (National Education Officer of NUS 2002), however in recent years members of the Griffith University Labor Club have dominated elections, usually winning with huge majorities.
[edit] 2000-1
The National Broad Left (NBL) won most of the annual elections during the 1990's, and made the SRC known as one of the most radical and ultra left student unions in Australia. However, a turning point occurred in 2000 when Duncan Pegg led some moderate Labor students in the annual general elections to a narrow victory, which included the election of an Executive split along factional lines. The result was an SRC which focused on student issues and welfare, as well as social events, rather than protests and financial donations to political groups. The Labor students used their foothold in the SRC to score a comprehensive victory of over 200 votes the following year.
[edit] 2002
In 2002, the Labor Right administration encountered controversy, after failed attempts to have a Miss Griffith beauty pageant and to close down the Food Co-op. The SRC became further embroiled by a complaint to the Anti-Discrimination Commission Queensland, a battle with the university administration over Constitutional issues, staff strikes and allegations of corruption. The political momentum swung with the National Broad Left, resulting in a tight election campaign which NBL won by 80 votes.
[edit] 2003
The first National Broad Left administration in four years at Griffith started off with a lot of controversy, after an all-expense paid dinner at West End costing over $1000, the Nathan campus suffering huge funding cuts and the SRC car being used to help detainees in Woomera and was subsequently impounded[1]. Throughout the year, the SRC’s activism did not appeal to many students, contributing to a thumping defeat at a Mt Gravatt campus by-election, with the NBL Executive cutting off almost all funding to Mt Gravatt in response. As the year wore on, the SRC’s budget deficit started to become very serious, reaching over $100 000 in July (taking into account Semester 2 fees). Lots more money was also spent later in the year taking the University to the Supreme Court of Queensland, after a dispute over changes to the Constitution. The many scandals resulted in the Labor Right faction triumphing in a then-record landslide victory (approx 400 votes). The following year, auditors calculated the deficit to have been $226 500, almost a third of the GUSRC’s entire annual revenue.
[edit] 2004
The SRC became increasingly controversial in 2004 when it re-wrote its Constitution and got the changes passed in a referendum with a 69% majority. The changes abolished the position of Environment Officer and replaced the Women's Officers with a Female Equity Officer. The reforms also increased accountability, implemented minimum funding to departments and created a Male Equity Officer. A week into the marathon referendum the National Broad Left decided to stop campaigning against the proposed Constitution, and instead decided to storm the GUSRC's Nathan office in frustration, accusing the right-wing Labor students of selling out students and the working class.
Throughout 2004, it was alleged by some activists that some representatives were fans of Captain Stabbin and had been posting derogatory messages, including pornography, on Brisbane Indymedia. These allegations however were never proven. The SRC that year also refused to pay accreditation fees to the National Union of Students, yet continued to send delegates to the annual conference. At the end of the year, the Griffith Labor Right emphatically triumphed in elections, achieving 79% of the primary vote in a 1000 vote win.
[edit] 2005
The year 2005 was characterised by much conflict and many forced resignations amongst the Labor Right faction, which had won every position on the GUSRC Board in the 2004 elections. Most of the infighting occurred as a result of Glen Chatterton [2], the joint Media Officer who forced David Allen to resign and replaced him as President. Chatterton during the course of the year also formed a 'faction within a faction'; a group of followers which formed in order to help members within this group secure positions and power within the SRC at the expense of other members of the Griffith Labor Right. This group operated to exclude others, reneged on deals made within the faction and was composed of weak and impressionable individuals, some with political ambitions but having little talent to support their ambitions. In spite of this, the Labor Right faction was sufficiently united in Semester 2 to win the elections for a third consecutive time by a new record margin, which included 83% of the primary vote.
[edit] 2006
In 2006, Glen ‘rat’ Chatterton's reign on the GUSRC ended when he resigned. He annoited Finance Director Brenton Hill as his successor, and Anika Wells as Finance Director. However, the plan failed to actualise when Nathan Campus Co-ordinator Leon Bertrand (whom Chatterton had reneged an agreement with) obtained the support of a majority of the GUSRC Board and had himself appointed as President of the GUSRC at a Board meeting on March 13. Bertrand's opponents, acting on Chatterton's advice, refused to recognise his appointment as legitimate, and subsequently held their own meeting, which they represented to other parties as being valid. It all fell through however, when Bertrand filed an application in the Supreme Court of Queensland seeking orders banning Hill and Wells from entering the GUSRC office and preventing them from representing themselves as being President and Finance Director respectively, inter alia. As a result of this dramatic step, Leon Bertrand was recognised as the President and the 'faction within a faction' was ousted from the SRC.
At the end of the year, a Labor Right/SIFE alliance was elected to the SRC unopposed. Sean Fitzgerald, the Finance Director, was elected President. The growing involvement of SIFE marks the gradual de-politicisation of the SRC. The SRC did not pay its accreditation fees to NUS because a three-year agreement within Student Unity was reneged on, thus denying Queensland a General Secretary of the national union in 2006[3].
[edit] Voluntary Student Unionism
The GUSRC was one of the worst prepared student unions in Australia to deal with the onset of Voluntary Student Unionism (VSU). This is for a number of reasons. Firstly, it only received about 25% of the student fees collected by the University as the majority of the monies were given to Campus Life, a University-controlled organisation. Secondly, the GUSRC only owned one shop, the Mt Gravatt campus shop, which consistently made a loss. In 2003, the GUSRC suffered its worst ever budget deficit under the National Broad Left, calculated by SRC auditors in 2004 to be over $226 500. The result was that the SRC owed the University hundreds of thousands of dollars and became 'technically insolvent', since its net liabilities exceeded its net assets. Finally, previous office bearers did not prepare for VSU, even after the 2004 Federal Election, where the Liberal/National government's control of the Australian Senate subsequently made VSU imminent.
When Brenton Hill and Anika Wells held themselves out to be President and Finance Director (respectively) of the GUSRC, it was thought that the GUSRC in its present from would dissolve at the end of Semester 1 2006, as their intention had been to wind up the organisation. When they were forced out, their policy was reversed, and the GUSRC was allocated a rent-free space on the Nathan campus.
[edit] External links
| Presidents and Finance Directors | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | President | Finance Director |
| 2001 | Duncan Pegg | Hal Walsh |
| 2002 | Edwin Michaels (resigned) | Merric Foley |
| 2003 | Paul Jacobs | Justine Clarke |
| 2004 | Monique Bielanowski | Will Barnes |
| 2005 | David Allen (resigned) | John Matthew-Jones (resigned) |
| 2005 | Glen Chatterton | Patrick Martin |
| 2006 | Glen Chatterton (resigned) | Brenton Hill (resigned) |
| 2006 | Leon Bertrand | Sean Fitzgerald |
| 2007 | Sean Fitzgerald | Avinash Ramchandani |
