Monash Student Association

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The Monash Student Association (MSA) is located at the Clayton campus of Monash University in the Campus Centre building. The MSA is made up of elected student representatives who represent all Clayton campus students. The MSA represents students on general issues such as education, fees and student welfare, and also specific issues such as women's affairs and queer students. It runs campaigns and rallies to ensure that the student voice is heard loud and clear throughout the university and wider community. MSA also operates a student radio station, SWiCh child care, a Transport service, the Co-op Bookshop, a vibrant Activities department, Lot's Wife, Host Scheme, the Short Courses Centre and Wholefoods Vegetarian restaurant.

The MSA was formed at the end of 1994 under Statute 2.7 of the Monash University Act (1958) with a merger of the former Monash Association of Students, Monash Postgraduate Association, the Mature Aged and Part Time Students Association and the Monash University International Students Society. It subsequently incorporated as an independent body in 1998 (No. A0036131Z on the Victorian Incorporated Associations Register).

Contents

[edit] Funding

The MSA is partially funded directly by Monash University and through the Monash Community Card[1], which is a voluntary form of student union fee payments. The Community Card costs $149 for Clayton students. Card holders are provided the benefits of discounted products and services.

Prior to 2007 the MSA was funded by compulsory Amenities and Services Fees, collected by Monash University. The introduction of VSU meant that students may not be charged a compulsory fee for amentities and services from 1 January, 2007. The organisation stands to lose millions in funding, with only partial compensation from the university itself and uptake from voluntary union fee payments through the Community Card.

The Federal Treasurer Peter Costello, was part of the Liberal Government campaign that passed the VSU legislation in 2005. Peter Costello was a Monash Clayton student, notable for being the General Secretary of the Monash Association of Students, equivalent to today's MSA President.

In 1978 Peter Costello wrote an article in Lot's Wife speaking on the importance of compulsory student unionism. "Since the various student unions do have a positive contribution to offer to student welfare and student education they should be supported by all those who profit from them... The funding and therefore provision of the various student services would be impossible unless there was some requirement to pay a contribution towards them." [1]

[edit] Services

Activities

The Activities office organises on-campus student activities and inter-campus competitions and events, such as live bands, DJs, movie nights, Union nights, Green Week and band competitions.

Clubs & Societies

Clubs & Societies is a non-political, autonomous division of the Monash Student Association. There are over 95 (non-sporting) clubs and societies at the Clayton campus. The clubs range from academic-based clubs to those that are cultural, political, spiritual, or relating to a hobby or specific interest.

Education Office

The Education Office is divided into two elected positions, Education Academic Affairs and Education Public Affairs, roughly focusing on internal university issues and external issues respectively. Both positions report to committees. The department provides advocacy, policy work, campaign management, advice, and representation to the student body. Some notable achievements of the office include the 2004 HECS protests, the campaign against unfair parking fines and the 2006 campaign for the re-introduction of SWOTVAC.

Environment Department

The Environment Department facilitates student involvement in sustainability and social justice, both on campus and in the wider community. They work with the university in order to build more sustainable campuses through minimising consumption of water, paper and energy; purchasing and use of renewable energies, recycled paper and other eco-friendly products; minimising waste and maintaining effective recycling and composting programs. They support and assist wider student campaigns on issues like protection of old-growth forests, fair trade, indigenous justice, refugee rights, and climate change.

Radio Monash

Radio Monash[2] is MSA's radio station, which offers live webstreaming and podcasting. Radio Monash membership offers training to operate the broadcast studio. It is a full digital recording studio and is often used by students as a rehearsal room for bands and musicians.

Host Scheme

Host scheme is an orientation program run by the MSA, and is the largest in the southern hemisphere. It runs a camps program for over 400 students, and a functions program for 1500-2000 others. It also runs Host Scheme Night; a huge party on the Monday of Orientation Week, which attracts 2000-3000 students.

Lot's Wife

Lot's Wife is the Clayton student newspaper and has been running for over 40 years. It addresses student issues and news, provides a voice for student commentary and reviews. Lot's Wife is autonomous, volunteer based service and contributions are welcome from all students.

Queer Department

The MSA Queer Department exists for all students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex or those who are questioning their sexuality and/or gender identity. It provides the queer lounge as a safe space. It works to collectively fight against the discrimination and oppression suffered by queers in society.

Queer Lounge

The Queer Lounge is a queer-only space where students can gather, socialise and discuss queer issues in a supportive environment. It is designed as a safe space where students can openly discuss issues relating to their sexuality or gender identity, meet people who are going through similar experiences, free from society's queerphobia and heterosexism. Queer students who don't use the Monash queer lounge are encouraged to use the online Virtual Queer Lounge forum.

Student Theatre

The Student Theatre holds at least one production per semester and is a place for students who want to be involved in acting, directing or backstage work.

Transport

A carpooling service is run through the Transport Department, which also provides public transport information and discounted bicycle parts.

Welfare

The Welfare department runs Free Food Mondays giving struggling students free, healthy, vegetarian food every Monday night. It recycles old donated computers by rebuilding them for students. It runs the Survival Centre, which contains free food and secondhand clothing for students in need.

Women's Room

The Women's Room is a women-only environment, a place for women to socialise, study and meet other women. It was created in view of the feminist belief of patriarchal oppression in society and so the room is a designed as a safe space for women separate from the outside male dominated world.

Like most other Australian student organisations with a women's room, there has been the continued controversy of some students suggesting the establishment of a men's room in the university, concerned that women's rights are favoured over equal rights. The MSA has faced some criticism over this issue.

Wholefoods

Wholefoods is a vegetarian restaurant, cafe and grocery service owned and run mostly on a volunteer basis by students since 1977. While it is constitutionally a department of the MSA, historically MSC has delegated authority each year to an autonomous collective (The Wholefoods Collective) which governs the restaurant with the tacit support of the MSA. It provides healthy, gourmet restaurant-quality meals at extremely affordable prices.

In late 2006 a dispute began over a proposed constitutional amendment that would formalise Wholefoods autonomy, but retain MSA financial support. A list of names was presented to Council which the petitioners claimed constituted 5% of the student body, which would constitutionally trigger a referendum. The MSC was uncertain however, citing numberous errors in the list and claimed they had a right and responsibility to verify that the names submitted were indeed clayton students and did indeed number over 5% of the body. After heated debate, MSC passed a motion to put the amendment to a referendum following the verification of the petition. As a result the amendment was not included as a referendum question concurrent to the 2006 MSA elections, causing much tension and argument between the Wholefoods Collective and the MSA Executive. After submission to the University, it turned out that the list did not in fact constitute 5% of the student body, containing hundreds of listed names that either did not exist, had long since graduated, or belonged to a different campus. Despite confirming the stance of MSC, this fact has done nothing to diminish the animosity between the Wholefoods collective and MSA central administration, with both groups holding very different visions for the future of the organisation, borne out in student elections and spilling over into day to day administration of Wholefoods and the wider MSA.

[edit] Politics

The Monash Student Association has historically been considered one of the most left-wing student organsiations in Australia. Office bearers are elected at an annual election in the second semester. The executive committee of the Monash Student Association is called the Monash Student Council and all office bearers have voting rights. The MSA is also a member of the National Union of Students and conducts election for NUS delegates concurrently with the MSA election.

Political groups

There generally are three main political groups, Activate, Go! and a more right wing ticket that has used various names over the last few years. These approximately represent the left, centre and right of the student political spectrum respectively. Go! is made up of a majority of independent members sourced largely from the active clubs on campus, with the notable political alignment comprising (National Labor Students) members, a left faction of the ALP. Activate is made up of Greens members, environmentalists and other left-wing students (Grassroots Left). The 2007 right wing ticket, Action, is composed of an amalgam including the "Unity" and NUW factions of Victorian Young Labor and members of the Australian Liberal Students Federation. Socialist Alternative, also have a small presence, despite their best efforts to gain a foothold on the campus.

The MSA is currently controlled by a majority of Go! members. Control of the MSA has tended to swing between the hard left and centre of student politics over the years.

A new political group on the scene is THE VAD. Self described as a political party with no ambition they achieved notoriety in the 2005 elections with hit lists ridiculing student politicians. THE VAD achieves a mandate if they receive 3% of the total vote, consistenly beaten by informals they are a threatening group in the MSA elections. They have been dogged by controversy, due to their satirical negative campaigning and affirmed goal of being kicked out of the elections each year. These alligations include them simply being a glorified 'feeder' ticket, buying preferences, and other unsavoury behaviour. Each year they publish a 'hit list' of student politicians who they feel have been the most disrespectful, which generally includes candidates or outgoing officebearers from all major tickets.

Protests

Monash University has been the scene of many protests, most notably in the 1970s, when the University became a centre of the anti-Vietnam war movement. The student organisations at Monash have always been involved in the university protests.

In 2004 the Monash Student Association backed many large protests at Monash University. In protests against the Federal Government's increase in HECS fees, students made several large protests. On 23 March 2004, students occupied and blockaded the Monash University's administration building, failing to prevent the university from increasing HECS fees by 25 per cent across most of its courses. On 25 March students occupied the former vice-chancellor's house, now the university's marketing department. Another occupation was made on 4 April 2004 in the Monash International building. Many students were arrested, some students were fined, but criminal charges did not stick.

In 2005 students occupied the student bar from the end of July until the beginning of December. Organising the student bar occupation came out of discussions during the Monash student "Strike against VSU" campaign, organised by the Monash Student Association. "The Bar", previously owned and run by Monyx, Monash University's commercial student services wing (who receive 70% of amenities fees), was due to shut down, with the space to be used as a function centre. One idealogical thrust for the bar was for student control over student spaces. A "Reclaim the Bar Collective" ran the space as an illegal bar, providing food, entertainment and drinks for a donation (usually gold coin was enough). The Hip-Hop ensembles Combat Wombat, Fortknight, and members of Curse ov Dialect played in the bar for "Hip-hop Thursdays" later in the semester. Crowds of up to 150 people attended these events. The occupation ended when 30 police and a similar number of security guards walked in to find the rather surprised occupants still asleep.

[edit] 2006 elections

In one of the most bitter, polarising contests in decades, elections for the 2007 MSA office bearers and general members were held at Monash University's Clayton Campus, September 18-21, 2006, pitting the moderate Go! ticket's Zoe Edwards against Action's candidate Nadav Prawar from the Australasian Union of Jewish Students. The leftist Activate declined to run a presidential candidate, instead endorsing Edwards, the incumbent welfare officer in a pact of unity against the Right.

Both GO! and action were barred from campaigning at various points in the election week. Action was removed for almost 4 hours following an NUS National Office Bearer Michael de Bruyn who was supporting Action abusing Globalicious international candidates. Go! was forced to defend itself at the election tribunal after alligations from Action that they had bought preferences from the VAD and Globalicious international students. In the end these alligations where not upheld. The acrimony was so fierce that the Returning Officer threatened to physically separate the tickets in the last hours to campaigning unless the complaints stopped. In the event, Edwards won with a massive 68.9% of the vote (a swing towards Go! of over +15%) earning the left and centre groups an overwhelming mandate to govern the MSA in what will be the first year of Voluntary Student Unionism (VSU) nationwide.

In a surprise result, the Go! ticket's cross-endorsement of Activate candidates failed to guarantee Activate margins similar to those achieved by Go!. These votes flowed to either The VAD or Action, resulting in The VAD beating the informal vote for the first time in its short life. It would seem that many Go! voters are not impressed with Activate and will go out of their way to vote for a joke ticket or the right. For Activate, this meant margins of less than 100 votes.

[edit] Past Presidents of the MSA

1997 Tanya Kovac (Go!/Australian Labor Students)

1998 Gavin Ryan (Go!/Australian Labor Students)

1999 Andrew Saunders (Bite!)

2000 Will Fowles (Universal/Australian Labor Students)

2001 Luke Hilakari (Universal/Australian Labor Students)

2002 Rebecca Tomilson (Activate)

2003 Shen Narayanasamy (Activate)

2004 Giles Bray (Go!/Australian Labor Students)

2005 Nick Richardson (Activate)

2006 David Taft (Go!/ALS then National Labor Students)

[edit] External links

[edit] Articles

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