University of Sydney Students' Representative Council

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The University of Sydney Students' Representative Council (SRC) is the representative body for undergraduate students at the University of Sydney.

Contents

[edit] Structure

The SRC is governed by the Council, which consists of 31 Representatives elected annually by undergraduate students. The Council meets once a month. It is the supreme decision-making body in the SRC.

The Executive of the SRC is elected annually by the Council, and consists of the President, Vice-President, General Secretary, and four general members, elected proportionally out of Council. Meeting weekly, the Executive makes most significant decisions regarding the SRC.

The day-to-day operation of the SRC is generally conducted by paid staff and paid office-bearers, being the President (directly elected by students), the Education Officer(s), and Women's Officer(s).

Annual elections are held in September each year, to elect the Council, the President, 7 NUS delegates, and the editors of Honi Soit, the student newspaper. Unlike most student organisations, other office-bearers are elected by the Council, and not directly by students. All undergraduate students have a right to vote in annual elections.

[edit] History

The SRC was founded in the late 1920s, and is one of the oldest student organisations in Australia. The SRC was prominent in student campaigns against the war in Vietnam and numerous other political issues. The SRC was also deeply involved in the campaign to create the separate Political Economy department within the School of Economics in the late 1970s.

[edit] Past SRC Presidents

Name Year Grouping
J.M. Gosper 1930
Frank Wood Bayldon 1931
V.J. Flynn 1932
C.R. Laverty 1933
J. Bowie-Wilson 1934
D.R. Lewis 1935
G.P. Campbell 1936
Kevin Ellis 1937-38
P.J. Kenny 1938
W. Granger 1939
J.H.E. Mackay 1940
J.S. Collings 1941-42
P.P. Manzie 1942
Moya McDade 1943
Keith Dan 1944
Marnie Watt 1945
John Nash 1946
John Redrup 1947
Ted McWhinney 1948
Alan Beattie 1949
Jim Brassil 1950
Peter J. Curtis 1951
Phillip Jeffrey 1952
Gregory Bartels 1953
Philip Berthon-Jones 1954
Greg Dunne 1955
Tony Reading 1956
Jim Carlton 1957
Malcolm Brown 1958
Brian L. Hennessy 1958
M.G.I. Davey 1959
Robert J. Wallace 1960
Peter Wilenski 1961
John Boyd 1962
Michael Kirby 1963, 1964
Bob McDonald 1964
Michael A. Weber 1965
J. Richard Walsh 1966
Geoffrey Robertson 1967
Alan Cameron 1968
Jim Spigelman 1969
Percy Allan 1970
Barry Robinson 1971
Chris Beale 1972
Chris Sidoti 1973
Brett Mattes 1974
John McGrath 1975
David Patch 1976
Peter Byrnes 1977[1]
Barbara Ramjan 1977-1978
Tony Abbott 1979 Democratic Club
Paul Brereton 1980-81 Centre Unity
Paul Rickard 1982
John Martin 1983
Belinda Neal 1984 Centre Unity
Mark Heyward 1985 Liberal
Helen Spowart 1986 Labor Left
Joe Hockey 1987 Liberal
Liz Gardiner 1988 Left Alliance
Rod McDonald 1989 Left Alliance
Vanessa Chan 1990 Left Alliance
Caitlin Vaughan 1991 Left Alliance
Anna Davis 1992 Left Alliance
Amanda Lees 1993 Left Alliance
Heidi Norman 1994 Left Alliance
Nadya Haddad 1995 Left Alliance
Catherine Burnheim 1996 Left Alliance
Katrina Curry 1997 Left Alliance
Adair Durie 1998[2] Students First (Liberal)
Luke Whitington 1998-1999[3] Labor Left
Natasha Verco 2000 National Broad Left / Activist Left
Moksha Watts 2001 Labor Left
Daniel Kyriacou 2002 Labor Left
Jo Haylen 2003 Labor Left
Felix Eldridge 2004 Labor Left
Rose Jackson 2005 Labor Left
Nick Wood 2006 Labor Left
Angus McFarland 2007 Labor Left
Kate Laing 2008 Labor Left
  1. ^  Peter Byrnes resigned midway through his term, and was replaced by Barbara Ramjan. Ramjan subsequently won election to the presidency in her own right.
  2. ^  Adair Durie was removed from office following the 1997 election.
  3. ^  Luke Whitington was elected in the 1998 by-election following the removal of Adair Durie, and was elected again at the 1998 general election to serve in 1999.

Former Presidents of the SRC have gone on to many notable achievements. Former Cabinet ministers Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey were President in 1979 and 1987 respectively. Jim Spigelman, Chief Justice of New South Wales and Michael Kirby, Justice of the High Court of Australia, were also President. Other prominent personalities formerly involved in the SRC include Members of Parliament Anthony Albanese and Malcolm Turnbull.

Presidents of the SRC have regularly gone on to become President of the National Union of Students, with the 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, and 2007 Presidents being immediately elected to the peak office in NUS. The last three and current Undergraduate fellows of the University of Sydney Senate, Moksha Watts, Jo Haylen and Rose Jackson and Angus McFarland were all former Presidents of the SRC.

[edit] Functions

The SRC focuses its work on representation of students, rather than the provision of services. This sets it apart from the University of Sydney Union, which provides services such as Clubs and Societies and food services, and the Manning, Holme and Wentworth buildings.

The SRC is also highly involved in broad political campaigns and has been central to the campaign against Voluntary Student Unionism. It has collectives in the areas of Education, Women's, Queer, Environment, Global Solidarity and Anti-Racism.

The SRC also publishes Honi Soit, Australia's only remaining weekly student newspaper, as well as Growing Strong, the Women's handbook; and the Orientation Handbook. The SRC runs a second-hand bookshop, as well as providing free advice on legal issues, Centrelink and conflicts between students and university administration.

[edit] Politics

The SRC has a long history of being at the centre of student politics and student activism in Australia. Most political groupings in Australian student politics have a presence at Sydney University, such as Labor Left, Grassroots Left, Labor Right, Socialist Alternative and Liberals.

Since the end of 2000, the SRC has been controlled by the National Organisation of Labor Students, the student Labor Left faction. Prior to that, from the late 1980s until 1997, the SRC was controlled by Left Alliance, a former NUS faction made up of students to the left of Labor.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links


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National student organisations in Australia

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