Recap: USU Special Board Meeting (24 July 2020)

Nicolette Petra reports...kinda.

I mean, I would deliver a report if I could. Really, I would. It’s just...there’s nothing to report.

1:57pm - The special meeting of the USU Board was set to commence at 2pm, but just before the top of the hour, I received word that it would be pushed back to 2:30pm. Maybe even later. I sit tight, hoping that ‘later’ didn’t mean too late, and opting to fill my time waiting by binge-listening to Taylor Swift’s newly released album, Folklore (which, in stark contrast, was promptly dropped at exactly 2pm AEST).

2:45pm - Almost an hour later and we’re on! I wait to be approved to join the meeting for a few awkward minutes but when finally I do enter, it’s mid-motion by President Irene Ma. I try to find my feet and shake off the feeling of being dropped into the meeting like an avatar in a Club Penguin party but -- wait! Something’s wrong. A Board Director replies to Irene but the laptop is pointed away from them, the mic unable to pick up their voice which comes through my speakers in garbled echoes.

Dane Luo, sitting closest to the laptop I’m Zooming in from, asks if Pulp has any questions for the Board.

‘Not so much a question, Dane, but I’m having trouble hearing the Board Directors. Could you make sure the mic is pointed towards the Directors?’ I ask. He obliges and shifts the laptop towards the Board.

But perhaps my question should have been, ‘Will I need to hear the Directors or will the Board be in camera for the whole meeting?’

I think you know where this is going.

2:48pm - The Board moves in camera (meaning Pulp can’t watch) and I’m promptly plonked into a Zoom breakout room where I wait with baited breath to be called back in. *The Taylor Swift binge intensifies.*

4:10pm - Over an hour later and I get my first sign of life from the Board, only to be told there will be a recess until 4:20pm.

4:27pm - The meeting recommences and I am immediately returned to my regularly scheduled in-camera program. Having whizzed through TSwizzle’s new album (twice), I sit twiddling my thumbs at my desk, a sad party of one.

5:15pm - I’m allowed back into the meeting, ready to lap up something worth reporting but as quickly as I’m in, I’m out. The meeting is closed at 5:16pm and I’m left thinking, ‘Did I really just spend three hours waiting to report on…nothing?’

This is not the first time a USU Special Board Meeting has been held almost entirely in-camera. In early May, the Board held two Special Meetings, one on 1/5/20 which was entirely in camera, and the second on 5/5/20, a large portion of which was in camera. The monthly Board meeting for May also saw the Board go in camera for 20 minutes of what was a mere 50 minute meeting. 

Following this, Pulp penned a piece on the Board’s habit of going in camera and its lack of transparency when it came to meetings. Pulp advised that the USU take on the SRC’s policy of recording all motions passed, even those made in camera, to ensure public scrutiny and democracy when it comes to the Board making decisions which directly affect students and USU staff. 

While the USU took on Pulp’s suggestion to minute decisions made in camera, the June Board Meeting saw similar scenes unfold with an in-camera session lasting 40 minutes. If the meetings since May are anything to go off, it would seem any upcoming Special Meetings will not be much different from today’s.

After melting into my desk chair for the best part of a Friday afternoon without any human interaction (except my girl Tay Tay), I closed my laptop and was left wondering whether the newly elected Board will make a conscious effort to prioritise transparency in the future or if they will fall into the same habits as their predecessors.