RepsElect recap: campus Left domination continues
Fabian Robertson and Emily Graetz report.
The campus Left - led by Switchroots - took the majority of positions up for grabs in last night’s six-hour RepsElect Zoom. The Left seemingly formed a coalition consisting of Switchroots, NLS (Labor Left), SAlt (Socialist Alternative), Penta, Engineers, Ignite (Conservatorium) and Unity (Labor Right) to lock out their opponents from contention.
The 39 recently elected SRC Councillors are given the power to vote for the Executive and Office Bearer positions. However, the majority coalition formed by the Left enabled them to decide most positions prior to the meeting, meaning a vote was rarely required.
Pulp’s breakdown of the SRC Election results can be found here.
Executive
The Executive is responsible for the operations of the SRC. Lauren Lancaster (Switchroots) had already claimed Presidency at the recent election, a position that was rewarded with a $42,921 stipend this year.
Last night, Mikaela Pappou (NLS) and Emily Storey (Engineers) were elected unopposed to Vice President, which was rewarded by a shared stipend of $28,614. In their nomination speech, Pappou bemoaned USyd’s wage theft and the erosion of campus life, while Storey voiced a desire to engage Engineering students.
Grace Lagan (Unity) and Alana Ramshaw (Switchroots) were elected unopposed to General Secretary, which was also rewarded by a shared stipend of $28,614. General Secretaries bear the brunt of the organisational and administrative work of the SRC. Ramshaw promised their work will be “uncompromisingly left wing” and Lagan stressed how the Liberal Government has “fucked the planet and the students.
Celestia Wang (Penta), Daniel Bowron (Unity), Nicole Yang (Penta), Tiger Perkins (Grassroots) and Tunshu Chen (Penta) will make up the rest of the Executive as unpaid members of the General Executive. Cooper Gannon (Liberal / Strive) and Owen Marsden-Readford (SAlt) attempted to nominate for the position but were unaware that they had to have been elected as an SRC Councillor, which they were not. Both were deemed ineligible. Subsequently, a small coalition of Liberal-aligned students attempted to nominate Claudia Hopkins (Colleges). The Electoral Officer, Riki Scanlan, denied the request as nominations had closed.
The results of this year’s RepsElect are notable in that the five most powerful members of the SRC Executive are women.
Paid Office Bearers
Lia Perkins (Switchroots) and Deaglan Godwin (SAlt) were elected to the coveted position of Education Officer, a position rewarded by a shared stipend of $28,614 this year. Rory Larkins (Solidarity), organiser of the Save USyd Arts campaign, also nominated for the position. Perkins and Godwin together received 31 votes to Larkins’ 6.
Perkins condemned wage theft at USyd while Godwin expressed a desire to “smash capitalism” in the fight towards free tertiary education.
Madeleine Clark (Independent) and Monica McNaught-Lee (Independent) were elected unopposed to Women’s Officer, a position rewarded by a shared stipend of $28,614. As is customary, the election of Women’s Officer was decided externally by the autonomous Women’s Collective. Clark emphasised a desire to fight as “feminist, left-wing activists and socialists” and stressed the importance of an intersectional approach that fights racism and capitalism while supporting staff strikes and the NTEU campaign. McNaught-Lee called alumnus Dominic Perrottet a “living legacy of sexism fostered” at USyd and forecasted the significance of the 2022 release of the National Students Survey in bringing attention to the “ongoing sexual assault crisis”.
Miscellaneous antics
RepsElect is Christmas come early for SAlt, who exploit their democratic right of nomination as a soapbox to make two-minute speeches, before promptly withdrawing their nomination. Given that few are likely to be swayed by someone wilfully wasting their time on an already-painful Zoom call (regardless of the merit of their arguments), their antics give rise to one burning question: why?
The SRC’s affirmative action requirements played a part in the election of the Social Justice and Global Solidarity Officers. The requirement that one elected candidate be non-cis male meant that Yifan Zhang (Penta) and Zhengqing (Sky) Chen (Penta) were not elected. Consequently, a second non-cis male Social Justice Officer will be elected at the first meeting of the SRC, joining the shared candidacy of Simon Upitis (SAlt) and Martin O’Flynn (Ignite)
For Global Solidarity Officers, TengFei Pan (Penta) was elected with 19 votes. Owen Marden-Readford (SAlt) and Mahmoud Al Rifai (Switchroots) received 15 votes yet were unable to be elected as a result of affirmative action, resulting in the election of Yang Tu (Penta) and Julia Tran (Unity) who received two votes.
Many hopeful nominees struggled with the actual nominations process, casting some doubt on both their knowledge of the functions of the SRC and their capacity to successfully engage with simple bureaucratic processes.
The night was run by Secretary Julia Robins, Electoral Officer Riki Scanlan and Deputy Electoral Officer Cameron Caccamo, who conducted the meeting efficiently despite heckling, dissent and incompetence on the part of participants.
Full RepsElect results:
Vice President: Mikaela Pappou (NLS) and Emily Storey (Engineers)
General Secretary: Alana Ramshaw (Switchroots) and Grace Lagan (Unity)
General Executive: Celestia Wang (Penta), Daniel Bowron (Unity), Nicole Yang (Penta, Tiger Perkins (Grassroots) and Tunshu Chen (Penta).
Women’s Officer: Madeleine Clark (Independent) and Monica McNaught-Lee (Independent)
Education Officer: Lia Perkins (Switchroots) and Deaglan Godwin (SAlt)
Welfare Officer: Eamonn Murphy (Switchroots), Jason Zhang (Penta), Grace Wallman (Switchroots) and Yasmine Johnson (SAlt)
Ethno-Cultural Officer: Ashrika Paruthi (Switchroots) and Misbah Ansari (Switchroots)
Indigenous Students' Officer: no nominations received, election held over until first SRC meeting.
International Students' Officer: Ashrika Paruthi (Switchroots), Alice (BoAo) Guo (Penta), Jenna (Xujie) Wu (Penta) and Cony (MeiLin) Jin (Penta)
Environment Officer: Ishbel Dunsmore (Switchroots), Tiger Perkins (Grassroots) and Angus Dermody (Solidarity)
Global Solidarity Officer: Tengfei Pan (Penta), Yang Tu (Penta) and Julia Tran (Unity)
Intercampus Officer: Alexander Poirier (Ignite), Franklin (Tengfei) Pan (Penta), Bridgitte Holden (Ignite) and Jie Lu (Penta)
Sexual Harassment Officer: Rose Donnelly (NLS), Jayfel Tulabing (Switchroots), Xiaojie (Janice) Zhao (Penta) and Yuan (Esther) Ren (Penta)
Queer Officer: Ira Patrole, Yasmine Andrews and William Stano (Switch)
Disability Officer: Holly Haoyi Zhang, Sarah Korte and Ira Patrole
Mature Age Students' Officer: no nominations received, election held over until first SRC meeting.
Interfaith Officer: Shiyue (Stephine) Zhang, Marie Ge (Penta), Hanwen (Hanna) Xing and Yilin (Elaine) Xu
Social Justice Officer: Martin O'Flynn (Ignite), Simon Upitis (SAlt) and one remaining non-cis male position to be elected at the first SRC meeting
Refugee Rights Officer: Ki Joo (Andy) Park (Switchroots), Danielle Tweedale (Switchroots), Lydia Elias (SAlt) and Annabel Pettit (SAlt)
Residential Colleges Officer: Charlotte Ainsworth (Unity), Alexis Bundy (Unity), Nancy Qiao (Penta) and Jiawen Li (Penta)
Student Housing Officers: Henry Collyer (NLS), Ricky Rangra (Unity), Shiyun (Max) Cheng (Penta) and Silei (Victoria) Wen (Penta)
Intercampus Committee: Maddie Maronese (Unity) and James Burgess (Ignite)
Chairperson of the Standing Legal Committee: Felix Lockhart Wood (Switchroots)
Directors of Student Publications: Cooper Gannon (Strive / Liberal), Emily Mackay (Engineers), Jinhui (Candice) Lu (Penta), Lily Wei (Penta), Mahmoud Al Rifai (Switchroots) and Sara Kie (Unity)
Standing Legal Committee: Cooper Gannon (Strive / Liberal) and Hanwen (Hannah) Xing (Penta)