USU Board Meeting: will proposed charity requirements threaten student activism?
Emily Graetz reports.
The August board meeting opened with Director Nicholas Comino acknowledging Wear it Purple Day and attendees whipping out their purple virtual backdrops. Comino encouraged the board to get involved and show their support to young people in queer communities. The USU will also be holding their Pride Festival next week to celebrate USyd’s LGBTQIA+ community.
Reports and activity
This month’s board meeting was once again brightened by CEO Andrew Mills’ infographic-filled PowerPoint canvassing everything from successful lockdown lunches, breakdowns of major IT projects (new website, upgrades to USU2U and USU Rewards SSO amongst others) and Welcome Fest reports. Notably Mills reported that there was a 218% increase in visitors to the Clubs & Societies webpage from last year (the Arts & Craft Society was viewed the most) and about 600 new USU members signed up over the Welcome Fest period - although a significant turn down in new Rewards members was reported.
Senate Appointed Board Director Marie Leech spoke to a report by Ernst and Young about how universities are continuing to reframe their offerings to students in the wake of Covid-19 and online learning. No doubt such reports and the findings they propose would be questioned by those critical of the currently unfolding changes amongst higher education, particularly given the widespread government and university cuts to staff jobs and departments.
Finances
With many-a-spreadsheet screenshared, there was ample discussion on finances this month. The mood was markedly more positive than last month, no doubt helped by the $99,622 in JobSaver payment that the USU received just a day before the meeting. Finance Director Rebecca Sahni said that the payment was much greater than expected.
The USU also reported having sold some shares, bringing in $450,000 after costs and they also await news on whether they will receive a $15,000 business grant from the NSW government. Staff cuts have no doubt also contributed to their more positive financial report, with 100% of staff agreeing to take some reduced hours and opt for disaster relief payments in lieu of lost work. The board stated that, to the best of their knowledge, no staff had had any difficulty in applying for and receiving the disaster payments.
Whilst the board initially budgeted a $59, 361 deficit for July, they have reported a surplus of $153, 951. Still, Sahni warned that the August period would be financially “less positive”.
ACNC Powers on Unlawful activity
Mills expressed his concern over the Government’s changes to the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission. If legislated, regulation of the charities would change with “advocacy organisations at risk of being deregistered by the Charities Commissioner, even if they have not broken any laws”, Mills wrote in his presentation. Most of the concern is directed at the fact that charities and Not-for-profits will be held accountable for the actions of their members, for example if a member attended a protest that “could impact [the] charity and registration status”. Those affected could include Amnesty, Oxfam and UnitingCare but Mills also expressed concern over what position it would put the SRC in, who, he said, “quite rightly speak up for their members”.
Senate Appointed Director David Wright, however, didn’t share the same concern as Mills, stating that the ACNC would only target those that would actively promote unlawful behaviour and that he “would be concerned if we had people in our organisation engaging in that behaviour anyway”.
“I suspect we don’t have too much to be concerned about”, Wright stated.
Whilst Mills stated that the USU currently had no plans to take further action on the matter on account of the “heavy hitters already arguing against this”, he did retain his concern that the changes were worrying for charities and their members. Mills said that whilst the USU are not directly in the firing line, they do enjoy income free tax status and therefore such a change should be considered significant.
You can read more about the proposed regulations here.
Executive reports
Exec reports were, for the most part, taken as read. Vice President Ruby Lotz thanked “all the staff that have opted to take the reduced hours, that definitely helps [the USU’s] financial position”. Lotz also noted the implementation of mental health first aid training for club executives and noted they were being introduced within “a broader suite of club training”.
President Prudence Wilkins-Wheat acknowledged that Covid-19 and lockdown was “hitting us [the USU] pretty hard” but was pleased with the uni’s offer of free coffee for vaccinated students, the ongoing work of the Covid19 committee, Welcome Fest and the USU’s current collaborations with clubs and societies. Wilkins-Wheat said that she “appreciate[s] the care shown towards staff” and announced that Mills’ contract had also been confirmed.
Miscellaneous
The board have yet to announce who the new Pulp editor will be but they are reportedly meeting on Monday to discuss. We await their announcement eagerly!
CathSoc have completed their mandatory empathy training and have been un-suspended.
Revues seem to have been, for the most part, rescheduled for next year. The Engineering Revue however, is pivoting to an online space with discussions of a newspaper being introduced.
Rad Sex and Consent Week will be held online in Week 8.