MaryJane said:
Has anyone read "passing show" this semester? Its around campus today. I picked one up, my god, read the page on how 'rotten' MQ is regarding Victor Ma etc: they are so corrupt! I didnt even realise. Its an eye-opening article, which made me want VSU even more (but I dont really know whether this was the aim of the author...)
But read it, its just... I'm angry!
Yeah I read it. Wrote it too. Good to see people still read
Passing Show.
The aim was not to get people pro-VSU. I'm fundamentally anti-VSU myself. HOWEVER - I fully respect people's decisions to support VSU at Macquarie, because quite frankly, we are being completely ripped off.
The way I see it, a fully functioning Students' Council (MUSC) and Students' Union (SAM) are invaluable services that enrich the University experience and ensure the campus is more than a simple degree mill. The problem is, these organisations have never been accountable, and the executives get paid faaaaaaaaar too much money. As President of SAM, Victor Ma gets paid $25,000 a year, and as Chair of MUSC, he gets I think $22,000 a year. $47,000 is a pretty sweet deal when you're not held accountable. What happens is that you get people who are politically and financially self-serving running for these positions, rather than people who genuinely care about students and student welfare. This happens because the greater mass of students on campus don't give a shit, and will vote for the first person that hassles them enough and yells "More parking!"
I think VSU is pretty much a foregone conclusion. SAM operates under this assumption. However, while other service providers on other campus' are fighting VSU and demonstrating to their student members just how vital their services are to the campus, in the hope that when VSU is introduced people will voluntarilly sign up next year, it seems to me that SAM has taken the other option. Instead of appealing to members and emphasising how vital they are to Uni life, SAM is assuming that no-one will want to sign up, and seems to be working for the bottom line - staying financially viable without members. I think this is the wrong approach entirely, and am extremely disappointed with the direction SAM is heading in.
As for MUSC. Well. Where to start! Probably
www.oneeightydegrees.org
I think a functioning students' council is essential for safeguarding student rights. It's the only independant body on campus that will stand up and defend your rights against the University administration. It's hard to be convincing when there's nothing in the immediate past to point to and say 'look what they've done for us', but consider some possibilities on the horizon:
* Who will defend your rights if the University decides to bump up HECS fees in 2007 by 25%?
* Who's to limit the number of full fee paying students on campus? There was an article in the SMH on the weekend about how this affects the University: ahttp://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Campus-critical/2005/05/06/1115092690378.html - Read the sub-heading 'The Language Problem'
* Who do you turn to when your lectures and tutes are overcrowded? The University presumably won't care - they overbooked them in the first place.
These are just a handful of situations where a functioning students' council is vital.
But is it worth over $100 a semester? Nah. Not yet anyway. But there IS something we can do.
When the elections come for SAM and MUSC, actually vote while you still can! Get these people that have taken your money out of there! It won't cost you anything to vote - it's the 'I don't care, it won't affect me' attitude that's led us to the current state of our organisations. I will be running in the elections for sure! What this campus needs is for people to fundamentally redress the role of SAM and MUSC on campus, and come up with a model that is relevant to as many students as possible at Macquarie. With the option of reduced subscription fees, worthwhile services and full accountability, VSU could be rather beneficial for Macquarie. On the other hand, if things go the way they are, MUSC will inevitably fold as soon as the money runs out, and SAM will simply be a line of full priced retail outlets (it doesn't seem far from that now).
As for the whole VSU argument about student organisations being the domain of radical left-wing ferals that don't speak for the majority of students, Victor Ma, like Brendan Nelson and John Howard, is a member of the Liberal Party. Makes you think.
