VSU Emergency Rally - Tommorow (Wed 16th) (1 Viewer)

[gordo]

if you are poor and need subsidies on food, spend $5 on a loaf of bread and a jar of vegemite and there's your lunch for a week.

 

[Phanatical]

http://www.thequahreport.com/emailexchange.html - an email exchange from a year ago detailing exactly what the EAG's priorities are.

 

[Phanatical]

I didn't want to get drawn into a debate on abortion since it had absolutely nothing to do with the point I was trying to make.

 

[transcendent]

How many people here actually paid their union fees themselves? As opposed to having their parents pay for it?

I got my dad to pay for me then I paid him back when I had the money.

 

[transcendent]

if you are poor and need subsidies on food, spend $5 on a loaf of bread and a jar of vegemite and there's your lunch for a week.

Only if you plan to spend most of your lecture time in the toilet.

 

[withoutaface]

Oh and by the way

Get a job.

what the fuck do you think I've been looking for for the last 3 months? And I've been doing plenty of stuff to earn myself money, but the fact remains that some of us:
a) study subjects at an advanced level
b) actually need D's to transfer
c) are doing a real degree
and hence need to study just that little bit more than others. The sleep issue is a little more of a problem when one has 8am lecture four days a week, and time spent at uni is greatly inflated by large two and three hour gaps. And irrespective of this, students should not have to pay for what are essentially luxuries through union fees before they can pay for essentials.

 

[Plebeian]

http://www.thequahreport.com/emailexchange.html - an email exchange from a year ago detailing exactly what the EAG's priorities are.

You said it yourself, that was a year ago. Had you actually attended any EAG events this year, or been party to any of their (our, I am a member) correspondence, you would know that the only two issues which have been discussed this year are VSU (the sole issue that we have taken any action on) and ancillary course costs (eg. readers, etc. and the other mandatory extra charges imposed on some courses; a campaign to lower the cost of these has been postponed in favour of concentrating on VSU). These are both the exact sort of "student issues" that you support so vehemently in that blog.

 

[Plebeian]

the fact remains that some of us:
a) study subjects at an advanced level
b) actually need D's to transfer
c) are doing a real degree
and hence need to study just that little bit more than others. The sleep issue is a little more of a problem when one has 8am lecture four days a week, and time spent at uni is greatly inflated by large two and three hour gaps.

None of this precludes you from having a job... it may make it a little harder, and stop you working 20 hours a week, but it will give you enough to survive / have luxuries, especially since you don't seem to have moved out on your own (correct me if I'm wrong there though).

 

[Generator]

fact remains that some of us:
a) study subjects at an advanced level
b) actually need D's to transfer
c) are doing a real degree
and hence need to study just that little bit more than others.

Get off your high horse, calculon. I can understand that with travel, early starts, relatively large breaks and a 24+ hour week of class that getting and holding down a regular job (with a decent number of hours) may be difficult, but there is no need to denigrate another person's degree programme with respect to its supposed level of difficulty and study requirements in that manner. This isn't the UWS forum... We should all be above that.

 

[gordo]

except that there are ppl doing arts 12 hours a week and ppl doing rocket science 28 hours a week

withoutaface is getting no acknowledgement for the fact that maybe he isn't at uni just to pass and get a piece of paper

 

[Phanatical]

You said it yourself, that was a year ago. Had you actually attended any EAG events this year, or been party to any of their (our, I am a member) correspondence, you would know that the only two issues which have been discussed this year are VSU (the sole issue that we have taken any action on) and ancillary course costs (eg. readers, etc. and the other mandatory extra charges imposed on some courses; a campaign to lower the cost of these has been postponed in favour of concentrating on VSU). These are both the exact sort of "student issues" that you support so vehemently in that blog.

The EAG hardly makes up the majority of student funding - most of the funding from the SRC still goes to nonsense portfolios like women's and queer issues, and that bullshit "Global Solidarity Officer". Michael Janda is a far more effective Ed officer than his predecessor, but there's still much that could be done. I'd also like to point out that the EAG is itself incredibly divided between the Labor Left and the Socialist Alternative factions - and it's only in recent times that these two factions have started to agree on stuff.

The problem is that say VSU were not to pass through the senate, and it were no longer a threat, the EAG would be so eager to start a political debate that it would straight away get involved in stupidity like the TJ Hickey affair. Hell, even in the last few weeks I've seen postings on the SU_EAG mailing list demanding I and my fellow students protest "police brutality" at Macquarie Fields, and that we must march and picket the ANZ bank for gods-knows-why.

And now they want students to go on strike. Brilliant, while we go on strike, people who can't get into uni are clamouring to take your enrolment and actually get an education. They don't give a crap whether the SRC and Union are getting huge amounts of money from students - they want what we as university students take for granted. What sort of message do you think "initiatives" like students on strike sends to those people who weren't fortunate enough to get a university offer?

Another thing that bugs me, is why there is a "Global Solidarity Officer", but no Conservatorium Undergraduate Representative to the SRC. While the SRC will whinge about anything and everything, an entire faculty goes without representation because the SRC continues to fuck us over.

 

[withoutaface]

Get off your high horse, calculon. I can understand that with travel, early starts, relatively large breaks and a 24+ hour week of class that getting and holding down a regular job (with a decent number of hours) may be difficult, but there is no need to denigrate another person's degree programme with respect to its supposed level of difficulty and study requirements in that manner. This isn't the UWS forum... We should all be above that.

She made the assumption that just because we all go to uni we have similar requirements in terms of starting times, contact hours, overall time spent at uni etc in her post, so I was just making it clear that her situation isn't necessarily comparable to mine, and it might be significantly harder for me to hold down a job than her. Oh and I am looking for a job, just I haven't been able to find anyone willing to employ me, apart from a few tuition students.

 

[Phanatical]

except that there are ppl doing arts 12 hours a week and ppl doing rocket science 28 hours a week

withoutaface is getting no acknowledgement for the fact that maybe he isn't at uni just to pass and get a piece of paper

Arts people doing 12 hours a week are still completing 24 credit points - the difference between arts and science is that students are expected to do far more independent research than in science. an 8cp subject represents around 12 hours a week - 3 in lectures and tutorials, and 9 in independent research and assignments.

 

[withoutaface]

Arts reading can, however, be done while in transit to and from uni, thereby being able to make more use of the rest of their time.

 

[gordo]

haha maybe in theory
none of my mates doing arts spend 27 hours a week doing research outside uni

 

[gordo]

manning bar holds 150 ppl - maybe 500 ppl go their per day
hmm, 45000 go to uni

wat a tragedy


as if mannign would close anyway - some entrepreneaur (spelling) would buy it out and it would be exactly the same except beer would be 20 cents more

 

[Phanatical]

Manning Bar ain't a bad venue to perform. We did an eclectic:bit concert in there last year, with the 5.1 setup and everything, and it was rather successful.

 

[Phanatical]

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National...ion-rescue-plan/2005/03/20/1111253885035.html

Pokies at Manning

 

[Xayma]

Declining patronage, only predicting 10% of students will remain members...

Looks like students love the services being offered.

 

[withoutaface]

Declining patronage, only predicting 10% of students will remain members...

Looks like students love the services being offered.

In WA when they had VSU over there the large universities had around 35% union membership, while it was the smaller unis such as Edith Cowan that suffered, with 4-10%. Why wouldn't something similar happen here?