‘No confidence in leadership’: Clubs reform proposed after disastrous meeting
By: On Dit Magazine
Tags: Unions, University Of Adelaide, Students, Transparency, Democracy

‘No confidence in leadership’: Clubs reform proposed after disastrous meeting

Last week’s AUU Board meeting also revealed that the term ‘union’ will be retired in the next rebranding project

The chief body in charge of student clubs will consider a reform to bolster democratic governance and transparency, but is unlikely to have the numbers to pass.

Student union Board Director, Billy Zimmermann (Unite/Labor Right), attacked the Progress and Liberal-dominated Board on last Wednesday night’s meeting for not tabling his proposal for discussion.

President Angela Qin (Progress) said the matter would be referred to the Clubs Committee itself before going to Board.

The Clubs Committee has the power to register new clubs, approve their grants, and arbitrate on grievances. Zimmermann’s proposals would have ramifications for years to come.

They include increasing the number of club-elected representatives from two to three, allowing the Club Administrator (who is a staff member, not a student) to vote, and expressly permitting club presidents to attend all meetings of the committee.

A number of women’s organisations, including the Women’s Collective, Pro-Choice Club, and the EPCOS Society have been blocked affiliation during Progress’ three-year reign of the AUU Board. The addition of an extra club representative could change that.

Any vote on the reform is likely to be deadlocked. The Clubs Committee has four voting members: the AUU President; the Chair, Andrew Lai (Progress), and two students elected by club presidents: Nick Birchall and Will Broderick.

‘Are you respecting me right now?’

The proposal, outlined in a letter to the Board, comes after Birchall invited all club presidents to attend the last virtual Clubs Committee meeting on June 1. Birchall notified Lai in the last meeting that he would extend this invitation. Roughly 10 club presidents logged on.

What followed was a heated argument between a defiant Birchall and an incensed Lai. Lai said he felt ‘disrespected’ by Birchall’s decision not to seek his permission before sending the invitation, as the public is generally not invited to these meetings.

Breathtaking scenes captured on film (Birchall to Lai’s left).

However, there is no rule which gives Lai power to move the meeting in-camera (i.e. out of public view). Zimmermann was also kicked out, even though AUU chief Gary Sutherland confirmed Board Directors have a right to attend meetings without notifying the Chair.

Qin and Lai tacitly voiced their disapproval to any changes on Wednesday night’s Board meeting by moving that Lai should ‘have the right to manage affairs of the Clubs Committee, including but not limited to the running of meetings.’

Zimmermann and Matt Monti (Activate/Labor Left) opposed the motion. Qin did not respond to an email asking whether she would support the reform vote.

Birchall said vistors should be allowed to attend to promote a culture of transparency.

‘At the end of the day there needs to be more accountability. If we’re publishing minutes, we shouldn’t have anything to hide.’

UPDATE: Birchall had in fact notified Lai at the Clubs Committee meeting in May that he would invite club leaders to the following one.

Give power back to clubs

Zimmermann says that too much power is given to student politicians and not enough to clubs.

‘If both democratically elected members support a clubs registration (say the Women’s Collective) it can be opposed by the Board members, and because the Chair has the casting vote, it is defeated. This is giving too much power to the Board and not enough to the actual lifeblood of the AUU, our clubs.

‘Progress candidates were soundly defeated at the last Clubs Committee election receiving less than 20% of the vote. They do not represent clubs.’

The results of the 2020 Clubs Committee election.

Birchall supports tilting the vote in favour of club reps and says it would ensure clubs have more of a say in their own affairs.

‘I do not believe the rules currently governing clubs committee are fit for purpose.

‘Clubs vote for two out of the four representatives. The President (Qin) and Chair (Lai) are not elected by clubs and are not required to have any background in, or be involved with any clubs.

‘They ultimately decide how to interpret the rules that govern us… I think there’s something seriously wrong with that.’

Birchall is the president of UofA’s Totally Cooked club. Lai’s bio says he is involved in the Adelaide Mechanical Engineering Student Society (AMESS) and Adelaide University Malaysian Student Association (AUMSA).

Anonymous club president speaks

Speaking to On Dit on condition of anonymity, one club president who was ejected from the shambolic meeting said they no longer have confidence in the leadership.

‘We were made to feel so unwelcome, and aren’t we the people that they support?

‘All the presidents who joined this meeting are heavily overcommitted to their roles and do a lot for the University as a whole. We don’t get paid for this and sometimes we get less out of what we do than what we put in.

‘Seeing how we’re treated in a meeting when there was no justification to us not being there, made a few of us realise that the people who are in charge don’t care.

‘Clubs support our student welfare heavily and the committees in charge of these clubs need to be respected more.’

I’m afraid the answer to your question is in-camera

Last week also saw perhaps the most bizarre use of the AUU President’s in-camera power on record.

Matt Monti, as readers are aware, became a Board member after Ana Obradovic was unceremoniously ousted for alleged defamation.

It was understood that if they filled Obradovic’s vacancy as the next-highest polling candidate in 2020, they would serve a comfortable two-year term until the end of 2022. Board Directors are elected for two-year terms in alternating years.

But if only it was that simple! In March, after trying to bend the rules so much that only legal advice could stop them, Progress hacks tried to give Monti’s rightfully won two-year term to one of their own: last year’s AUU President Stella Woo.

Now, only one meeting into Monti’s term, President Qin was not able to tell us whether Monti will indeed serve for two years or just one.

The reason? You guessed it: she moved the discussion in-camera.

Taking the ‘union’ out of AUU

Wednesday’s meeting also shed light on the AUU’s rebranding project.

The union’s Student and Staff Survey in March revealed that many students were not aware of the services offered by the AUU or what its role in the university is, said Marketing and Communications Manager, Kearin Hausler. This project is intended to address that.

Hausler confirmed that part of the rebranding will involve removing the term ‘union’ from the organisation’s name. How that will achieve the project’s aims was not made clear.

Though the services offered by the AUU would not change, Zimmermann called this a ‘lazy ideological attack’ on the union’s history, and warned it would hurt the power of unions everywhere.

‘The concept of student unionism is too important to give up.

‘Student unions like ours have a proud history of standing up against injustice and fighting for students, be that the fight against the Vietnam War, cuts to higher education, increasing of fees, or the introduction of Voluntary Student Unionism.

‘Young Liberals fought for VSU and now they’re fighting to axe the SSAF, where 90% of the Union’s funding comes from.

‘This should be a fight about aspirations.’

While Progress describes itself as ‘apolitical’, its members generally vote down motions which are critical of Liberal government policies.

Last year, the coalition bloc refused to let the Student Representative Council promote the student climate strike, as well as the campaign opposing fee hikes for law and humanities students.

Monti said the AUU’s identity is more than just a brand.

‘I understand the desire to give the AUU marketing and visual identity a bit of a facelift. But I have serious concerns about any rebrand that would steer the AUU away from its historic role as a student union and move it toward being nothing more than a simple service provider.’

The next AUU Board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday 14 July at 6pm.

AMENDMENT: This article originally reported that Stella Woo did not run in the 2020 student election, which is incorrect. Woo ran for the AUU Board on the Progress ticket.