Student Politics at UTS (2 Viewers)

[Soma]

Far too leftwing for my liking. Does anyone else concur?

 

[braindrainedAsh]

I'm a lefty and I agree... what we have Left Action and left Focus. Do you know they were actually all on the same team up until recently when they had a bit of a tiff, so they are really just two factions with the same policies that had a bit of a personality clash. There isn't even any point in voting.

Plus it is run like a farce... there were no notices released about when to nominate. We were going to run a ticket for Vertigo because we would like to see it become more politically independent and journalistic but they never announced when you actually had to run (they only did for the union, not the SA), so the new group which consists primarily of people from the old group who are aligned with the SA got in uncontested. Hmm democracy hey. Vertigo is not representative of the student body, and we wanted to turn it in to something that was actually read by people outside of the SA and humanities faculty. But oh well... you basically have to be in with the SA to have a chance, plus they have all the resources like photocopying, badge makers, screenprinters for t shirts etc.

It is a leftocracy. So cliquey.

 

[Shuter]

The sad thing is I couldn't have voted for a Pro-VSU party if I tried, which I did.

 

[Panda Bear]

gonna have to agree uts is pretty lefty..

but being a science student, alot of us don't even give a fuck lol

 

[Soma]

I'm a lefty and I agree... what we have Left Action and left Focus. Do you know they were actually all on the same team up until recently when they had a bit of a tiff, so they are really just two factions with the same policies that had a bit of a personality clash. There isn't even any point in voting.

Plus it is run like a farce... there were no notices released about when to nominate. We were going to run a ticket for Vertigo because we would like to see it become more politically independent and journalistic but they never announced when you actually had to run (they only did for the union, not the SA), so the new group which consists primarily of people from the old group who are aligned with the SA got in uncontested. Hmm democracy hey. Vertigo is not representative of the student body, and we wanted to turn it in to something that was actually read by people outside of the SA and humanities faculty. But oh well... you basically have to be in with the SA to have a chance, plus they have all the resources like photocopying, badge makers, screenprinters for t shirts etc.

It is a leftocracy. So cliquey.

Exactly, I would classify myself as a centrist with centre right economic views and centre left social justice views. Of course at UTS this makes me seem like a veritable Margaret Thatcher.

What shits me at UTS is that it's so obvious that the people in power are not representative of the students. It seems that the only people that vote are those from the humanities department who elect their friends. When we have people who proudly support the Socialist Alliance getting elected you have to worry whether its a true representation of students. I'm pretty sure that the majority of Business, Engineering, Science and IT students would not endorse this but are just left out of the election process purposely and hence have little say.

Another thing that irks me is the language used in their posters and policy statements, very propaganda-like in nature. They say very little of substance i.e. "giving students a voice" and deliberately fail to disclose their deeper political motives and which party they are aligned to. At least the Liberals are pretty transparent as opposed to the left parties which dupe people into voting for them who would not normally support them.

All in all, it doesn't really bother me just because I know that there is not that much power within the various student bodies anyway. The vast majority of those elected like to pretend that there are massive issues relating to racism and sexism which I (perhaps only because I am a white male) am inclined to believe is just a bit of trumped up bullshit to keep themselves occupied. Don't get me wrong, I have no deep sexist hatred of the fact that there is a Womyn's Officer but I certainly don't think that it is all that necessary.

I agree with you Ash about the Vertigo thing, at the moment it is very partisan. If some better quality, unbiased articles were put in it and it was actually distributed to other faculties such as to business and law then it would actually be a great student mag.

 

[Shuter]

Another thing that irks me is the language used in their posters and policy statements, very propaganda-like in nature. They say very little of substance i.e. "giving students a voice" and deliberately fail to disclose their deeper political motives and which party they are aligned to.

Yes, I like some of FOCUS posters':

"Effective - Equitable - Inclusive - Accountable"

hell why didn't he just write:

"Cool - Fun - Awesome - Funky"

And also while walking past the voting booth at Haymarket I had to run the usual gauntlet of lefties attempting to harass me into voting. Even when I clearly didn't make eye contact with this woman, and attempted to walk well away from her, she came up and asked me to vote, after clearly going "No no no", she preceeded to walk with me continueing to ask me. At that point I had to clearly go "there is NO chance I will be voting", and she finally left me alone.

 

[thejosiekiller]

gonna have to agree uts is pretty lefty..

but being a science student, alot of us don't even give a fuck lol

damn straight i hate how the gore hill reps still come and bother us at the start of the lecture though- even when we are at the city...ffs stay at the dunbar building you idiot

however, walking through the concourse of building 1 today the left action group accused the other left group of not actually being lefties!!! the horror...instead they said they were only appearing to be lefties to get votes under a right wing conspiracy of sorts which involves printing/photocopying rebate

i cant remember the whole story cause i started getting annoyed when he nearly followed me to my locker

 

[Soma]

damn straight i hate how the gore hill reps still come and bother us at the start of the lecture though- even when we are at the city...ffs stay at the dunbar building you idiot

however, walking through the concourse of building 1 today the left action group accused the other left group of not actually being lefties!!! the horror...instead they said they were only appearing to be lefties to get votes under a right wing conspiracy of sorts which involves printing/photocopying rebate

i cant remember the whole story cause i started getting annoyed when he nearly followed me to my locker

Ahhhhh the PrinterGate debacle!

 

[braindrainedAsh]

There are far more pressing issues at hand than the printer scandals for the student association....

And god the whole "they aren't actually left, they are wet Libs" thing is so so sooooo annoying. We don't give a fuck about your factional infighting... stop arguing and get some policies... like making student elections some sort of open and accountable process where people other than you can actually run.

We were really dissapointed that we missed the opportunity to run a ticket for Vertigo. We had heaps of ideas about how to widen the distribution and get more of the student body to actually pick up a copy and be interested in the content. We wanted to take it away from being a ranty mouthpiece and turn it in to something with some credibility that could actually play a part in campus discussion and debate. At the moment all Vertigo does is preach to the converted.

 

[Panda Bear]

josie.. i've been at st. leonards the entire year

all of us have been pretty immune to what happens in the city

but st. leonards is closing down next year its a definite already

 

[prosaic]

Firstly I'll need to defend myself by stressing that I am not running for SA, I do wish that (moderate) Thatcherism was more (publicly) pervasive around UTS and yes, "womyn" does evidence rather pointless molestation of language.

In truth however, the Rights are not running for this because 1) the cost of the campaigning process is too high and probably is unaffordable after their Union defeat 2) for those who want to gain positions in young Liberal and other such organisations, SA is not v useful (as opposed to the Union which wields more power). Mind you, the ones who ran for the last elections a month ago didn't ease on voting presure either (in the corridors).

Anyway I don't want to say anything political so I'll stop here BUT, I am more concerned about your Vertigo ticket Ash: I was in a politically neutral group of people who were going to run for it, but it appeared that things got a bit nasty, and being fond of neutrality and not getting into squabbles we pulled out. Admittedly one of us was contacted by Left Focus when the opportunity to run arose, and I am sorry that your group never had this advantage. I do suggest though, if you are really serious about this, that you appeal either to the SA or to some higher authority. I will happily bring this matter of lack of transparency to relevant officers at the next academic board meeting but in the meantime, you might want to express your discontentment with the SA ppl as well. Or u can email the electorate officer at elections@uts.edu.au about the proper voting process.

And to all others who are unhappy...since when were SRC elections not dirty in the slightest sense and disconnected from people who gathered friends to vote for them? This has always been the case in school, now and most likely when contention for positions on the Seniors Society or other such representative body becomes an issue for you: be content that the 3-day voting period is now over.

 

[Newbie]

left focus wins

uts was a pretty crazy campaign

 

[my sharona]

It's gotten pretty gritty.

I'm tired of their faux-neutral lecture bashes "We're not telling you who to vote for but we're more active and the other group is new and more party alligned"

I wish they'd stop arguing who's more left and focus more on some achievable policies that people care about (i.e. not just 'no vsu' or 'giving students a voice'). All they're doing is printing t-shirts and wasting reams and reams of yellow and blue paper.

Think of the yellow and blue trees!

 

[midnight]

I found it really amusing that the two left groups were so against each other.
But I suppose they, like me, weren't aware of any other groups to argue with?

Thousands of yellow and blue trees must have been turned into propaganda with typos/mistakes this month.
I'm glad they all care so much about helping the environment.
I hope the winners plant a forest to make up for all that wastage.

 

[maka]

I am supportive of people having a say and a voice but i ask do these people have to constantly attack you as u walk down from the classes to the bar.

I think her name angela is very nice and she isnt one to be worried but i find that u want to walk quietly and are like constantly told about the parties.

Many seem to have generic policies too. I respect people wanting to make a change and being counted as they ensure society benefits but i think there should be a measure where we arent bombarded with this info from every entry point.

What exactly is the process of seeking election?

 

[prosaic]

What exactly is the process of seeking election?

Go to the Student Association office and pick up forms to lodge in the positions you want to run for, one would think. This is presuming of course that, you know where the office is, as one with genuine interest in running for office would. Vertigo ticket was arguably unorthodox however. Anyway 'R' (hahaha), if u're there, u know more about this right u should monitor this thread .

 

[Soma]

I found it really amusing that the two left groups were so against each other.

It would have been more amusing if they split the leftie vote and the Libs got in haha.

I really wouldn't mind getting involved in politics at UTS but I know I am far too right-wing for any of the leftie parties and I have always dreaded joining Young Liberals.

I really think that if a centre(-right) party without the stigma of being attached to the Libs formed they would be able to mobilise the votes of the non-humanities faculties and get up.

 

[steph@nie]

I didn't really pay attention to voting or the campaigns and every time someone asked me to vote, I said I already had.

 

[Purp|e]

yeah, i did the 'ive already voted' or 'no, you guys waste so much paper.. THINK OF THE TREE'S!'

agreed on the whole high school popularity contest voting methods ... its so fucking stupid.

you guys down with all the political stuff should really start a party!

 

[prosaic]

Errr..yeah actually we do have parties but you may or may not be distributed with political propaganda at said parties. Altho sometimes u get free beer.