Admissions Changes, PARSA payments, & Hall Consent Modules: News You Missed This Week

Who would win: Hayfever-ridden university students or a deluge of tree pollen? According to ANU tradition, when the fluff starts to fall, you should have started studying for final exams. Whether you’ve been buried in books or buried in your bed, here’s what you might have missed.

The University

New admission requirements will likely require a maths (or maths-like subject) as well as English up to year 12, even for non-STEM subjects, according to reports from student reps at ANUSA’s College Representative Council. This is in line with a recent push by the ANU to encourage admission of ‘well rounded’ students through extra-curricular achievements as well as ATAR considerations.

Ursula hall and Unilodge are requiring completion of the Consent Matters module for residents seeking readmission. The module is a free online course designed to teach sexual consent and situational awareness of consent. It is currently compulsory for all first years living in residence halls to complete the module, as a response to a national report on sexual assault at university.

Clubs

The Science Society has incurred a debt of between $2000-5000 that it has been unable to repay. A debt repayment grant was initially proposed by the Clubs Council, but an email to club delegates indicated that such a grant would be “non-compliant with… SSAF requirements.” It is unclear how and if the society will be bailed out, and has incited debate about disciplinary measures that can be applied to executive members who mismanage funds. Read Observer’s coverage of it here.

The Clubs Council has elected Lewis Pope as Chair, after he ran on a platform of a more ‘open, effective and responsive’ council. He will be supported by Howard Maclean as treasurer and Ian Fulton as funding officer. Read Observer’s article on it here.

The Clubs Council meeting saw the affiliation of five new clubs– the ANU Myanmar Students Society, the ANU African Students Association, Rationality ANU, the ANU Robotics Club and the ANU Buddhist Association.

ANUSA & PARSA

The PARSA OGM saw the passing of a constitutional amendment granting the PARSA Representative Council the ability to award honoraria, rather than needing approval from a general meeting. This follows a recent move by ANUSA to also move payment of volunteers for exemplary work to the judgement of a smaller committee.

Jharna Chamlagai was elected as the 2018 Ethnocultural Officer, and will be responsible for advocacy for ethnocultural and linguistically diverse students at ANU next year.

Campus

ANU will consider new names for all of the redevelopment, meaning the name of ‘Union Court’ might not stick around. Names that are representative of women’s achievements and indigenous heritage will be a priority, and some areas may be named after major donors. Fenner Hall residence will remain the same, despite its new location. Read about it here.

The Manning Clark building has been completely demolished, marking the end of an era at the university.

Sports

ANU teams have travelled to the Gold Coast to compete in Unigames from the 24th to the 29th of September, winning:

Gold in the women’s singles table tennis and kendo.

Silver in the swimming 4×50 medley relay and  400m hurdles

Bronze in men’s hockey, mixed beach volleyball, 4×50 freestyle swimming relay and women’s softball.

Observer News!

The ANU Observer nominations are now open for the executive positions of Secretary, Treasurer, News Editor or Digital Editor. The election will be held at the ANU Observer AGM on the 9th of October at 6:30PM in the Physics Link Building. For more information, read the Editors’ update here.

Did we miss anything? Let us know!