It’s week 10 and the finish line is in sight! If you’re more snowed under than a duckling in the fluff, here’s the news you might have missed.
Union Court Redevelopment
The Virtual Reality tour of the plans for Union Court is now on YouTube. It notably features Manning Clark’s creepy hand and a more immersive display of the new Union Court. Observer previously reported on the VR video here.
Events
The ANU Sol Invictus team has arrived in Adelaide, successfully completing the World Solar Challenge. The team was competing in the ‘Adventure Class,’ and was the first time ANU has entered the international competition.
The ANU Innovation Challenge will be postponed to early 2018 due to lack of interest. The event previously won the 2016 Best Collaborative Event at the ANUSA Clubs and Societies Awards, and was set to be held next week.
The Observer AGM saw the election of two new editors- Madeleine Birdsey and Jason Pover, who will join current editors Michael Turvey, Eliza Croft and Skanda Panditharatne in 2018, as well as digital editors Ebe Ganon and Adam Cass. The executive will also include secretary Joel Baker and treasurer Tatsu Yamaguchi to take the Observer to even greater heights in the new year.
ANU Administration
The ANU National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) “overwhelmingly” endorsed an agreement formed between the university and staff that will form the new Enterprise Agreement for 2017-2020. It is now set for all staff to vote on, and must then be passed by the Fair Work Commission. This follows recent protests by the NTEU over cuts to higher education, which the Observer reported on in August, but it is unclear how these concerns will be addressed in the new agreement.
Halls of Residence
SR selection at Bruce Hall has drawn large community backlash, with complaints that the selected officials lack experience, ethnocultural and queer* diversity, and prioritised candidate who would police rules over those who would engage in pastoral care. Candidates who raised concerns about Bruce Hall were turned down without reason. Read the Observer’s report on it here.
Griffin Hall will launch a new postgraduate wing later this year. The ‘Walter Wing’ will provide support for non-residential postgraduate students and is promised to be ‘completely up and running by 2018.
Student Associations
Elections this week led to a split executive in the International Students Department (ISD), with five students from Bloom and three from Fusion elected. When asked about working with candidates from Fusion, president-elect Mina Kim told Observer “it will be tough” but is optimistic. Juntao Liu, Vice-President and Fusion party candidate stated that “after the elections there is no Bloom or Fusion. There is only one team called ISD 2018.” Observer reported on the elections here.
The run up to the elections was not without controversy. Fusion received sanctions in the campaigning period for putting posters up in banned areas, and for endorsement by the Chinese Students and Scholars Association. ISD parties can only be endorsed by clubs where all members are students.
The NUS (National Union of Students) ACT branch is facing dissolution, after disaccreditation by UC, and failure to meet ANUSAs requirements for reaccreditation this year. ANUSA has voiced concerns about transparency and accessibility of the Union. This would leave the ACT, and therefore ANU students, without representation at the National Executive.
