SRC 6 Liveblog

Speaking to the motion, Carlton said that “there’s still a climate catastrophe ongoing”, and argues that the government’s “gas-led recovery” to the economic shock of COVID-19 was “wild and inappropriate”. Carlton reiterated her belief that ANUSA “should be an activist union” and that they “should do what they can to support” Climate Change movements.

Hill states that the Climate Strike this year will “obviously it’s gonna be quite a different kettle of fish to the student movement that happened last year”. Speaking on the circumstances of this year’s protest, Hill asserts that, with regards to fossil fuels, “the Labour Party and the Liberal Party” are “basically in agreement”.

The motion passes.

The meeting closes at 8:36 pm.

Before speaking for the motion, Wren proposes an amendment to add the line “ANUSA will co-host, support and advertise the Oct 14 National Day of Action against cuts on university campuses”. This amendment does not receive dissent from the floor and is incorporated.

Now speaking for the motion, Somerville reiterates that ANUSA should “stand in solidarity” with the staff facing job cuts because these cuts “mean a massive loss to student services”. Somerville claimed that students and staff “don’t have shared interests with Brian Schmidt” suggesting that the ANU Vice-Chancellor “just wants a good business model and a bottom line”.

Panditharatne again emphasised that these staff cuts are “something all students should care about”. He states that the cuts will result in “tutors having to deal with larger classes” and will have “less hours to mark your work”. He also described the federal government’s extension of JobKeeper to “private universities…but not ANU” as “horrible”. To close his statement, Panditharatne encouraged students to come to the staff cuts “student forum” being held tomorrow, stating that students could also “make a difference by” calling their local  “federal MPs”

Before going to a vote, Somerville remarks that “the only way we’ll make a difference” is by “mobilising with staff” and by “not backing down” from the “demand that we actually want”.

The motion passes.

Somerville claimed that the ban is not motivated by the NSW Government’s worry about the “threat to health” posed by the potential spread of COVID-19, but is motivated by “the threat to power” posed by protestors. Furthermore, the motion calls upon ANUSA to officially endorse the ‘Democracy is Essential’ campaign in NSW by signing the campaign’s statement, as well as sharing the statement on ANUSA social media pages.

Somerville speaks to the motion, reiterating the motion’s preamble: “Lending our solidarity as a student union… is a tangible thing we can do… to support activists in NSW”. Somerville also points out that “there hasn’t been a single case of Coronavirus linked to… a rally”.

Hill also speaks to the motion, saying that this is “something we should all take very seriously”, given the “potential for this type of thing to creep into other cities”. Hill argues that “right now there are hundreds of jobs on the chopping block”.

Somerville argues that this “sets a bad precedent for other cities”.

The motion move to a vote and passes.

Ben Yates speaks to the motion, highlighting that he wants to see an ANUSA where “everyone can get upskilled and everyone knows what’s going on”. Yates continues, pointing out that “there’s not a whole lot of confidential stuff that is discussed at executive meetings.”

Heslington exercises her speaking rights as seconder, saying that “Ben summed it up pretty well”.

The motion now goes to a vote. The motion passes.

Ned Strange expressed doubts about whether the Returning Officer would be in favour of releasing the results. He cites his experience as 2020 Probity Officer, where the RO was the one who had sought to suppress the election results this year.

Aryanne Caminschi puts forward an amendment to add that results are to be requested from the RO by the Gen Sec from “2020 onwards”, to ensure that the motion “carries on”. Both amendments are accepted into the motion.

Speaking to the motion as a whole, Will Fletcher reiterates that “if you’re running for the election… you kind of accept that you might not win”.

Heslington speaks against the motion, stating that “the only reason [she is] speaking against” it is that she found the reasons candidates had provided for withholding the election results to be “convincing”.  However, she added that she would “publish the results if the SRC really want to”. Overall, she expressed her desire “for this year” to “really…stick to the reasons people gave me” and to uphold them in not releasing the results.

Grace Carter, the final speaker, said that it is a “basic principle of a democracy that the results be published”, arguing that it is “symptomatic of a broader bureaucratic system of ANUSA”. “There needs to be a broader reorientation of ANUSA towards students and towards activism”.

The motion passes.

The Motion calls for the SRC to “compel” the General Secretary to publish the most recent election results as well as any other results from non-department elections that have been suppressed. The Motion also calls for the SRC to reaffirm that “transparency and accountability are vital to the functioning of the Association and its elections.”

Wang reads Motion 8.1. Ned Strange moves an amendment to “remove subpoint 2”, which calls on the SRC to ‘compel’ the Gen Sec to release all previously unpublished election results on the ANUSA website and re-number the points accordingly. The amendment is not taken as friendly.

Strange said that he agrees with point 1, which called on the release of the 2021 Election results, the second point “would require ANUSA to release last year’s results”, noting that at the time there was something in the [ANUSA] constitution that said election results would only be held for a year, and a release of results would be inconsistent with what was promised to previous candidates.

Grace Hill said that she “would disagree with ANUSA making results inaccessible from past years”, arguing that it was “wrong to have told…people that their election results would be suppressed”. She went on, withholding results “would be a scandal [in ordinary politics]”, arguing that it was a problem that “normal students shouldn’t know about elections” in order to “protect the feelings of people in ANUSA”.

The amendment does not pass.

Howland notes that the Council has “spent very little”, having spent 25,000 dollars out of its SSAF allocation of 150,000. He notes that the SSAF bid will be starting “fairly soon”, and expects 2021 funding to be the “same as this year”.

On the CC election, Howland says that he would like to “encourage anyone [who is interested in clubs] to be involved. “There is a lot of work that is done by the Clubs Council Executive”, adding that “things will go very bad very quickly if people aren’t in those roles”. He added that interested students can reach out to Meghan Malone.

The report is passed, and the chair is passed from Meghan Malone to Maddy Wang.

The meeting is to reconvene at 7:38 pm.

During this interlude, Benjamin Chelser takes the opportunity to plug his Woroni Radio Show, “Insomniacs’ Lullaby”, of which he describes himself as the “enigmatic presenter”.

Both candidates are successfully elected.

The first question comes from Lachy Day, who asks if the candidates “think that the Gen Sec has a duty to interpret the constitution” in the most valid way or simply just a valid way. Yeend states that he falls “on the side of the valid way” although he admitted that he did not have “a clear answer either”. Edevane said that her “view differs insofar as I think it should be interpreted in the most valid way”, noting that “[the Gen Sec] have a duty of care…and responsibility to interpret in the most valid way”, adding that “disputes committee…more as a failsafe and a last resort”, and should not be the “go-to for fun”.

Panditharatne notes that the Disputes Committee has previously not had full membership, and asks the candidates if they have any commitments which will require them to step back from their duties. Yeend said that he intends to “prioritise … unreservedly everything in my life … everything I commit to right now, I will commit to next year”, noting that he will have responsibilities as a Senior Resident, in addition to his studies at CIT. Edevane replies that she “[wishes she]  had a more interesting life and …had extravagant commitments for next year”, but that this was not the case.

Vice President Madhu Janagaraja asks the candidates what issues about impartiality they anticipate will arise. Yeend said that “questions of conflicts of interest… are an interesting one”, noting that they “[are] always in shades of grey”. He said that he is “quite open with my conflicts of interests”, something that he plans to continue in his role on the disputes committee. He concludes that the “best way is with integrity…honesty and without reservation”. Edevane said that she has had “a bit of background” on this issue, from her “work for government departments”, where “everything needs to be cleared from the get-go”. “ANU is so big but so small at the same time.. [it’s] impossible not to know someone”. She said that the Committee is there “rule fairly and consistently in line with the constitution”, and that its approach is “about being honest and open”.

JCoS Rep Sai Campbell asks whether the committee has “[looked] at how much influence alumni should have over [ANUSA]”. Yates replied that he believes that this is something the committee should consider, but that “this was not part of what the [Committee] intends to do.”

The report passes.

Gen Rep Aryanne Caminschi said that there is “quite a process” for results to be revealed. She added, “it’s my view that if [candidates] are not willing to have the results out in the open, then “[they] should not run”, noting that the election results are still not public.

Heslington expressed her apologies “for what has been quite an ordeal”, stating that she was “just following the process from last year”, which provided that “if [candidates] wanted … results not to be published” they could email the Gen Sec with a reason why they did not want results to be made public. She said that she is “working on a change to election regulations so in the future they are just published”, noting that candidates can currently view results by “booking an appointment with admin”.

Ned Strange asks how long ANUSA is committed to using MSL in the future, given that the report cited a lot of problems with the platform. Days said that ANUSA “[signs] annual contracts through the ANU as a proxy” and although they are “not bound to use them for elections” as they “just pay for subscriptions”, he notes that they’d “need to fork out 10k to get the AEC” to run in-person polling.”

Vasaiwalla speaks to the motion, stating that this issue “has been brought up in the collective a few times now”. She asserts that it is “quite unsafe for BIPOC…to come across cultural insensitivity either by the curriculum or staff or other students”, and says that the “university needs some sort of process to deal with it when it comes up”. She characterised this motion as ”just to start them thinking about it”.

One student said spoke to their own experience in a “class that had that terrible [question] about colonialism”, where they “decided to take the L and lose the points and not answer”. They added that ”interpersonal racism from students or uni bodies…its really appalling”, and  “students and staff should be against the idea of…a neutral approach to colonialism…its not a neutral topic”. However, they added that they “have criticisms politically with the tone of the letter … saying that having to have a debate with someone is an onerous task…sets a politically wrong precedent…with how to deal with racism”. “Everyone should be able to talk about things that make others uncomfortable…it’s a key part to talk about it.” The student concluded by expressing that they “don’t politically support the tone of the letter”.

Vasaiwalla replied that the motion was “written by collective members and myself”. She said that she brought it to SRC, with the goal of “[getting] the SRC to accept the idea of getting the uni and the staff to talk about [this issue]”. She said that any issues with the content of the motion “can be brought to the collective,” noting that “this is just a starting point”. She reiterated that “there is no proper way that academics are being taught to discuss this issue”, and the primary message of the motion was to say “ don’t ask people of colour to debate the issue when [teaching staff] don’t know” how to handle the issue.

She lists a number of completed projects, the main one being the Department’s ‘Are You Racist ANU?’ Campaign. This campaign included a number of events including an information campaign surrounding anti-racism in the university setting, a panel discussion with Mona Eltahwy on the intersection of race and womanhood. The Churchill Statue Petition, which focuses on the importance of standing against racist iconography, is continuing to circulate but has been pushed to lower priority status by the Churchill Trust. Other completed projects include the Panafrical Student Club, Social Inclusion and Diversity presentation as well as the non-autonomous Chai and Chats meeting groups.

Upcoming projects include two more ‘Are you Racist ANU?’ panels, a continued push to establish an Ethnocultural Advocate position in Residential Halls, an upcoming ceramics workshop with local creative group, Sweet and Sour. There is also an ongoing effort to advocate for more representation of BIPOC in academia as well as a collation of racist incidents from students, which will be used to generate wider university awareness of these issues.

Total expenditure comes to 773.86 and Vasaiwalla worked 40.5 hours in August and 10.5 in September, as of 13.09.20. Vasaiwalla takes her report as read. She noted that, since the last SRC, the Collective voted for a name change from Ethnocultural Department to ‘BIPOC’ Department.

Vasaiwalla highlights the Department’s ‘Are you Racist ANU?’ campaign, which “takes [an] institutional advocacy approach”, in addition to “informational stuff”, with the aim of “trying to get anti-racism on the minds of every student”. She said that she has sat on the Social Inclusion and Diversity Committee, and presented an “anti-racism proposal” at the first meeting, which “[starts] with residential halls… then university campus … then hopefully, staff.”

Hill highlights that the department has met and decided to support the September 25 School Strike For Climate. The event will be campaigning against “the gas-led recovery” and the “general lack of action regarding the climate at the Civic tram stop”. Hill also highlights that she has spent several hours leafleting on campus and contacting students at UC to see if they can assemble a group to attend the demonstrations.

Hill has been coordinating with an ANU Climate Change Institute representative to ensure that anyone wanting to participate in the ANU Below Zero consultation process is able to do so. Staff and students are encouraged to have their say via an online platform. Hill also mentions that she is continuing to campaign against Proctorio, calling it an “invasive program”.

There will be an NTEU demonstration against uni cuts on Tuesday 22, which Hill says she is “pleased to announce”. Hill says that “the uni administration are not on the side of students”, noting that “a course isn’t just some abstract thing, along with it are actual human beings who have lost their jobs”.

Hill says that the collective has also endorsed the Democracy is Essential campaign and that she herself has signed their statement. Hill condemns the conduct by police in response to lockdown protests, arguing that “everything has been done by the cops, media and govt. To falsely equate all protests with anti-mask right-wing conspiracists, in order to push their agenda.”

Hill concludes, saying that she has reached out to other ANUSA officers regarding “joint activity” and that she has assisted collective members with information regarding ANUSA governance.

Hill said that the “National Day of Action against uni cuts went pretty well”, with a “pretty successful small demonstration given the circumstances”. She said there was a lot of “planning and organising” on foot for the 25 September Global Day for Climate Action.

Hill stated that the “really big thing we should all be talking about is job cuts”, adding that “the University Administration will never be on our side”, with VC Brian Schmidt “wholeheartedly accepting the cuts”. Hill said that “the role of a union should [be to] take quite an unequivocal position…where not a single job is lost”. She notes the job losses at other universities, as well as the “massive de-funding” faced by the La Trobe University student union, stating that “[this is] the sort of thing we will find here [at ANU] if we don’t form a student resistance.”

ISD Officer Nancy Chen opens her report by informing the SRC that the voting period will be open from 28 September to 2 October. However, the voting period for “director positions” take place between 5 October and 11 October. She then lists a number of recent social events that have been held and announced that the department would be holding ‘ISD week’ in week 9. The Department will be hosting a number of social and academic events during the ISD week. The ISD has also created a survey to help the University hear feedback from students about the ANU Study Hub that was opened in Shanghai in August.

Chen also made a statement in response to “the report by ANU Observer about the neo-Nazi group’s activities” around campus. Also on behalf of the BIPOC Department (formerly the Ethnocultural Department), Chen expressed that they “strongly condemn these racist, illegitimate, and atrocious actions and urge anyone who comes across such actions/materials on-campus to report them [to] ANU Security and the Dean of Students”. After expressing their concerns to ANU Security, Chen was told that “beyond the occasional sticker” the have been “no incidents reported on Campus of racial or white supremacist activities or conflicts”. ANU Security also reiterated that they were “currently monitoring areas the stickers appear more often” and that they “do not believe” there is “any threat to the safety of the Campus or the Campus community”.

Speaking to her report, Chen notes that the ISD elections are ongoing, with nominations for executive positions closing at midday tomorrow.
Chen speaks further on Observer’s recent article on neo-Nazi, stating that this has “raised a lot of concern” within ISD. She said that the Department has “followed up with ANU Security”, who reportedly informed them that they are “monitoring the situation.”

She starts off by informing the SRC of two internal department elections: to elect the 2021 Queer* Officer, and to elect “two deputies [a] Secretary, Treasurer, Community Coordinator, and Social Media Manager”. The Officer election took place yesterday during the Department’s Collective Meeting whereas the Deputy and Committee elections will be held during the Department’s AGM in week 10. Arnould’s report then announced the establishment of two Queer Department working groups, focusing on ‘Advocacy’ and ‘Governance’. The former working group hopes to ensure that the Department’s advocacy activities “can be as intersectional as possible” while the Governance Working Group “assists in the ongoing internal Governance Review”.

Arnould also announced that it will be running two advocacy campaigns this term. The first is a continuation of its “Just Ask” online campaign which “focuses on the challenges faced by trans and gender-diverse students”. The second campaign will be run in week 8 focus and will focus on Sexual Wellness. This campaign will feature “a series of events, including STI prevention, sex worker awareness, and online consent”. Furthermore, Arnould clarified that Queer* “Coffee, Movie Club and Nights In” will continue on their “usual schedule” in addition to a new “TGD Catch Up” that will be held every Wednesday. Arnould notes that the Queer* Department has had two campaigns, with the campaign on pronouns kicking off yesterday. She also notes that the campaign on sexual wellness will start next week. Arnould also notes that a “couple of working groups on advocacy and governance” have been set up.

Arnould states that the Department currently has merch available through RedBubble, with “another round of subsidised merch” coming later in the year.

She extends congratulations to Vincent Lee on their election to the role of 2021 Queer* Officer yesterday and notes that nominations for other positions will remain open until the end of next week.

Malone takes Maddy’s report as read.

Aisling Arnould moves to pass the Women’s Department report to the end of the Report section. This motion passes.

The report highlights that in-person events are returning and that the events on campus form is open.

Jagger announces that the Clubs Ball will not be going ahead this Semester, but that the Less Stresstival will.

Lastly, she states that there will be another Social Committee meeting in the coming weeks and that she has begun work on O-Week and Friday Night Party for 2021.

Jaggar takes her report as read.

She says that the Clubs Ball is “categorically not going ahead”, and says that she will discuss the status of the Clubs Awards with Jacob Howland.

In her report, Wang discusses the allocation of SSAF funding as well as the Ethical Sponsorships Policy. She notes that a term of reference will be written up and that the policy will be ready to be presented before the SRC at SRC 7.

Wang also asks the SRC for input on how funds can be better allocated towards environmental sustainability and notes that ANUSA has received an additional 300,000 dollars to put towards assistance grants in response to COVID-19.

She concludes by discussing the standardisation of an ANUSA volunteer uniform, which she has been working on in conjunction with Social officer Sophie Jaggar and the incoming executive. The idea is to have one uniform that can be worn across several years in order to reduce the costs spent on ANUSA O-week and Bush week merchandise.

The report begins by announcing that honoraria nominations for ANUSA ordinary members or elected officers are now open, and will close at 8 pm on Wednesday 7th of October. Heslington then goes on to explain the process that she has followed regarding the release of last month’s election results. It is stated that she told candidates on multiple occasions that they could indicate to probity if they didn’t want their results published on the ANUSA website. The report then states that because so many candidates asked for their vote counts to not be published, Heslington emailed the candidates earlier this month to ask them to re-confirm their request and provide a good reason for having their results suppressed. Heslington claims that she was “satisfied with the reasons people provided. The results can be viewed by ANUSA members by appointment.

After congratulating incoming Gen Sec, Meghan Malone, and briefly outlining the handover process, Heslington announces that Malone will also be the returning officer for the Clubs Council executive elections. Nominations close on Friday 25 November at 5 pm.

Next, the Governance review working group is discussed. Heslington lists a number of proposed Constitutional amendments to be proposed at OGM 3, which can be found on ANUSA’s website, the ANUSA Facebook page, or the OGM 3 event. They will be moved separately at the OGM, and require a 75% vote of the general meeting to pass. She also notes that they will not come into effect until either 2021 or 2022, as they also have to be passed by ANU council.

Lastly, the report notes that the fifth Academic Quality Assurance Committee meeting took place on 17 September, and briefly describes its focus on the broadening of the PhB, the reinstatement of Diploma of Languages in 2021, and the Academic Integrity Rule.

As part of the handover process, Heslington hands over the chair to 2021 Gen Sec Meghan Malone.

The report begins with a summary of events since the last SRC. These include a National Day of Action on fee hikes, the announcement of major job cuts and the early planning stages of a SSAF campaign. The Fee Hike Bill has now gone to a Senate committee inquiry, after a sustained activism effort as part of the Kill the Bill Campaign. Panditharatne commends the ANU Education Activism Network for their collaboration.
Panditharatne also acknowledged the announcement of staff cuts and quotes ANUSA’s response in his report. He encourages all students to get involved, citing a feedback forum scheduled for 12pm 24th September.

There is an upcoming SSAF campaign, to be run in conjunction with Ed-Officer-elect, Maddie Chia. The purpose is to ensure that SSAF goes to student services and to protect ANUSA’s SSAF next year. Regarding COVID-19, Panditharatne reminds students that ANUSA support is available and extends his thanks to the ANUSA team for their continued support. He is continuing to work with the Young Workers Centre, the Tenants Union and Legal Aid to address the issue of insecure work and housing, as well as lack of JobKeeper/JobSeeker support, for students.

Panditharatne apologised for the lateness of his report, citing illness. He said that it has been a “very busy month”. On the job cuts recently announced by the University, he said that “ job cuts are an issue as much for students as for staff”, with the prospect of “cuts to student services”. He notes that the “fee hikes have gone to an inquiry…which is good news”, but acknowledged that there are “still a lot of work to stop them going through”. Panditharatne added that he “been working with Ed Officer elect Maddie [Chia] to get a SSAF campaign going”. Gen Rep Nick Carlton asks Panditharatne about what he plans to do next for the job cuts campaign. Panditharatne replies that “every student can be involved”, such as by going to “town halls”, “supporting staff” and “going to the speak out on Friday [at Garema Place]”. Carlton asks if Panditharatne is “negotiating with Brian Schmidt”. Panditharatne states that the approach would “not [be] about negotiating” but “about lobbying” University Australia and ANU Administration”. He said that “it’s very disappointing that [they] support this package”, and added that “lobbying individual College deans is very important.

Madhumitha is working with both the current and incoming trustees, drafting plans for diversifying revenue streams and developing a timeline for these interests to be explored – through alumni outreach, merchandising, ethical sponsorships and the ANUSA shopfront.

Madhumitha notes that ANUSA is currently in the process of communicating with TAG (tertiary access group) to examine the possibility of engaging a consultant to conduct an independent assessment on the viability of various potential commercial projects for the association. Madhumitha says this will “help inform our risk management strategy in ensuring that anything we attempt will have a high chance for success, as well as capacity to evolve and adapt as necessary to a changing environment in the next few years”. Madhumitha says that she will be opening up opportunities for consultation with the SRC as well as the wider student body as appropriate throughout this process.

Madhumitha reports that ANUSA is very much aware that staff working conditions are student learning conditions asserting that “Cuts to professional staff means a deterioration in the quality and level of support given to students,”

Madhumitha reports that ANUSA is concerned over the CECS degree changes proposed in the college of engineering and the adverse effects this will have on a number of students. Madhumitha says ANUSA has been advocating for the minimum requirement of an additional 12months consultation time before any changes are implemented to ensure that students are best supported and student interests are prioritised. Student assistance is available through ANUSA to support and help direct individual students who may require extraneous assistance as a result of these proposed changes.

Further announcements contained in Madhumitha’s report include:

–  ANUSA’s continual work on expanding summer course offerings, which have temporarily been put on hold as the association continues to respond to proposed changes to existing course and degree offerings and cuts to academic staff.

– The Canberra Student Housing Student Co-Op has reached out to ANUSA regarding potential collaboration. Madhumitha hopes to structure a method with which ANUSA can gain data on housing affordability for ANU students, as well as support the Co-op in remaining affordable for students.

–  ANUSA is working to secure a culturally and linguistically diverse counsellor for ANU’s Counselling and the National Health Co-Op.

Day welcomes everyone to SRC 6 and begins his report commending members of ANUSA that recently ran in the ANUSA general elections. Day notes that this election has been particularly interesting as it was widely contested across many tickets, with each ticket having a “unique and positive vision for where ANUSA could go next”. Day congratulates the successful candidates noting he is keen to see the new energy they will bring to ANUSA.

Day condemns the announcement of 215 job cuts at ANU on 16 September in addition to the 250 voluntary redundancies previously announced. Day states that he personally cares about this issue and believes ANUSA should be standing in solidarity with the NTEU and all staff that face the potential of losing their jobs.

Day sees a very clear link between the number of academic staff and the extent and quality of courses available at ANU. He notes that job cuts lead to over-worked academic staff who are less likely to be able to give each student the time that students deserve. Day also sees potential cuts to professional staff as further over-burdening student facing services, which he believes have already seen a “marked decrease in [their] ability to respond empathetically and effectively[sic] to students”.

Day concludes that the central reason behind the cuts is due to the “inaction of the Federal Government to offer appropriate and proportional financial support to tertiary institutions”, pushing universities to be “increasingly neo-liberal”.

Day notes that ANU will be holding a series of consultations regarding the cuts over the next month and that If these are “valid intentions from the university to receive feedback”, then they will provide an avenue to show through sheer numbers that students are in solidarity with staff facing job loss.
Day also announces that there will be rallies and actions planned in the near future through the Education Committee including contact from Federal MP’s who are interested in lending their voice to these kinds of movements.

Day reports that ANUSA transitioned back to its office from July 27nd with WHS/COVID-19 safe guidelines developed to ensure that it stays a safe work environment. There will be a schedule amongst Department Officers and executives to ensure that the workplace maintains social distancing rules. Day announces that ANUSA Offices will not be accepting any student walk-ins/in-person service provision for the foreseeable future, encouraging students to email [email protected] instead. He also notes that BKSS will remain closed.

Day explains that it has been noted that there are not many spaces for students wanting to do their zoom tutorials on campus and announces that ANUSA is in conversation with ANU to increase the number of study spaces outside of the libraries and Marie Reay buildings. Day announces that the basement floor of Hancock Library should be opening soon to allow an additional 80 study places. Day encourages students with additional ideas about how to increase study capacity around campus to get in touch with ANUSA.

Day announces that ANU has provided an additional 300 000 dollars to ANUSA (with the same amount being distributed to PARSA) for the continued distribution of emergency grants to student in financial need. This brings the total amount of ANUSA funds to 800 000 dollars for the year. Day enthuses that these additional funds mean that even if students received the full 750 dollars in Semester 1, they can now reapply for another 750 dollars this semester.

Day announces that the CRN/CRS opt-in marking system is being extended into semester 2 and that data has shown that a large number of students did not choose to opt-in to the CRN grade from a fail last semester. To amend this, Day reports that ANUSA will be conducting work to try to move the system into an “opt-out” model for the CRN grade while also increasing advertising and messaging for the new grading system.

Day says that he would like to give a “shoutout to everyone who ran” in the ANUSA elections. He added that there will be student consultations tomorrow on the job cuts that were announced in the past week. The report passes.