UTS Students' Association

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The University of Technology Sydney Students' Association (UTSSA)

Motto	Our Voice. Our Way. Our SA.
Institution	The University of Technology Sydney
Location	Level 3, UTS Tower Building 1, Broadway NSW 2007
General secretary	Sabrine Yassine
Members	46,328
Affiliations	National Union of Students (NUS)
Website	utsstudentsassociation.org.au

The University of Technology, Sydney, Students' Association is the representative body for students at the University of Technology, Sydney.^[1] It is based on level 3 of building 1 at UTS. It publishes the student magazine Vertigo.^[2] The association has departments which have previously worked collaboratively with the university to achieve practical outcomes for students, as well as ensuring that the university is held to account over its handling of student issues. Historically, this has resulted in numerous successful campaigns which have won rights for students in the university.

Executive[]

The executive of the UTSSA are responsible for the day to day operation of the Association, and are elected by the students annually.^[3]

2022 Executive[]

The current executive members, elected for 2022 are:^{[4] [5]}

Position	Name	Party		Alliance	Took office	Term ends
President	Anna Thieben		Independent	Revive	December 2021	2022
General Secretary	Sabrine Yassine		Labor Unity	Fire Up!	December 2021	2022
Assistant General Secretary	Melissa Sukkarieh		Independent	Revive	December 2021	2022
Education Officer	Cat Doherty		Independent	Revive	December 2021	2022
Welfare Officer	Nour Al Hammouri		Labor Unity	Fire Up!	December 2021	2022

Student Representative Council[]

UTS Student Representative Council
56th Council
Type
Type	Student Body of the UTS Students' Association
Term limits	President: 1 term Secretary: 1 term General Councillor: None
History
Founded	1966; 56 years ago (1966)[6]
Leadership
President	Anna Thieben, Independent since December 2021
Secretary	Sabrine Yassine, Labor Unity since December 2021
Structure
Seats	25 14 General Councillors 5 Executive 4 Elected Officers 2 University Board [7]
Political groups	Fire Up! (12)   Labor Unity (8)   Labor Left (3)   Independent (1) Revive (12)   Independent (11)   Socialist Alternative (1) Accountability (1)   Australian Democrats (1)
Length of term	1 year
Elections
Voting system	Single Transferable Vote
Last election	October 2021 [8] [9]
Next election	2022
Website
UTSSA Student Representative Council
Constitution
Constitution of the UTS Students Association
Rules
Bylaws of the UTS Students Association

The Student Representative Council is the representative body of students at UTS. It was founded in 1966 under the NSW Institute of Technology.^[10]

Role[]

The role of the SRC is to represent the students at the University of Technology Sydney Meetings are held monthly, and are open to all students.^[11] They are usually held on-campus and are promoted on social media pages. Important matters relating to student activism, concerns, budgets and the function of the association are raised at meetings. Motions are raised and voted upon by councillors, and are passed by a simple majority. However, a two-thirds requirement must be met to pass amendments to the constitution.^[12] Office bearers for the Queer, Enviro, Accessibility and Ethno-Cultural collectives are elected annually by the SRC at the "repselect" meeting. To be eligible, a candidate must be a General Councillor. Office bearers are elected by a plurality by SRC members.^[13]

The UTSSA Student Council is democratically elected, with elections in the spring semester of each year.^[14]

Factions[]

Like most bodies representing students in Australia, the SRC is divided into factions. The factions work together in groups, in 2022 these are based on their election tickets: "Fire Up!" ( Labor Right, Labor Left), "Revive" (Independents, Socialist Alternative) and "Accountability" (Australian Democrats).^{[4] [5]} No faction has an outright majority on council as of 2022.

Labor Unity[]

Labor Unity, the centre-left of Labor was the dominant faction on council for several years until 2022, often in a majority. However, it suffered significant losses in 2021 to Left-Wing Independents, Socialist Alternative and the Australian Democrats - its first major defeat in 8 years.^[5] The group is affiliated with national Labor Right and the Australian Labor Party.

Labor Left (NLS)[]

Labor Left, the democratic socialist wing of Labor campaigns for social justice and education.^[15] The faction has a strong record on LGBTQIA+ rights and environmental action on campus, and collaborate with national NLS and regional groups. They currently hold the office bearer portfolio for the Enviro collective for 2022. The faction is aligned with Labor Unity on council, and contested the 2021 election under the "Fire Up!" ticket. ^[4] Labor Left has 3 members on council and is an ALP affiliate.

Australian Democrats[]

The Australian Democrats, a centrist faction advocate for fiscal responsibility, social justice, transparency and accountability on campus. They contested the 2021 election under the "Alliance for Accountability Ticket" with independents, with a message to "keep them honest" and calling for election reform to end the practice of "spam messaging" during election periods.^[15] The faction has one member on council, and is an Australian Democrats affiliate.^[4]

Revive Independents[]

The revive independents have a focus on ensuring the autonomy of the collectives on campus, fighting for environmental and social justice and protesting attacks on students and academics by the federal government.^[15] The faction is left-wing, with most members active and heavily involved in the association's collectives and campaigns. They are linked to the "grassroots independents," according to Honi Soit, and contested the 2021 election under the "Revive" ticket alongside Socialist Alternative.^[5] The faction has twelve elected representatives on council, three of those on the executive.^[4]

Socialist Alternative[]

Socialist Alternative is a far-left Trotskyist group, affiliated with the national movement of the same name. It contested the 2021 elections under the Revive ticket, and had education activist Chloe Rafferty elected as councillor.^[4][16]

Composition[]

The current Student Representative Council as elected for 2022:^[4]

UTS Student Association Results 2021

		Political affiliation		Seats
					Change
		Labor Unity		8	8
		Labor Left		3	N/A
		Independent		1	4
	Total for Fire-Up			12	12
		Independent		11	11
		Socialist Alternative		1	1
	Total for Revive			12	12
		Australian Democrats		1	1
		Independent		0	N/A
	Total for Accountability			1	1
		Greens		0	1

Name	Party		Alliance
Anna Thieben		Independent		Revive
Sabrine Yassine		Labor Unity		Fire Up!
Melissa Sukkarieh		Independent		Revive
Cat Doherty		Independent		Revive
Camile Smith		Independent		Revive
Nour Al Hammouri		Labor Unity		Fire Up!
Antona Bursa		Labor Unity		Fire Up!
Harry Ryan		Labor Left		Fire Up!
Eshna Gupta		Independent		Revive
Adrian Lozancic		Australian Democrats		Accountability
Bailey Riley		Labor Left		Fire Up!
Mia Campbell		Labor Unity		Fire Up!
Gracie Abadee		Independent		Fire Up!
Cal McKinley		Independent		Revive
Simashee De Silva		Independent		Revive
Elijah Hollero		Independent		Revive
Suzy Monzer		Independent		Revive
Vanessa Lim		Independent		Revive
Sara Chaturvedi		Independent		Revive
Saihej Bhangu		Labor Unity		Fire Up!
Chloe Rafferty		Socialist Alternative		Revive
Zebadiah Cruickshank		Labor Left		Fire Up!
Rufus Dadd-Daigle		Labor Unity		Fire Up!
Juneyt Cihan		Labor Unity		Fire Up!
Peter Blair Munford		Labor Unity		Fire Up!

Collectives[]

Women's[]

The Women's department creates a space and community for non-male identifying members of the UTS community and is affiliated with NOWSA. There is an Autonomous Space in Building 3. In 2016 they worked with the NUS Women's Officer to host the NOWSA conference for that year.^[17]

Welfare[]

The welfare collective is opened to all students but has in the past been asked to be the main organising body for students from low socio-economic backgrounds. The collective aims to help students by providing food and how2life workshops. These workshops have covered topics like cooking 101, renting how-to, and fair wage/your rights.^[18]

Education[]

The Education Collective, also known as the Education Action Group, is open to all students and is focused on campaigning around issues that affect all students on campus. This includes fighting against fee hikes and cuts to staff and for a better trimester system, more library hours, in addition to other campaigns led be the National Union of Students.^[19]

Indigenous[]

The Indigenous Collective is a group exclusively for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. The Collective meets weekly and works alongside, but independent of, Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning. Founded in 2012, they do not have a space but run campaigns surrounding Indigenous issues and have been an active political and pastoral component of the Students' Association since their inception.^[20]

Queer[]

The Queer department runs campaigns for LGBTIQ students on campus and maintains a Queer Space in Building 5C. Campaigns include anti-homophobia campaigns, student safety campaigns, Pride Week, Anti Queer Youth Homelessness campaign, Gender Neutral Bathrooms campaign and works with the Out2Party club on social events. The Queer department also works closely with the UTS Equity Department.^[21]

Enviro[]

Affiliated to the Australian Student Environment Network, the Enviro Collective is focused on green activism and campaigns like 'Flick my Switch' and 'Fossil Free University' as well as environmental campaigns off-campus.^[22]

Accessibility[]

The Accessibility Collective is for UTS students who identify as having a disability and/or medical condition. The group operates without a space but cooperates with many internal UTS sectors to ensure students with disabilities receive adequate support. The group also campaigns around larger abilities awareness projects.^[23]

Ethno-Cultural[]

The Ethnocultural Collective is composed of students from across many ethnic backgrounds, races, religions and beliefs with the aim to promote harmony and peace through fostering the diversity at UTS. The collective works to ensure representation and supportive frameworks for students experiencing or at risk of prejudice and opposes all forms of discrimination against migrants, minorities, and people of faith.^[24]

International[]

The International Collective is for International Students at UTS who seek networking opportunities and space to protest on issues which affect them. Campaigns include the right to access student travel concessions and fairer fee structures.^[25]

Postgraduate[]

The UTS Postgraduate Committee is a group of students who aim to make a positive contribution to the educational experience of Postgraduate students. There a range of initiative the Postgraduate Collective advocate, including fairer fee structures.^[26]

References[]

External links[]

• UTS Students' Association - Official site
• Vertigo - Official site