Formal Interactions with Students

Meetings
ANUSA regularly holds 3 types of meetings, in which issues are discussed and people are brought up to date on projects and happenings. These meetings are open to the public, but the ability for non-reps to vote varies. Minutes are taken at all meetings and are publically available, either through the website or the General Secretary.

Constitutionally reps have minimum attendance requirements (see Constitution s.13) – generally, they can’t miss more than 3 meetings per semester.

In addition to discussion and keeping others up to date, motions and action items are also brought up. These have the capability to set policy and direct the things ANUSA works towards. For instance, this could be discussing and agreeing to a policy that ANUSA pushes for lecture recordings at all lectures. If passed, these are binding, and all ANUSA reps must be held accountable to them. This is a great way for the broader student body to have a say in the things that go on.

College Representative Council (CRC) is where matters of internal education policy are discussed, and is where fac reps get their time to shine. Issues include things like lecture quality, fairness of assessment, and so on. The exec, departments and gen reps also tend to present reports or raise issues for discussion. Only ANUSA reps get to vote at CRC.

Student Representative Council (SRC) is where other, non-internal education policies are discussed. The exec, department heads and gen reps will also present reports and issues here. Issues that SRC covers may include things like how the Queer* department is pushing to change sexual harassment policy on campus, or a general discussion on achieving greater student involvement. Only ANUSA reps get to vote at SRC.

General Meetings include Ordinary General Meetings (OGMs), Annual General Meetings (AGMs) and Special General Meetings (SGMs). All are held in public – typically in Union Court – and is where ANUSA presents its big issues and updates to the broader student body. The first two are scheduled regularly and are generally published on the website and on Facebook.

A SGM is called when a petition of at least 70 student signatures advocate for one. The purpose of the SGM is to very specifically discuss a single issue, set even before the petition starts going around, which may be of great importance for ANUSA. All ordinary members of ANUSA (all undergraduate students, basically) get to vote at General Meetings.

On Accountability
Accountability is pretty important – it helps make sure that your elected reps are doing their jobs right, and are advocating for the right things. On the other hand, it’s also important that your reps get feedback on their performance, and know what you want. If you think about it, it’s almost like how we hold the local, state or federal governments to account.

Accountability is exercised in different ways:

Meetings are the most formal ways of keeping your reps accountable. Whilst general members of the student body aren’t always entitled to vote (see the section on Meetings), they are allowed to make comments and raise motions. This is important on two levels.

Outside of a face-to-face meeting, speaking up in meetings is probably one of the best ways to make your opinions heard. As a representative body, hearing your opinion is perhaps one of the most important things ANUSA can do to stay in touch with its constituents. Working in ANUSA can be tremendously overwhelming (what with all the meetings to attend and projects to work on), so keeping your reps grounded can also be a favour to them.

Secondly, meetings are also where agendas are set. Agendas are more than just pieces of paper – they help frame the perspectives of your reps. If an agenda item pops up a lot, then people in attendance are naturally more aware and conscious of it. On the other hand, if it’s not on the agenda it’s likely not going to be on the minds of your reps, either. It’s a very clear-cut case of “out of sight, out of mind”. So if an issue you’re passionate or concerned about is on the agenda at meetings, it’s definitely going to be on the agenda for your reps. Knowledge is power indeed. Agenda items are usually set several days before the meeting is held by the General Secretary (this varies from meeting to meeting, so best to check), so make sure you get yours in early if you want it to be discussed. Discussion items, which are talked about during the “any other business” section of meetings, can be raised at the meetings themselves, but are less formal (and would I think have less sticking power).

Public scrutiny is a less formal, but far broader way of holding your reps to account. This includes critique, (constructive) criticism, or even talking about what ANUSA should be doing. This happens in both public and private places, including:
 * Student) media: Woroni, Facebook, Twitter, etc.: this is a good way to bring your opinions to bear in a very public way.


 * Talking to your reps, friends or classmates: this makes sure the issues that you’re concerned about or the views that you hold are talked about and are publically aware amongst the people you talk to. Expressing your ideas, getting feedback and engaging in debate (what you might call “discourse” if you’re particularly artsy) really help formulate and develop opinions. As mentioned previously, student ideas and opinions are what keep ANUSA running effectively and accountably.


 * Thinking about issues: this is worth mentioning because talking doesn’t happen without thinking. Knowledge really is power, and if you don’t think about it, you’re very probably powerless to act on it too. Ideas are extremely valuable – if you think it’s a good idea, share it!


 * Institutional knowledge is the way the information, experiences and feedback of one generation of reps is passed on to the next. It’s also how information passes from older, more experienced students to younger ones. Because this can often be informal and fleeting – through conversations, Facebook messages and so on – it’s important that the lessons learnt are remembered, so that mistakes aren’t repeated. You’ll be surprised to see how many times the wheel has to be reinvented, so to speak, and how many times the same mistakes are repeated, because knowledge isn’t passed on from one person (or generation) to another.