On Dit - Vol.90 Issue 1

FEB 202 2 90.1

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EDITORIAL

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SRC PRSIDENT’S REPORT

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STATE OF THE UNION

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VOX? POP!

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LEFT RIGHT CENTRE

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SUSTAINABILI-DIT

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DISABILI-DIT

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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

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CLUB SPOTLIGHT

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COVER ART JENNY SURIM JUNG ‘SUMMER’

STUDENT PRESS

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ABOLISH ECOVERSITY

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CLOSING A LITERACY GAP

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MCGOWAN & THE WA BORDER

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PREDICTING SA’S STATE ELECTION

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GOOD WILL HUNTING

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HIS TRIUMPHANT GRIN

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CONTRIBUTORS ANUSHKA PATIL SHONA EDWARDS ORLA SPURR MAXIM BUCKLEY LOUISE JACKSON NIX HERRIOT TOM WOOD TVV LUKA KRIVOKAPIC SEBASTIAN ANDREW LAKEISHA WATKINS DANTE SILIQUINI STASI KAPETANOS CHRIS LIPAPIS JIALUN QI GABBY BAKKER JAMES WOOD

ARTICLES & CREATIVE WRITING THE RADICAL HISTORY OF SA’S

ISRAEL & ITS FANS ARE THE BIGGEST THREAT TO FREE SPEECH

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AUKUS IMPERIALISM

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DO YOU LISTEN TO MUSIC CONVENIENTLY?

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CEECEE’S OVEN-BAKED COOKIES

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AUSLAN INTERPRETERS AREN’T JUST ’COOL’

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SAVE OUR EDUCATION + SGM

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EDITORS GRACE ATTA HABIBAH JAGHOORI CHANEL TREZISE JENNY SURIM JUNG GRAPHIC DESIGN JENNY SURIM JUNG

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We acknowledge and pay our respects to the Kaurna people and their elders past, present and future as the traditional custodians of the land on which the University of Adelaide stands. We acknowledge that their cultural and heritage beliefs are still as important to the living Kaurna people today.

EDI T

ORIAL

Dear Reader,

During my time as a student in this life I’ve come to realise that whatever can be created by one person and consumed by another can be considered art. More recently, I’ve been reflecting on who I consider to be an artist and what the role of an artist should be. So, when Toni Cade Bambara, a black woman, a social activist and an artist through the avenues of documentary making and authoring says things like, ‘The role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible’, my entire heart expands, and I find a whole new appreciation for these people.

These people who are subject to the worst of disadvantages from a system we all are enduring under, and yet, it is their resistance and their strength against it, which brings an avalanche of transformation, of evolution, of love and of radical change to us. These people leave behind a legacy and it is our duty to uphold the movement.

On Dit is a magazine, but it can also be art, it can also be a tool, it can also be a platform and it can also be the reason for community if it is used in the right way. It goes without saying that in all of the things I mentioned, there is politics. And therefore, it is my duty and it is my honour and passion, while I am editor this year along with my amazing team, to make On Dit a place for all of that.

Like all people that want to confront corrupt systems, we as editors have a lot to battle this year. The gender pay gap, censorship, the raging pandemic that could have been totally avoidable, the university expanding neoliberalism and a lot more.

But we are strong and determined and we will produce for you the best we can. As Nix Herriot says in his article, ‘Like any publication, a student newspaper’s style and temper reflected the political persuasions of its editorial team.’

I feel a deep optimism for this year, and I hope you can feel it too. It feels like everything is on the brink of change, and right now in my personal life, I pursue the skill of understanding how to fight, how to resist and how to create in the most effectual way. I invite you to try it with me. ‘know that the world is a place of trial wherein there is no time a person can afford to be idle, for that time will be a source of regret for him on a future day of account’ – Ali the Commander of the Faithful. A.S I hope you enjoy On Dit this year and I hope it can impact your life in a positive way.

Habibah Jaghoori

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My name’s Ana and I’m your SRC President for 2022. I’m a Marxist and member of Socialist Alternative. I’m proud to come from traditions of radical student unionism and grassroots struggle.

For years, my comrades and I have been involved in campaigns to challenge the neoliberal and cruel mainstream. Highlights include: Weekly refugee protest that freed several men locked in Kilburn detention.

Protests of 100k across Australia that blamed the rich and powerful for climate change and the 2019-20 bushfire.

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In 2022, my goal is to bring those struggles into the SRC. History shows that collective action can defeat the rich and powerful. With a pandemic raging in society and huge mergers, firings and cutbacks underway at UoA, the need for pushback couldn’t be stronger. (You can read more about what’s happening in On Dit and the SRC’s “Counterguide”). I invite you to join us and make 2022 the year you commit to joining student protests and building an activist culture on campus.

ANA OBRADOVIC SRC PRESIDENT

The priority for activists should be the student general meeting (SGM) happening on March 24th. (Put it in your calendar!)

SGM’s are the highest, most direct form of student democracy. We’ll need as many people as possible present to send a strong message that UoA students want quality, accessible education, not cuts and mergers in the name of profit. The week 4 SGM is your chance to be part of a collective democratic intervention against the uni bosses and their attacks.

We’ve defeated education attacks before. The same proposed mergers were defeated in 2015. And my very first experience of student power-from-below was the legendary 2014 protest movement against Tony Abbott’s $100k degree reforms. (Our Vice Chancellor Peter Høj was one of the few who supported the attacks.)

A few things stood out from those experiences. No one is going to fight for us -- we have to organise and do it ourselves. When we dare to struggle, we can win. And student unions like the SRC can be important organising mechanisms for building those campaigns.

When I was elected, MAGA-hat wearing crybabies sooked online about the “new Stalin” at the head of the SRC. I’m anti-Stalinist, but I’m proud to stand in the tradition of radical student unionism that gets reactionaries so upset.

The world is ripe with inequality and injustice. Progressive students can do something about that, both on and off campus.

Student fightback caused a crisis for the ruling class. We made the reforms

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ST AT E

OF

Oscar Zi Shao Ong AUU President Welcome to the University of Adelaide to all the first-year students! I am delighted to (finally!) able to welcome our incredibly patient international students (that we missed a lot) to our lovely campus! 欢迎 来到阿大！For everyone else, welcome back! I hope you have a well-deserved break and ready to face the new academic/COVID year!

Currently doing a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, I am also your 2022 Adelaide University Union (AUU) President! The AUU is the student peak body on our campus, led and governed by a team of elected directors to provide direction and oversight to the organisation. Key services we provide are student care, student employment, clubs (my favourite service!), volunteering, student media, student representative council and events all year round!

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University is hard, and my job is to make your university life much easier by ensuring you receive all the support you required and make your university experience something you will cherish for a lifetime.

The feeling of lost and not knowing what to do is common amongst first year students, I have been there, as a lonely international student standing in the middle of the hub.

It’s easy to just stay in your own comfort zone and don’t participate in anything but your university experience is what you make of it. And I encourage you make the most of it! University life only come one time and repeated feedback shown people who graduated, don’t remember “e=mc2” but remember their student experience!

The AUU membership is the key to unlock your student experience on campus!

THE UN I With a membership, you get access to discounts on a range of different places, including coffee in the hub, merchandise and placement clothing from the General store which we operate, and car parking!

AUU members also get exclusive free access to specific events and giveaways!

O N.

ready to listen to your concerns so feel free to come by and knock on my door even if you just want to rant about how hard university life is!

Oscar Zi Shao Ong AUU President

I can’t believe COVID is still going on af- oscarzishao.ong@adelaide.edu.au ter 2 years- so please get vaccinated if Facebook/WeChat ID: oscarong1997 you can! It protects you and the people around you! We will be working with SA Health to provide vaccination to students during O’Week so please make sure you take the chance to get vaccinated. Also, to help plan your life, we have prepared a free 2022 AUU diary which you can grab it from our hub office from one of our student ambassadors!

My office is at Level 4 Union house. As your student representative, I am always

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1. WHAT WAS THE BEST PART OF YOUR SUMMER HOLIDAY? 2. WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THE MOST THIS ACADEMIC YEAR?

TOM WOOD

HONOURS IN SOCIOLOGY 1. Having plenty of time to read!

2. Completing my Honours thesis. It will feel great to have finished my first piece of original research.

3. It isn’t always easy to make friends at uni. Meet with people after class. Sign up for heaps of clubs.

Try and be on campus as much as possible.

4. Exchange Specialty Coffee on Ebenezer Place.

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X O V

AGNA PATEL

B. OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY 1. I loved going out to the beaches in the summer and travelling to new places.

2. I’m really looking forward to placements this year, as it will give me an insight to what the roles and responsibilities of an OT are and what it would be like to work in that profession.

3. Go to every lecture or try to watch them as soon as possible. Also, review your notes each week so it’s easier to memorise during exam time.

4. Bean bar!

P OP !

FLYNN WEDD

3. A PIECE OF ADVICE FOR THE FIRST YEARS? 4. WHERE IS YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE IN THE CITY TO GET COFFEE?

BEKA NAISMITH

B. LAWS/INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

B. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS/MEDIA

1. Touring every ramen restaurant in Adelaide and making a definitive ranking (In case you are curious, Minimono Noodle Bar on Rundle Street is the undisputed winner followed closely by Kazumi Ramen in Norwood).

1. Catching up with my friends and being outdoors - spending days in parks or at the beach.

2. Finally re-engaging in physical lectures and tutorials as well as happy hour at the infamous UniBar. 3. Don’t be afraid to get involved with university clubs. Clubs are what shapes campus culture, so the higher the student engagement – the better.

4. Exchange Specialty Coffee on the East End. Order an oat milk flat white and you won’t be disappointed.

2. Having more freedom with my electives and meeting new people.

3. Find any excuse to hang out with people in your classes, whether that’s grabbing a coffee before class or getting a bagel after.

4. Community on North Terrace. We even saw resident Adelaidian Dev Patel there one time, so it’s perfect for the film bros.

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1. The recent detention of world-famous tennis player, Novak Djokovic raised questions about Australia’s long-term detention of 32 immigrants / refugees in Melbourne’s Park Hotel. What is the way forward for Australia in processing refugees in a more ethical way?

2. Do you believe vaccination should be made mandatory for all students and staff at the University of Adelaide?

3. What is your take on the Religious Discrimination Bill 2021 and the ability it has afforded schools to exclude students, based on their sexuality and gender identity (if they identify differently to their biological sex)?

LRC 90.1 Greens Club

1. The first thing we would like to stress here is that the best thing the Australian Government can do for refugees is stop creating them by aiding and abetting countries like America, Saudi Arabia, and France in their destructive military and economic crusades, primarily directed against innocent people in Africa and the Greater Middle East. Additionally, Australia’s climate destruction is creating climate refugees. When it comes to future refugees, Australia needs to finally turn away from its deeply racist and fascistic policy of indefinitely imprisoning refugees on hyper-exploited tropical islands.

2. Yes, baring legitimate medical exemptions. This is an unfortunate reality of the State Liberal Government’s importation of COVID-19 from interstate to please wealthy donors.

Other people’s right to safety and security in their place of learning is not trumped by anyone else’s pseudo-scientific choice to compromise their health.

3. The fight against religious discrimination is an important one, particularly for Muslims, Jews, Hindus, and other religious minorities here in Australia. However, it does not take precedence over the right of other groups to not be discriminated against, particularly the LGBTQI+ community, which is rightfully concerned and who already face significant stigmatisation. The fact that this has already led to discrimination by religious private schools against students shows that this Bill ought to be scrapped and re-written entirely. Organised religious institutions already have too much power and not enough accountability.

This Bill, in its current form, is a Trojan horse for hate.

Socialist Alternative 1. Djokovic may have returned home to his mansions, but refugees continue to languish in torturous conditions. This is the outcome of a deliberately cruel and racist policy of mandatory indefinite detention championed by both the Liberal and Labor parties. All refugees imprisoned in the Park Hotel and detention centres such as Manus Island and Nauru should be freed immediately and given full citizenship rights. Capitalism relies on war and militarism, cultivating nationalism and enforcing borders that are open for profit and commodities, but not for ordinary people. Activists shouldn’t support a slightly more “ethical” processing regime, but instead oppose the entire detention industry that flows from this barbaric system. We are inspired by the inspiring resistance of refugees themselves, despite years of imprisonment. Let’s free the refugees and fight for a society that no longer creates them.

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2. Mandates are proven to increase vaccine uptake and are an important workplace safety measure. Why should students and staff on campus, and our friends and families, be exposed to a serious disease because a tiny minority of people refuse a basic act of social solidarity - getting vaccinated? Of course, vaccines are not enough on their own.

Universities must commit to prioritising a safe work and learning environment by adopting other health measures including density limits, adequate ventilation and filtration systems and paid pandemic leave for staff.

3. The Religious Discrimination Bill is a bigoted reaction by religious right-wingers seeking to undermine the progressive gains of the 2017 marriage equality campaign. Far from preventing “religious discrimination”, this Bill seeks to enable bigots to exclude LGBTI people from employment, education and other services with impunity. To challenge this offensive, we should look to the inspiring example of students at Brisbane’s Citipointe Christian College. Faced with a discriminatory enrolment contract, students kicked up a fuss and gathered over 155,000 signatures on an online petition, forcing the school to retract their policy. This shows that bigoted ideas can be defeated by challenging them head on.

Labor Club 1. Australia’s refugee processing facilities fail to ensure minimum standards of treatment.

Detaining people for indefinite periods of time is having devastating impacts on their mental and physical health, due in part to the lack of robust legal framework. Although the Hobart city council voted to resettle the Park Hotel refugees, hundreds of others remain trapped in ad hoc detention where isolation, abuse, and the contemplation of time is used as a terror-torture tactic. The way forward requires ending mandatory minimum detention and enabling dignified living conditions for all refugees, including the right to work and access to social security.

2. It’s a no-brainer. Vaccination is one of the most effective public health strategies in the world for saving lives. Experts are now recommend ing more booster shots to keep herd immunity high, and unless the anti-vax crowd miraculously come to their senses, vaccine discourse will only become more chaotic. Better the University lean into the curve and give itself extra time to prepare. Vaccine mandates have been around since the 1700s and there are much bigger impositions on liberty than getting vaccinated (such as paying taxes to fund the RATs no one can actually buy).

3. The Religious Discrimination bill came about in the wake of the same sex marriage vote. Conservative law makers evidently felt threatened by the queer, secular left and wanted to put the movement in check. The recent case of a Christian school in Brisbane that issued anti-LGBT contracts to students demonstrates the kind of bigotry that the bill aims to shelter. Yet the special privileges granted under the bill permit religious organisations to go even further, and undermine existing laws about conversion therapy, access to female healthcare, and racial vilification. This also affects the hiring and firing practices of hospitals, disability services, and charities, as well as schools.

Liberal Club The Liberal Club did not provide a response

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sustainabili-dit Words by Anushka Patil Let’s take a deep dive into our closets.

How many times have you sighed while saying “I don’t have anything to wear,” as you stare down the clothes in your wardrobe? Do you really not have anything to wear? Or, do you only see the impulse buys that were “love at first sight” but now only pair well with that one specific top?

Shopping sustainably is about more than its environmental and ethical impacts; it’s also about its impact on you. It is possible to buy clothing that you can wear for years and still love as much as the first day you bought it.

As trends come and go faster and faster with each cycle, the first step to a sustainable wardrobe is freeing ourselves from conforming to every trend. While this doesn’t entail purging our closets (more on this later) to make a capsule wardrobe, we can still choose to invest in timeless quality pieces and potentially unlimited outfit combinations.

Last year, Ecoversity, along with the

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Adelaide Sustainability Association collaborated with Makerspace Adelaide on a new initiative. Makerspaces are community networks that support a circular economy through extending the shelf life of mate-rials and fostering skill development. In this workshop, I learned the importance of repairing clothing instead of tossing them. I watched with wide eyes as the mentors explained how they brought new life into their decade-old cardigans and unintentionally ripped jeans. I initially arrived at the workshop to fix a dress with a broken button and discovered there was a more sustainable way to do that. Using a patch to sew onto the fabric, which had lost its structural integrity, ensures the button will stay on stronger and longer than before.

Whether you’re someone skilled with handiwork or just happy to seek out a local tailoring business, altering your clothing to get that perfect fit for your body is an excellent way to improve its longevity.

Not only will it elevate your style by flattering your personal figure but it will also get more wear and love.

Living sustainable: Fashion Want to take personalising a step further? Source some sustainable fabric and make your dream outfit yourself or with the help of a tailor.

Thrift shopping is a great slow fashion option.

Growing up in an Asian household, the concept of sustainability is quite abstract and not without its stigmas. Before their surge in popularity, op shops were often seen as “‘dirty”’, due to being second-hand and only a place for people who couldn’t afford clothes with the original price tag.This meant that given thrift stores were highly stigmatised, fast fashion shops were one of the only affordable options. However, we are now a part of a conscious and accepting generation that’s abolishing these stigmas, with great benefits on a personal and global scale. I can’t explain the serotonin hit I get from finding something so perfect for me, after thoroughly hunting through the racks of several op shops.

With the volume of donated clothing being so high, only a small slice actually ends up on the racks, and the majority winding up in landfill. The number of A-grade donated clothes that are received in-store has decreased from 50% to 20%, and B-grade clothing - those with a slight flaw - has decreased from 40% to 20%.

It’s easy to feel insignificant in such a widespread issue, but remember, it takes two to tango and a lot more to make a conga line. Every effort makes a difference. Let’s work together to make this conga line as long as possible. After all, “sustainability” is more than just a buzzword. This word encompasses the present and the future; it’s integrated into our lifestyles - even at the smallest level - and entails the potential of humanity.

How sustainable is thrifting really?

That shirt from last summer doesn’t fit anymore? Not a problem, obviously it won’t go in the bin for landfill, it’s going to be donated to a new home! ...Right?

As amazing as thrifting is, it really isn’t a magic fix with no caveats. The secondhand market is growing rapidly as trends change quickly and clothing quality decreases just as fast. The concept of thrifting arises from the instability and unsustainability of fast fashion.

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disabilidit

Words by Shona Edwards and Orla Spurr on behalf of DIDA (Disability, Illness and Divergence Association UoA)

At the University of Adelaide, registration for Disability Support is open to ‘students who have a diagnosed disability or ongoing medical condition.’

paperwork. Quickly, although, you realise your doctor didn’t adequately explain how your condition impacts your ability to study and now you have to book another appointment to redo the form, ‘Diagnosed’ is the key word hereotherwise your access plan won’t truly reflect the support you require. You feel This seems like no big deal, though right? frustrated, exhausted and confused. Half Well... let’s talk about what it really takes the semester has passed and despite fillto be diagnosed and meaningfully sup- ing out your paperwork there’s no helpful ported. pay-off in sight.

Firstly, for many of us, identifying as disabled, chronically ill or neurodivergent is a difficult process. It requires adjustment, grief and acceptance: It involves facing the financial and social barriers to diagnosis, along with an overwhelming isolation.

For instance, say you’re a student with ADHD and a condition that causes chronic pain. One day, while experiencing brain fog and traveling on a bus to an appointment (if you remember to attend it), you endure a flare-up in pain that leaves you in bed for days. However, eventually you get access to the University’s Disability Support through your

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Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon experience.

When we founded the Disability, Illness and Divergence Association (DIDA) at the University of Adelaide, we discovered that less than half of us were registered with Disability Support. Some of us endured the experiences illustrated above.

For others, as they were considering registration, the application process seemed unfamiliar and the prospect of getting an Access Plan was similarly confusing...

And what do ‘alternative arrangements’ even look like? Many still haven’t discovered what ‘works’ for them and what doesn’t. Thus, even when available, these students don’t know what support to ask

The Barriers to Registration and Recognition. for. They only know that they aren’t flour- students feel as though they belong to ishing within our University system as it a community they’re more likely to comcurrently stands. plete their studies. Completing one’s studies can be potentially more difficult Further, there is also the issue of termi- for those who identify with disability, nology. neurodivergence or chronic pain. For instance, the University’s 2016 ‘Sense of When we asked those in DIDA how they Belonging’ report found that external / self-identify, the majority of our members personal issues, including one’s ‘health said they live with ‘mental health condi- and wellbeing’, was the top contributtions’, followed by ‘neurodivergence’. This ing factor to the feeling of being- “less in itself highlights that while these condi- strongly a part of an academic commutions may severely impact students’ lives nity”. and study - so as to be ‘disabling’ - many would still not feel comfortable call- Thus, If you’ve felt this way or identify ing themselves disabled. Which means with anything else described in this artimany may think Disability Support is not cle, then I encourage you to get in touch. ‘for’ them.

DIDA would love to have you as a member!

These are awareness issues that must be addressed as disability can mean and include many things.

DIDA’s socials <3 So where do we begin in addressing these issues? Well at DIDA our mem- Twitter: @dida_uoa bership is open to all students who self-identify as disabled, chronically ill, Facebook: facebook.com/dida.uoa or neurodivergent- no diagnosis necessary. Our social meet-ups and moderat- Insta: @dida.uoa ed Facebook group offers students a safe place to share their lived experiences. It is our hope that, through this association, we can catch some of the students who might otherwise fall through the cracks.

Afterall, the data from the University’s withdrawal surveys indicate that when

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SITI (MIA) AISYAH DAMIATI

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

WORDS BY MAXIM BUCKLEY If you’re anything like me and are chronically at uni you will have at some stage walked past the Polygon Lecture Theatre and thought to yourself “damn, I wonder what’s in that area”. Sufficed to say it’s about as interesting as you can imagine; several offices built sometime in the 1970s that house a number of researchers and academics.

However, since I was visiting during December the drab, utilitarian design had been decorated with all kinds of tinsel and other Christmas decorations.

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Like all buildings at the university, it’s not so much the décor that makes them interesting as it is the people who work in them. Despite this, as an undergrad I had very little idea of the incredible research being conducted right next to the halls I walked every day. So, I’ve decided to try to change that in the hope that it will open the eyes of all students to the incredible work conducted by everyday people.

Siti Aisyah (Mia) Damiati, known by many

as simply Mia, is a PhD student who hails from Indonesia. Mia completed her studies in architecture at the Institute of Technology Bandung, Indonesia’s answer to MIT. “In Australia architecture degrees are more toward design whereas my degree was more toward engineering and science. Actually, when you translate my degree into English it comes out as a Bachelor of Science”. For a time after her studies Mia worked at an architecture firm “I just feel like it’s very dry. I learnt many things from working at the firm however I felt like I could do more if I learnt more. I really want to be able to build an argument for change”. Mia later began a masters by research in a joint program between Malaysia and Japan, getting to spend time studying in both countries, which led Mia to Australia. “I heard about this project here in Australia and I felt like, oh, it’s related to what I’m doing in Malaysia! So I applied for it and I got it”. Mia believes that being involved in her academic community is what really kickstarted this opportunity for her.

Mia’s research is all about thermal comfort.

I grew up in Alice Springs so this is something I’m very familiar with. “My research is about occupant behaviour and how they change their thermal environment to stay comfortable. Most of the previous research has been conducted in cooler climates so there’s definitely a need to track warmer climates like Darwin”. Mia wants to know what makes people comfortable, and so participants complete a short survey every day that asks them questions about their comfort such as if they have a fan on, if they have the air conditioner running,

and even the amount of clothing they’re wearing. Mia found it funny that when she first was receiving feedback from the survey a number of people were saying they were in their underwear or completely naked but there wasn’t an option that represented that.

Along with people’s self-reported comfort Mia is also taking objective measurements of their surroundings. Each of the 38 houses in the study has a small white box. The box comes with a whole slew of bells and whistles such as a dry bulb thermometer, a sensor for humidity, a sensor for airspeed, and something called a globe thermometer. I had to look that last one up, essentially it measures the average temperature of surfaces that surround a particular point, so the walls, floor, ceiling etc. Each of these sensors takes a reading every 30 minutes, so each sensor records 48 data points every single day. So, 4 sensors taking 48 recordings each day at 38 houses for 11 months, you can just imagine the size of the data set. All this data is remotely uploaded to a server where Mia can access it, though it’s not always 100% reliable. “I can check the data every day, but I usually check once a week. If there’s an issue I don’t want to bother them too much”.

Mia says she owes some of her success in Darwin to the local ABC radio station. “I don’t know how they found out but apparently one of the producers for the breakfast session found the flyer for the study.

They called me up to ask if I was interested in talking. I was so nervous, I felt so unprepared. My supervisor was very happy so I

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must have done something right”. All told, Mia ended up receiving 263 responses to her survey.

“From there I found my 38 participating houses. They’re not all one design either.

I have some apartments and then I have what I call lightweight and heavyweight houses. Lightweight houses are a more traditional design in Darwin. They’re off the ground, they have louvre shutters, they may have a tree over the top of the house to provide shade. Occupants of these houses love to let the weather flow through their house. Heavyweight houses on the other hand don’t have much internal temperature change but the temperature difference between inside and out is a lot”.

A question we as researchers are constantly posed is who or what is your research for. For people like myself doing basic science it can be a quite difficult question to answer since the outcomes aren’t always so obvious at the time. Mia’s answer was easy: make change. “I hope that this data will influence the way buildings are designed. I’ve met with many people during my work and some of them were companies that build houses, and they often prefer a cookie cutter approach.

Those houses aren’t necessarily right for the environment and so we need to know what is. Hopefully my research will influence future building design and influence it for the better”.

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Mia is currently writing her thesis and she hopes to be done with her PhD soon. She’s unsure what’s next for her but she hopes something rewarding.

Systematic Review is an ongoing series that I hope will showcase some research from each faculty in a number of disciplines. Mia hails from engineering and so I won’t be doing any more articles in that space, but if you’re keen on having your research featured please don’t hesitate to shoot me an email at maxim.buckley@adelaide.edu.au

CLUB SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT CLUB

Adelaide Uni Choral Society

Were you overly invested in your High School choir? Do you not know your Bach from your Bernstein? Whatever your background, AUCS is the choir for you!

ANSWERS BY LOUISE JACKSON, PRESIDENT WHAT’S THE AIM OF WHY THE CLUB? SHOULD STUDENTS To sing and socialise. AUCS unites JOIN THE CLUB? people who love music. We’re here for Because singing is fun! No matter what your musical experithose who love to sing (or want to start) ence is, you’re welcome. You’ll make lifelong friends, sing music you but aren’t necessarily studying music. Our won’t hear anywhere else, and make memories you’ll never forget. specialty is classical choral repertoire (don’t You won’t regret joining AUCS. Your first year is free, so really, let that scare you off, we promise it’s more you’ve got nothing to lose! fun than it sounds). We also love jazz, WHEN/ musical theatre, and the occasional WHEN DO YOU WHAT dramatic pop arrangement.

REHEARSE? EVENTS/ We rehearse every Tuesday, 7 to ACTIVITIES DO 9.30pm in the Hartley Concert Room.

YOU RUN? We take a break for tea, baked The most important event is obviWHEN goods and socialising in the ously our concerts. AUCS takes great WAS THE CLUB middle. pride in delivering high quality concerts ESTABLISHED? featuring exciting repertoire. Choir camps Founded in 1960, AUCS is the second are a fabulous part of the AUCS calendar, a oldest club in the University. AUCS has weekend jam-packed with rehearsing, eating, birthed friendships, marriages and even socialising, and ill-advised 2am karaoke children (I myself am an AUCS baby!). sessions… Intervarsity Choral Festivals are a We’re very proud of our history and long tradition among Australian uni choirs.

WHAT’S the uni choir culture.

Each state takes turns hosting a choir THE DEAL WITH THE PENcamp and putting on a big, combined GUIN? concert. We also hold formal Audrey is AUCS’ oldest member. She dinners, movie nights, picnics, is a great auk, an extinct species that pub crawls and more! actually bears little relation to the penguin.

Back in the 60s, someone made the conHOW nection between auk and AUCS, and Audrey DO I JOIN? was born. She’s attended every dinner, Come see us on Tuesday O’Week and concert (and has been 22nd at O’Week or contact us stolen from a concerning number of via social media! parties). Most importantly, she is our loyal and beloved mascot.

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“Political party grew out the barrel of a Gestetner”:

The Radical History of South Australia’s Student Press

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urviving in backyard sheds and archive boxes are the traces of an era of radical transformation. For historians and activists alike, the yellowing pages of the student press are a window from which to hear the dissenting voices and values of youth during what has become known as the ‘long 1960s’.

University publications have long been a part of campus life, but it was during the 1960s that student newspapers began to articulate a growing impatience with the conservative status quo. New printing technology enabled students to respond rapidly to new issues unfolding outside the university. Apartheid, gay and women’s oppression and, of course, the escalating war in Vietnam loomed large. “The step from the refectories to the streets is a big one,” On Dit opined in 1968, “but students are realising that something must be done”. By the early 1970s, On Dit had abandoned its monochrome tabloid form in favour of the psychedelic colour of the counterculture. The weekly thud of bundled papers on tables across campus heralded a newfound weapon for political and cultural agitation, for polemic and playfulness. At universities across the country, a new generation of young people were articulating rebellion in the columns of the student press.

In 1969, when the Flinders University SRC refused to allocate money for a student publication, two students got their hands on a printing press which soon found a home in their Parkside share-house. “Suddenly the household was an editorial office, a printing factory, and a distribution centre,” editor Martin Fabinyi recalled. Empire Times was born. The first edition of this new paper featured a rousing editorial, blasting a censorship threat and asserting the independence of student publications: “The SRC are licking the arses of the Union Board bureaucrats who want to censor Empire Times.

We don’t intend to let these bastards wear us down”.

Words by Nix Herriot Empire Times was Australia’s only campus paper published by students themselves, free from the censorship imposed by commercial printers. Never afraid to take sides, it quickly established a reputation as provocative, argumentative and politically radical. Urging students not to fight in Vietnam and featuring interviews with the Black Panthers, Empire Times tackled controversial issues ahead of public opinion. This enraged Adelaide’s conservative establishment. To the delight of its early editors, horrified parliamentarians denounced the paper as an “evil in our society”. “This magazine reeks from front to back with pure pornography,” conservative politician John McLeay thundered at a meeting of the Air Force Association.

Much to the ire of reactionaries like McLeay, student newspapers like Empire Times saw themselves as part of a growing political unrest.

The press did more than just report on issues of the day: it was a protagonist in fostering radical consciousness. As undergraduates debated opinion pieces in On Dit on the Barr Smith Lawns, they defined their own worldviews.

Like any publication, a student newspaper’s style and temper reflected the political persuasions of its editorial team. The editors, often revolutionary socialists, used their position to test the boundaries of acceptable debate and sometimes even found themselves arrested at demonstrations or prosecuted for challenging Australia’s draconian censorship laws. “The student paper must necessarily take strong stands on important issues whether or not the majority of students agree with the stand,” Fabinyi declared in 1969. “It must also encourage and incite discussion, action and perhaps even confrontation arising from these issues”.

Activists were acutely aware of the political importance of print culture for gaining influence and communicating their ideas. “Political power,” quipped one

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Monash University activist, “grew out of the barrel of a gestetner.” When student radicals from Flinders occupied the university’s administration building in 1974 and discovered that their Vice Chancellor had conducted research for the American military, they instinctively copied his confidential files. Defying a Supreme Court injunction, activists circulated thousands of incriminatory documents across Adelaide. Because of hostile coverage of their cause in the capitalist press, On Dit and Empire Times rebutted the lies of the mainstream media. “Fighting for issues of social justice,” Empire Times editorialised, “is not simply a struggle against government. It is a battle against the powerful capitalist machinery which manipulates the media to propagate distortions and myths”.

Student publications maintained managed to maintain their political radicalism well after the long 1960s subsided by championing new issues such as environmentalism and anti-racist activism. In 1987, the Hawke Labor government reintroduced university fees. In response, the student press once again threw itself into agitation and helped launch a vibrant period of renewed activism. The first cover of Technique in 1987, newspaper of the SA Institute of Technology (now UniSA), depicted an angry punk wielding a baseball bat and the text, “Fees – the students are revolting!”. The editors urged students to “become actively involved” in the battle to defend free education. Empire Times advocated fee boycotts, encouraged attendance at demonstrations and championed direct actions such as the dramatic occupation of the Adelaide Stock Exchange in 1988. In an era when business was still conducted on blackboards, students successfully erased the chalk and forced an end to the day’s trading. It was perhaps one of Adelaide’s most effectively disruptive protests since the early 1970s.

Today’s student newspapers exist in a very different world to their print-and-paper forebears.

The advent of screen-based news and the atomisation of campus culture have impacted student organisations and publications.

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Moreover, the neoliberal transformation of tertiary education has been paralleled by attempts to stifle the unions which fund the student papers. The Howard government’s introduction of voluntary student unionism starved On Dit of cash and, in 2006, the lights went off in the once-bustling Empire Times office as the press ceased publication.

Although the student press no longer bristles with political ferment, contemporary problems make it more important than ever for students to use our media outlets to combat injustice on and off campus. Indeed, many of the debates that raged in the pages of student newspapers remain unresolved. In addition to the dilemmas of imperialism and fee hikes we must add on new challenges such as climate change. Activists would do well to emulate the radical history of South Australia’s student papers. The printing press has long been the perfect place to foster debate and dissent, support political activism, celebrate iconoclasm and be a thorn in the side of those in power.

ABOLISH ABOLISH ECOVERSIT Y ECOVERSIT Y “If we do not halt our emissions soon, our future climate could well become some kind of hell on earth.”

Words by Tom Wood These are the words of the esteemed Oxford University climate scientist Professor Tim Palmer.

The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report confirms that we are facing a climate catastrophe. On current estimates, if nothing changes, we face temperature rises above 1.5 degrees Celsius. It is urgent, therefore, that swift action is taken to reduce carbon emissions.

Despite this damning evidence, our university has decided that it makes sense to maintain strong ties with fossil fuels companies. One of these companies is Santos, a major oil and gas producer. Shamefully, the University’s website defends Santos as ‘a leading supplier of natural gas, a fuel for the future providing cleaner energy to improve the lives of people in Australia and Asia.’ This is literally just parroting the talking points of the fossil fuels lobby. But what morewould be expect from the same university that hosts the Santos School of Petroleum Engineering?

The university also has direct and indirect financial investments in fossil fuels. There are direct investments in the university’s endowment fund. However, most of its investments are with external fund managers. What matters is that these external fund managers do invest in fossil fuels. This means that the university is still financing dirty industries without our approval.

Despite these deep ties with the fossil fuels, the university still has the nerve to celebrate Ecoversity, the university’s sustainability engagement program.

Ecoversity’s website explains that its ‘activities, campaigns and events are geared towards developing a campus culture that values and applies sustainable practices’. In fairness, the university has made some achievements. For

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instance, they have installed more than 4,800 solar panels since 2017. However, the motive underlying this decision is completely cynical. The Campus Sustainability Plan reasons that ‘investing in low carbon technologies for campus buildings will help Schools and Faculties reduce operational expenses long-term.’

This reveals that the university is not seriously committed to decarbonisation.

They are simply looking to save money. But what else should we expect in 2022?

We are in the era of the corporate university, where profits always triumph the public good.

This ascendant neoliberal ideology clearly impacts the mission of Ecoversity.

Ecoversity’s vision for the university is to be ‘a place where sustainability is embedded in the actions of staff and students who value natural resources; waste less; adopt new technologies and practices; and make sustainable choices on campus.’ For example, Ecoversity’s recent Living Smart workshop showcased the impotence of the organisation’s deluded, individualist approach to sustainability. The purpose of the workshop was to ‘learn about the simple but effective ways to incorporate sustainability in your daily life.’ However, all that these events do is shift scrutiny from governments and powerful corporations onto ordinary people. In doing so, they promote a neoliberal understanding of the climate crisis, one that is favourable to politicians and capitalists.

Ecoversity’s individualist mentality is not just wrong, it is cruel and unfair. This is because it ignores the centrality of class in Australia and other capitalist countries. Time-poor and economically disempowered individuals are made to feel guilty for every little environmental digression they make. Meanwhile, the capitalists who actually have the power to make impactful changes are allowed to continue getting richer from plundering our planet.

The most concerning revelation about Ecoversity, however, is something totally unexpected. As bizarre at it sounds, the Sustainability Strategy Steering Committee, a sub-group of Ecoversity tasked with designing the university’s sustainability strategy, actually includes members that have deep ties to the fossil fuels industry. The Committee is chaired by Professor Michael Goodsite, the Director of the Institute of Mineral & Energy Resources and the former head of the Australian School of Petroleum. Another committee member is Ashok Khurana, who at Curtin University established the School of Petroleum Engineering. The Ecoversity website even boasts Khurana’s ‘extensive experience in the worldwide petroleum exploration and production industry, with career highlights being the development of oil and gas production facilities in the Gippsland Basin, (SE Australia), UK North Sea, Malaysia and many other countries in SE Asia.’ Ecoversity clearly accepts that fossil fuels have a future in Australia, which in practice is akin to climate denialism. Even worse, they allow the industry’s

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advocates to write the university’s sustainability strategy, rendering it useless.

It is obvious that Ecoversity poses no threat at all to the fossil fuels industry.

If Ecoversity is so effective, why does the university still invest in fossil fuels companies and let them set up shop on campus? In this sense, it would be wrong to characterise Ecoversity as a toothless tiger. This is because their role is much more sinister. They actively greenwash the university by distracting from its deep ties to the fossil fuels industry.

Ecoversity is ultimately a PR agency that serves university management.

It should be abolished.

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Help us close a

LITERACY GAP LITERACY GAP LITERACY LITERACY GAP GAP Words by TVV In association with UofAjournals

WHAT IS THE INDIGENOUS LITERACY GAP? Literacy is the quintessential human feature by which we navigate, interpret, and express ourselves on Earth. For a person—a child—to fall behind, or be rejected, from the shared literary and linguistic modes of Australian life is an obvious injustice. Access to education is a fundamental human right.

The two most persuasive predictors of childhood literacy in Australia are the locale of the child (particularly, whether or not they are metropolitan or regional in residence), and whether or not the child is a member of First Nations.

The 2019 NAPLAN test, for instance, found that just 36% of Indigenous students in very remote areas achieve the Australian national minimum reading standard.

This compares to 96% for non-Indigenous students in major cities.

WHO ARE THE INDIGENOUS LITERACY FOUNDATION? The ILF is a national not-for-profit charity that helps close the literacy gap via three core programs that get delivered to over 400 remote communities across Australia and the Torres Strait Islands. Their first program is Book Supply, which tackles the fundamental lack of books and access to books in regional Australia.

Books are attained through partnerships with publishers and independent organisations, as well as purchased (via the public) through cash donations. Since their inception, the ILF have supplied remote Australian communities with over half a million books, catering to infants, adults, and every age between.

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Program two is Book Buzz, which assists children under the age of five, to develop familiarity and openness with books through a daily ‘Story Time’ session. This aids the child when starting school and prevents any one child from feeling left behind by their peers.

Community Publishing Projects is their third program, and is—in my opinion— the quintessential embodiment of the ILF mission. Community Publishing allows children and adolescents to tell their own stories, use their own languages, and to help develop and maintain stronger, more tangible relationships between English and First Nation languages. Through this program, the ILF have published over 100 books—reflecting 26 Indigenous languages—written by children, families, and community elders, in remote regions across Australia. A further seventeen books have been moved to print throughout this year, including their first collection of graphic novels. I’ll let the ILF speak for themselves for a moment about how Community Publishing Projects operate:

“All potential publishing projects go through a proposal process which must meet our vision, strategy, and be approved by our Board. Each is different. Some involve working with the community, others involve translators, linguists, authors, illustrators, editors and artists. Once a book is published, we arrange an official launch and copies of the books are gifted to the community and often included in the Book Supply program. There is a real buzz and palpable sense of achievement when children and community members publish a book [...]. The young authors become role models for others. The books show their stories and experiences are just as important as any other published story. And other communities, as well as the Australian public, get a glimpse into the lives of others in remote communities. It is empowering. “

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OUR FUNDRAISER: WHAT IS UOFAJOURNALS? I took up bookbinding only four months ago. Since then, this meditative practice (which at times is rather stressful) has become an opportunity I depend upon in order to explore my breath, land, language, and body. The making of gifted journals has become a particularly intimate occupation with which I regain my mindfulness between my studies.

As much as I adore handing free journals to friends, family, and strangers, I have decided to launch this hobby into a fundraiser for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. From a base style of a simple Japanese stitch (Koki Toji, Noble Binding), we now have several unique glueless stitch designs. Each journal features forty-eight blank A5 pages, and all cover and backend materials are ‘up-cycled’ from art-books, text-books, and other literary materials that have been sleeping on my shelves for many years.

Each journal sells for $25 (AUD) in the Napier building, and comes with your choice of ILF bookmark. All money from your purchase goes directly to the ILF in support of their mission and their three core programs.

Stock is listed on our Instagram—@UofAJournals—which can be accessed directly via the QR code. While we do accept expressions of interest, as we largely operate on first-come, first-serve basis. Send us a DM if you’d like to make a purchase!

If you’d like to support the ILF but do not wish to purchase a journal, you can make direct money donations at: donate.ilf.org.au If you’re seeking further information, want to donate books to remote communities, or wish to purchase a book published by the ILF, please visit: linktr.ee/ILF

This article and fundraiser is endorsed by the Indigenous Literacy Foundation.

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McGowan and the WA Border

Cruel or necessary?

On Friday the 21st of January, Mark McGowan, the premier of WA announced that the state’s borders would remain shut indefinitely due to the threat of the Omicron Variant. This sent shockwaves throughout the country, with many labelling the move as a ‘backflip’ or even a ‘betrayal’. Social media and news websites flowed with vitriol towards McGowan, labelling him as a cruel dictator.

McGowan’s choice to delay the reopening of his state’s borders represents a significant deviation from the policies of other states across the country, who have all to varying extents, opened their interstate borders and committed to ‘living with the virus’. Predictably, ‘living with the virus’ has not delivered the expected results. Due to the high transition rate of the Omicron Variant, Australia has been struck with an unprecedented wave of

Words by Luka Krivokapic

COVID-19. The number of infections, hospitalisations, and deaths have broken records. Major supply chain failures have also occurred as a result of the sheer number of workers infected. Despite this, our state governments have refused to take significant action to combat the spread, with only basic restrictions such as reintroducing density caps.

At the time of writing, Western Australia’s borders remain firmly shut. With 131 active cases as of the 27th of January, originating from an outbreak mere days after delaying the border reopening, McGowan’s stance remains firm, stating “This is a human tragedy and what our measures are designed to do … is to reduce the impact to Western Australians.”

Even if this outbreak grows, having their border shut gives WA Health the best chance of supressing the outbreak and

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In contrast to the sledging that McGowan has received, other premiers have been congratulated with positive coverage from news outlets. Even as South Australia records multiple days of 10+ deaths, the ABC and others have parroted the premier’s claims that infections have peaked and that the worst is over.

Before this, during the period in which infections were soaring, these same outlets supported the premier’s claims that the Omicron Variant was ‘mild’ and that the hospitalisations and deaths were no cause for concern. Now that people are hospitalised and dying, all is well because infections are down. There has not been a point where the extent of the disaster has been acknowledged. Instead, the public have been presented excuse after excuse. In this media landscape, premiers are given a free pass to expose their citizens to COVID-19, putting the most vulnerable members of our society at risk.

Somehow, the villain of this story has become the one premier who has been willing to resist the pressure from the federal government and protect his citizens from the same fate. He has been characterised as a grinch who has taken people’s hopes of seeing their family, which while obviously disappointing, has been greatly exaggerated. There have been many stories of people saying that they have not seen their family members in WA for 2 years (aka since the start of the pandemic). However, the WA state borders have been open to people from interstate at various points throughout the pandemic, with the borders only closing when positive cases have been

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detected in a certain state or territory.

The people who have been waiting for 2 years had the option to visit at an earlier date. Obviously, many of the people who waited were doing their bit to limit the spread of COVID, however that reason does not disappear with the Omicron Variant. It is frustrating, it is unfair, but it does not make McGowan a grinch for protecting his citizens.

p

’

g

c i tin d e r

Words by Sebastian Andrew

Labor is going to win the upcoming South Australian state election.

Perhaps, two months out from the election, when anything can change so drastically at a moment’s notice (just think of how quickly COVID sprang up and devoured all public and policymaking attention) it is unwise to make an election prediction. Let alone suggest that an incumbent premier will be ousted.

However, given things have taken a horrible turn for the Marshall government in these last few months, with little indication that the situation will turn in the government’s favour, I have been emboldened to make this prediction, and stand by it. I’ll be happy (well, not entirely, given how spectacularly the Liberal Party has mismanaged this

current crisis) to be proven wrong, but so far, nothing’s really screaming ‘Steven Marshall’s going to win this’.

The November 23rd border reopening sank Marshall’s electoral promises. Marshall hoped to capitalise on families reuniting for Christmas, and a sense of him having shepherded the state successfully through the pandemic. But since the reopening, going about daily life has become a game of Russian Roulette. You go out for lunch, to the gym, even to the shops, and you risk getting COVID or being implicated as a close contact, because the virus isn’t just limited to a few sites, that can be traced and quickly quarantined, it’s everywhere! Further, the commencement of in-person schooling is likely to only increase anxiety and anger amongst a potentially crucial voting

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bloc – parents – who may traditionally vote Liberal but could easily switch if they perceive their child’s safety at risk.

For all the talk of what reopening would do for the economy, businesses are worse off than before, struggling due to closures, staff shortages, and customers voluntarily limiting their movements due to fears of contracting covid or a close contact status. All of which is almost guaranteed to limit the government’s support amongst typically Liberal-inclined small business owners, as well as consumers who are frustrated that their favourite cafés are closed. I see this as playing a large role in the seat of Adelaide (CBD and adjacent northern suburbs) flipping to Labor and putting seats reliant on tourism/visitors at risk.

On the preventative side of COVID, there is little that Marshall can hold up proudly, in the months leading up to the state election. He dropped the ball on exposure sites, with SA health no longer listing them publicly, due to the sheer amount. This is of course a tragedy, given the state’s contact tracing regime was once the gold standard in Australia. Now it’s in a pitiful state. He dropped the ball on testing, forcing people to wait up to ten hours in long cues to obtain a PCR test. His rollout of RAT tests was initially messy, plagued with supply shortages, leading to steep prices within the private sector. While some of these are only relevant to people who have COVID or had to test (which is still a lot of

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people!) they highlight the incompetence and unpreparedness of this government. Again, not exactly a great look if you’re trying to convince people to stick with you – especially if all your opponent has to do is say how they’ll do it better.

Reopening the borders will be seen by the electorate as a purely political decision. If it weren’t, then Marshall would have slammed them shut the moment the Omicron variant was a threat and re-evaluated the risk. Instead he went full-steam-ahead and, as the expression goes, ‘let it rip’ just because he needed rosy media coverage of family reunions to boost his re-election.

Besides COVID, things look otherwise bleak for the government. While hospitals struggle for funding and instances of ambulance ramping dominate the health debate, the government insists on focussing on building another stadium, giving Labor an easy attack line in the midst of a deadly pandemic.

And Marshall’s woes aren’t limited to external issues.

Australian voters in various state and territory elections have shown a strong preference towards incumbent governments during the pandemic. If a government’s done a satisfactory, even okay job, then they stay, why risk bringing in a new leader? The problem for Marshall is that over these last few months, even years, his premiership hasn’t exactly oozed stability. Since the last election he’s lost three of his

MPs to the crossbench due to controversies or disagreements, forcing him to govern in the minority. But what killed any hope of him making a ‘stability’ pitch was the seizure of the speakership by former Liberal MP Dan Cregan. This, more than anything, highlighted just how little control Marshall holds over the House and for lack of a better word, left him looking like a fool. This may be a ‘nicher’ issue, nowhere near as forward in the minds in the electorate as COVID concerns, but it nonetheless takes away any legitimacy of Marshall arguing that an incumbent government is a consistent government. Further, it makes Labor, who’s remained disciplined and united under Malinauskas, a more promising option in dealing with COVID, given they won’t be distracted by internal party conflict.

So there is my reasoning as to why I see Marshall’s re-election chances being bleak, and thus expect a Labor victory. Out of 47 seats, I expect the House to be 24 Labor, 20 Liberal, and 3 Independent. Labor will gain the seats of King, Adelaide, Elder, Colton, and Florey, while retaining all their seats. The Liberals will gain the seats of Waite, Narungga, and Frome from the independents. Independent Frances Bedford will gain Newland while independents Troy Bell and Dan Cregan will retain their seats.

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Good Will Hunting A film that got me through some tough times

Words by Lakeisha Watkins

people wanted me to make the most of my abilities, even when I was reluctant to. I’m no genius like Matt Damon’s character though. Give me a math problem and I’ll erase it.

“The desire to triumph against dire circumstrances.

The value of friendship. And the power of human spirit” I still vividly remember the yellow and golden hues of the film and how I felt akin to the character Will Hunting. I was thirteen years old, the perfect age for me to watch Good Will Hunting. A time when life was turbulent and bleak (yes, I know everyone says the same about their teenage years). My mum scolded me for snickering when Will made a comment about Sean McGuire’s wife. I was a rude kid...

I know I’m not Will. He’s a fictional character written by two actors who went on to Hollywood stardom.

I’m a real person who wouldn’t dare to do most of the harmful things that Will did. Yet as a kid I saw some similarities between myself and the silver-tongued character. We both came from a poor socioeconomic background. We also had abandonment issues and a similar habit of pushing people away. Like Will,

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There are other things you need to know about me. I struggled with a learning disability as a kid. A teacher once remarked “I always thought there was something wrong with you,” when I was ten. She’d probably have a heart attack if she knew I just finished my bachelors degree. I was also bullied often. Whether it was my big forehead or my acne. It’s not too bad though, Doja Cat’s line “can’t call me stupid with this big ol’ fucking forehead motherfucker,” is now very relevant. Other things I’ve dealt with include family violence, having anger issues as a teen and struggling to know my self-worth.

When I was eighteen, I wrote an essay comparing Good Will Hunting with the book The Maze Runner for an English class. It was an important year for me. I was graduating from high school, a pretty big accomplishment considering I was previously convinced I’d drop out. Things were great, my grades were high, I’d applied for university, I’d bought a car and I was making good savings from my part-time job. I’d made peace with a lot of my personal struggles too.

After all the setbacks, I was finally on the right path.

As the ending credits played, I watched Will drive along the winding road with tears in my eyes. I wanted to improve my own life.

Media can have a powerful impact on people. It also might have inspired my taste in fashion—more specifically, my love for jackets from the 90s. Funnily enough, despite the vast difference in genre, Good Will Hunting and The Maze Runner share some similarities. The desire to triumph against dire circumstances. The value of friendship.

And the power of the human spirit.

Every time I’d make progress with life, I was filled with a burning desire to watch the film. I was convinced that it would fill a part of me that was missing.

When I was 15, I signed up to play ice hockey for a program that helped to keep disengaged high school students in school.

This marked a huge turning point in my life.

Funnily enough, being there was like sitting with Sean McGuire for a therapy session.

I cried on that ice rink, and I laughed on it too. My skin was blanketed with dozens of bruises from the hits and falls. In four years, I grew from a scared teen to a confident adult. The coaches and staff supported me.

They also challenged me. I am the person I am today because of it. The first time I

stepped on the rink I fell in love with the sport.

I think of the people I came to know there as family and still drop in from time to time to see them. Aside from regularly freezing me to numbness, ice hockey also froze over my hot-headed ways.

Sitting on the school bus with our hockey bags loaded on the back seats was like Will and his friends in Chuckie’s car. We’d have endless banter and the occasional squabble with one another. But we’d stick up for each other when needed. We’d all work in unison to convince the teacher to take us to Hungry Jacks. It was mostly met with a no and a trip back to school. I see pieces of the film in the small moments of my life.

Yet now emptiness consumes me when I watch the film’s end. It has lost the golden glow that captivated me all those years ago. Will got the girl. The opportunities.

Someone to challenge him. I too got some of those things for some time. It was blissful and made me love life. At eighteen there was a spark of hope in my mind. The world was in my hands, and I was going to have a positive impact on it.

Yet now here I sit at twenty-one, the same age as Will by the films end without that spark. Good Will Hunting ended when things were looking up for Will. My life continued on long after the good times, leaving me to watch helplessly as the things I once had drifted away. But hey, life’s full of ups and downs...

If the film played out for longer then maybe Will’s life would do a 180 and set him back to where he started. Maybe he wouldn’t get Skylar, his car might break down on his way

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to her. Maybe he’d go back to messing around with his friends and jumping from job to job, racking up criminal convictions.

I know that Will and I aren’t that similar. People say it’s stupid to compare yourself to others, especially fictional characters.

But sometimes comparison is a much-needed coping strategy.

Though Good Will Hunting may not invoke the feelings it once did, I will always cherish it. It inspired me to do my best to improve my life.

“People say it’s stupid to compare yourself to others... But sometimes comparison is a much needed coping strategy”

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His Triumphant Grin Words by Dante Siliquini When I could see I saw the world for its simple beauties The morning dew in the grassy fields My father’s youthfulness yet aged face My mother’s clasped hands when she prayed The lovers my brother would bring home And his triumphant grin When I could see I saw the world for its spectacle My father consoling my mother Masses of cheering people White haired generals saluting Streets filled with banners The uniform my brother wore And his triumphant grin When I could see but did not wish to look I saw the world for its vileness Depraved officers Saints torn from alters Boys gouged by bayonets Legless men dragging themselves Bloated corpses sinking in mud The trench my brother charged into And his blood-soaked uniform His triumphant grin Empty

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Art by Dante Siliquini

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ISRAEL & ITS FANS ARE THE BIGGEST THREAT TO FREE SPEECH Words by Stasi Kapetanos The State of Israel was established in 1948 by the Zionist movement with the goal of creating a homeland for the Jewish people in light of centuries of European and to a lesser extent Middle Eastern antisemitism, in particular the Holocaust of World War Two. While many Zionists and supporters of Israel claim that their detractors take issue with this history, that being the seemingly noble if not understandable goal of finding a refuge for the Jewish people and the Jewish ‘right to self-determination’. However, the vast majority of Israel’s critics and anti-Zionists are vehemently opposed not to a Jewish homeland per se but to the fact that this one is constructed on top of another one – that of the Palestinians.

Not unlike other settler countries established in the wake of colonialism, including Australia, Israel by enlarge, did not obtain its territory with consent, but rather stole it from the people that previously lived there. I say stole as a past tense but Israel to this day continues to do so, by regularly absorbing and de facto annexing

Palestinian land; evicting Palestinian families; , destroying Palestinian livelihoods and ending Palestinian lives.

The Palestinian people are the real victims of Israeli Zionism, this should be undisputed.

To cover for Israel’s unconscionable and illegitimate activities, many of its supporters and indeed its own propaganda arms, such as state twitter accounts, diaspora organizations and political lobbying groups whom are unable to actually defend Israel’s actions on their own merits shift the conversation to more favourable terrain or try to shut it down altogether.

One infamous example of this is Bari Weiss, a former New York Times oped editor who is synonymous with complaining about the first world problems of cancel culture and political correctness. This is despite the fact that Weiss herself began her life in the spotlight as a Columbia University Zionist student activist who participated in campaigns to discipline or remove Arab and Muslim academics whose stance on Palestine had offended her

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pro-Israel sensibilities and what she deemed to be antisemitic. This was all despite an investigation not only exonerating them but finding that they were victims of incivility and intimidation. This future cancel culture victim’s efforts to silence pro-Palestinian voices were even opposed by the New York Civil Liberties Union.

Weiss is not alone here, much of the very top of American politics and media is thoroughly committed to the silencing of pro-Palestinian voices.

Indeed, America’s Congress even has proposed bills suggesting fines and even jail time for government contractors who participate in boycotts of Israel, unsettling levels of support among both Republicans and Democrats. This sort of thing is not limited to just America and Israel with the Working Definition of Antisemitism often being used as a tool for censorship in more relatively normal parts of the world.

This situation is extra sticky, as there is no problem with the definition of antisemitism provided but unfortunately among the examples of antisemitism listed is ‘…claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor’.

This is a dubious standard to impose as a definition of racism of any sort but particularly so, in the vitally important case of what should and should not be regarded as antisemitism and the potential linkage to anti-Zionism. Even the author of the Working Definition of Antisemitism, Kenneth S Stern, is

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against its overly broad application as he wrote it primarily for European data collection purposes not as a hate speech code for places such as university campuses. Yet this has not stopped countries and institutions all around the world from adopting the Working Definition nor has it discouraged many Zionists and supporters of Israel from demanding its imposition and berating its critics. Former UK Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson, even threatened to cut funding to universities who failed to adopt this definition.

It is important to note that any threat Zionist groups, and supporters of Israel, pose to free speech on campus is not due to any sort of Jewish, Globalist or Illuminati world-wide cabal with serious international power as such suggestions are ridiculous and actually antisemitic.

The AUKUS pact and submarine deal was a surprise transfer of partners as a mere five years ago, Australia had signed a $65 billion deal for 12 nuclear submarines with France and its Barracuda Class Nuclear powered weapons of war. On the plus side at least we gave the middle finger to France’s neo-colonial geopolitical strategy.

The announcement of this project happened after Australian military experts made their concerns apparent that the Biden administration was lacking a sense of urgency about China as a ‘near-term military competitor.’

The formation of the AUKUS deal is considered to be a strategic and necessary one by the rhetoric of a nationalistic and profit hungry economic elite, the corporate owned state and its various violent apendages such as the police. According to these industry model institutions China has posed itself as a serious and looming threat due to their impressive and rapid military modernisation within the last few decades.

AUKUS imperialism

Scott Morrison has once again been totally on brand with his terrible decision making on foreign policy, economy and environment. This time it is the AUKUS military alliance. This alliance is another step in Obama’s 2011 ‘rebalance in Asia’ plan. It is a three-party partnership between Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom in sharing nuclear sensitive information, material, technology and assistance in order for Australia to acquire what it needs to build nuclear powered submarines and have them ready for use in the Asia-Pacific region. The plan itself will take 18 months to finalise and approximately another 18 years for it to develop.

The financial cost of building, powering, regulating and maintaining these show-off weapons of war are said to be more than one hundred billion dollars. That is one hundred billion that could have been used for expanding Medicare, social housing and education. This one hundred billion dollars could have gone to improving the lives of millions of people. This is the one hundred billion’th reason why capitalism is a corrupt system and why it will never help us.

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Since the 2012 Coles review (no, not that Coles) there have been multiple secretive but very real personnel links between Australia’s submarine and broader shipbuilding businesses and the US Navy which no doubt played a significant role in the formation of this alliance. This means that Australia’s ‘self-reliance’ policy from the 1976 Fraser Government’s Defence White Paper plan was always going to be compromised heavily and the country’s politicians will continue to be under the heavy influence of the American and British Defence Industries and the sacrifice for this will have to be paid by the Australian working class. The message our government is sending is that this country and its people are here to serve the American agenda of imperialism and hegemony. The USA is desperate to have an advanced Pacific base and they have achieved this through AUKUS. For us this is not a matter of national security or a matter of Australia’s cultural and social preservation, but rather, this is a pursuit of war profiteering at the expense of the working class, the climate and the liberation of people from structural servitude. This is a dangerous capital domineered agenda designed to empower Western imperialism and its hegemonic motives.

The military alliance is a doorway for the U.S to assume larger and greater command over societies in regions they would otherwise not have access to.

China is seen as an economic threat

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to the capitalist west and the west will retaliate whatever the cost to preserve their profit hungry so called ‘free’ market. This includes anything from mass media hysteria or to an actual war that will inevitably cost human lives and cause immense damage to infrastructure and the environment.

We have to show opposition to this alliance and this plan at every level that we can. We have to know that their war is not our war. We have to know that the enemy is our own government. We have to know that we can fight this, and change is possible.

Say it loud and say it clear. . . .

ScoMo and all of his war-mongering buddies are not welcome here.

Words by Habibah Jaghoori

DO YOU LISTEN TO MUSIC CONVENIENTLY? WORDS BY CHRIS LIPAPIS

Music has been around since hu-

mans developed the capacity for rhythm and tonal composition.

Through its inherent sonic properties, music is a fundamental medium for universal communication. Its popularity is attributed to the fact we are social creatures, feeding off shared worldviews through vibrating air molecules.

In modern life, we are still attached to music more than ever, with a plethora of genres and subgenres articulating features of self-identification and resonance. Musicians, artists, bands, film composers, DJs, and all other transmitters of music have poured their hearts and souls into sharing their messages with the world. Some of who, created certain

instrumental sounds revolutionising the art-form over the decades.

All was going great, until something came along.... convenience.

Philosophically speaking, we have adapted to a new standard of living which streamlines almost every aspect of our lives, including music.

Since technology enabled unprecedented access to music, it has become a daily expectation to listen to whatever we want, wherever we want, whenever we want. The caveat to this is the original sonic impact has been reduced to facilitate the gigantic storage challenge of online music. All major music streaming apps are forced to compress each song for the listener to achieve convenience.

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Consequently, it has changed the way humans perceive, understand, and appreciate music. Although many believe the impact isn’t noticeable, physical and psychological science says otherwise [1]. We are complicated organisms with exceptional abilities to understand the world around us, and our perception of music is no different. We interpret the collaborating properties of sound that forms the music we listen to. These properties stimulate nerve impulses, triggering skin and body changes with subsequent neuron activity relative to specific frequencies. This neuron activity is perceived using mechanisms of bottom-up and top-down processing which are features of learned behaviour. These features are so specific, that any change in sonic characteristics can subsequently translate unintended messaging to the brain. As a result, prominent artists have explicitly questioned why they spend so much time in the studio if half their track is lost through compression. These sentiments were corroborated by the likes of Snoop Dogg, Linkin Park, Slash, Quincy Jones, Hans Zimmer, plus more in a short film titled “The Distortion of Sound”.

This is not a condescending message, nor is it a discriminatory sentiment - it is a simply an attempt to raise awareness. If it matters enough, listening to a whole album from your

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favourite artist, from start to finish, uncompressed, may just help reignite the resilience of music as a universal language. Prominent vocalist, Adele, recently took a preliminary stand on this, making Spotify agree to disable the “shuffle” feature on all of her albums.

As you can tell, I have a deep passion for music and would also like to take this opportunity to express interest in establishing an AUU club for underground music. It is my belief that non-popular music is at the heart of originality and passion. If this is of interest, please contact me to discuss.

Contact: christopher.lipapis@student. adelaide.edu.au

REFERENCES [1] Passer, M. W., Smith, R. E. (2018). Psychology: The science of mind and behaviour, 3rd Edition. [[VitalSource Bookshelf version]].

Retrieved from vbk://9781760422820 [2] https://www.openculture.com/2014/10/ distortion-of-sound-musicians-explain-inshort-film-how-weve-created-a-mcdonaldsgeneration-of-music-consumers.html

GET THE FACTS GET THE VAX Get the facts and book your appointment

FIS: 21105.

c

e c e’s e e

oven-baked cookies

Words by Jialun Qi

Ceecee enjoys baking cookies. She bakes them at a commercial kitchen run by Farquaad & Co., a local multinational conglomerate. Farquaad & Co. owns all the high-quality baking ovens, because they ran their competitors out of business a few years ago.

Lately, Ceecee has been having trouble with the ovens. More often than not, the machines become extremely hot or extraordinarily cold, and swing between very dry and very wet in a matter of weeks. Such extreme fluctuations have had a terrible effect on the cookies – Ceecee is not making as many as she used to, no matter how hard she tries.

Unable to put up with it any longer, Ceecee confronts Mr. Farquaad, the owner of the kitchen.

Farquaad strikes a reconciliatory tone. “OK. I hear what you are saying, and your concerns are important to us. I’ll convene a subcommittee to begin a bidding process for a twelve-part contract outlining the initial scope of the questions surrounding the behaviours of the ovens that may potentially exist.”

Ceecee shakes her head. “This is urgent.

These extreme temperature fluctuations impact all of us. If things go on like this, I won’t be able to bake any more cookies.”

“So?” Scoffs Farquaad as he salivates at the quarterly earnings projections on his laptop. “I have enough cookies.”

“I know you do, but hundreds of millions of people poorer than you won’t.”

“You need to fix your ovens,” Ceecee says.

“That’s not my problem though, is it?”

“Why? They are not broken,” says Farquaad.

“They are behaving erratically, and I think it’s because you’ve stressed their systems too much.”’

Ceecee kicks Farquaad in the shins.

Farquaad crosses his arms. “Don’t tell me how to run my business. If you don’t like my ovens, go someplace else.”

“I can’t,’ says Ceecee, ‘you own all the ovens.”

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“Ow!” Farquaad exclaims. “You kicked me!”

“Does it hurt?” Ceecee asks.

“Of course it does!”

“Oh, does it?” Ceecee gasps megalomaniacally. “That’s not my problem though, is it?”

“It’s not my fault!” Farquaad asserts petulantly. “I just make ovens and let people use them. It’s the politicians that are supposed to make laws that regulate proper oven usage. I’m only following all relevant and applicable government regulations.”

it can be said that carbon offsetting is an effective way to mitigate climate change (Morningstar, 2009).”

Ceecee nods in agreement. “I’ll give them a call right now.”

“I’m saying your fern-offsetting scheme is unproven and might not help out the ovens in real terms at all.”

“Well uh, sure, but they’re busy today.”

“How do you know?”

“I’m running a fundraiser for them. I was supposed to go but I’m dealing with you instead.” Farquaad frowns, non-verbally accusing Ceecee of wasting his valuable time.

Grumbling, Farquaad clicks his screen until a picture of a smiling fern comes up. “Alright, fine. You’ve been with us a long time, Ceecee, and for our most trusted customers we have a solution.”

Farquaad shows Ceecee his screen. “‘Oven-offsetting,’” Ceecee says.

Farquaad puffs out his chest proudly. “For every oven you use to bake cookies, we plant a fern in the state of Minnesota in the United States.”

“I don’t know what any of that means,” Farquaad says blankly.

“I only look at what’s on paper,” says Farquaad, “and on paper it looks fantastic, totally worth the commission fee, so I don’t know what your problem is.”

Ceecee sighs. She wants to kick Farquaad in the shins again, but she knows Farquaad will anticipate it this time and have security forcibly disperse her.

“You know, it doesn’t have to be this way,” she says. “You can make profit and Make Ovens Great Again at the same time. You have enough money and influence to do it.”

Farquaad shrugs, not caring now that Ceecee has become psychologically defeated. “Sure, but I can also use that money to make more money instead, and when I have more money than the money I have now, I’ll think about it.”

“That,” says Ceecee, “makes no sense.”

“It makes every sense!” protests Farquaad.

“For every allegedly bad thing that happens to the ovens, we plant a fern to offset it, so the overall balance is neutral, and no harm is done.”

References Morningstar, K. T., 2009. Carbon offsets: examining their role in greenhouse gas reduction. s.l.: Nova Science Publishers, incorporated.

“You know, Farquaad,” says Ceecee bookishly, “there is persistent concern of whether the offsetting of emissions that occurred elsewhere by, say, mass tree-planting is really effective at carbon sequestration, and if it is, whether the quality of carbon offset projects can be consistently met such that

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A US

INTERPRETERS AREN’T JUST ‘COOL’

LAN

When NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet took office in early October, he was accompanied in his first two press conferences by an Auslan interpreter. Familiar faces on our screens since the COVID-19 pandemic began, it has become standard for press conferences around Australia to include sign language interpreters to communicate important content to the Deaf Community. In his next two press conferences, however, these faces were absent. NSW Health later released a statement confirming that continuing media events concerning COVID ‘may include the services of Auslan interpreters and [some] may not’. This is devastating for the Deaf community.

The increased visibility of Auslan interpreters has brought Auslan to the attention of the broader hearing community, with enrolment in Auslan courses increasing and several interpreters going viral. Whenever I tell people I’m in my third year of studying Auslan to become an interpreter, their first comment is often, “like the lady next to the premier!” The increased visibility of Auslan is undoubtedly a positive step, but when the Deaf community remains a marginalised group and interpreters on TV begin to disappear as we exit the pandemic, I worry this newfound interest is only a passing fad.

Somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 people in Australia use Auslan. Auslan is an entirely separate language from English, with its own unique grammar. For example, if someone says, “Would you like lunch?”, an interpreter would sign, “lunch you want,” with their eyebrows raised to convey the question. It’s for this reason that subtitles cannot capture the emotion of a speaker nor convey information in the visual way Deaf people require, rendering interpreters vital. Additionally English is the

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Words by Gabby Bakker second or third language of many Deaf people, creating another barrier that further marginalises the Deaf community;especially when the language used in press conferences is formal and full of difficult terminology.

Many hearing people’s first encounters with Auslan interpreters is at press conferences, however interpreters are present in many facets of the lives of Deaf people. Interpreters work at job interviews, family events, doctor’s appointments, and more… Interpreters around the world have gone viral and drawn mass attention for their presence at rap and metal concerts. This is not to say their work isn’t important and vital, but an obsession over interpreters betrays a worrying trend in hearing perceptions of the Deaf community. There’s something awfully uncomfortable about interpreters going viral just doing their jobs while Deaf people’s access to Auslan interpretation and to the language itself remains limited.

There is no existing legislation to mandate interpreters at press conferences, and aside from these conferences, the news is rarely interpreted, let alone other television programs. The onus for booking an interpreter is also always put on a Deaf person themselves in the majority or scenarios, creating a significant mental load. Additionally, many deaf children born to hearing families are denied access to Auslan and the Deaf community in favour of oralist education that prioritises spoken English over signed language. We cannot fawn over how “cool” a hearing interpreter looks while they sign or how “into it” they may be at a music concert while Deaf people remain a marginalised group.

Auslan is more than a trend or spectacle. Deaf advocates have raised concerns that after

They provide a vital service to the Deaf Community and must remain on our screens.

COVID subsides, the public’s interest in Auslan will fade in the same way as other lockdown ’trends’, like sourdough and Squid Game. If Auslan interpreters exit our screens along with COVID press conferences, will the hearing community only acknowledge Auslan when another interpreter goes viral at a music concert or by staring at Deaf people signing in public? The Deaf community have safeguarded Auslan through decades of discrimination and oppression. We can’t let positive change fade!

Fortunately, there’s lots we can do! First and foremost, hearing people need to be aware of the Deaf people in our community. Support Deaf advocates campaigning for press conference interpretation. If hearing people can wince at Dan Andrews telling people not to “get on the beers”, it’s only fair that Deaf people can too. Make sure your own events are accessible by booking interpreters and agitate for public events to be accessible. Learn some Auslan if you have the time and means and request Deaf Awareness Training at your place of work through Deaf-led companies like Sign Language Australia. Auslan interpreters are more than a fun person to watch when the case numbers get a bit depressing, and Auslan is more than a fad! Let’s treat Auslan and the Deaf community with the respect they deserve!

Deaf Etiquette with Interpreters If you meet a Deaf person with an interpreter, there is etiquette you should follow. Remember that the interpreter is there to do their job of language translation, and that you are really speaking to the Deaf person through the interpreter! Avoid language such as “tell them” or “explain to them” and instead talk naturally.

Face the Deaf person and focus on them. Avoid personal conversation with the interpreter – it’s not rude to not acknowledge them, it’s their job.

Chatting with someone through an interpreter isn’t as weird or scary as it may seem! You will find that conversation flows naturally once you focus on the Deaf person.

Resources for Learning Auslan When I tell people I’m studying Auslan, I hear over and over again, “Oh, that’s so cool! I’ve always wanted to learn sign language!” My response: “Do it! Just do it! Find a Deaf-led business and get started!”

For in person classes, TAFE provides full-time and part-time courses to learn Auslan with native signers. For an option with less commitment, Sign Language Australia is a Deaf-run business that runs five-week Auslan courses in the evenings for two hours a lesson. There is also Deaf Butterfly Effect, who provide one-onone tutoring if that’s your preference.

If in-person classes aren’t your thing or money is an issue, there are many online options. The Deaf Society run short and long online courses, and there are many independent teachers with cheap online workshops, like Open That Door and Trip in Auslan. Trip in Auslan has many other resources for learning Auslan and can guide you towards educational resources.

There are also many Deaf-run Instagram and TikTok accounts like Auslan With David, where David shares a sign a day for his followers to learn.

References Boon, Maxim. “The shocking reason Dominic Perrottet no longer has Auslan interpreters at press briefings.”

TimeOut, October 12, 2021.

Kirkness, Jessica. “COVID has brought Auslan into the spotlight, but it would be wrong to treat the language as a hobby or fad.” The Conversation, January 5, 2021.

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save our education.

JOIN THE THE FIGHT FIGHT BACK! BACK! JOIN Last July, the Vice Chancellor Peter Høj announced a drastic proposal to reduce the current five faculties into just three by merging Arts with Professions and ECMS with Sciences. As things stand currently, the proposal will result in the axing of at least 96 staff. The real number of redundancies could be much higher, with management flagging another round of cuts in the future to sack academic staff by merging schools.

These cuts are a massive threat to our already dismal quality of education. Nowhere on campus will be left untouched by these attacks. Here are just a few examples. The University Library will lose five staff members, likely reducing face-to-face-to-face help and access to the collections you use for your studies. Six university counsellors will be sacked, adding more pressure onto already overstretched services so expect already excessive month-long waiting times to get even longer. In all the faculties, many of the frontline support staff who help with timetabling, study plans, enrolments etc. will be fired.

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To justify these cuts, management claims that they are running out of money because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a pack of lies. At the end of last year, the uni announced an eye-watering surplus for 2021 of $194 million dollars. The Vice Chancellor, meanwhile, sits on a salary of around $900 thousand dollars. The pandemic is just a convenient excuse for cuts that have been on the agenda for a long time. A near carbon-copy of faculty mergers and job cuts was proposed back in 2016. Clearly, management have a long-term agenda of

making our university as profitable as possible, at the expense of students and staff.

This dilemma of a corporate, money-obsessed management is not unique to Adelaide Uni. Universities across Australia and the world have for many years now tried to make our universities even more like soulless degree factories pumping out graduates at the cheapest cost for them but the highest human toll on our education and staff working conditions. It doesn’t matter to them if your casualised tutor is too overworked to respond to emails or if your degree looks like a glorified YouTube tutorial that uses pre-recorded four-year-old lectures.

If you want to know what the university management’s real priorities are, then look at the kind of appointees on their top leadership body, the University Council. Only five of the 15 councillors are even elected by students and staff. The rest have been handpicked from the ranks of Adelaide’s corporate and political elite. This includes several people with extensive ties to destructive industries like weapons companies and climate criminal fossil fuel giants currently destroying our planet.

Last year, student activists launched the No Adelaide University Cuts campaign group to resist management’s attacks. We did so with the clear conviction that the only proven way of defeating cuts is through defiance and protest. Students can take inspiration from the mass student and staff campaign that defeated the last proposal for faculty mergers and job cuts in 2016. University

WORDS BY JAMES WOOD, SRC EDUCATION OFFICER

management was pressured to back down in the face of overwhelming opposition from students, bad publicity and even threats that staff might go on strike. If we are going to defeat this new wave of attacks, then we need to build a similar mass campaign that makes putting these cuts through untenable for management. Our biggest campaign victory so far has been the dropping of all proposed cuts to the Maths Learning Centre (MLC). Through protesting, organising a petition that received almost 1000 signatures and taking a solidarity photo with staff, we were able to save both the amazing permanent staff at the MLC. Another win has been a drop in the total number of proposed job cuts from 130 to 96. These are both positive signs that the cuts are far from inevitable and that management is feeling serious pressure to not push ahead with a total war on education.

This year, we can look forward to an even bigger fightback against the cuts. During O-Week, the No Cuts campaign will be postering, leafleting and protesting to build more student opposition. Also, on the 24th March, the Student Representative Council will be hosting a Student General Meeting (SGM) to move motions expressing total opposition to the cuts and formally condemning the Vice Chancellor for even attempting to attack our education. Make sure that you at the SGM, ready to debate, hear speeches and vote on the motions. If you haven’t already, make sure that you like our pages on Facebook and Instagram and get in touch with us about getting more involved with the campaign.

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