Swinburne Student Union

Swinburne Student Union

Swinburne Student Union (SSU), is peak student representative body of Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. All Swinburne students are members of the organisation however students may opt-out of membership should they desire.

Its main objective is to represent the interests of Swinburne students and make sure they are treated fairly, both within the contexts of their academic studies within Swinburne and the wider society. To achieve this, the SSU focus their energy on independent advocacy, academic appeals and political activism. It provides a variety of student services, including computer facilities, photocopying and entertainment. It also publishes a student newspaper called "Tabula Rasa." (Until 2005, 'Tabula Rasa' was an independent student magazine).

In December 2005 the university declined to renew the Student Union's lease on catering outlets and outsourced catering operations to private operators such as CoffeeHQ. Previous to this, SSU had taken over a flailing catering operation from the University in the 1980s, and had run it successfully in the intervening period.

The Swinburne Student Union was established over thirty years ago and holds annual elections for office bearer positions. It has several standing committees including the Education Board, Secretariat, Services Management Board, SISA and SUPA; the latter two being constitutionally established representative bodies to serve the needs of international students and postgraduates respectively.

In March 2006 the union was the subject of controversy after the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ian Young, announced that the university would not renew the Union's funding for 2006 - an expected payment of A$1.5 million. Media reports speculated of the "collapse" of the organisation as a result [http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/swinburne-student-union-nears-collapse/2006/03/10/1141701695921.html] . [cite web | title=Swinburne Student Union Nears Collapse, The Age | url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/swinburne-student-union-nears-collapse/2006/03/10/1141701695921.html| accessdate=November 3 | accessyear=2006 ] The organisation was under considerable financial pressure, and was forced to reduce staff numbers considerably in order to remain solvent. In 2006, SSU terminated the employment of its executive officer, Balrama Krishnan for alleged gross and wilful misconduct. He was the Union's most senior employee, having worked there for over 26 years.

The Swinburne Student Union has implemented a range of strategies designed to ensure its survival despite VSU. They began rolling out financial membership packages from the 1st of July 2006. In its own response to VSU, the University established the Swinburne Student Amenities Association (SSAA). SSAA is wholly owned company, established to ensure that essential student services that were offered prior to VSU legislation would continue to be provided to its students.

The September 2007 election saw the greatest ever result at Swinburne for the political group Student Unity and for any Labor faction since the birth of the SSU in 1973, gaining the positions of Education Vice President, Media and Activities Representative, Undergraduate Representative and Mature Aged Representative.

Former Presidents of the Swinburne Student Union

* 1973: Judith Ruddock
* 1974: Glenn Sargent
* 1975: Yolanda Benn
* 1976: Graeme Lambert
* 1977: Brian Watson
* 1978: Alida Helleren
* 1979: Michael Newman
* 1980: Marco Marcou
* 1981: Andrew Mahar
* 1982: Andrew Mahar
* 1983: Mark Smith
* 1984: Scott Wooden
* 1985: Kevin Smith
* 1986: Kevin O'Connell
* 1987: Kevin O'Connell
* 1988: Lisa King
* 1989: Lisa King
* 1990: Esther Abraham
* 1991: Esther Abraham
* 1992: Lisa Ferguson
* 1993: Simon Rayward
* 1994: Tomasz Koska
* 1995: Aseel Faraj
* 1996: Karen Brady
* 1997: Stephen Murray
* 1998: Antony McMullen
* 1999: Antony McMullen
* 2000: John Perrymeant
* 2001: Vicky Kasidis
* 2002: Gautam Gupta
* 2003: Jason V Ngam
* 2004: Jason V Ngam
* 2005: Adrian Cahill
* 2006: Vicky Kasidis

References

External links

* [http://www.ssu.org.au/ Swinburne Student Union]
* [http://www.swinburne.edu.au/ssaa Swinburne Student Amenities Association]
* [http://www.swinburne.edu.au/ Swinburne University of Technology]


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