“Do you think cold blooded murder is point scoring?” – La Trobe Student Council meeting entangled in irrelevant motions

Last week the LTSUs latest monthly council meeting was held. For the uninitiated, these meetings are a platform where elected student reps have the opportunity to discuss and debate issues relevant to those they represent. This is of course why the last two council meetings have featured in-depth debates on the geopolitics of the Middle East and  whether or not the Labor Party’s refugee policy is left wing.

Anyway, where May’s council ended in around seven people from the ‘Socialist Alternative’ student club calling the LTSU president a “disgrace” while he looked at the camera with an expression quite similar to this cult classic, June’s meeting had only 4 counts of the word “shame” being used and no one being called a disgrace! Quite an improvement right? Think again.

Last week’s meeting began with a friendly acceptance of one new councillor and the new women’s officer. This was followed by a presentation of office bearer reports where elected office bearers discussed the brilliant work they have been doing this past month (more on that later). It very quickly entered the world of shambles with the controversial motion 4.2 being proposed by Socialist Alternative councillors, and a subsequent amendment being proposed by the LTSU president.  The full proposed motion and amendment is provided at the bottom of this article, but to summarise, Socialist Alternative wanted the LTSU to publish a statement condemning the murder of Palestinian Journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh by Israeli forces. The amendment to this motion proposed by the LTSU president removed mention of Israeli forces and included a call for an independent investigation into the killers, on the grounds that labelling the egregious murder an act committed by the IDF is as of right now a factual inaccuracy.

Such a sensitive topic surrounding an innocent woman’s life ending is sure to bring about respectful discussion, which is why the next hour followed with students bickering over semantics unrelated to the motion. The couple dozen socialists in the meeting accused the LTSU president of using these motions to fulfil his supposed secret goal of allying with the right-wing side of politics, and throughout the meeting said president was forced to interrupt the socialists’ interruptions by telling them they can discuss their “weaker motions” after voting on the “more reasonable” amendment had concluded.

Despite the fact that the two SA councillors brought in a couple dozen comrades to help them argue their cause, their motion was still voted down by the rest of the council. When this happened, I was thinking “this must be the end of the shit flinging, the next motion is actually relevant to a number of students at La Trobe, surely this will be productive?” oh how wrong I was. The next motion, on setting a definition of what antisemitism looks (listed below), led some incredible minds to believe the LTSU President is “handing university management a gift to suppress criticism of the state of Israel.”

Essentially, the councillor’s problem with this motion was that they believe it defines criticism of the state of Israel as the definition of antisemitism. While the discussion began with the LTSU president explaining why this is simply not the case, and claiming that Socialist Alternative themselves are actually “some of the people most accused of antisemitism in Victoria”, the councillors responded with two absolutely brilliant arguments that stopped the president right in his tracks:

Antisemitism is not an issue at La Trobe University because “there have been no swastikas on campus the last few years”

And

“This is the kind of motion that people like Donald Trump and Pauline Hanson support”

Anyway, after this motion passed the council discussed their last motion for the day (listed below), which one Socialist councillor claimed, “determines free speech on campus”. Essentially the socialists wanted to introduce a motion not just condemning antisemitism but all the other isms as well and a right among students to condemn countries. I’m sure Gary, 3rd year nursing student was absolutely relieved when this motion was proposed, as with this he would be able to criticize the actions of governments without John Dewar silencing him, however, he will have to wait as the discussion ended in a draw vote with the motion not being passed. One councillor wondered whether that was “constitutionally correct”. The LTSU president explained that none of this has anything to do with a constitution.

While Socialist Alternative tries to end wars through LTSU motions, several students from La Trobe University and the LTSU have been doing brilliant work advocating for issues relevant to students. One group of students are those in the LTSU Education Department, who have recently spearheaded a campaign to force the university to end its ludicrous parking fine system. Currently, instead of receiving an on the spot parking fine you receive one in the mail, this has caused numerous issues with students receiving multiple fines at once weeks after they were issued. An LTSU Facebook post noted that they had been “made aware of one student who had received FIVE fines in the span of one week. One of the notices was over 50 days late, after the fine was issued.” LTSU Education Officer Lani Dumas told Rabelais that they are also working on a campaign related to the standardization of assignments. This would include “standard submission times and standard grades”, whereby a single assignment/exam cannot exceed 50% of the overall grade for a subject. More information on this will be posted by the LTSU soon.

The LTSU Residential Department has been working on a campaign designed to improve women’s health on campus by increasing accessibility to period products among students and staff on campus. More information on that can be found in an article written by Residential Officer Georgia Ibrom here: https://www.rabelais.com.au/la-trobe/period-poverty-on-campus.

The newly appointed LTSU  Women’s Officer, Sasha Irvine, intends to hit the ground running, telling Rabelais:

“I have been passed on a really big opportunity here as a Women’s Officer. In terms of this position, there is a lot to be done for issues surrounding the women at La Trobe. I’m looking forward to carrying on from previous Women’s Officer Nadine and her great work, especially surrounding women’s safety on campus. With the National Student Safety Survey release this year and the amazing effort behind the Dignity Isn’t Dirty Campaign. I am working to pursue a positive culture towards women and non-male identifying students at La Trobe. I am ready to work hard on behalf of all students, to uplift their voices and make that call for action.” 

If you wish to attend one of the eventful student council meetings detailed above, or if you would like to be kept updated with similar campaigns to those listed above, be sure to give the La Trobe Student Union’s Facebook page a like!

https://www.facebook.com/LaTrobeStudentUnion/

Motions:

Cover image source:
Washington Institute