PAPERS
ABSTRACTS
WELCOME TO THE LAND - Chris Mumbulla
The traditional owners of the Sydney City region are the Cadigal band. The "Eora people" was the name given to the coastal Aborigines around Sydney. With the invasion of the Sydney region, the Cadigal people were decimated but there are descendants of the Eora people still living in Sydney today. [taken from the City of Sydney website]
Chris Mumbulla works at the University of Sydney Equal Opportunity Unit. She will welcome us, allowing us to hold the conference on Aboriginal Land.
THE CHANGING ROLE OF THE RESSO
Staff / Student Delineation - Kate Davison
Kate Davison was an internationally acclaimed student activist who has sharpened her skills sufficiently to join the ranks of RESSOS. With her unique insight she is able to give an expert assessment of the difficulties of working in a student organisation and show how to avoid the pit falls.
Working with Students - Leanne Atkinson
Leanne Atkinson is the student liaison officer at the South West Institute of TAFE Students’ Association in Warrnambool, Victoria.
NTEU and Student Organisations - Sarah Roberts
Sarah Roberts is a National Industrial Officer with the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU). Sarah currently works in the area of enterprise bargaining. Previous responsibilities include coordinating the national strategy on enterprise bargaining in student organisations, drawing on her experience as a RESSO at RMIT Student Union. Sarah will talk about how she understands the role of the RESSO to have changed over the years to include providing advice to students in their capacity as employers as well as in their capacity as activists. Sarah will touch on the NTEU's national strategy for enterprise bargaining in student organisations, potential proposals for a student organisation employer group; and an NTEU Branch specifically for staff of student organisations.
INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
Immigration Law - Brian Kelleher
Brian is from the Immigration Information Centre and will talk about immigration and migration advice and what we, as RESSOs, can talk to students about.
Travel concessions - Gina Browne
Gina works in SUPRA and is currently involved in a court case where they are fighting for the rights of international students to be treated the same as their domestic peers, and be granted travel concessions.
The ESOS Act 2000 - Sharon Smith
Sharon Smith is a research officer for the National Liaison Committee for international students (NLC). This session will be an evaluation of Education Services for Overseas Students (ESOS) Act 2000 and the current review of the legislation.
NLC submission to ESOS Act review, 2004
National RESSO conference submission to ESOS Act review, 2004 - prepared and presented by the National RESSOS network at this conference.
STUDENT SPECIFICITIES
Beauty and the Beast: Commodification and the ‘Women’s Bodies are Not Playing Fields’ Campaign - Adele Chynoweth
Adele critically analyses the action of the UQ and QUT women’s rights areas against the Jim Beam Miss Bronco competition. The competition, essentially a bikini contest, was launched while the National Rugby League was contending with rape allegations. Insistence by Broncos’ management to continue with the contest arguably demonstrated a denial of a continuum of violent behaviours against women.
This continuum involves a hierarchy of behaviours in which sexual assault by a group of men is the most severe. At the other end of the continuum is a series of behaviours, arguably exemplified by the Jim Beam Miss Bronco competition, in which women are disparaged, trivialized, objectified and demeaned in a stereotypical fashion. In this way women are denied their full humanity, which provides the ability to act violently towards women. Adele will apply contemporary theoretical analyses from scholars including Naomi Klein, John Ralston Saul, Jim McKay, Roberta Spark, Jayne Mooney and Bonnie Dow.
Adele argues that the major challenges to the Union campaign were:
- media reports surmising the Campaign was fuelled by envy and that the Miss Bronco competition could not be exploitative when female contestants themselves do not feel they are being exploited. In this way, feminism is reified from a critique of patriarchy to a practice of individualism in which the media views the only legitimate form of feminism as that which enables individual achievements within existing social hierarchies.
- the role commodification plays in our current assessment of the worth of cultural activity. Whereas cultural activities were once assessed on intrinsic worth, it is argued they are now based on their marketability. Pervasion of corporate sponsorship within UQ Union itself, made it difficult for activists within the Campaign to protest against Jim Beam.
Adele will address the conflict between financial operations of student unions and political activity. What is the role of the RESSO when corporatism is no longer separate from culture? How can RESSOs be meaningful advocates when their own employers cannot imagine a reality that is not enmeshed in the global logo web? Perhaps part of the resolution lies in the words of eighteenth century British politician William Pitt: Necessity..is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
Resources For Students With Disabilities - Tim Hart
Tim Hart works as the disabilities network convenor in NSW. Tim's talk gave us an insight into some of the challenges that students with disabilities face. Click here to get a list of the resources available.
Student Accommodation (co-operatives) - Liz Black
Liz will talk about the housing services provided to students of Deakin University generally with an emphasis on the provision of housing for financially disadvantaged and/or homeless students in Smythe Place.
SWITSA - Leanne Atkinson
SAVE NURSING
The Campaign Background - Melissa de Silva
Melissa de Silva is the Welfare Liaison Officer at Sydney Uni SRC. She provides advocacy and research for the students at satellite campuses including the nursing campus. This year the university’s vice chancellor decided to embrace the Nelson Review recommendation to squeeze working class students out of university. The not-so-glamourous nursing course is the first to face the axe. There are now only shadows of a campaign left in place to oppose this move. Mel will give a broad outline of the way the campaign shaped up and the significance that it held at the time to the community.
The Impact on the Indigenous Community - Liesa Clague
Liesa Clague is one of the co-ordinators of the Indigenous Nursing Course at Sydney University. Although the undergraduate nursing course has been shut down, the university and the government have promised that this course will not suffer. However, it will not exist any more at Sydney Uni either. Liesa will talk about the challenges that indigenous students face at university and the broader implications to the indigenous community to have the only course (worldwide) that looks at indigenous health issues, placed in limbo.
The Broader Implications of the Liberals' Agenda - Graham Hastings
Graham Hastings is the education researcher at the national NUS office. He will talk about the Nelson reforms in a more general view, especially looking at how the closure of the nursing and Orange campuses at Sydney University fit into the Liberals plans for education. After this talk you will know why that apart from e,l,s and n there is no difference between Dr No and Dr Nelson.
QUALITY AND FUNDING
Academic Integrity, Originality Detection and the "Problem" of Plagiarism
- Mark Pendleton accompanying notes
Mark is the Research and Information Officer at RMIT Student Union. The "problem" of plagiarism in Australian universities has come under increasing media focus over the last few years with several high profile cases coming to light. Most Australian universities have responded to this media outcry through "tough on plagiarism" policies and the introduction of so-called originality detection tools, usually the US-based Turnitin.com.
RMIT University recently announced that it too would implement Turnitin, locating its implementation under the banner of a focus on academic integrity. Positioning this tool as an aid to good teaching and learning, a system of quality control and a method for detecting the "growing problem" of plagiarism, RMIT is piloting the tool this year with a view to full-scale implementation in 2005.
This paper will discuss and problematise the notions of academic integrity, originality and plagiarism within the context of the Turnitin Implementation Project. Specifically this will involve a review of the literature surrounding plagiarism in an academic context, examination of the effectiveness and limitations of Turnitin as an originality detection tool and discussion of the ramifications of Turnitin implementation for students' academic and legal rights and for RESSOs dealing with plagiarism cases.
AUQA - Martin Carroll
Martin Carroll is an auditor from the Australian Universities Quality Assurance folks. He will give us an idea on what the role of AUQA is and tell us about what role we can play, as ressos, in improving the quality of higher education.
Higher Education Support Act - Don Sword
Don Sword is a welfare research officer at Sydney Uni’s SRC representing the SRC's committment to all things Shakespearean. Don has assured me that he will present his talk together with the use of overhead projections, though he was unclear about whether the pictures would be relevant to the content of his talk. Regardless of this, his skill as a wordsmith will ensure that anyone who cares to listen in will be so moved that there will not be a dry seat left in the house. After a support act like this one, the main attraction will surely be superb.
RACISM
On Campus Race Hate Groups - Justine Atkinson accompanying notes
Justine is a resso from Newcastle, home of the newly energised nazi look-a-like. Not to be mistaken with the League of Justice, the Youth League of Stupid Bigots is increasing its presence on campus and committing hideous acts of violence and vilification.
Free Speech- Liz Thompson
Liz Thompson is a resso from RMIT. She will talk about right that we all have to freedom of speech. However, she will also cover the much less talked about responsibility of having this freedom.
Institutional Racism - Geoff Capelin
Geoff is a resso at the Postgraduate Board of UNSW. He will talk about institutional racism particularly within universities.
WHERE TO FOR EDUCATION WITH A LABOUR GOVERNMENT
A Green Alternative - John Kaye
John Kaye is a candidate for the Greens in the upcoming federal senate half-election. Hot on the campaign trail, he will talk about the role that the Greens play in education policy whether the current Liberal government is returned to power or the Labor party are given a turn.
Smashing the State for Education - Sue Johnston
Sue Johnston is a member of the International Socialist Organisation and the Socialist Alliance Party. She is running as a candidate in the federal election in the seat of Graydler. Sue will talk about the possibilities that exist for a truly public education system and what it will take to achieve it.