Issue 88.10 by On Dit

n Dit

ISSUE 88.6 88.10 ISSUE OCTOBER AUGUST 2020 2020

Student Employment Grow, Support Impact, to find Connect work while you study.

auu.org.au/studentemployment

n Dit 2020

Want to get involved? Check out our content callout lists and submission dates at facebook.com/onditmagazine Find us on: Instagram @onditmag Twitter @onditmagazine Email onditmag@gmail.com

ON DIT CONTENTS Editorial Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s On? State of the Union SRC President Left, Right, and Centre Vox Pop Club Spotlight Econ Dit Rural Student News International Student News Thank you page Pop quiz ARTICLES An error of judgment 2020 election predictions and analysis The growing issue of sexual harassment Public health professionals The passion of Nick Drake Heritage Not all men Your right to know Our bodies are not yours to politics 2020 calls for revolution The Pulitzer Prize Why liberal arts degrees are the best degrees

5 10 12 13 14 16 18 20 22 24 60 62 8 26 28 29 30 32 34 37 41 42 48

CREATIVE WRITING AND ARTWORK Daily dose of self love by Zakia Soft spikes An orchard of my own Artist spotlight: Sarah Caitlyn Nip it in the bud SAlt satire

40 44 47 50 58 59

EDITORS

Nick Birchall Felix Eldridge Taylor Fernandez Larisa Forgac SUBEDITORS

Ivan Bucalo Mirco Di Giacomo Michael Genrich Oliver Hales Anika Pietek Emily Woodcock DESIGN

Larisa Forgac COVER ART

Photograph by Lucy Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connell -Doherty

We wish to acknowledge the Kaurna people as the traditional custodians of the Adelaide region on which the University of Adelaide is located. We also acknowledge Elders, living and past, and understand that the cultural and heritage beliefs that the Kaurna people hold are still important to the living members of their community today.

EDITORIAL

FELIX Hey everyone, 2020 has been a unique year for On Dit. In a world full of depressing pandemic statistics and political disasters, I’d like to use this final editorial as a means of highlighting some of our positive achievements this year. We’ve been an active reporter of news on campus. My favourite was being the first media organisation to break the news of the new Chancellor’s appointment. We’ve delivered comprehensive coverage of student political meetings because we believe that keeping our representatives accountable is vital in a healthy democracy. We’ve taken the role of a facilitator, rather than a preacher, with regard to social and political issues, trying to find a balance between diverse views and ensuring impartiality in coverage. We’ve been champions for the underrepresented, particularly rural and international students who received dedicated columns in this year’s magazine. We’ve fought hard to preserve and expand club culture on campus, especially with our clubs spotlight column and regular promotion of social events and activities on campus. But the most gratifying part of this job is the satisfaction of reading ordinary student contributions and learning something new about the world. On Dit is in its 88th year. I’ve had the pleasure of being involved with the magazine for four of those years, first reading and writing, then sub-editing, and now editing. Despite railing against clichés for much of my tenure, I must leave you all with one. It has been an honour and a privilege to have served you. Felix

TAYLOR Hello readers, In what is constantly – and sometimes mockingly – referred to as ‘unprecedented times’, it comes as no surprise that it has been an interesting year for On Dit. Yet despite any setbacks, the magazine has continued to sustain its 88th year legacy by publishing an abundance of campus news, opinion pieces, and student writing. Perhaps this is so because words right now hold a comforting power. Our team has achieved so much during this year: amplifying rural and international student voices, furthering the promotion of clubs, and providing investigative reporting into student politics. Personally, I am proud of my commitment to sourcing and publishing a greater amount of arts related articles, whether this is film or book reviews, poetry, or short stories. My personal highlights have been working with an all-female group of writers and editors for Elle Dit, as well as editing Hearsay, our creative writing and literary themed edition. I am so incredibly proud of my fellow editors for what we have produced in On Dit’s 88th year. A massive thank you also goes out to the AUU, to our talented team of sub-editors, and of course, to every person who has contributed to us this year. It has been my absolute pleasure to edit On Dit and I hope you enjoy our final edition for the year!

LARISA

Taylor

To say that this year has been a challenge is an understatement. When learning moved online and the campus went into “lockdown”, the very essence of On Dit – its hard copies- was threatened. We had to quickly adapt and find new ways of engaging with our contributors and readers. Still, I am extremely proud of our team for persevering and managing to deliver issue after issue with outstanding content for everyone to enjoy. I think this is really a testament to our student community and campus culture: sticking together and finding ways around obstacles.

This year with On Dit has also been a big personal journey for me. I became more involved in uni life and met incredible new people. Working on the magazine was always the highlight of my weeks and months, as it was a welcome break from regular assignments and work. I am also proud of the coverage we gave to pressing issues on campus and the wider community such as the Women’s Collective, Black Lives Matter and sexual harassment in light of the ICAC report. Those issues are very important to me and I am honoured to have worked for a magazine where we could make the voices of my fellow students heard loud and clear. I also wish to thank all of our wonderful subeditors and artists, the AUU staff and our readers and contributors for making the On Dit experience enjoyable. We hope that On Dit 88 was something that we can all be proud of!

NICK

Larisa

Before I go any further, I just want to take the opportunity to thank everyone that worked to make On Dit 88 what it was. From our amazing contributors to whom we owe this whole magazine, to our readers, and to the phenomenal AUU staff that supported us. We genuinely wouldn’t be anywhere without all your support. 2020 was a weird year to say the least. Being off campus made it a challenging effort to continually engage with students, which had been one of our main focuses when we took up our positions. Regardless, we believe this year has been a roaring success! We’re so proud of the work we’ve done in covering the major events on campus, and the stories that we uncovered. From the farce of the RCC, or the rejection of the Women’s Collective. We believe it has been imperative students remain informed of what happens on their campus, and we hope this will continue with next year’s team. Thank you all again for your continued support of us and our magazine. We hope it’s something you’ve enjoyed reading and writing for. Once again, we owe everything to you, and it’s been an absolute privilege to be your On Dit editor in 2020. Nick

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12/03/2020, 11:50am

“an error of judgment” Words by Nicholas Birchall Photo by Lucy O’Connell-Doherty All quotes are taken from the ICAC statement on the investigation into “Misconduct by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Adelaide”.

“On 12 and 30 March 2020 the Deputy Chancellor met with the Vice-Chancellor. On the first occasion they had lunch at her instigation. On the second occasion they met at her beach house, at the instigation of the Vice-Chancellor, who in that regard was prompted to do so by the Chancellor. On the first occasion the Deputy Chancellor told the Vice-Chancellor she was interested in becoming Chancellor and wanted to know if he felt he could work with her. She admitted to me that this might have been an error of judgement.” The photo that adorns our front cover was taken on the 12th of March, 11:50am outside the Mitchell building, home to the office of the Vice-Chancellor. A unique moment in history,

captured at a peculiar time, almost by accident. Our current Chancellor, Catherine Branson AC QC was well aware of the allegations against disgraced former Vice-Chancellor Peter Rathjen at the time of her two meetings with him. Regardless of whether or not you believe that Branson was not aware of all the information until the 21st of March, she continued to meet with Rathjen in secret. “On the second occasion they discussed Ms A’s complaint. She advised him how he should present to the Council. They again discussed whether, if she were to become Chancellor, they could work together.” Branson displayed a callous attitude towards

these allegations, even when made fully aware of the facts pertaining to them. Despite this, Branson’s conduct indicated that either she did not see these allegations toppling Rathjen, or that she would ensure they didn’t on the condition she was made Chancellor with Rathjen’s support. In the meantime, Branson continued her march towards the role of Chancellor. The Convenor’s committee (the executive body of the University), of which Branson was a member, continued to meet to discuss the allegations against Rathjen. Within this committee, a further committee was formed. Known as the “Rump” it consisted of four members of the University Council, with Branson as chair. “The Rump decided that the Chancellor [Kevin Scarce] should be advised there would be a risk that if he did not resign a motion would be put to Council for him to be stood down during the investigation.” Subsequently, Branson met with Scarce in her home on the 26th of April. “The Chancellor was given a fait accompli. If he did not resign he would be stood down.” “[Branson] also advised [Scarce] that she wished to become Chancellor.” Scarce subsequently resigned without public explanation, immediately followed by Rathjen’s period of indefinite leave, and eventual resignation. This whole sordid affair is exemplary of complete and utter mismanagement and moral bankruptcy by the University executive. Rather than taking the allegation against Rathjen seriously, Branson took the opportunity to use the chaos to further her own stature. Her conversations with Rathjen implied an intent to keep him on his role as ViceChancellor, despite these credible, fresh allegations. Rathjen has numerous historic allegations of sexual harassment, assault, and misconduct spanning several years, and multiple institutions. This is absolutely untenable.

In the modern world we live in, at an institution such as the University of Adelaide, there must be a top-down approach to things like sexual harassment and assault. The University must be willing to engage in meaningful discussion and cultural change, and that definitely doesn’t occur through obfuscation and back-room dealings. The University of Adelaide has a systematic, ingrained cultural problem with misogyny, sexism, and respect. From the findings of College hazings, to the rejection of the Women’s Collective and Pro-Choice Club, to the affiliation of an anti-abortion group on campus, to the report detailing over 50 incidents of sexual assault and harassment since 2018, a revolting pattern has become painfully apparent. It is shameful that in her time as Chancellor, Branson has taken almost no action regarding the epidemic of sexual assault on campus. Her position ought to allow her to enact real meaningful change if she was serious about combating this, as her numerous emails and public statements might suggest. The system is broken. It needs to be fixed immediately. I’m not convinced that this can be accomplished with the current executive structure at UofA. The University Council have been stagnant on this issue for years, and need to be held to account for their inaction. As the peak decision-making body at the University, this is unacceptable. The university needs to do better for its students. No one on campus should ever feel unsafe. No one should ever be fearful of speaking out against the disgusting perpetrators that continue to lurk just below the surface. No one should ever be subjected to such horrific circumstances. Our structure and processes shouldn’t deter victims from reporting what has happened, and we should be there to support them every step of the way.

This is no longer up for discussion. Things need to change, and they need to change now.

N O S ’ T A H W ? N O S ’ T A H W Adelaide Fashion Collective Op Shop Crawl

WHEN: October 24th WHERE:Various Adelaide Op Shops/ Vintage stores (locations TBA on Facebook event)

AULSS Law Ball 2020 interstellaw WHEN: October 24th, 7:30pm WHERE: William Magarey Room, Adelaide Oval

W ? N O S â&#x20AC;&#x2122; T A H W ? N AUES Cocktail Night 2020: Bee-r Movie WHEN: October 30th, 7:00pm WHERE: The Duke

Summercrawl 2020

WHEN: November 27th WHERE: Across over 40 venues, including pubs and clubs

STATE OF THE UNION Words by AUU President Stella Seung-Joo Woo

Hi everyone, the year is coming to an end which means it’s also the end of my term. Throughout my time on the AUU Board as Clubs Committee Chair, and as AUU President, I have learned so much and met so many new people. I feel this year has been a very different year compared to other years due to COVID-19. Although it was a challenging year, I feel because of this challenge I have been able to grow more. I hope throughout this year that you have all been able to realise what a vital role the AUU has upon the student community, and how much your votes will affect the path of the AUU. Now that my term is coming to an end that also means exams are coming up! I know exams are stressful, but I hope you all do your very best and achieve the scores that you aspire to. If you have any concerns, keep in mind that student care is just around the corner. I hope I’ve made you all aware of the services the AUU provides, but mostly I hope you’ve all enjoyed 2020. There have been many ups and downs, and many changes throughout this year, especially with COVID-19 but somehow we’ve been able to make it this far. I just wanted to tell you

all, if you haven’t already, get out of your comfort zone and do something you’ve been wanting to do but haven’t done yet. Join a club, go to an event, maybe even run in student elections next year! On a final note, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has helped me get through this year and trusted me and voted for me. Just know that even if I’m not the AUU President or in any position if you just want someone to talk to, I’m always here! I hope to see you all around on campus. I wish you all the best in your future endeavours and all the best to the new incoming board directors and SRC members. Stella Seung-Joo Woo AUU President auupresident@auu.org.au Kakao Talk ID: snipshot

SRC PRESIDENT Words by SRC President Oscar Ong

How time flies! And it is now my last column as your SRC President for the 2020 term. 2020 hasn’t been kind to any of us and it has brought a lot of unique challenges. It’s an extraordinary time to be the SRC President, where we are in the midst of a pandemic & the former VC’s gross misconduct being exposed. I will promise you this, I will continue to work hard to ensure our students feel safe on campus until the last second of my term. This is my fourth year being in student politics as an international student and I have sat on a lot of important committees in the university during my term as your SRC President. I am glad that I am able to make important changes and support possible, just to list a few: ensuring the university listens to you in selecting the new VC, the introduction of the international state support package, the anti-racism campaign, assisting in building the 2030 blueprint for SA children and young people, free visa extensions and a refund of accommodation fees. With exams coming up, I understand this is a stressful time of the year, where you will be rushing your assignments with your mates in a small room in the Hub trying to finish that 12am assignment or studying for your exams right before it releases in myuni. Please, and I cannot say this enough, remember to take a break and take care of yourself! It’s important to keep Student Care in mind as well, where they offer free independent advice and assistance to navigate your way through the University policies and procedures that relate to replacement exams or alternative assessment requests (MACA), concerns

around academic misconduct, review and re-marks of assignments/exams. Make sure you contact them here: studentcare@adelaide. edu.au if you have any questions related to your exams. You can also try and talk things through with a friend which might be able to help you to find solutions. You can also go to counselling services located at the Ground Floor of the Horace Lamb building, which is a free, confidential service available to all students to seek help. Student elections are also delayed until week 11. Make sure you take some time to consider voting in the student elections. As I mentioned in the previous On Dit issue, they are very, very, very important! Thank you to the SRC members which have put their trust in me to lead the SRC. I’ve always dreamed to be able to make positive changes to people’s lives and I believe I have been able to do that as your SRC President. I thank those who have contacted/engaged with me throughout my term, thank you for your belief in me and giving me the ability to make the university a better place. None of us achieve in isolation and the successes we’ve enjoyed together have been the result of our mutual cooperation and collaboration. As always, it’s a great pleasure and a privilege to have served as your SRC President. Oscar Zi Shao Ong SRC President oscarzishao.ong@adelaide.edu.au Facebook/WeChat ID: oscarong1997

LEFT RIGHT & CENTRE LEFT James Wood Socialist Alternative

1. American society right now is at crisis point, with seven million COVID-19 cases, countless families unemployed and record numbers of people taking to the streets to support Black Lives Matter and oppose racist cops. More than ever, the public needs universal healthcare, paid sick leave and the defunding and demilitarisation of police. Shamefully, Trump and Biden both offer no serious solutions because they are completely on the side of Wall Street and the American empire, not the people. I predict that Biden will win, purely because of Trump’s total failure to contain the pandemic but this will be no victory for the 99%. 2. Adelaide University students have a long and inspiring history of leading political activism. This includes protesting the Vietnam War, apartheid and nuclear weapons. Since then, student unions have largely withdrawn from serious political contests and embraced bureaucratic endeavours. Nonetheless, students continue to fight for climate justice, against education cuts and in

solidarity with Black Lives Matter. Now more than ever we need a culture of radical student unionism that provides unwavering support to these struggles and makes the campus political once again. 3. The government’s ‘job-ready’ package is the latest step in its agenda to transform universities from sites of free thought and experimentation into mindless job factories. Universities have already faced decades of funding cuts, fee hikes and staff sackings. Now the government wants to raise fees for arts, communication and law students. This would further discourage working-class students from studying what actually interests them. That being said, no courses would be spared from overall funding cuts per student. In practice, this would mean bigger tutes, more online classes and less teaching resources. Students should fight these cuts every step of the way by joining the National Day of Action on the 14th October on campus.

1. With the US election coming ever closer, what do you believe the most important voting issues are? and who do you predict will win? 2. Students have historically been at the front of political activism and change. Do you believe that this has waned over time? And if so, what can be done to reinvigorate it? 3. How do you feel about the proposed cuts to University funding? Do you believe this will impact the quality of education offered?

CENTRE

Billy Zimmermann Adelaide University Labor Club

1. America is plagued with issues that only progressives can solve, from unimaginable wealth inequality to basic medical treatment bankrupting working people, America needs something to change and I hope people vote on those lines. If Donald Trump gets reelected, Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s descent into fascism will rapidly accelerate, I can only hope he will not win, but only time will tell. 2. From the Vietnam war, to John Howard, students and their union were the fighting force for student rights. Right now, insecure work is as bad as its ever been, the government is intent on reducing the quality of education and the ills that have plagued society still exist. It is shameful that student unions have seen a creep into the arms of university management, favoring a model of student representation that relies on service delivery as opposed to actually fighting or students. We need to ensure that true student activists control OUR student bodies.

3. The proposed cuts are shameful and will affect the outcomes of each and every student. These changes have been condemned relentlessly and are just another part of the governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s antistudent agenda. It is incredibly shameful that SRC president Oscar Ong voted against condemning these cuts which will see a 15% reduction in federal funding as well as massive fee increases for students.

RIGHT The Adelaide University Liberal Club chose not to submit an answer for this issue.

vox pop Mark Bachelor of Mathematical Sciences 1. None

1. Law and Justice Internship

2. 100%, OUTRAGED theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not

2. Yes

3. Beers and running

3. Hopefully a trip to New Zealand

4. Malta

4. I would love to go to Americaâ&#x20AC;Ś depending on the election results

5. Beers

Imogen Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Art

5. Coordination

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Best subject you’ve taken this semester? Would you like to see face-to-face classes return in the new year? What are your summer plans? Where in the world would you like to travel post-covid? What’s one skill you’d like to improve over the summer?

Bryan Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Commerce

Chelsea Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Media

1. Professional Practices

1. Nothing

2. Yes 100%

2. Yes, definitely

3. Hopefully get a job!

3. Relax, drink, maybe hopefully do some travelling

4. Go back to Singapore, then Taiwan

4. I really want to go to Tokyo

5. Getting my fitness up

5. My professional networking skills

CLUB SPOTLIGHT

Adelaide University Agricultural Student Association (AUASA)

Genevive Porter

1. Why did you join the club? I began my Agricultural Science studies in 2018. Entering the degree I knew the community between all three years was very strong, however I did not picture my experiences and involvement to be this great. In 2019 I was elected as the AUASA Second Year Representative and the AUASA President in 2020. The opportunities through being involved in the club puts you in a position above your peers. 2. What sorts of events does your club run? To kick off the year we have our ‘First Year Night’ at a local pub. This event is based around reconnecting with peers since the holiday break and a welcome to all new first years Throughout the year we have career-based events such as ‘Careers Night’, ‘Tech in Ag Day’ and our premier event ‘Growing the Future’. We take the opportunity to source past graduates who have gone on to do extraordinary things to come back to Uni and enlighten us on their experiences along the way to success. Connecting with those who are highly influential in the Ag industry is truly amazing! To celebrate this great community, there are events such as ‘Ag Pub Crawl’ and ‘Ag Ball’ as well as the all-important ‘Waite versus Roseworthy’ footy and netball

matches which is a great night for all to enjoy. 3. What has been your best experience from your membership? Looking from the outside, one may not be aware of the opportunities available through involvement. I myself can say I would not be in the position I am today without the support, opportunities and inspiration all gained from my peers, club sponsors, past graduates and events. Mind you, winning Best and Fairest for the Div 2 netball at Waite versus Roseworthy was alright! 4. What are your club’s plans for the future? We as a club are never short of ideas and ambitions to make events bigger and better then before whilst also creating new opportunities along the way. We look forward to ramping up the involvement of both peers and sponsors and to continue the community which has been carved and developed over many generations.

Adelaide University Greek Club Panayoti Psorakis 1. Why did you join the club? Apart from wanting to connect with my Greek background (half Greek), I wanted to get on board with a club before finishing university. See, the beginning of this year marked my final year at university. I realised at this time, that I have

3. What has been your best experience from your membership? Greek Coffee day! The opportunity of providing Greek Coffee to the community allowed us to connect with other cultures which share the same coffee culture (Originally this coffee culture was adopted from the Ottoman Empire). This was quite a beautiful notion as sadly our historical past reflects so much conflict between our countries of origin; yet, through coffee we are all friends holding hands singing like it is that Coca-Cola ad from the 80s (buy the world a coke). 4. What are your club’s plans for the future? More members and new ideas!

Arts Students Association (ASA) Billy Zimmermann 1. Why did you join the club? I joined the club at my first O’week because the ASA is the faculty club for arts students and I thought that it was a good thing, (the discounts at The Elephant were also a great incentive). 2. What sorts of events does your club run? In a world without Covid, we would be running pub crawls and balls but this year our events have been slightly limited. This year we have still hosted our annual StuPol Q&A, a quiz night, 2 American politics discussion forums and events for stress less week. Be sure to also look out for the bakesale we are hosting! 3. What has been your best experience from your membership? All the fun people I have met and all the stuff I have learnt along the way 4. What are your club’s plans for the future? Next year we are hoping to hit the ground running once Covid restrictions are lifted, bringing back pub crawls and working with a broad variety of other clubs to deliver great events.

CLUB SPOTLIGHT

never been an active member of a club throughout my undergraduate studies. Realising this I sought to change this… and I guess here I am! Also, Rona (Corona) helped. Previously if I was not studying, I was more than likely working my casual job as a waiter (Covid obliterated hospo). So, I guess these days I have more time on my hands. 2. What sorts of events does your club run? We provide a multitude of events from board game nights, quiz nights, long drinking sessions bringing out the emotions deep within our souls, keynote presentations (notably “What Does it Mean to be Greek?”), and most recently $2 Greek Coffee stands.

ECON DIT Econocradit: An Economics Book Review Words by Stasi Kapetanos The Econocracy – by Joe Earle, Cahal Moran and Zach Ward-Perkins is a book that details how economics has become a field which is highly respected and more utilised than ever but also more ideological and disconnected from democratic processes than ever, as well as how to remedy this, both in academia and society at large.

who’s training made them reject and indeed even be unaware of many peoples’ growing populist frustrations and whose language of professional economics failed to break through to the public, in particular the working class, who either misunderstand or outright reject many of the economic ‘truism’ of our times.

The purpose of the book is to accessibly explain how economics as only a field for experts is degrading both for the academic integrity of economics itself and its accessibility to the democratic public. Its authors encourage us to rethink economics by promoting a more open and pluralistic understanding of the field whilst encouraging critical reflection and more qualitative analysis in an area, which for better or worse is dominated by models, mathematics and quantitative research, without necessarily undermining the latter.

Section 2 details how much of modern economics education is not holistic liberal education in which ideas are critically grappled with, and explored for the sake of understanding but rather a mechanism for the reproduction of favoured existing mass produced textbook economic formulae and ideology, where certain kinds of learning take outsized precedence over others. An outcome of this is that students are not taught how to independently understand the economics of the world around them outside of specific parameters and are thus trained and not properly taught.

The book is broken down into 6 sections between the introduction and the appendix. The opening section, titled ‘Econocracy’ outlines how the disconnect between public intellectuals in the field of economics and the voting public leading to important decisions such as the vote for Brexit, the popularity of Bernie Sanders, and the election of Donald Trump in 2016. These phenomena were largely unforeseen by the professional class

The third section encourages those who study and teach economics to learn about and teach heterodox economic perspectives, that being any economic school of thought that fundamentally challenges the world of neoclassical economics (the predominant school of economic thought). ‘What happens when you put 10 economists in a room? You’ll get 11 opinions’ is a time old joke about the

complexity and veracious disagreement in the field of economics but sadly this is becoming less and less true as professionalised neoclassical models are increasingly semi-scientifically relied on to produce unquestionable truths that constrain dissent within the field. The point of the book here is not to scrap and abandon all the economic ideas of our day but rather to be more open to alternatives from the Left and Right (Marxism and the Austrian School), critical perspectives (feminist and environmental economics), bold new emerging ideas such as Modern Monetary Theory (championed by Stephanie Kelton and our universities’ very own Steven Hail) and even various revision on the old Keynesian and classical economics that we all know and love. Described in section 4, is how academic bodies, government departments and institutions at large have been increasingly disincentivising the above recommendations while stringently enforcing economic orthodoxies through funding and promotion or lack thereof, with the most elite and specialised institutions being the ones most affected. This is largely described not as some form of nefarious plot but rather as the natural result of policy makers and some employer’s desire to see economics as a hard science to help them find direct solutions to problems as opposed to what it truly is – a social science. Section 5 makes the case for holistic liberal education as opposed to rote learning and economics training as described above. It also identifies areas for improvement within modern higher education with a mixture of common sense and ambitious proposals. The final section is where the book’s raison d’êntre is put forward where the author’

describe a vision for the future in which a truly economically engaged citizenry can renew our democratic institutions and fulfill civic duty in ways that we are currently incapable of due to the disconnect between ordinary people and economic centres of information and expertise. In this world there is less of a distinction between the economists, the politicians and decision makers and the citizens for whom they make those decisions. Together the books sections explain the problems with our current approach to economics in its relationship with democratic society, governance and educational institutions, as well as how to remedy them through pluralistic and holistic liberal education. This is the context in which the authors describe their vision for an economically and democratically engaged future. The book is accessible and easy enough for an even an undergrad economics student and even an interested person from a different field, and avoids much overuse of jargon and overly complicated language, but does get into dryer academic concerns and terminology in some of the later sections. This being said it is still definitely a worthwhile read especially for anyone in economics or in any adjacent field from politics to commerce.

Stupol advice for campaigning at Roseworthy Words by Tobias Threadgold

My advice to any student politicians who might wish to campaign at Roseworthy next year. Since the successful election of Roseworthy student Mitchell Graham as SRC Rural Officer in 2017, each year campaigners have made the perilous hour long drive out to try to get a piece of the Roseworthy voting block. It is understandable that North Terrace is a busy hive of students coming and going so that a potential voter walking onto campus during election week might not be surprised by a candidate they have never seen before claiming to be the one who has their best interests at heart, but this is not how things work on our university’s satellite campuses.

For many of the campaigners who have come up to Roseworthy during election week over the past three years, this has been their first ever visit to the campus, finally motivated to leave the city by the possibility of some fresh new votes. The campus sighs a collective “what a tool”. It is obvious that increased attention on our satellite campuses is a good thing, a better understanding of how things work will arm SRC and AUU board members with the tools they need to represent all of the students of this university fairly, but to come to Roseworthy during election week without any real existing reputation in the community is a disrespectfully hollow gesture.

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NT NEWS RURAL STUDENT NEWS RURAL STUDENT NEWS RURAL STUDENT

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I further implore the newly elected SRC and AUU board for the coming year (whomever they may be) and anyone who might run in 2022, to begin building reputations right now. Come and visit! It is your responsibility as our representatives to know

what is happening out here, a responsibility that has been woefully neglected far too often in the past. Come out for an AUU event, research clubs and attend a meetup, or contact that friend of yours that studies up here to organise a visit. Keep an eye out for Roseworthy “O Night” next year where most club sign ups take place and come have a chat. We would love to see you here. If, however none of this sounds appealing to you or you feel like it might be too much effort, that’s ok! Just have some respect and don’t ask us for our votes during election week.

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Our satellite campuses need to be better understood on North Terrace, so I implore voters at Roseworthy to think carefully about their prospective candidates when they next descend upon us during the campaign period and think about who actually has Roseworthy’s best interests at heart. Have you ever seen this person before? What have they done for us? Do they know how to tip a sheep? All good questions.

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international international student student news news A home away from home Words by Elisha Gunasekera

Home is the place we spend our childhood wanting to leave. Home is also the place we spend our adulthood wanting to go back to. We spend countless hours of our day dreaming of the chance to explore the world and all that it has to offer. As international students, we dream of the opportunity to get to study abroad. We are full of excitement to pack up our closet and to go study in cities and countries that are completely foreign to us. We become so caught up in all the possibilities that the opportunity brings, that we forget that when we leave, we walk away from the life we have and we say goodbye to what is familiar, comfortable and loved. We venture into our new lives, brave and fearless. Starting a new life from scratch can be exciting, but it can also be daunting. We like our newfound independence and freedom and the chance to experience on new things on our own for the very first time. We also struggle with challenges like adapting to a new city, a new culture, finding a new set of friends, and so on. The challenges

can be daunting. Adapting to what is new is not easy and we require time to adjust to all the new changes. At times we may find ourselves questioning why we left home. We may wonder why we left and travelled half across the world to study in a city and country foreign to us. We find ourselves longing to go home. We miss the homecooked meals that our mums prepare. We miss bonding with our dads on shared interests. We miss having fun and annoying our siblings and we miss our friends with whom we have shared some of our most memorable moments growing up. If you do feel this way or you have felt this way at some point, then you are not alone. We have all been there. The chance to go home for the holidays is something that most of us look forward to. Home is always a great source of comfort, security, and happiness, especially, during challenging times. However, getting to go home is sadly not always an option. Can any place ever be as good as home?

It seems unlikely, because no place could ever be as good as home, right? This is true. There is no place like home, but you can have the next best thing. You can build your own home away from home. Some ways that you can do this are by exploring the new city you live in, decorating your space and building new meaningful relationships. Challenge the adventurer in you and go explore the new city you live. Learn about the history and culture and visit the sights. Allow yourself to become familiar with the new city and appreciate the unique aspects that make it your home away from home.

Learning skills like cooking is also another great way to bond with your housemates or even new friends. The chance to study abroad is a valuable opportunity. You leave what is dear to you, your family and home, to seize it. While it comes with a sacrifice, it also allows you to witness how brave and fearless you are, so make the most of it. And remember, your home is where you make it! It is wherever you are!

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Your surroundings have an impact on your mental and emotional wellbeing. Your space is not just a room or an apartment. It is where your day begins and ends, so decorate your space according to your liking and create a space that is just yours. Create a space that you will be looking forward to waking up to each day and to getting back to at the end of each day. Lastly, be bold and start conversations with people around you. Do not be afraid of starting a conversation because you do not feel confident or you are not a social butterfly. We all have our own unique characteristics that make us who we are, so be bold enough to be yourself.

Those who accept you for who you are will be the people that will truly add value to your life and by building meaningful relationships with these people with whom you can bond with and count on, you will find friends that are like family and these may be some of the people with whom you create some of the most cherished memories of your university life. Remember, while you are building your home, to also give yourself time. Learning to be independent takes time. Allow yourself to learn what it means to really build a home by learning day-to-day life skills like cooking, cleanliness, budgeting expenses and so on.

2020 election prediction and analysis I’ll be blunt. I think barring a massive upset, Joe Biden will win the upcoming United States Presidential Election. Despite the same being said about the Democrats in 2016, Biden has led in every nationwide poll since his campaign started and swing-state polls have consistently showed not only large leads, but him receiving over or close to 50% of the vote. This is a big difference from when Clinton’s nationwide and swing-state leads were in single-digits. This, as well as public opinion regarding Trump’s handling of COVID-19 and racial tensions, and crucial suburban areas zooming towards Democrats in the 2018 midterms, inform this prediction. I expect Biden to win 335 electoral votes to Trumps 203. Of the crucial ‘toss-up’ states, Biden wins Arizona, Florida, Maine’s 2nd District, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska’s 2nd District, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Trump wins Georgia, Iowa, Ohio, and Texas. Of these states, three are worth analysing for different reasons. Pennsylvania is likely to be the tipping point state, Florida, the first swing-state to provide results, and Texas, a glaring example of the leftward suburban shift.

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Words by Sebastian Andrew

Pennsylvania – the tipping point While Wisconsin was once considered of all the ‘blue wall’ states most likely to remain with Trump, polls from Pennsylvania show a race tightening to single digits. Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes are crucial to Biden’s victory and are most likely to get over the necessary 270 electoral votes. Despite this close margin, Biden still hovers just below 50%, meaning he requires a much smaller share of the undecided vote compared to Trump. While Trump is expected to maintain strong rural support in central Pennsylvania, Biden is expected to stunt bleeding in western and northEastern Pennsylvania, while improving on Clinton’s margins in Philadelphia suburbs.

Florida – the harbinger Since Florida begins counting absentee ballots a month before Election day and is one of the first states to report results, the votes from Florida will likely indicate where the race is headed. If Biden lags with Latino voters, this could indicate closer results in Texas or Arizona (even though Latino voters behave differently across these states). Conversely, high African American turnout and strong numbers with white voters aged 65+ would indicate that Trump is having trouble across the rest of

the country. Although Trump has made inroads with conservative Cuban voters in Southern Miami, a combination of undecided Latino voters likely ‘coming home’, Biden’s moderate image, his improvements over prior Democratic nominees with senior whites (an important demographic in Florida) and shifts to Democrats in suburban Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville, make me confident that Biden will still win this state.

Texas – the warning sign Nowhere else was the leftward shift of the suburban vote more noticeable, sudden, and consequential than Texas. Just four years ago, Texas and the suburbs surrounding its major cities were virtually unshakable for the Republicans. Flashforward to 2020 where not only is the presidential race in Texas a dead heat, but a slew of previously unwinnable, staunch Republican suburban districts are now ripe for the picking. Republican dominance of Texas has relied on support from both rural areas and wealthy, primarily white suburbs. However, as is the case across the rest of the country, a combination of factors including population growth, favorable shifts to Democrats in racial and education demographics, and the alienation of moderate voters have caused these once

solidly Republican suburbs to break for Democrats at a breakneck pace. This should worry Republicans, but they sure aren’t acting like it. While Democrats run candidates and campaigns that embrace growing racial diversity and appeal to disaffected moderate voters, Republicans continue to double-down on populist and conservative rhetoric to appeal to the same ‘base’ of supporters they relied on in 2016. Texas will prove to Republicans better than no other state’s electoral count that alienating educated, affluent, or minority voters at the expense of rural or non-college educated whites is not an election-winning strategy. To put it bluntly, if Republican support continues to fall in the suburbs, they lose Texas. If they lose Texas, electoral college math becomes practically impossible. Although I must give a narrow edge to Trump, I really do believe that Texas is, in practice, a pure coin-toss. To summarise, consistent leads in crucial swing-states, favourable demographic shifts and public backlash against the Trump administration, lead me to expect a comfortable Biden victory – regardless of whether it is called on election night, or much later when all the votes are counted.

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THE GROWING ISSUE OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS Words by Lakeisha Watkins With the recent ICAC finding of Adelaide University’s former vice-chancellor, sexual harassment has become a growing issue on campus. Sexual harassment and assault have also been a continuous issue at universities Australia wide. Statistics released by the university to an independent reporter in 2018 showed that Adelaide University had twelve reports of sexual harassment and assault. Four were complaints of sexual assault, with the other eight being for sexual harassment. This same year three staff members were fired due to inappropriate behaviour. Two of these incidences were taken to police and reported as sexual assault. On a national scale, harassment and assault are massive issues in university settings. Change The Course: National Report on Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment at Australian Universities (2017) found that 1 in 5 students were sexually harassed in a university setting in 2016. The same report also found that university grounds, teaching spaces, and social spaces were the most common locations where incidences of sexual harassment occurred. Furthermore, the report – which interviewed over 30,000 students – found that 94% of sexually harassed individuals, and 87% of sexually assaulted individuals, did not make a formal complaint or report to their university. Though this raises concerns about the accuracy of statistics released, it also highlights other issues. First of all, it highlights that victims are in a place where they feel too uncomfortable to make a report, whether that be from fear, embarrassment, or other reasons.

Or they are potentially unaware of the reporting options available to them. Another serious issue is that perpetrators are not facing consequences for their actions if they are not reported. This leaves them with opportunities to repeat, causing further trauma to their victims. The recent ICAC finding of former vicechancellor Peter Rathjen shows that sexual harassment is inflicting multiple areas of the university. Both students and staff are being affected. Though Adelaide University has policies in place to manage occurrences of assault and harassment, it is clear that these are not fully handling the situation. The university’s policy principles say, “the university works to promote and encourage a culture of safety and respect.” But with employees being perpetrators of misconduct, it negatively affects students’ trust. Many feel that the university does not value their safety. Therefore, policies need to be reevaluated and new initiatives need to be introduced to help students and staff feel safe. Victims need better support to ensure they feel comfortable enough to report, this includes ensuring everyone is made aware of the options and processes involved with reporting incidents of sexual harassment/ assault. We need to feel like we are being heard by the university, that our concerns are being listened to. Everyone deserves to feel safe on campus. The recent email encouraging students to give feedback on the ranking of the selection criteria for the new vicechancellor is a small step in the right direction. But the university still has a lot more to do.

PUBLIC HEALTH PROFESSIONALS: THE UNSUNG HEROES OF THE HEALTH SYSTEM Words by Angelica Carvajal While the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted how invaluable clinical health professionals are, it has also called attention to the less visible workforce of the health system: the public health sector. The public health sector is responsible for some of the largest positive changes in society. Whilst medical doctors play an invaluable role in curing disease, the public health sector facilitates the prevention of disease. A recent example is the (anti) smoking Australian legislation, which has massively reduced the incidence of smoking. In fact, daily Australian smokers - aged 14 and older - decreased from 24% in 1991 to only 11% in 2019, according to figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) This is significant for health, due to the strong correlation between smoking and many devastating chronic diseases, which include cancer, heart and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases; all conditions which hold a significant burden on the Australian public. During the Covid-19 crisis this year, it was the public health sector conducting contact tracing, disseminating spread-prevention information and liaising with the federal and state governments to implement restrictions that would best serve the people of Australia. Indeed, it was the combined work of public health workers, which include physicians,

epidemiologists and government employees, which halted the spread of Covid-19 in South Australia. It is only in light of this success that public health has been finally met with the acknowledgement and respect it has always deserved. There seems to be a recent public perception that public health employees are little more than grey bureaucrats wishing to limit through their governance our personal freedoms under the guise of doing it for â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;the common goodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; without making much of a difference. Whilst it is true that public health and governance are intricately related, they are also interdependent: after all, a nation is only as healthy as its people. Public health is responsible for keeping our water and food supplies safe, ensuring appropriate and timely funding for our public hospitals, delivering our immunisation programs and conducting targeted public health campaigns to reduce disease incidence, along with other health initiatives and policies we take for granted. The importance of the public health sector needs not to be underestimated requiring as much for funding and as for people to respect its role in society. Or we run the risk to become another ally of those who think industrially contaminated tap water supplies forcing communities to rely on bottled water for months is acceptable.

the passion of nick drake

words by ivan bucalo

Listening to Nick Drake’s music, to paraphrase Carl Jung’s words about another great artist, is like watching someone dive gracefully to the bottom of the ocean. Over the course of three albums, his guitarwork matured into a sparseness that belied a trained musical ear. His lyricism moved away from the pastiche of the nature poets he admired, like Keats and Wordsworth. Drake’s best lyrics on 1972’s Pink Moon (his final album before an overdose of anti-depressants at twenty-six) is the most unglamorous and accurate representation of how depression is experienced. Depression is not a positive affectation; it is, in fact, the absence of something crucial to a complete experience of life. Few could understand this better than Nick Drake. You can get a biography elsewhere, so I won’t dwell on the small details. Just imagine

a young, English private school boy with a spellbinding tone on the six-string. In another life, he would have taken the bus to Manchester to join the 70s New Wave explosion. But he continued to slave away on the acoustic while studying English at Cambridge, convinced there was yet something to be wrested from it, something that only made sense on an instrument that was unwieldy, unrefined, and recalled a time when music was thought to be a gift from the gods. Heidegger believed that art is something which is done with the rudiments of nature; humans take bare wood and make from it a pan-flute; from flowers they make dyes, from horse’s-hair, a paint brush. In this way, art is a reflection not of the abilities of mankind, but the possibilities of nature itself. The idea

that art should be a reflection of the artist first is a mistake, in Heidegger’s system. Art is, principally, a reflection of things that we can gleam, but never look directly toward, like the sun itself. It is about how we, as humans, fit into the bigger picture. Nick Drake was always trying to get closer to that unknowable sublime, and he did this by getting closer to the corporeal parts of nature. His songs are about enchanted rivers, lovers spied across a moor, celestial wonders, and things that generally wouldn’t seem out of place in a fairy tale. The first verse of “Northern Sky” is characteristic of Drake’s interests, which are things that have been here since the beginning of time and will be here till the end of it. …I never felt magic crazy as this / I never saw moons, knew the meaning of the sea / I never held the ocean in the palm of my hand / I felt sweet breezes in the top of a tree / But now you’re here – brighten my Northern Sky… These are the only things, in Drake’s craft, that are worth relating to because they are, in every sense, greater than us. And what’s to be learned from comparing yourself to something you already understand? What sort of self-effacing ambition is that? Someone recently complained to me that they don’t like Drake’s lyrics because they seem too easy, like something you find written in a birthday card. Unlike me, they didn’t know how Drake’s story ended. Something happened to him that made him withdraw from his loved ones and spend hours on end fiddling with his guitar. Despite lacklustre record sales during his life, he developed a small cult following and eventually underwent, much too late, a popular and critical reappraisal. Currently, all three of his albums appear on Rolling Stone’s list of the best 500 albums ever. All were released over the course of four

years, and Drake did not live long enough to listen to many of the artists he would share the Pantheon with, which is fitting given his music comes from a place outside of contemporaneous concerns. I’m not saying that Nick Drake’s art should be interpreted in light of his torment. But it is also impossible for me to forget about it and listen to “Place to Be” from a disinterested vantage, when he sings: …When I was young, younger than before / I never saw the truth hanging from the door / And now I’m older, see it face to face / And now I’m older, gotta get up, clean the place… When you hear words like this, you’re listening to an artist who will not take anything less than the cold, unadulterated truth for the terms of their reality. This is the challenge they set themselves, and how they negotiate it is the process through which they create something beautiful. For Drake, that process began and ended with a guitar in his lap. Writing music is not a great way of negotiating your feelings, as it necessarily requires you to make them into something more potent and more resilient to reason than they may initially be. This, I think, is not only the effect his music had on his own constitution, but also on his charmingly innocent song-writing. This doesn’t mean Nick Drake should be listened to as a tormented artist, that worst of all clichés. Nick Drake’s music has been around for as long as time itself, and I suspect it will continue to be so, for the sole reason that when we listen to it, we remember, to quote a poet he admired greatly, that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in all our philosophies. Whatever cold comfort this idea may be, few artists have represented it as truthfully as Nick Drake did.

heritage Words by Charlie Gilchrist

One of my earliest memories at Adelaide University is a lecturer giving us directions to the Napier building by referring to it as “that really ugly building”. From my experience, the Napier building is one of the most despised buildings on campus. It will come as no surprise then how shocked I was to find out that the location of the Napier and Ligertwood buildings was once home to one of the grandest and most elegant buildings in all of Adelaide, the Jubilee Exhibition Building. This stunning building was built to mark the 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s ascension to the throne and stood prominently on North Terrace until its unwarranted demolition in 1962. The building stood in harmony with the other grand buildings of the North Terrace “cultural boulevard”. Today, there are only a few remnants of the building left – a staircase at the rear end of Lower Napier and two fountains, one situated outside Adelaide Arcade and the other in Creswell Gardens. There were a number of reasons for demolishing the Exhibition Building. For example, the need for

a building to house the arts faculty, including, somewhat ironically, the history department. Additionally, there was a disdain in the 1960s for Victorian buildings and a zeitgeist of modernisation. Yet despite these reasons, many people, myself included, think it was foolish to demolish such a beautiful building. But you would be forgiven for thinking that the university has learnt from the mistakes of the past. You would assume that with the abundance of beautiful heritage assets, the university would be keen to protect them. However, it has shown again and again that it does not care. Take, for example, the case of the Union Hall. This building was a rare example of a mid-20th century modernist theatre and for many decades was a hub of student activity. The building was considered so significant that it was provisionally listed on the State Heritage register but was subsequently pulled and ultimately demolished in 2009 to make way for the Braggs building. Another example is the demolition of the 1936 Kintore Avenue cottage in 2016. The Georgian cottage was designed by architect Woods Bagot, who also designed Bonython Hall and

the Barr Smith library. This property, which was originally used to house the university’s security chief, was listed on the university’s 2015 walking guide of notable buildings. Now all that there is where this gem once stood is a patch of grass. An even more recent example is when the university decided to rip up much of its heritage fencing earlier this year. The fencing in question dates back to 1884 and has been located at the Northern, Eastern and Western boundaries of the North Terrace campus since the 1920s. The fencing was recognized on the State Heritage register and the Register of the National Estate and was notable for its contribution to the formal streetscape of Victoria Drive. Oddly, the university thinks this unwarranted destruction will make our campus the “Beating Heart of Adelaide”! These heritage assets were part of the soul of our university. Unfortunately, the mistakes of the past cannot be undone, but it is paramount that we protect the remaining heritage items, lest we prevent the regret felt by the loss of the Jubilee Exhibition Building.

NOT ALL MEN: A LYRICAL ESSAY CONCERNING SEXISM Words by Chanel Tresize

Not All Men? Probably. As a child, I had the luxury of being isolated from reality and the weight of injustice for a while. I would often sit outside under the trees and build structures out of sticks and scrap metal I found. In spring, the sweet smell of the acacia wattles would sweep down to where I stood, wrapping around me gently. Sometimes I laid on the grass nearby, counting the clouds and squinting my eyes as the wind whistled between my ears. All was well. But, when I began to understand that the world outside my backyard wasn’t as sweet, the injustice was deafening. It manifested into wails from peers of boys pulling their piggy tails, as weeping women at netball practise mumbling about estranged, angry husbands and as authoritative, hushing tones muttering about my body. I was forced to understand that being a girl would push me into a different box of treatment, rules, and social mannerisms. The disgusting reality of sexual harassment, domestic abuse, and gender bias affects all women, whether we

decide to acknowledge it or not. Sexual harassment is not an oddball, once-in-awhile occurrence: it is a consistent, fiery, and shitty reality for a large portion of us. Domestic abuse, while often behind closed doors, is a common reality for many young girls. For so many, sexism feels inescapable. It’s a weight that can’t be deafened by the innocent smell of sweet acacia wattles and whistling wind, because it’s too blaring and deafening. As a 14-year-old, this injustice beckoned to me. It navigated itself through the streets of my neighbourhood and twisted under my door. I heard of the wrongdoings plaguing the world regarding women, it wounded me. Though it felt distant, I had sympathy, but there was an empathetic dissonance. While I understood closely that as a girl, there were different expectations of me, I still didn’t comprehend that men could touch me in a malicious light. Maybe it’s hard to understand the extent of hurt and trauma one can feel at the hands of abuse, if you haven’t endured it. But soon I began to understand the severity of abuse. I saw it from afar, but it drew nearer. Something woke me, injustice was sitting, staring…

At 14, I sent a boy an explicit picture of my body. He threatened to send it to a friend because later I didn’t feel the same way toward him. On the cusp of vulnerability (and child pornography), it wasn’t until five years later he said sorry. His continuous slurs traumatised me, chipping away at the self-esteem I was desperate to build. Our friends looked at him the same. 1 in 5 (1.7 million) women have been sexually assaulted and/or threatened since age 15. Before age 15, 1 in 6 women have experienced physical and sexual assault. At 16, working at a café, I shook in panic from anxiety, nonsensical nervousness flowing through my body. Breathing was a pain, so my boss thought massaging my thighs would soothe me. He pressed his crotch against my back to show me how to wash dishes – frozen, desperate, panicked and anxious, I could not utter my discomfort. His position pathed way for ease of abuse. Facilitated by my teenage naivety, panic, fear, a monster wounded me, and yet he’ll never pay.

signs, words, cycles and the off-hand snowflakes that have the ability to snowball. Yet snowballs start small. If I had stayed, would his hand had graduated from wood to my skin? His words could have tightened faster around me, power dripping from his mouth like spit. But power ignites greed. I couldn’t disagree, go against his word, don’t I trust him? Now wattles smell bitter, clouds morph to evil faces and my inner child violently shakes. Men sit in high places, watching us manoeuvre around their emotional trenches, wondering when we’ll fall in. If 1 woman a week is killed by a current or former partner (in the 2 years from 2012–13 to 2013–14), would there be a reality where control wasn’t enough? Murder is uncommon already in our reality of continuous hardship. 52 women, dead in a year at the hands of an abuser whose snowballing was ignored.

Not All Men. It wasn’t all men either when at 19 my boyfriend lifted his hand. His shaking knuckles slamming into the wood beside me. His screams never soothed me like the intense, romantic relationships said they would on TV. Those long, pointy fingers still linger over my lifeless body, clenching at my sides, begging to resuscitate my braindead willingness to nod at every toxic command. It’s easy to ignore abuse when you haven’t endured trauma... it’s so easy to ignore abuse. It’s easy to ignore patterns,

Almost 1 in 4 (23%) have experienced emotional abuse from a current or previous partner since the age of 15 (ABS 2017). Maybe Not All Men further illustrates the cycle of behaviour that assists the abuse it’s distracting from in the first place. Not All Men reminds us that, even on a micro level, abuse is facilitated by those who have yet to see the bigger picture. It’s not all men. It’s some. That’s the point.

YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW: AUSTRALIA’S MOST SECRETIVE STUDENT UNION? Words by Felix Eldridge

“Secret”, “unaccountable”, “shady”. Not the words anyone wants associated with their student union. However, these words have all been used to describe the Board of the Adelaide University Union (AUU). Specifically, these criticisms have been levelled against it because of the way that it runs In Camera meetings. The In Camera power of the AUU Board is a mechanism which allows the President or Executive to prevent an agenda, minute, recommendation, motion or other document from being publicly disclosed. Normally, the AUU Board will release a public agenda and minutes, along with a record of all decisions, and allow students to attend Board meetings inperson. This means that the public can hold their elected student representatives accountable for their actions. Students can see how their reps vote and what motions they propose. However, the In Camera power allows the Board to eject all visitors from the meeting room and hide any documents or decisions which arise as a matter of discussion. Now, used correctly, the In Camera provision is perfectly legitimate. Its function is to prevent sensitive commercial information from being publicly released, potentially compromising the AUU’s ability to run its operations competitively. After all, the AUU runs a variety of commercial operations and bids on contracts like any

other business. The AUU absolutely should keep sensitive financial information away from potential competition. But this is not the only thing that it can be used for, and that, precisely, is the issue. The power to classify something ‘In Camera’ rests with the AUU President. This unfortunately means that it is open to abuse by the President. For instance, if they wanted to exercise a vote without scrutiny, they could declare an item without any commercial sensitivity to be discussed In Camera, thus avoiding a public backlash from an unpopular decision. Likewise, if they wanted to block another Board Director from receiving ‘credit’ for proposing a popular motion, they could also move it In Camera. And, perhaps, if a Board Director deigned to move a motion to reform the In Camera procedure itself, it, too, could be moved In Camera, never to be seen again. Now, you might be thinking, (quite rightly I might add) “Where is the proof that motions of no commercial sensitivity are being moved In Camera?” Well, while no concrete evidence is obtainable, since the minutes of In Camera meetings and items are expressly forbidden from being disclosed, In Camera decisions can be recognised in two ways. Both can be used to identify numerous secret decisions made by the Board in this year alone.

The first is the ‘pre-motion statement’. This involves a Director publicly declaring that they intend to move a motion of some description at the next Board meeting. As the motion has only just been submitted, it has not yet been declared In Camera, and thus remains an Ex Camera item until the President reclassifies it. If the motion does not show up on the agenda papers of the next meeting, and the Director has not withdrawn it, then the item has been moved In Camera. For instance, Directors Wauchope and Shaw submitted three motions for the Board meeting on June 8th, but despite not withdrawing them, none were featured on the agenda. These motions, two of which concerned the In Camera rule itself, and one which was merely about club stall fees at O’Week, were presumably moved In Camera. The second is ‘time dating’. This involves calculating when a recent decision could have been made by examining the minutes of the previous meeting. If a decision is officially made and no record of the decision was shown in a previous Board meeting, then it is reasonable to assume that it was a decision made In Camera. To be fair to the AUU, this is not always the case, as the Board can move motions by circular resolution, but this is not as common. For instance, decisions regarding the rejection of the Women’s Collective and Pro-Choice club were both made In Camera, and so were discussions surrounding the possibility of online elections. The last motion was even confirmed to have been discussed In Camera by Board Directors during an Ex Camera board meeting. Now, while not ideal for the purposes of transparency, uncontroversial motions In Camera could be retained so long as there were appropriate reasons, publicly

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announced, as to why they were made secret. For instance, perhaps club stall fees concerned commercial details and thus would damage the AUU’s business interests; an unlikely but plausible suggestion. But this was not conveyed to anyone because the loophole of this provision is so broad that not only are decisions made in secret, but the justifications for exercising the provision also remain secret. You might be wondering, “Well, why don’t Board Directors just leak this information to the public?” Well, that’s actually a breach of their duties under the Corporations Act. All Board Directors are bound by their agreements not to leak, and thus cannot speak out about the internal workings of an In Camera meeting. It’s a neat, selfpolicing system that blocks people who are not ‘in the know’ from seeing what’s going on, while simultaneously silencing those who are. Perhaps, then, the Directors should appeal to a higher body such as the AUU staff, the University, or the student body at large? Well, they can’t do that either, as no such appeal mechanism exists. No majority on the Board means no chance of overturning the ruling, and as the President is elected by a majority of the Board at the start of their term, it is unlikely that their allies would support such an appeal. But the most sinister potential abuse of this mechanism is even more chilling. Consider the fact that any AUU rule could theoretically be amended In Camera with no public discussion or debate, and then suddenly appear on the AUU website as a binding rule. This might be something that could disadvantage a club, student organisation, or the student cohort itself, without warning or time to adjust.

There also appears to be nothing that would prevent all AUU business from being held In Camera for the entire year. Despite being given three months to do so, the AUU President has been unable to confirm if the power could be used in these ways or not. So, who is to blame for this? While it may be easy to blame the current AUU President or the current Board for this problem, I do not. I think the problem runs deeper. It’s because some student representatives don’t take the right values into the role when they stand for office. Representatives who believe in transparency and accountability will bring those values to the organisations they represent. That’s why rather than spitefully name-shaming the current establishment, as so many others undoubtedly will do, I just encourage the next generation of Board Directors to make this right on behalf of all students. Let us not dwell on the past, but look to the future instead. So, what can be done? Well, lots of modifications to the rule could be considered. For instance, the ability to exercise the power could be handed to the Executive Officer, who is a staff member of the AUU, not a political actor with a potential political agenda. Perhaps the AUU could continue in its current form but be prepared to release all minutes after a fixed period, such as the 5-year period for the SRC’s In Camera documentation. Such documents would have no commercial relevance at that point. Perhaps the rule could have a public interest test, or a narrower scope of reference, or perhaps would require all Board Directors to agree to exercise it. There are many ways in which this rule could be amended, and I urge the Board to consider them, and dare I say it, to consider them Ex Camera.

The AUU is a fantastic organisation that looks after so many students. The AUU runs a free breakfast program for all students, supports clubs by giving them grants, helps students find employment, run social events on campus, and much more. The AUU should be seen as a bright, vibrant organisation that helps students get through university and put their best feet forward into life. And it’s not as though the AUU Board itself is not capable of great things. In just this year alone, it’s worked with the university to create and fund the Student Support Package, and it’s worked with clubs to make grants more flexible during the COVID-19 pandemic. There is no question that they have the ability, and support from the hardworking AUU staff, to achieve great things. The question is whether they lack the political will to do so, because until this issue is resolved, this cloud will hang over the AUU, a blot on an otherwise outstanding organisation. For the good of the union, the In Camera rule should be amended to promote genuine accountability from the AUU Board on behalf of all its members. After all, if Directors have nothing to hide, then they have nothing to fear. Or do they? Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of On Dit. Felix ran as a ‘Unite’ candidate in the 2019 student elections.

Our bodies are not yours to politic Words by Melissa Gillian Marsden

The South Australian House of Assembly has successfully passed legislation that ensures Safe Access Zones will be enforced 150m around state abortion clinics. Legislation introduced by Labor MP Nat Cook and supported by Greens MP Tammy Franks on 23rd September has been declared “a great outcome for all women in the state”. South Australia’s abortion laws have long been a source of contention amongst state MPs from both sides of politics. The passage of the bill marks a significant shift in how women’s bodies are perceived. Former nurse and now state member for Hurtle Vale, Nat Cook has hailed the passage of the legislation. South Australia is one of only two states in Australia that has not yet passed laws in favour of Safe Access Zones.

The legislation, which will ensure that women’s health and mental wellbeing are put before the interests of political or ideological agendas is supported by various organisations including the Human Rights Legal Centre and the Law Society (SA). The politicisation of women’s bodies demonstrates the influence archaic conservativism still has on the legislative process. It is hoped that the passage of the legislation will pave the way for further advancements in South Australia’s legal and political approach to supporting women in need of a medical termination. The legislation will now move to the Legislative Council and, with the cross-party support is likely to pass when parliament resumes in midOctober.

2020 calls for revolution Words by Habibah Jaghoori

“I had a happy life in the US and had all kinds of facilities, but I gave up all the pleasures and triple divorced the world. I didn’t want to live with capitalists and oppressors in this world, breathe next to them, and sell my knowledge to them for money and well-being.” – Martyr Mostafa Chamran

A poem A holy call comes striking, pleading for an internal revolution To uproot all that the establishment has planted and watered inside the human heart To strip bare the veils it has cast on what happens day in and day out outside the bubble of my own life To wash out all the corrupted stains of stubborn ignorance To break free from the choking and constricting tunnel vision An inevitable revolution sits, now impatient, behind the door. Waiting for us to let it in.

A rant It’s painful and it’s amusing for me to see how someone can disguise themselves as a revolutionary and yet don’t possess the ability to separate themselves from the ties and bonds both to their own egos and to the status quo that naturally exists as a result of the system they have created for themselves. If a system is not constantly evolving, if a system cannot accommodate new discoveries, if a system does not hold itself accountable before it its enemies then such a ‘revolutionary’ can continue to ride with the current instead of against it. If a revolutionary is not desperate to constantly learn, understand, be challenged and unlearn, then they can continue to ride with the current instead of against it. If a revolutionary is not ready to move, shift and sacrifice before settling firmly on a viewpoint – because they mustn’t take the risk of missing the truth – then they can continue to ride the current instead of against it. If a revolutionary finds satisfaction on surface-level pursuits, then they can continue to ride the current instead of against it. The current is shallow and so are its riders.

My heart bleeds for histories true revolutionaries such as Martyr Mostafa Chamran: a scientist, physicist and Nobel Prize runner-up who left the U.S to go Lebanon in one of the country’s most bitter times, joining the camps of the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the Amal movement and later going to his homeland Iran and fighting in the Iran-Iraq war. Such as Che Guevara who told Fidel Castro that ‘once we establish the revolution here, we take the revolution to other parts of the world as well.’ It is the gross and dirty lies of capitalism disguised as ‘revolutionary’ that shows Che as a man of extreme toughness and anger rather than the moral, insightful, strong and compassionate man he was in all his interactions with people. These are examples of proper revolutionaries. Men who were desperate men who moved and sacrificed and men who held themselves accountable.

Words by Reuben Fernee

The soft spike presses into his cheek. His face smiles. That toy, the stegosaurus, is supposedly his favourite toy. Surveillance takes place from the kitchen every day. Between each slice, I listen for the sounds of corruption. Vigilance is one virtue I must have. As the bubbles rise and the kettle boils, the subject tries to open the back door. In I swoop, glaring down at it.

‘You are not allowed to do that. Inside is safest. Where I can see you’ Sulking and sad, the thing returned to its array of trinkets, toys, and trouble making tools. As is the case, the water from the kettle was now boiling over. I would call it bad timing if I were gracious. But then, I know it was anything but. The cogs of malicious intent turn in the head of the creature. Concocting crazy child cataclysms for his king. The little person who stands on top of the castle. His knight below on the drawbridge. The human makes the one above barks orders at the one below. The knight the goes off, slays the dragon, steals its treasure and returns. He gives it all to the king.

it hugs me. My head, glued down, sees him. He looks up at me. He squeezes tight. Then, he releases his smile. ‘Goodbye’ he whispers to me. He lets go of his grip and retreats. With a huff and a giggle, they are gone. I distract my mind. ‘‘I must clear away the refuse’’ I chuck each toy into the basket. The dragon with its sharp wings pricks my finger. I rage and smash it on the wall. Its wings fall off. I cannot bring myself to repair it. I hate it.

‘Makes sure the king thanks the knight’ I call out to him. He nods and I hear in a voice that changes in pitch like a ball bounces up and down.

I get to the final toy with its green body and reflective spine and soft plush feet. I sit down. Looking at it. ‘What’s so great about you?’

‘Thank you, sir knight, for all your hard work. You can now rest and watch some TV.’

I take the thing, I raise it up. I bring it down with my wrath.

Historical inaccuracy aside, keeping the thing believing in docile behaviours will do well to counteract the effects. The knocking from the front door, it cannot be Wednesday, but it is. Walking to it, I turn the knob. As I do I snob the entrant. Keeping my head firmly turned to the right, I always make sure to look away. I walk back to my post. Footsteps follow behind. They move to the side and I turn away. They walk in front. My head drops to look at the ground.

The other appears, I embody it. I see myself bring down my anger upon his soft toys. I try to stop my fury, but I let go of the dinosaur.

‘You ready to go champ?’ comes the voice of the king.

The thoughts bring me to dream-land and I lay down. Resting on its stomach. Its stubby feet pat my head to sleep.

The things irregular steps shuffle around to me. I hear it. The slapping of skin on the tiled kitchen moves closer to me. There

It bounces. I well up, I hug the extinct monster. I feel its comforting plush, as its soft spike presses into me. It is a relaxing sensation, soothing. The spike is not harmful, it’s protective. The plush is not weak, it’s thoughtful.

Words by Mitchell Suursaar

An orchard of my own 46

My father always told me that, “one’s formative years bear little fruit nourishing enough to support you thereafter.” He argued that planting seeds in someone else’s yard, while a cathartic experience at the time, would serve you no purpose after relocating to another neighbourhood. I would always retort that I would plant a new seed, rather than remove the old one, because I had him. On my seventeenth birthday, he presented me with an old, weathered silver ring, engraved with a sprouting bud. “Now your argument is valid,” he said. He died shortly before my graduation. What followed was visit after visit to Principal Darcy’s office. “Ibrahim is understandably misbehaving due to recent events,” they’d say. Understandably? They couldn’t have understood. The only one to treat me like a human being after the fact, was Tommy. Whenever I was accosted by a teacher and sent to the principal’s office, Tommy was there. It’s not as though he misbehaved himself, quite the opposite; Tommy was beloved by both faculty and student body alike. He would spend a large portion of his time away from other students, cosying up to faculty, and eating the snacks off the reception table. Our conversations were very one-sided, and although Tommy rarely had much to say, simply having a sympathetic ear for my words to fall on was enough for me. Perhaps it’s why we became so close. Perhaps it’s why he was my best friend. He didn’t try to fix my problems. We’d just play with the toys that Mr Potts had placed in the basket to keep the primary schoolers entertained, until one of us was called away. Tommy’s uniform was always the same. Contrasted white socks against his long, flowing locks of the darkest charcoal running down the sides of his face, complimented by his sleek black coat, a gift from his mother.

I received a letter from the school. The class reunion was fast approaching. At first, I dismissed the idea of revisiting that place: the memories of my senior year were enough of a burden to carry. But then I remembered the last time I smiled, and who the reason for that smile was. It was time to move forward. It was a casual affair, a few speeches of grandeur by Principal Darcy, a fold out table filled with canapés, and a lot of familiar faces. Throughout the speeches, and seemingly endless mingling, I scanned the crowd, hoping to find that one familiar face. He was nowhere to be seen. As my blissful façade began to fade, I took a seat in solidarity in the corner of the room. My singular goal for the night was beginning to look out of reach. After feeling a sharp pain in my right hand, I realised how tense I was. Unravelling my fist, an open palm revealed a familiar imprint, a sprouting bud. Tears began to well in my eyes, Dad was right, I had no fruit here. I decided to get some fresh air to clear my head. Perched on a bench just outside the door, gazing over at me, was Tommy. Wiping the tears from my eyes, I gave a timid wave, approached the bench, and sat down beside him. “I was worried I would never see you again,” I said, staring into Tommy’s amber eyes. It had only been a few years, but Tommy had not aged well. His meticulously groomed hair was frayed, tangled and greying. His black coat, which he had taken great care of for many years, now seemed faded, and rough. I was just as pleased to see my friend as I was back then, and while Tommy shuffled along the bench and placed his head on my lap, I understood how he felt. Placing my ring hand on Tommy’s head I uttered, “Now my argument is valid.” A few footfalls drew my attention to Principal Darcy strolling towards us. “You always loved that cat, didn’t you,” she said with a smile.

THE PULITZER PRIZE Words by Chelsea Fernandez

A slave to the emptiness of quarantine, I set myself a meaningless and slightly pretentious goal. I have always loved fiction that made me cry—perhaps this speaks more to my own issues—and knew the winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction were said to do just that. And so, I embarked on a journey to read the winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction from 2020 backwards:

THE NICKEL BOYS BY COLSON WHITEHEAD (2020 WINNER) Set in a 1960s reform school, Whitehead’s novel focuses on a young black man’s experience at the Nickel Academy. Here, he experiences trauma disguised as ‘rehabilitation’, residing in disgusting conditions where he is violently beaten when he tries to do what is right. Experiencing pure devastation reading this only swells upon the realisation that this narrative is founded upon a true story. The Nickel Boys is one of the best novels I have ever read, complete with well-developed, imbalanced characters and a plot twist that cruelly exploited my rational psyche. We should be making a conscious effort to consume more black literature—and continually, not just in a tokenistic way—and this is a fantastic place to start.

THE OVERSTORY BY RICHARD POWERS (2019 WINNER) The Overstory is centred around lives that are affected by trees, beautifully connecting the intricacies of human nature with nature itself. The novel is structured into multiple parts—each the name of a different part of the tree—with the first, the ‘Roots’, reading like a series of short stories. Each is more vivid than the last: a young immigrant cursed by her father’s suicide, an artist whose family has been photographing the same tree for decades, a participant in the Stanford prison experiment whose fiction is blurred with his reality. However, ‘Roots’ is almost pertinent to foreplay in that it is better than the action, with the rest of the novel harder to read. That being said, if you are more intellectually capable than myself and eager to read about, well, just trees, then you will not be let down by the book in its entirety.

LESS BY ANDREW SEAN GREER (2018 WINNER) Less explores an infamous author who suppresses his broken heart by attending literary events across the world. Greer’s nod to Daniel Handler in the acknowledgments—or Lemony Snicket to the rest of us—sets the tone for a similar bittersweetness. The protagonist, Arthur Less, is constructed so poignantly that you forget he is mere fiction. He reacts to the world around him via his previous experiences; he recalls trips to Italy with his family, losing his wedding ring in a mushroom bin, and his ex-partner receiving a Pulitzer Prize nomination in a moment of coincidental meta irony. It has the sort of tongue-in-cheek storytelling that angers you that you didn’t write it (and, I imagine, the soft bois too, who could only wish their Instagram DMs possess the same emotional quality). Less is filled with motifs and recurring jokes, presented not in a wanky author way but in a way that reminds you that your life is an amalgamation of all that you have been through. 49

artist spotlight

sarah Caitlyn Interview by Larisa Forgac Words and art by Sarah Caityln

How did you get into making art? Where does your inspiration come from? Art is something thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s run in my family for as long as I can remember. Fortunately enough, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been surrounded by a very artistic and talented grandfather and older brother who have both taught and inspired me in all of my artistic endeavours. When I was little, my brotherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work used to inspire me as he was interested in the work of Gyger and things that were I guess, a little abstract and different. On the other hand, my very traditional grandfather encouraged me to master the skills of life drawing, which I soon learnt to absolutely love and to this day can be seen predominantly in my work.

Your work is very vibrant and colourful, and it is very striking in its simplicity sometimes. How did you develop your personal art style? What were your influences? As I grew up, my grandfather became a strong influence in my work. I began to study the human body critically, inparticulalry, the female body, hands, mouths. I was fascinated by the depth and emotion you could create in these subjects with mediums such as charcoal and watercolours. Then, as I got older and developed my own personal style, I discovered my significant love for the 60s and 70s. I loved the mismatched bold colours and striking patterns. I also loved the creativity and certain uniqueness about this style. Meaning of course, this began to

heavily influence my drawing style. This, in partnership with my interest for drawing the female form and exploring emotion, allowed me to develop my work into what it is today. However, I am always being inspired. It never stops. I am continuously researching not only the 60s styles but am very much inspired by the works of Kathryn del Barton, Vince low and pop art. Hence, the bright colours! What do you enjoy about creating digital art? Do you also work in any traditional mediums and if you do how do you find they compare? During highschool I was obsessed with charcoal and watercolour. Like I said, I loved the emotion and depth that could be created with these mediums. Though, I always found I was pretty impatient with watercolour and waiting for it to dry. I also became fascinated by the work of Vince low who specialises in continuous line work using either ink or pencil as his medium. Soon enough I was totally immersed in this style of drawing and basically haven’t looked back. This isn’t to say I never use charcoal anymore, I still do and very much enjoy it, but I have certainly found I love the simplicity and ability to create organic and fluid lines with continuous line. Especially, the smoothness I can create with this by using my digital pen directly into my surface laptop. What are some of the themes you like to explore in your work? Is there an issue or subject that you feel like is important to your art and who you are as an artist? There definitely are lots of themes I try to explore in my work! One in particular that always drives anything is conveying everybody’s individuality, uniqueness and creativity. I try to emphasis this through quirky colours and statement accessories. I also explore themes such as self care and body positivity. These themes at very close to my heart as they’re issues I have always struggled with. In partnership with this, I always try to bring out a sense of strength and positivity. Growing up with a very strong mum, I’ve always wanted to be able to express this in my work and to put it lightly, inspire and remind

people what strong boss women they truely are! You have gathered quite a substantial following on social media and your gallery has grown recently. How do you communicate with your audience and are there any interesting projects you are working on at the moment that you’d like to share with us? I am eternally grateful for anyone who even notices my artwork, so I am definitely a big communicator with all of them. Aside from Instagram, I always love to have real conversations with people who buy my art, rather than just generic emails etc, because I really wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing without them. As for projects I’m working on, Amongst commissions, I’m currently working with an amazing client on some work for a podcast design and logos. So far it has been a lot of fun and I can’t wait to share it with everyone! Who are your main influences and role models in the art world? Well, as I mentioned I am a big fan of Vince Low! He definitely drove my style into the continuous line world. However, I am also a big fan of Kathryn Del Barton, Vincent Van Gogh, naturally, Gustav Klimt, Robert Hannaford and a bunch of others that I’d need a long list for! I must say though, my grandfather is probably my biggest influencer. As I’ve mentioned, he’s honestly been my best role model in the art world and I wouldn’t be drawing as I do without him. Tell us your favourite painting or work of art! Oh wow that’s a hard question!! I have so many! I have Van Gogh’s Sunflowers tattooed on me so I would definitely say that’s a favourite. But I also intend to have Klimt’s work tattooed too, so really any of their work is considered a favourite. I’m also obsessed with Hannaford’s life drawings and of course all of my grandfathers artworks. I’m sorry this probably didn’t really answer the question, I just love them all!

WHY LIBERAL ARTS DEGREES ARE THE BEST DEGREES! Words by Christopher Garrand

Liberal Arts degrees are the best degree offered for university students. That’s right I said it, sue me. I am an Arts student and like many other Arts Students I am sick and tired of the “elitists” of this university going around thinking that they’re better than me simply because I study arts. I am sick of hearing that anyone can do an arts degree, or “how’s finger-painting going?” or the most infuriating that arts students are somehow unemployable. This joke has gone so far that even the government has joined in with Scomo planning on charging double for an Arts degree as he doesn’t believe an Art degree is “job-relevant”. (His education minister Dan Tehan who studied a Bachelor of Arts awkwardly reaffirms this message.) Well enough is enough! It’s time we Art students stood up for ourselves and put every other faculty back in its place. Engineers As to the Engineering faculty it is said to be disproportionally represented by male students who are poor when it comes to relationships and communication skills, however this is frankly untrue. Engineering students are great when

it comes to relationships. In fact, they spend most of their degree analysing the relationships between X and Y. (We attempted to get an engineering student to comment on this, however everyone we approached refused to talk to us. I wonder why?) Commerce Commerce students like to laugh at Arts students for their lack of employment options but let’s face it, commerce students are way more delusional than arts students when it comes to job prospects. Commerce students somehow delude themselves into thinking that they are happy selling their soul to a capitalist business for the next 40 years of their life in the hopes of one day becoming a CEO. As an arts student, need I remind you of how disgusting capitalism is. The thought of working for a capitalist business makes me sick! I laugh at the fact that commerce students actually believe that if you work hard enough one day they will make it to the top. The fact is this is just a false consciousness that our capitalist overlords use to keep people from seeing the truth that the system is rigged against us.

MED Perhaps the worst perpetrator is the faculty of medicine which is full of the teacher’s pets who take pride in the fact they got into the degree with the highest ATAR requirement. Congratulations! Your parents must be SO proud of you! Guess who aren’t proud of you? Your friends. We haven’t seen you in months and whenever we do, all you talk about is the fact that you are busy and stressed out. Seriously we are worried about you, message us. Why do so many Med students put themselves through such pressure? Oh that’s right! They put themselves though all this pain for the simple satisfaction of saying that they are studying medicine and are therefore better than us. Let’s just hope that this superiority complex (or if that’s too far, inflated ego) goes away before they get into the industry where it could lead to wide scale serious bullying and harassment of nurses in the practice. It would be horrible if that happened. Law Much like Medical students, Law students walk around campus with an air of elitism about them, typically wearing R. M

Williams boots and a Kathmandu puffer Jacket. Having significant “parental issues” they are constantly chasing straight A’s in the hopes their parents will give them attention (or that they will make their parents proud). Furthermore, it is common to see that they have highlighted all their notes to be colour coded. Art students often get criticized for being idealists who care about issues such as capitalism but at least we have values unlike our fellow law student friends, who will say anything and everything to win an argument even if they know that they are wrong. Sciences You will find that I have a lot of respect for the Faculty of Sciences. I understand the painstaking amount of time that goes into determining the R coefficient of a correlation. I too know the importance of finding quantitative data to back up my theory and the frustration when the results don’t support it. Why do I know all this because I too am a science student, studying political science, an equally real and important science. (Created by an insecure Arts student with worrying employment prospects)

NIP IT IN THE BUD

BY JAMES L.L. PETERS

He was the din behind the song, He was light in lilied grin He was no more than anyone else and somehow everything. He was a Monday, an afterthought. He was the savings that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d bury, the stakeholder of my time. He was the Lilo and the cherry. He was the blush in my cheek. He was calm in choppy night. He was the tongue in my ear, the new growth, and the bite. He was the paragon of 43. He was the wine dregs of the glass and rose from suburban cracks. He was the black of the underpass. He was the warm red of the oil we worked to lacquer hardwood He was the piece between me and my words misunderstood. He is no longer mine, and somehow I am to stay here in the castle of our memory solus and believe it good.

A LOVE LETTER TO SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE WORDS BY RORY M. WILLIAMS

Dear Socialist Alternative Lads, I want to see some (Left) Action. About me: Young, naïve and has a promising future Got a Russian VPN, so the Putin surveillance-network is already installed on my PC I sell supplements, so I can hook you up with a life changing purge regime Sells ‘Red Flags’ from my Gucci handbag Am into big brothers About you: Experienced, ruthless and must be into starvation and confinement fetishes You’ve got to be able to see Red Must be tough enough for regular mandatory Siberian ‘holidays’ Show trial experience is desirable Must be willing to ‘take charge’ and ‘seize control’ of the relationship Unlike Trotsky, I wouldn’t mind where you stick your ice-pick You can screw me like you’ve screwed over all the countries you’ve been with You can run me round and round, like your tautological way of thinking You can run me up like all the debts you’ve incurred when in control And you can run me down like all the student unions you’ve run into the ground But don’t worry; I’ll like you for who you are, rorts and all.

Thank you! Kearin and Gary Thank you for enabling the editing team to survive and thrive this year. Your support at the start of the year as well as at problematic points was extremely appreciated. The AUU There would be no On Dit without the AUU, and we are immensly thankful for the support and amazing and vibrant ads we get to feature in our issues. Previous editors We appreciate the guidance and assistance from the former editors. We are also thankful for all the support and the contributions to this year’s magazine, especially Maxim’s quirky articles and Em’s amazing artwork. Sub editors and guest editors You guys are the best - reliable, engaged and brilliant in your work. We could not have pulled off all the issues if it hadn’t been for your hard work and input. Our readers The feedback and reactions from our readers mean the world to us, and we have enjoyed making a magazine that so many people enjoyed and engaged with. It makes all the hard work worth it! Our contributors Your work (quite literally) makes this magazine what it is. We are honoured to have been able to feture such a variery of brilliant articles and thoughts as well as vibrant artwork. We hope your voices will be caried far with On Dit, and with any work you do beyond the magazine.

A.S. Lelli Adelaide McElhinney Adila Yarmuhammad Ahmed Azhar Alanna Alanna Melville Ali Amin Alice Cesana Alinda Tunc Alissar Aleid Allan Amanda Turner Amy Dungey

Amy Simons Ana Obradovic Angela Qin Angelica Carvajal Angus Heaton Angvs Anika Pietek Anjali Malhotra Anna Haythorpe Anonymous Arabella Wauchope Ashley Jayasuriya Atalanta

Auriane Wright Ava Viscariello Baarn95 Ben Foster Benson MacAllister Billy Fay Billy Zimmermann Caleb Bem Cecilia Tran-Pham Celia Peters Chanel Tresize Charlie Gilchrist Christabel Ballard

Chelsea Fernandez Connie Francis Connor Watson Dagmar Morello Daniel Neser Dante Darcy Hermsen Darryl Do Dillon Wright Edgar-Daniel Richards Ekkia Evans Elisha Gunasekera Ella Shaw Ellie Butler Ellis Noone Emelia Haskey Emily Woodcock Emma Aspin Emma Mustaca Emma Troughton Eric Pan Gabrielle Bakker Gemma Rose Grace Atta Grace Franco Gurmukh Singh Habibah Jaghoori Hamish Probert Hannah King Harper Harry Finn Henry Armfield Holly Cooke Hugh Sutton Imogen Larcombe Ingrid Mowbray Isaac Trumble Isabel Ng Isabella Sykes Isobel Moore Ivan Bucalo Jack Gill Jack Newbury Jack Rau James Barber James Davies James L.L. Peters James Wood Jason Zhao Jed Woolford Jialun Qi

Jo Joe McCicerathy John Maynard Gainz Julia Ball Kansas Bird Kate Chapman Kathryn Simons Katie Moularadellis Katie Nguyen Kavita Parshuram Bhandari Kellie Adamson Kenneth Kent Getsinger Konstantinos Zekirias Lakeisha Watkins Lawrence Hull Lazaras Lazarus Panayiotou Leah SchamSchurin Leila Clendon Louise Del Castillo Lucinda Penn Lucy Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connell-Doherty Lyuser Madeline Pemberton Madison Terrell Matt Monti Mauricio Cruz Max Douglass Maxim Buckley Maya Tlauka Meghan Zadow Melissa Griffin Melissa Marsden Michael Brohier Michael Genrich Michelle Roylance Mikaila Stavrinakis Mirco Di Giacomo Mitchell Suursaar Ngoc Lan Tran Nhu Quynh Hoa Nix Herriot Oliver Hales Olivia Edmonds Olivia Savvas Oscar Ong Owen Selby Panayoti Psorakis Patrick Stewart Rachel Stanley

Rebecca Etienne Reuben Fernee Ritwik Kalra Robbi Davidson Roberto Rossi Rory M Williams Rory Spiers Ru Jia Sahara Boniface Samantha Bedford Samantha Johanson Saphira Sarah Boese Sarah Caitlyn Sarah Damin Sarah McLean Sarah Peters Sebastian Andrew Shea Gallagher Shona Swart Siddhartha Simona Pasquale Skylar Soham S Solange Villaneuva Stasi Kapetanos Stella Salvemini Stella Seung-Joo Woo Steven Morley Sue Donym Suvam Sinha Tahlia Giblot Ducray Taochakkreytap (Chak) Lee Taylor Jane Bardsley Taylor W Teresa Kellargias The Punisher Theodora Galanis Tiah Bullock Tobias Threadgold Tom Auld Tom Gilchrist Tom Noone Vanessa Woode Will Broderick William Miller Yeganeh Soltanpour Yoshi Zarin Tasnem

Pop quiz! Which of these stories did not feature On Dit’s first issue published in 1932? A. Can We Afford a New Library? B. ‘The Fountain of Knowledge’: An Allegory C. Student Protests: Important or Unnecessary? D. Men’s Union Debate: Chaos At Night What region did the Battle of Alesia take place in? A. Gaul B. Hispania C. Thrace D. Germania Trees that shed their leaves annually are referred to as: A. Nocturnal B. Organic C. Deciduous D. Perennial The internet meme ‘Doge’ (such as Cheems) is what breed of dog? A. Chow Chow B. Shiba Inu C. Akita Inu D. Shikoku Which of these landmarks will you find in South Australia? A. The Big Lobster B. The Big Golden Guitar C. The Big Pineapple D. The Big UGG Boots Send us an email (onditmag@gmail.com) with your answers. The first person to get all the correct answers will win a prize!

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