Ball Aftermath

How cool was it to have the ball on a boat? Everyone looked amazing, the guys in their suits and beautiful women in there gorgeous frocks. A sell out event and another success, it is just a shame we couldn’t get you all on the boat. I guess now is where we ask the question, how do we top that amazing event? A special note of thanks to all of those who helped make this event such a success, thank you.

ASA’s AGM Aftermath

Firstly, I would like to thank all of those who attended the AGM, which ended up rather interesting to say the least. Have a look at the Satellite’s article later [it’s on page 8 – Ed]. I know I definitely learnt a thing or two with this process, and will take all of the recommendations seriously.

ASA now has a policy around fees, which was moved from the floor, which is that ASA opposes student loan increases on the basis of student hardship and welfare. Which kind of makes life somewhat easier, but interesting at the same time… so we will continue to survey you, to find out what you think about fees. The interesting point is that, it is going to be harder to ask for better services for students. So, it’s now time to lobby the Government for better funding for Universities. That seems to be the only option now. Although, we are open to other ideas, so please send them in to us.

Also, another thing that has come out after the AGM was a discussion about investigating the possibility of trying to find some space for students with children to drop them off outside of regular business hours. It was indicated that there a few students who have kids and find it extremely hard to find babysitters in the evenings and especially on Saturday Mornings for tests and exams, basically anytime there is a class, test and exam outside normal business hours.

Executive Nominations

I know a few people have talked about nominations for Executive positions for next year in the magazine, so I’ll cut to the chase and talk about the hard yakka of being an executive member. There is a lot of serious work that needs to be done throughout the year, like making sure the accounts are in check and reading documents every week prior to meetings. Executives are also expected to organise and help out at pretty much every event; you also need to keep in touch with students. Basically, it is recommended that the general executive commit at least 10 hours a week, the VP’s commit to at least 20 hours a week and the President commits to at least 35 hours a week. I can assure you that for all of the successes we have had this year the Executive have had to work long, long hours. It’s not because they “have to” but because this years executive have wanted to try and provide students with the best results from ASA as possible. Take Salam, our Recreational and Leisure Representative for example. Prior to the Uni Games earlier in the year, he was basically working from the Rec Centre all day, every day. A lot of the job is fixing problems, contributing to the usual business and thinking of new things to do and making things better. I can say with all honesty that I have committed on average minimum of 50 hours a week, so there is a lot of work to be done.

We are confident with the recent changes at the AGM that most of the work will end up being streamlined and more efficient. Implementation of the ASA Governance Structure and Representation Model will be the key of success.