University of Western Australia Student Guild
| Full name | University of Western Australia Guild of Undergraduates |
|---|---|
| Native name | UWA Student Guild |
| Founded | 1913 |
| Affiliation | National Union of Students (NUS) |
| Key people | Maddie Mulholland (President) |
| Office location | Perth, Western Australia |
| Country | Australia |
| Website | uwastudentguild.com |
The UWA Student Guild is the official student representative body at the University of Western Australia, representing the interests of students to the university, government and the wider community, as well as providing services to students. The Guild's published mission is to be Western Australia's leading campus student representative organisation.
Background
The UWA Student Guild is the premier student representative body at the University of Western Australia. The vision of the UWA Student Guild is to be Australia's leading campus student representative organisation.
The Guild provides a number of services, and is instrumental in promoting and sustaining student life on campus. The Guild runs a number of activities including Prosh, Orientation Day (O-Day), End of Semester Shows and other major campus events. Guild Departments and Subsidiary Councils run other events, such as Multicultural Week and Spring Feast (run by the International Student Services department), Club Carnival (run by the Societies Council) and the PAC Pop-Up series of performances (run by the Public Affairs Council).
The Guild also supports and assists a network of more than 100 affiliated clubs and societies on campus, catering to a very wide range of interests (religious, theatrical, cultural etc.). The Guild also runs the majority catering outlets on campus, including the Tavern, as well as a second-hand bookshop and a volunteering centre. For most of the organisation's existence, it maintained a monopoly in on-campus catering, although in 2012, the first three independent catering outlets were introduced.
The Guild's Student Centre provides one-on-one academic advocacy, as well as financial counselling and interest-free loans.
Guild Council is the overall governing body of the Guild and consists of 23 voting members democratically elected at the annual Guild elections. The current Guild President is Maddie Mulholland, who took office on 1 December 2015.
Former Guild Presidents include notable figures such as former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, former federal Opposition Leader Kim Beazley and former Health Minister and Attorney General of Western Australia Jim McGinty.[1]
Annual elections
Student representatives are elected to their positions by students in annual elections held in September. Elections are conducted by the Western Australian Electoral Commission. Both independent and party candidates run in the elections, with the historical bias leaning towards grouped members becoming elected. Elected office bearers take office as of 1 December in the year they are elected.
The 2015 Elections took place from 21 to 24 September 2015, and were for the 103nd Guild Council. Five parties contested the 2015 elections: STAR, Launch, Left Action, United College Kids and The Birthday Party, as well as one independent.[2]
Racism Controversy
100th Guild President Cameron Barnes caused significant controversy when he approved a racist article in the annual charity "Prosh" paper. The article, "dream-time horoscopes" lead to a public relations disaster for the Guild, with major charity beneficiary ICEA withdrawing support from the paper.[3] President Barnes immediately back flipped on the decision, claiming he was not responsible, despite having personally reviewed and approved the paper.
Missing Money
In May 2014 the Guild hired audit and tax firm BDO to investigate financial irregularities in the Guild's 2013 accounts, which found about $870,000 had been misappropriated.[4]
Based on the initial findings of that investigation, a staff member was dismissed for serious misconduct.
Guild structure
The Guild is administered by a council of student representatives elected for one-year terms at the annual elections. There are twenty voting members of council, and several more non-voting members. Members may hold a voting and a non-voting role concurrently. Unlike some other campus unions, there is no financial compensation for student representatives, with the exception of the President who works at the Guild full-time during their term. The following list shows the Councillors and Officer Bearers elected at the 2015 Guild Elections (with the exception of the Vice President, Chair and Secretary of the Guild who were elected at the first Council meeting on 1 December 2015):[5]
| Guild Executive | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Position | Ticket (when elected) | |
| Maddie Mulholland | Guild President | STAR | |
| Charlie Viska | Guild Vice President | STAR | |
| Michael Kabondo | Guild Secretary | STAR | |
| Tom Burke | Guild Treasurer | STAR | |
| Subsidiary Council Presidents | |||
| Name | Position | Ticket (when elected) | |
| Jack Looby | Societies Council President | STAR | |
| Emma Boogaerdt | Education Council President | STAR | |
| Megan Lee | Public Affairs Council President | STAR | |
| Ordinary Guild Councillors | |||
| Name | Position | Ticket (when elected) | |
| Stephanie Munro | Ordinary Guild Councillor | Launch | |
| Jacky Chiang | Ordinary Guild Councillor | ISL | |
| Chad Bensky | Ordinary Guild Councillor | STAR | |
| Joanne Lim | Ordinary Guild Councillor | ISL | |
| Julian Coleman | Ordinary Guild Councillor | STAR | |
| Nick Brown | Ordinary Guild Councillor | Left Action | |
| Brad Forbes | Ordinary Guild Councillor | STAR | |
| Jesse Martino | Ordinary Guild Councillor | STAR | |
| Ben Martin | Ordinary Guild Councillor | Launch | |
| Jessica Porter-Langson | Ordinary Guild Councillor | STAR | |
| Other Voting Members | |||
| Name | Position | Ticket (when elected) | |
| Laura Mwiragua | Women's Affairs Officer | STAR | |
| Lucy Moyle | Chair of Guild Council | STAR | |
| Peter Derbyshire | Postgraduate Students' Association President | N/A | |
| Kenneth Foo | International Students Officer | ISL | |
| Other Non-Voting Members | |||
| Name | Position | Ticket (when elected) | |
| Julian Coleman | Senate Representative | STAR | |
| Lizzy O'Shea | Immediate Past President | STAR | |
| Emily Law | Welfare Officer | STAR | |
| Dennis Venning | Environment Officer | STAR | |
| Torey Rickerby | Sports Representative | STAR | |
| National Union of Students Delegates | |||
| Name | Position | Ticket (when elected) | |
| Charlie Viska | NUS Delegate | STAR | |
| Emma Boogaerdt | NUS Delegate | STAR | |
| Emma Norton | NUS Delegate | Left Action | |
| Alex Hamilton | NUS Delegate | STAR | |
| Lizzy O'Shea | NUS Delegate | STAR | |
| Liam Staltari | NUS Delegate | Launch | |
| Tom Beyer | NUS Delegate | STAR | |
References
- ↑ "The Hon Jim A McGinty BA BJuris(Hons) LLB JP MLA – Biography". Department of the Premier and Cabinet Western Australia. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
- ↑
- ↑ The Australian
- ↑ http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/liberal-senator-urges-police-to-investigate-alleged-uni-fund-theft/story-e6frgcjx-1227068883986. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ West Australian Electoral Commission Official Results