University of Queensland Union

University of Queensland Union

University of Queensland Union
UQ Union
Founded	1911
Members	42,000 (2011)
Affiliations	University of Queensland
Website	www.uqu.com.au [1]

The University of Queensland Union (UQ Union) is a student organisation established to provide service, support and representation to the students of the University of Queensland. It remains the largest student representative body in Australia.

Aims

The specific aims of the UQU as defined by its constitution are:

a) to specifically promote the educational and academic activities and progress of the University community; and generally to further the aims, objects and interests of the University community;
b) to further the right of all people to a quality education on an equal basis;
c) to advance the interests of students in the fields of social security, health, welfare, equity, equal opportunity and cultural activities;
d) to represent students within the University and the community;
e) to financially assist affiliated bodies;
f) to provide quality facilities and services to students;
g) to foster the principle of student unionism; and
h) to do all such other things as are incidental or conducive to the attainment of these objects and the exercise of the powers of the Union.

Student Services

The UQU operates most of the campus' student eateries, cafes, bookshops in addition to the university bar and cinema. These facilities and services are concentrated at the Union Complex at the St Lucia campus.

The UQU organises the university's orientation week ("O-Week") activities, regular barbecues and free bands, as well as a range of larger events, such as Oktoberfest and, as of 2009, the annual Toga Party. Recently the UQU introduced a club funding scheme that supports over 180 clubs and societies, including faculty, ethnic, and a variety of social groups; sporting groups, however, fall under the domain of UQ Sport. The UQU also provides a free legal service to university students. In addition, it also organises the weekly Wednesday markets at the St Lucia campus.

One of the other roles of the UQU is to see that minority groups on campus are adequately supported. To this extent, it provides a Queer Space at St Lucia campus and Women's Spaces at St Lucia campus and Gatton campuses. The Ipswich Campus Queer Room has since been closed down, as a result of frequent vandalism by the occupants. UQU also has queer, women's, environment, disabilities and Indigenous collectives to represent their respective interests.

Student Representation

UQU coordinates student representation to the University through its Student Representation, supporting students to take positions on faculty and University committees, and the Academic Board. UQU recently successfully negotiated for the University to contribute 1 million dollars to the Union annually for student services. UQU also negotiated for the "formula marking" scheme (under which markers can deduct marks in multiple choice exams if a marker believes the student guessed answers) to be abolished .

Postgraduate Students

In 2011 UQ postgraduate students formed a postgraduate representative body within the UQU, called the UQ Association of Postgraduate Students (APS). This new body has been in regular contact with CAPA and sent a representative to the 2011 CAPA annual conference in Sydney.

UQU Clubs and Societies

The UQU oversees over 190 student run Clubs and Societies, with a combined membership across these clubs of approximately 36,000 students. Clubs fall under one of four broad categories based on where they derive their membership base. These categories include: Faculty/School; International Students; Colleges; and General Interest.

Clubs play a vital role on campus, with the majority of social events at UQ being run by these student groups. The ten largest clubs by membership base in 2012 were:

Rank (by Number of Members)	Name	2013 President	2012 President	Type	Number of Members
1	UQ Law Society (UQLS)	Chad Hardy	Ganesh Jegatheesan	Faculty/School Based	5,000+
2	UQ Engineering Undergraduate Society (EUS)	Miranda McLachlan	Annabelle Hassall	Faculty/School Based	1,500+
3	UQ Business Association (UQBA)	Sambit Mishra	Victoria Sing	Faculty/School Based	1,400+
4	Society of Undergraduate Science Students (SUSS)	Scott Miller	Harrison Bolt	Faculty/School Based	720+
5	QUEST	Rachel English	Jennifer Ross	General Interest	650+
6	UQ Interfaculty Competitions (UQIC)	Rachel Zammit	Tate Stubbs	General Interest	600+
7	UQ Liberal Club (UQLC)	Brodie Thompson	Brodie Thompson	General Interest	580+
8	UQ Economics Society (UQES)	Nathan Johnston	Alexander McLaren	Faculty/School Based	530+
9	Singapore Student Society	Sherman Lee	Aaron Ang	International	520+
10	Mechanical Engineering Student Society (MESS)	Seamus O'Connor	Blaice McCaul	Faculty/School Based	500+

Executives of the UQU

Year	President	Secretary	Treasurer	Ticket
1981	David Barbagallo	Fiona McKenna	Nigel Pennington	Labor Right
1982	Ken Macpherson	Fleur Kingham	Nigel Pennington	Labor Right
1983	Fleur Kingham	Danielle Bond	Paul Lucas (politician)	Labor Right
1984	Tony Kynaston	Ric Moore	Karen Axford	Labor Right
1985	Brad Bauman	Kate Greenwood	Tony Kynaston	Liberal/ Labor Right
1986	Jillann Farmer	Jenny Fox	Mark Herbert	Labor Right
1987	Andrew Lamb	Jorge Jorquera	Scott Barclay	Ind/ Left
1988	Dirk Moses	Robyn Finken/ Andrea Napier	Mark Bahnisch	Labor Right
1989	Victoria Brazil	James Jarvis	Julian Sheezel	Liberal
1990	Jane Lye	Kirsten Greathead	Rebecca Keys	Reform
1991	James Gifford	John Briggs	Donna Sinopoli	Liberal
1992	Michael Kleinschmidt	Anne-Marie Valentak	Marcus Clark	Liberal
1993	Sandy Brown	Daniel Varghese	Martin Bush	SEA
1994	Murray Watt	Jenny McAlister	Mary Thorpe	Focus-Labor Left
1995	Maya Stuart-Fox	Timothy Ward	Michael Caldwell	Labor
1996	Jody Thompson	Luke Myers	Michael Barry	Liberal
1997	Cynthia Kennedy	Anna Straton	Jamie Dawson	Labor Left
1998	Bede Nicholson	Katie Connolly	David McElrea	Labor Left
1999	Matthew Carter	Alissa Macoun	Benjamin Turnbull	Labor Left
2000	Sarah McBratney	Matthew Collins	Rebecca Lang	Labor Left
2001	Juliana Virine	Angela Setterlund	Adam Kent	Labor Left
2002	Christopher Vernon	Lisa Chesters	Aaron Meadows	National Organisation of Labor Students-Labor Left
2003	Aaron Marsham	Antonio Ferreira-Jardim	Jemma MacGinley	NOLS- Labor Left / Liberal coalition
2004	Margot Balch	Jonathan Hames	Michael Wright	Vision - Labor
2005	Leah Sanderson	Jorn Herrmann	Alex Main	Focus-Labor Left
2006	Lucinda Weber	Erin Fentiman	N/A	Thrive-Labor Left
2007	Julie-Ann Campbell	Diana Mackay	N/A	Voice-Labor Left
2008	Josh Young	Lisa Colyer	Ben Riley	Fresh - Liberal
2009	Brandon Carter	Luke Walker	Lisa Colyer	Fresh - Liberal
2010	Michael Zivcic	Michelle Delport	Robert Hilmer	Fresh - LNP
2011	Benjamin Gorrie	Brodie Thompson	Hannah Bona	Fresh - LNP
2012	Colin Finke	Brodie Thompson	Linda Cho	Fresh - LNP
2013	Rohan Watt	Kieran Shaw	Priyanka Luecke	Fresh - LNP
2014	Joshua Millroy	Rachel Paterson	Nathan Johnson	Reform - Labor/Independent Coalition

Vice Presidents of the UQU

Year	VP Student Rights	VP Campus Culture	VP Gender and Sexuality	Ticket
2009	Robert Hilmer & Aurelia Connelly	Matthew Chadwick & Sam Bool	Laney McLaren & Nick Sowden	Fresh
2010	Brayden Soo & Rory Broadbridge	Alexander Tate & Alisha Musil	Laney McLaren & Christopher Balean	Fresh
2011	Michelle Delport & Isaac Robertson	Nelson Martoo & Kiran Srinivasan	Natalie Keys & Duncan Stubbs	Fresh
2012	Bridget Young & Kieran Shaw	Abby Nydam & Nathan Flett	Ashleigh Ross & Rohan Watt	Fresh
2013	Elliot Johnson & Harrison Bolt	Jared Peut & Jonathon Hare	Eloise Shaw & Anthony Deacon	Fresh
2014	Laura Howden & Richard Lee	Natalie Morris & Stephen Kakoniktis	Kathryn Cramp & Lotte Scheel	Reform

Politics of UQU

The UQU is the only student association in Group of Eight university which does not accredit with the National Union of Students.

1991-1992, the union was run under the umbrella of the Liberal (or Young Liberal) party. 1994- 2007, the union was almost exclusively under the control of parties aligned with the Labor party, usually the left leaning wing, with liberal party candidates regaining control for just one year in this period (1996).

2008 - 2012, the Union is run by a party under the banner "Fresh" (Liberal National Party of Qld)

2012 Student Election Controversy

An anti-FRESH poster by D4UQU, calling a boycott of this election

In 2012, there was controversy surrounding the conduct of the annual student elections. The incumbents FRESH made rule changes that resulted in other teams submitting their nominations in an incorrect manner. This specifically related to last minute changes to union election rules removing the protection for previously used party names, which resulted in campaign material for opposition parties becoming unusable. This resulted in all other opposition parties (including "Pulse" and "I just want my voucher") having their names invalidated. These Allegations were denied by the current President.

Minutes and a recording from the 101st UQU Council meeting show that new regulations were brought in on the 10th of August. The recording shows that an objection was raised by Councillor Flynn Rush on procedural fairness and constitutional grounds, though this was circumvented through amending the factual basis for the objection. The incumbents did not give the requisite 5 'clear days' notice as per the UQU constitution. The regulation changes went ahead regardless. They were not available until elections and nominations opened.

Fresh party president Colin Finke responded to the allegations, challenging claims the council meeting was held in "secret" and said Pulse group presidential candidate Abraham O'Neil had been present when the changes regarding procedural regulations were made. Furthermore, UQ Union returning officer Alexa Faros-Dowling (family friend of a FRESH incumbent) said the UQ Union elections were governed by the UQ Union constitution and regulations. She was quoted stating "The two electoral tickets in question were required to change their name to comply with the electoral regulations. Those tickets subsequently chose to withdraw from the election rather than select a new name." The 2012 union president also stated that members of the Pulse party "can complain all they want" but had 12 months notice on the introduction of new regulations on the use of registered ticket names, and that the 'last-minute' changes to the regulations were to different provisions (namely the timing of the electoral process to reduce it from 4 weeks to 3 as well as adding an entirely new process/form for nominations).

In response to the situation, an activist group titled 'DEMOCRACY 4 UQU' was started by a number of Fresh opposition groups and other students concerned about how the measures introduced affected the student elections. Their goal is to correct what they perceive to be an unbalanced and unfair election process.

UQ deputy Vice Chancellor (academic) Professor Mick McManus, said in response to the situation that UQ was concerned that this issue had a significant impact on students and would be considered in full and addressed appropriately, and that the university would work to resolve the issues. On 22 August, the University announced that the current union administration would be required to provide access to the constitution and changes to it, financial reports, and notices and minutes of meetings held under the current union on its website. Graeme Orr, Professor of Law at the University of Queensland, has pointed out in a radio interview that the power of the electoral tribunal convened to assess whether the elections were held properly was limited only to whether or not the electoral rules were violated, not whether they are valid or were created in accordance to union policy.

On 24 August, the University declared that in line with their funding agreement with the University Of Queensland Student Union, they would carry out an audit into the management of finances. The results of this audit are available online.

On 29 August, hundreds of students gathered at UQ's great court to protest against Fresh and call for democracy.

On 3 December, the annual general meeting of the UQU was cancelled after those calling it neglected to inform students and most members of their own executive, resulting in too few people present for the meeting to be openend. However, the outgoing Vice-President spoke briefly about the conduct of Fresh, slamming their circumvention of the wishes of the student body by locking out the opposition that was likely to win any open, fairly managed elections, Fresh's misuse and embezzlement of funds, and their use of the union as a vehicle for particular members of the LNP's youth wing.

Notable Alumni

The UQU has produced a number of notable alumni including Governors-General of Australia, CEOs, Chief Justices of Australia and State Premiers.

• Sir Thomas Groom, UQU President 1928, Lord Mayor of Brisbane
• Sir Harry Gibbs GCMG, AC, KBE, QC, UQU President 1936, Chief Justice of the High Court
• Ivor Cribb, UQU President 1944, Deputy Chancellor of the University of Queensland
• Sir Walter Campbell AC QC, UQU President 1942, Governor, Supreme Court Judge, Chancellor of the University of Queensland
• Barry Murphy, UQU President 1963, CEO of Caltex
• Robert Wensley, UQU President, QC, Deputy Chancellor of the University of Queensland
• Anna Bligh, UQU Women's Officer 1981, Premier of Queensland
• Jillann Farmer, UQU President 1986, Medical Director of the United Nations

See also

• University of Queensland
• UQ Engineering Undergraduate Society
• University of Queensland Business Association
• Semper Floreat (UQU Publications)
• University of Queensland Debating Society
• Union College
• University of Queensland Intercollege Council
• UQU Schonell Theatre
• National Association of Australian University Colleges

External links

• UQ Union
• UQ Union Constitution
• UQ Union Regulations