Two years ago, I stood as the postgraduate member of UNE Council because I believe that postgraduate interests need to be represented effectively at this level of the decision-making processes of the University. If you look at the functions of the Council as outlined in the University of New England Act, you will see that it is responsible for making a range of decisions that affect postgraduate students, so there needs to be an effective postgraduate voice at this level.
The introduction of Voluntary Student Unionism in mid 2006, the changes to government funding for universities and the restructuring of UNESA, UNEPA and the UNE Union into ServicesUNE all meant that the Council would be making some important decisions affecting students in the ensuing year or two. Two years down the track, Council is still looking at student representation and advocacy issues, having realised that the structure instituted as ServicesUNE has (as many postgrad students suspected) not been successful. Council is also looking at the oversight of the university's residential system - an extremely important issue for a university where such a high proportion of students live on campus, and critical for internal students. In addition, it is dealing with the much-publicised governance crisis, something that has already taken up many hours of meetings and looks set to continue to do so for some months to come. I believe that it is vitally important that there is continuity of elected members of Council in order for these issues to be resolved in ways that are best for students, so I am seeking a second term.
Most people consider me to be approachable and cooperative and during my current term, I have participated in a highly motivated, articulate group of elected members to UNE Council (that is, the undergraduate student and members of academic and non-academic staff). My experience from my involvement in UNEPA and my contact with students through chaplaincy and School activities, together with support from the other elected UNE Council members has helped keep Council aware of issues of importance to UNE post-graduate students. I look forward to the opportunity to continue this and I also hope to work more closely with the postgraduate student group than has been possible during my current term. In particular:
I am also aware that representing post-grad views to the Council is challenging, first because the majority of postgrads are external students, and second because on many issues the views of postgrads are quite diverse. I am prepared to try to do this more effectively, however, in the following ways, with the aid of the internet.
When I was elected to Council, I wrote: "Given that Council only meets seven times a year, I am sure I will be able to write regular reports about that business of the Council that is of interest to postgrads and not conducted in camera. Since the vast majority of post-grads have access to the email, even if only through the local library, I hope to be able to email these reports to the postgrad email list and have them posted on the postgrad website." This was in line with the expressed wishes of the overwhelming majority of those postgrads who participated in the 2006 survey. Unfortunately, the postgrads@une committee has been unwilling to allow me to do this, although I have been given no reason for their decision. Since the ESkillsPlus social networking site has been available, courtesy of the UNE library, I've been posting reports on my blog there at http://eskillsplus.ning.com/profile/JudyRedman (scroll down the page to get to the blog bit). It appears that people do not need to register in order to read, just to post. If elected, I will continue to explore avenues of communicating effectively with all postgrad students about issues that are important to them.
My hope for a new term is that when issues come before Council that are likely to have a significant effect on postgrads, I will alert them, again by email and through the website. I still really want feedback so that I am able to give Council an understanding of how postgrads think about various issues. When the feedback I receive is diverse, I undertake to represent that diversity as accurately as I can to the Council.
If you're interested in whether I have any experience that might lead you to think I can do what I'm suggesting I will do, then the last tab, labelled "Experience" will give you some relevant information.
Perhaps you have been reading this and wondering if a Uniting Church minister is going to be able to represent the views of an atheist, a person who practises a religion other than Christianity, someone who identifies as part of the GLBT community etc. While I cannot pretend that my views and the way I present them are unaffected by my faith, I am not standing for Council with the intention of pushing any "barrow" other than that of postgraduate students. I am concerned about justice and equity and in my role as chaplain I have been involved in advocating on behalf of a range of different religious groups who have been seeking facilities for the practice of their faith. As I said above, I will do my best to present all positions fairly.