With SRC elections introducing a new SRC, an opportunity for change is in the air. Each new SRC has an opportunity to improve on the work of the SRC that came before them, and to serve the students in the best way that they can. As they represent the majority of the student populace in various ways-such as religious beliefs, social justice issues, as well as various disadvantaged communities, PDBY sought to speak to a handful of student organisations on what they want to see from the new SRC.
Upon speaking to societies like Up&Out, BOLD and the Muslim Student Association (MSA), communication and accessibility is
a common issue that these societies want to see improvement in more than anything else. Societies like BOLD and Up&Out, who advocate for disabled students and the queer community respectively, deal with social and environmental issues that need to be addressed by the SRC. With the introduction of gender neutral pronouns to the university’s online interface, Up&Out expressed a concern for certain lecturers who didn’t quite understand what these terms meant and felt that the SRC should be doing more
to educate people on what these terms mean. While representatives of BOLD believe that the SRC should be available to talk to students about issues that they are facing on and off campuses that might hinder their academic performance in any way.
With this need for increased communication, come the issues that are being voiced by students themselves. Certain members
believe that SRC members will be better equipped to serve students by attending meetings or by being in direct communication with the executive committees to target issues and make campuses and campus life more safe and accommodating for students who face issues or have certain disabilities. Collaboration between the SRC and societies is believed to be the way forward to solving key issues, says Archie Mdluli, a member of the BOLD society.
While the SRC cannot be involved in every society or go to every meeting held by the executive managements of each society, there has been a call for the Societies Portfolio to be more involved with student societies.New societies and even old societies have faced administration issues that have gone unanswered by the current SRC such as the registering of new societies like the Palestinian Solidarity Committee (PSC-UP), who still face issues with no response from the current SRC.
My name is Katherine Weber and I am currently a 2nd year BA student majoring in English and History. I enjoy writing short stories and drawing. I want to work in publishing one day because I love reading all types of books.