From the President
If you’ve done O Week properly, dear Craccum readers, then you’ll understand that at the time of writing this (Thursday morning, after Party in the Spark), I was a little dusty. After all – as your Student Executive, it is our responsibility and our solemn duty here at AUSA to make sure we are delivering a great O Week. Much like a good chef always tastes their own food to know how it tastes, so too did the AUSA Team partake in the festivities themselves to know how it was.
In all seriousness though, we hope that this first week back (or first week!) has been a bloody good one for you. O Week is a tiring week at AUSA but it is also, by far and away, the highlight of our year. The sweat (and tears) involved in putting 6000 cans of Red Bull, two tonnes of Chocolate Milk and one and a half tonnes of pre-cooked, flavoured rice in your AUSA Tote Bags, not to mention the bulk of work that has gone in to delivering O Week and Party in the Spark have all been worth it for the smiles, the thank yous and the instagram stories showing us you had a great time. It’s a privilege for us here at AUSA to serve you so thank you for giving us the chance to bring you the O Week we’ve just had.
As we return to (or start watching the recordings of..) classes this week, it’s a simple message from your Exec here at AUSA: keep on getting amongst it, building community and looking after each other. AUSA has so much still to offer this year (next week is Sex Week with all the glory of Sex Week on display – Speed Dating and giant inflatable sex objects in the Quad) and – biased as I am – I think there’s starting to be a real feeling of student community among us. Last week, we were brought together two times – firstly in awe of Kirsty Sutherland, the DJ wonder who won our hearts at the Mix Off and secondly in horror at the sight of one of the comedians on the Tuesday Comedy Festival undressing himself to the point of removing not just one but two sets of underwear until he was just wearing ladies lingerie…
Going back to being serious again though – as we wind down from a great O Week this year, we spare a thought for those in our student community who unfortunately still can’t be with us due to the travel bans in place, particularly those in China. We can’t wait to have them back on campus and we wish them all the best as they start their studies for this Semester completely online and overseas. It has been good to see that concerns about Covid-19 haven’t materialised into the prejudice and hysteria that has sadly swept much of the globe and the news media but it is important that we keep reminding ourselves that it is the right of all students to wear masks as they like and it is – as corny as it may sound to some of us – so important that we remember that viruses don’t discriminate and that we shouldn’t either. It’s also good to see that the University has learnt from last year and recognises, unequivocally, that white supremacy and other forms of discrimination have no place on campus. We are relieved that the University has advised that stickers advertising white supremacist groups are to be taken down by University Security immediately on sight. We encourage all of our students who see them to take them down or tell Security to if they don’t feel safe to do it themselves.
Finally, and on a much lighter note, it’s incredible to see the new Shadows in all its newfound glory. For us at AUSA, being the proud owners of your student bar, it is an especially special sight. To those cynics and dare I say it, snobs, who only drink from Mojo, let go of your fears and just order a coffee at Shads – trust me when I tell you that it’s actually really good.
Anyway, that’s it from me this week – all the best for a good one and always remember – we’re here to serve you so let us know what more we can be doing or just to reach out if you need anything.
Your faithful servant,
George