WOMEN - Arc @ UNSW Arc UNSW Student Life

BYSARAHHORTTWOEYJONES Semonsters: An Alternate Uni-verseKind regards,GEAMYBYARTDear Quentin,It’s a dog-eat-dogworld we live in,and no amount of hothe return of ordeping and praying forly queues will sorlve the issue of thedire circumstances,891 crowd. Given thI suggest you purcehase a Taser and havewhen waiting for thit in easy reache 891, enabling youtoquickly and mercil891 line opponentsessly disarm yourand proceed to thefront of the pack.Tasers are generally only available topolice officers, bunotorious for usint since they areg them at any convenient opportunity, I’the blue uniform wom sure our pals inuldn’t have a problem with you Taseriyour peers.ng a dozen or so ofI’m told you can purchase a Taser onthe internet fromin 5-10 working daoverseas, with deliys. With any luck,veryan891 bus may turn upday period too!in that same 5-10Yours in solidarity,Agony IbisCurrently, I take three subjects in a 10-weekperiod. Under a semester model, a standardload will be four subjects in 13 teachingweeks – 14 if you include the mid-semesterbreak. Despite what UNSW would have youbelieve, the addition of a mid-semester breakwon’t mitigate the increased rates of burnoutthat such a drastically longer teaching periodwill cause. Combining this with the increaseddifficulty of balancing four courses (andfour exams in a two week exam period) in asemester will only lead to increased studentstress and anxiety.LESS AVAILABLE STUDY SPACESIncreasing the number of subjects from threeto four, while decreasing the number ofteaching weeks from 30 to 26 per year, willinevitably lead to more students on campus atany one time. This is going to put additionalstrain on student facilities – both study spacesand classrooms. There’s no good reason forthe university campus to be unused for halfof the year, yet this is what is being proposed.LESS FLEXIBILITY WITHCENTRELINK BENEFITSAt the moment, a student can still beconsidered full-time for Centrelink purposesif they are enrolled in just one subject for atrimester, as long as they enrol in six subjects6s for stbleemesters willsignitrpodrayehave tWhINCREASED STUDY LOADQueuein’ Quentinnsequen cebank,her it be at themble queue. Whethuethderlyisorfedliane as equalpassions inOne of my greate is nothing quiterths,buarfoor waitingthe post office,The 891as a queue.in this regard.ry disappointingveenbeselves”,semhathSWrtime at UN(wo)man foUnfortunately, mypit-style, “everyshmoaof theofnioreitmoadl resemblesthe noble tr“line” at Centrattle regard forlithwie,blamgain?s-esque, shhe891QueueGreatALord of the Fliehow can we #MakeT,isIbyonAg,queue. Tell mecoDear Agony Ibis,Somewhere out there, an alternate universe exists. UNSW hasalways had a trimester model, and is currently switching to anew model with two teaching periods each year that they call.“semesters”. In this alternate universe, one thing remains thesame – the SRC is up in arms about any form of change.udentsAgony IbisBYover the course of a year. For studentswho balance university with work, liveout of home, or have family commitments(especially students who are parents orcarers), being able to lighten their workloadfor a couple of months is a necessity. Undera semester model, a student will be forcedto take at least three subjects in a semester– which will hit students already strugglingwith university the hardest.LONGER DEGREESCurrently, I can accelerate my studies andfinish ahead of time (particularly if I amstudying a combined degree). Under asemester model, students will be compelledto stick with their study plans, with littleoption to accelerate. For students who arepaying rent, this is just going to increasethe financial burden of study – who wants athree-month summer break when it’s costingat least 200 per week just to keep a roof overyour head? I’d rather be getting through mystudies and moving into a full-time job thatalleviates the cost of living stresses sooner.LOWER QUALITY OFEXTRACURRICULARSStudent societies can currently use thethree breaks each year to plan events for thecoming trimester. Introducing semesterswould limit this to the summer break and themid-year break, forcing students to balance7their extracurricular commitments with anincreased study load and fewer breaks. There’sno way that students will be able to planevents, workshops, and activities of such ahigh standard under a semester model, giventheir current reliance on the flexibility andnumber of breaks of the trimester system.CASUAL STAFF WILL SUFFERA reduction from 30 to 26 teaching weekswill mean less work for casual universitytutors, who already receive far less pay thantheir lecturer counterparts. Data released bythe Australian Tax Office this year showedthat the annual income for a universitylecturer in Australia is 98,980, while for atutor, it is 26,230. A reduction in workablehours, proportional to the reduction ofteaching weeks, will lead to a potential paycut of nearly 3,500 per year. Semesterswill unfairly target staff who are already onrelatively low incomes.It’s clear that the higher-ups at UNSW areputting students last under this proposedsemester model. Make your voice heard byjoining the “Stop the UNSW Semonster”campaign today.

BYALICIAD’ARCYAlligators and Rolls Royces:Foundation Day through the decadesThe phrase “Foundation Day” is not onethat, on its face, sparks excitement. Itsounds archaic and stuffy, the type of thingTony Abbott would love to celebrate withthe Queen whilst surrounded by Churchillbiographies.The history of Foundation Day at UNSWis anything but. Compared to the currentStructured Fun organised by Arc,Foundation Day in the 20th century wasliterally riotous.The (probably ineffective) attempts at gettingone over the University of Sydney havecontinued to the present day.But what actually is Foundation Day? (Apartfrom, obviously, being related to the day ofour university’s foundation.)In 2007, the Sydney Morning Herald reportedthat three UNSW college students burntthe word “UNSW” into USyd’s quadranglelawn as part of Foundation Day festivities,a matter that was referred to the policeand allegedly cost the University of Sydney 4,000 to repair.The UNSW website is marginallyilluminating, describing it as, “the day wecelebrate the birth of our glorious university.”When I relayed this anecdote to myhousemate who is a student there, theylaughed and said, “That’s cute”.1Upon further research, it seems that thefirst Foundation Day, held in 1961, wasbasically a student-organised publicity stuntto differentiate us from the University ofSydney. It is not actually held on the dayof our foundation (1 July 1961), but on thesecond Thursday of Session Two.“At that time, UNSW had no real identity inthe public mind and some students still hadlectures off campus,” the UNSW Archivesexplains.“Students established the concept ofFoundation Day because they wanted toimpress on the general public that therewere two universities in Sydney.”In other words, UNSW had an underdog8complex. Established in 1949, a massive 99years after the University of Sydney, UNSWneeded to do something out of the box tosolve its identity crisis and attract students.***The first Foundation Day in 1961 includedpranks, world records and (importantly) a dayoff class for students. Some pranks borderedon illegal: a Mosman ferry was taken over by“pirates” and a television show host, BrianHenderson, was kidnapped on live TV.Students also draped a massive banneradvertising the Sydney Moaning Tharunkaacross the Sydney Morning Herald building(a move that would be fairly on the nose in2017 given the current state of the mediaindustry).The day then ended, as it did for the next 22years, with a procession of 30 floats from theuniversity to the city, along Anzac Parade.This is hilariously unimaginable today9in a climate of never-ending light railconstruction.The Foundation Day procession stoppedafter things went too far in 1983. Indeed,celebrations were banned all togetherin 1984, and the day off from universitywas stolen from us as a form of eternalpunishment.The 1983 parade began innocuously. Asthe amazingly named individual ClarkRubber recounts in the 5 August 1985edition of Tharunka, “Hell, it was all goodclean dirty fun.”The situation disintegrated, however.“It was like all the bottled up annoyancesof modern life just let loose all at once,”Mr Rubber said.“I can remember sitting on top of thetruck just hoping that a Rolls Roycewould come by. And then one did!“Tens of eager students leapt upon thissymbol of opulence and smeared itsimmaculate black finish with flour.”The rowdiness got worse.“By the time we got to Hyde Park, things1. So glorious 3

were getting really wild Every gay joint inOxford Street got flour hurled through theirfront door,” he said.“Angry shopkeepers with raised fists wouldadvance upon the parade, then fall backpuzzled.”The procession ended when the policeconfiscated the Student Union’s permit forthe rally that they were ultimately going tohold in Hyde Park. (I wonder whether it wasthe victimisation of the queer community orrich dudes that really put the nail in the coffinfor the parade.)Tharunka has also often played a part in thefestivities by publishing hoax stories andspecial satirical editions. In recent times,Tharunka published a prank article in 2014claiming that pro-Palestine protestersoccupied the Max Brenner on campus.2 TheDaily Telegraph picked up the story.One of the more bizarre (and ethicallydubious) pranks was when studentskidnapped an alligator from Taronga Zoo in1964. They managed to wrangle a “ransom” of100 pounds out of the Zoo.The UNSW Facebook page, when relayingthis anecdote on 4 August 2016, noted, “weare not proud and we do not condone thisbehaviour :)”.3Kidnappings continued throughout the years.In 1981, students kidnapped the Chancellor,Gordon Samuels, from outside his house andmade him drive to his chambers. Mr Samuelswas freed after the University Council andsenior officer met ransom demands, whichwere then donated to charity.***Current Foundation Day celebrations trulypale in comparison. In fact, Foundation Daydoesn’t even seem to stick out as a specialevent in the student consciousness (exceptfor perhaps college students).When I ask my friends about their thoughts,I am met with general bemusement andunhelpful comments such as, “It was the daywe were founded, right?”Last year, Arc hosted events on the MainWalkway with, “free food, milkshakes, bungeejumping, obstacle course and games.” At thetime of writing, Arc informed Tharunka thatthis year’s plans are the “same deal” as last year(although, unfortunately, the dodgem carsthat were on the cards at one point have sincefallen through).Most of the actual celebrations seem to berelegated to the colleges.My main memory of Foundation Day isfrom first year, when drunken and scrappilyattired Warrane College boys sat in the backof my 9am English lecture, heckling my poorlecturer, who was nervy at the best of times.An ex-New College student described hisFoundation Day celebrations to me.“We'd wake up and have a champagnebreakfast at 7am, which was basically justgoon, and some people would be trying to do10 [drinks] before 10, but most people wouldbe having a couple of drinks,” he said.A university isn’t the place to have fun or takerisks, or so the university’s logic goes; rather, itis a place to be productive and to (ultimately)contribute to the university’s coffers. Even ifwe had a university-wide scheduled day off, Ican imagine that many students would use itto work, study or get a good night’s sleep foronce in the never-ending rat race to line ourCVs and pay unaffordable rent.A lot of the content produced by UNSWabout Foundation Day is ironically nostalgicof Foundation Day’s rowdy past. Yet, nothingis being done to reinstate this so called glory.This is a message directly for Vice-ChancellorIan Jacobs: there is nothing wrong with flourand mud riots. We promise we won’t targetany Rolls Royces.In the meantime, our desire to free the“bottled up annoyances of modern life” willhave to remain corked.“Then we'd just wear silly outfits, of anythingreally, and would run around campus drinkingand trying to be semi-disruptive youths.”And it didn’t stop there.“We'd go into lecture theatres with goonsacks and make College kids who had bailedon the celebrations to go to class do goonlaybacks in the middle of the lecture,” he said.“And then you all go to the party that night.At the Roundy.”***The sanitisation of Foundation Day reflects abroader trend of the university clamping downon anything that doesn’t directly contributeto profit or otherwise possess an element ofthe uncontrolled. It is inconceivable that IanJacobs would allow himself to be kidnappedin a spirit of playfulness. Any student whodared attempt such a feat would be rewardedwith a stern talking to at best, and a visit tothe police at worst.2. Max Brenner would be absolutelydelighted to have 30 paying customersnow.3. This is a very strangely placedsmiley face. My hot take: theuniversity actually does condoneanimal cruelty.1011

BYJORDANDALYBYSHAKTISATIRE IS DEADSatire is dead. At least, good satire is.ARTBYLYDIAMORGANTwo reasons: there's a satire bubble of sorts, and now life has imitated art to the point where reality is virtually indistinguishable from that which parodies it.Regarding the bubble, everyone's pumping out satire articles, as investigative journalism is simultaneously becoming an almost extinct creature. Let's take aSydney-centric look. The Betoota, Sydney Sentinel, The Shovel, The Backburner, The Chaser, SBS Comedy . even Honi and Tharunka are getting in on the action.Then you have every person with a camera spouting their opinion on YouTube or Facebook and everyone with a tablet becoming a cartoonist. In contrast,we have four decently sized papers – the SMH, the AFR, The Australian and The Telegraph. And there's The Guardian, if you're further left than Karl Marx.Go and read a Domain write-up about any young person with a property portfolio. Let's take the recent magnate who told young people to "buy lesscoffee". That's all well and good, barring the footnote stating his grandfather gave him 34,000 and Sydney homes cost around 360,000 at the time.That figure is around 52,000 in today’s money and a Sydney home costs around 1.15 million on average. There’s a bit of a discrepancy there, but sure,just give up every luxury in life to own a plot of land and a box on it. Virtually the only difference between the original 60 Minutes puff piece and theBetoota and Chaser piss-takes were the titles. We're at the stage where the only difference between reality and parody is honesty, rather than exaggeration.We might live in a big, well-connected world, but it feels like the ratio of people taking a swing at everyone else to actual news, opinionand analysis is getting very lopsided. Everyone thinks they have a hot take, but let's be real: all that wit is not being optimally used.Yes, I realise I'm being a bit hypocritical. Why don't I be the change I wish to see in the world by creating some hard-hitting pieces? Firstly, as you mayhave gathered, I'm not that witty. Secondly, satire gets clicks that dry analysis can't. No one seems to have the attention span or time to dig into the issues.Is it a sign of the times? Fucked if I know, but given how popular satire is, why not spend some of the time spent reading said articles channellingyour outrage into a campaign or candidate that reflects your values? If everyone who is upset about housing affordability petitioned, made callsor doorknocked, we’d have real action. But that would involve getting off your laptop for a bit.What if you miss the latest scrap of outrage?What if you miss a cracker of an article?Is the risk worth it?1213SRIKANTH

BY BRITTNEY RIGBYRheanna LotterIndigenous players, (from left to right)Nathan Wilson, Jeremy Finlayson, LukePenrith Artist and two of his children (Lukepainted boots for all three players) and ZacWilliams, with Rheanna Lotter and the jerseyshe designed.Rheanna Lotter is an Indigenous artist from New South Wales’s Southern Highlands.We caught up to chat about painting a soccer ball for Arsenal, designing a jersey forthe AFL’s Indigenous Round and being an Indigenous woman.HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN APRACTICING ARTIST FOR?I've been painting since I was a kid; mymother taught me. I was very sporty whenI was growing up and was travelling allaround Australia for it. That took priorityover painting most of my childhood.Painting was something I did for fun. Iwould get into these moods where I wouldpaint non-stop for around a month, thenI wouldn't paint for six months. It's onlybeen over the last two years that painting isactually embedded into my daily life. It's mythird job, I'll spend time on it everyday.painting and gave me the idea of paintinga ball for the reception. She believed in me,that's definitely where it started. I ended uppainting two AFL balls for them.I also sent an email to the Western SydneyWanderers asking if they wanted anydesigns. I ended up painting four soccer ballsfor them; one of the balls is going to Arsenalas a gift.YOU DESIGNED THIS YEAR'SINDIGENOUS JUMPER FOR THEGREATER WESTERN SYDNEYGIANTS. HOW DID THAT COMEABOUT?YOU PAINT FOOTBALLS, ANDHAVE NOW DESIGNED JERSEYS WHEN DID THE IDEA COME ABOUTTO LINK INDIGENOUS ART ANDSPORT?I sent an email to the Giants asking ifthey wanted a hand-painted ball for theirreception. They got back to me after lookingat my designs but asked if I could designtheir indigenous round guernsey.About two years ago, I saw an indigenousdesign on some soccer boots and I knewthere were some possibilities. I get tocombine the two things I love the mostwhich is pretty great.WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE ANINDIGENOUS WOMAN MAKINGART?HOW DID YOU BECOME AFFILIATEDWITH CERTAIN FOOTBALL ANDAFL CLUBS?I worked for the AFL for around three yearsand I had an amazing boss. She knew I wasMy job allows me to combine my love forsport and the love for my indigenous culture.It's something I plan on doing for many moreyears.Zac Williams of the Giants celebrates kicking agoal during the round 11 AFL match between theGreater Western Sydney Giants and the EssendonBombers at Spotless Stadium on June 3, 2017.(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images/AFLMedia).To me it means connecting with my cultureand my family. My business is namedin memory of my amazing grandfather,so every time I paint and I get to writeNgandabaa (my pop’s nickname - it meansred belly black snake) on the back of thepainting, it’s such an incredible feeling.1415

BYTOBYWALMSLEYTHE PROBLEM WITHWAMSThe Weighted Average Mark discourages students from taking risks atbest, and is inaccurate at worst. So why do we still give it so much faith?We have all been assessed on our educationalability. Over the last 15 years, the marks I'veachieved on tests have granted or deniedme opportunities, and this pattern has onlyintensified as I've attended university.At UNSW, the system for determining youracademic standard is called the WeightedAverage Mark (WAM). The system isremarkably simple: your WAM is the meanof your overall assessment marks for everysubject, “weighted” by how many units ofcredit the courses are. It is used to determinewhether a student is eligible to change theirdegree or access scholarships, and is anindicator to employers about the talent of agraduate. It is clearly important then that wehave faith in the legitimacy of this score.I do not have strong faith in our currentsystem. Not only is the WAM open to awide variety of contingencies that wouldallow for undue variance in achieved scores,but the way in which the WAM is calculateddiscourages students from taking risks, a keyelement of genuine learning.THE ASSUMPTIONS BEHIND“AVERAGING”The inherent problem with the WAM isthat marks across a variety of subjects aresynthesised into a single score. This requiressome kind of equality of marks betweensubjects: a student equally talented and hardworking in both microbiology and Englishliterature should expect to get similar marksfor both subjects. When we begin to drawcomparisons between the marks obtained indifferent subjects, we necessarily need a wayto quantify the difficulty of subjects, so that alow mark in a difficult subject can correspondto a high mark in an easy subject.Determining the difficulty of a course andthe talent of a student is often precarious.Schools and faculties will compare the marksobtained by students in a course from yearto year and subject to subject to establishwhether a course has a higher or lower thanexpected average. Often, administratorsneed to be careful with these averages: somecourses will attract high quality students andothers will encourage high quality work, inwhich case the averages will be higher thanthe norm. Sometimes, however, courses willnot have a good reason to have a higher orlower than expected average, in which casethe school or faculty will suggest to theconvener that students be marked to a curve.But "marking to the curve” is not a silverbullet. This method means that students whoreceive relatively higher than average marksthan their peers will receive a relatively strongfinal mark, by ranking students and adjustingtheir marks accordingly. It can certainly bean incredibly useful tool, as it ensures thatcontingencies, such as a particularly difficultexam, will not distort an individual's finalmarks. However, marking to a curve doescome with its own set of problems.When a course convener is making thechoice about what grading curve they use,their only choice, ultimately, is to predictthe mean mark and degree of variation, andwhether the class will be skewed towardshigher or lower marks. Often, the opaquemathematics of marking to a curve covers upthe inherently subjective aspects of markingand designing examinations.16A stark example of this is a subject I took lastyear. The final exam was so difficult that 15marks were automatically added to everyone'sscore in response to the difficulty. How wasthe score of 15 determined? Intuition, Igather, of the quality of the class was key. Nosuch calculations are explained on your finalscore, however.This highlights that, despite any attemptto quantify difficulty or make marks forindividual subjects “fair”, it's impossibleto properly quantify difficulty. Despite thebest efforts of staff to ensure that the way inwhich courses are marked are

the Australian Tax Office this year showed that the annual income for a university lecturer in Australia is 98,980, while for a tutor, it is 26,230. A reduction in workable hours, proportional to the reduction of teaching weeks, will lead to a potential pay cut of nearly 3,500 per year. Semesters will unfairly target staff who are already on