University of Newcastle Students' Association

The origins of UNSA began at Newcastle University College (NUC, established 1951). NUC was created as an offshoot of the New South Wales University of Technology (now known as the University of New South Wales) and was co-located with the Newcastle Technical College at Tighes Hill.[1] As NUC began to expand its enrollment in 1952 and 1953, views among the student body continued to grow that the university's student union, based in Sydney, unable to adequately represent students in Newcastle. This push by NUC students for a local student union resulted in the creation of Newcastle University College Students' Association (NUCSA). The inaugural governing Council of NUCSA held their first meetings in 1953 and the organisation became incorporated as a fully constituted body on 28 April 1954 with the adoption of its constitution. From then it was eligible to receive compulsory student union fees collected from all students at NUC.[2]

The first SRC of the university refers to the Council of NUCSA commencing in the year of 1953 with subsequent Councils named in numerical succession each year from this, the 2nd SRC of UON being in the year of 1954 and 3rd SRC for 1955 and so on.

The NUSA Building on the eastern side of Callaghan campus at University of Newcastle, Australia

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Newcastle residents and NUCSA campaigned for NUC to be re-constituted as a university in its own right. The campaign was ultimately successful, with the University of Newcastle being established as an autonomous institution on 1 January 1965 by gubernatorial proclamation under the University of Newcastle Act 1964 (NSW). Following the autonomy of UON, NUCSA was renamed as Newcastle University Students' Association (NUSA).

In 1966, the university and NUSA relocated from Tighes Hill to a largely undeveloped bushland site in Shortland which underwent major development as enrollment grew in subsequent years.

Consistent with the historical dominance of Labor Left in the greater Newcastle area, a majority on the NUSA Council has long been held by the left factions of the National Union of Students of Australia usually by either the National Labor Students (NLS) or left-wing independent groups or more often by the two, cooperatively.[3] Predecessors of these groups include the National Organisation of Labor Students (NOLS) and National Broad Left (NBL) which dissolved in the period of late 2005 and early 2006.

Despite the Howard government's Voluntary Student Unionism legislation, which was in place from 2006 to 2011 and prohibited the charging of student union fees, causing massive cuts to both staffing and service levels at NUSA,[4][5] it continued to provide independent representation through its own sources of income and university funding. NUSA's partner student organisation at UON responsible for commercial services and entertainment events, the University of Newcastle Union Ltd, was wound up following a loss of revenue. This resulted in the university taking responsibility for most commercial leases and a range of campus life activities on the Newcastle campuses in the late 2000s and early 2010s.[6]

Newcastle University Postgraduate Students' Association (NUPSA) was a name given to the Postgraduate Students Collective of the NUSA Council in the early 1990s. The elected Postgraduate Students Convenor on the NUSA Council was referred to as the president of the postgraduate students' association. During a time of a growing postgraduate student population at the university, from 1995 moves were initiated by the university to split NUPSA from NUSA as an independent organisation, citing the increasing diversity of postgraduate students' needs.[7]

A motion at a Special General Meeting on 29 May 1997 for constitutional changes to establish NUPSA as an independent entity was defeated, resulting in the Postgraduate Students Collective remaining part of NUSA's structure. However, at a meeting of the University Council on 27 June 1997, the university resolved to override the decision and establish NUPSA as a separate entity from NUSA, effective from 1 July 1997. At the time, the move by the university was met with mixed views among the student body and concern from NUSA.[8] While NUPSA began the process of operating separately to NUSA from the late 1990s to provide independent representation and support services for postgraduate students, the two bodies maintained a close collaborative relationship. NUPSA was registered as an incorporated association in NSW on 3 February 2014.[9]

Interest in forming a local student union for the Central Coast began from 1989 at the time the University's Ourimbah Campus was beginning to develop and expand. A local Central Coast student body was soon formed and their aim was to become a financially independent recognised student body by the university. Following lobbying by the group, by 1993 the University Council voted to recognise the student body and provide funding from the General Service Fees of Central Coast students. From this, the Central Coast Campus Union (CCCU) was to be based on a guild structure providing both student representation and operating commercial services in contrast the split structure of multiple student organisations on the Newcastle campus.

In 2002, the organisation was registered as an Australian Company Limited by Guarantee under the name Central Coast Campus Union Ltd. (CCCUL).[10] By the end of 2003, its Board had voted to change the trading name to Campus Central - Ourimbah.

Campus Central - Ourimbah did not receive any funding from the university in 2013 during a brief dispute with the company over the ownership and delivery of commercial services on the campus, but the relationship improved in following years.[11] In early 2015, the company again re-branded itself under the name Yourimbah. The company maintained a strong relationship with NUSA and NUPSA to support university-wide student representation and the delivery activities and events.[12]

In 2016 the NUSA Council adopted a four year strategic plan to expand services and reform its governance and representative structure. As part of this, NUSA initiated discussions with NUPSA and Yourimbah on combining the three existing student organisations into a single, whole of institution student union for UON. These discussions culminated in the signing of a memorandum of understanding in 2019 between NUSA, NUPSA and Yourimbah for the merger of the three separate organisations to form the University of Newcastle Students' Association (UNSA).[13]

The University of Newcastle Students' Association Ltd. was registered as an Australian Public Company, Limited By Guarantee on 27 May 2020.[14] From 30 June 2020, NUSA will cease most operations as an incorporated association alongside NUPSA and Yourimbah pending wind up and deregistration as individual legal entities. On 1 July 2020, the University of Newcastle Students' Association (UNSA) will commence operating in place of the three separate student associations.[15]

The SRC's structure incorporates several representative committees and bodies, each chaired by an office holder elected to the SRC. These include portfolio committees for Education, Wellbeing & Welfare, Engagement & Experience; a Postgraduate Student Senate; an International Student Senate; Campus Committees; and Collectives for Disability, Indigenous, Queer and Women's representative groups.[19]

Elected positions on the SRC include:

• President (Chair);
• Vice-President Education;
• Vice-President Engagement & Experience;
• Vice-President Welfare & Wellbeing;
• International Students’ Senate Convenor;
• Postgraduate Students’ Senate Convenor;
• Disability Collective Convenor;
• Indigenous Students’ Collective Convenor;
• Queer Collective Convenor;
• Women’s Collective Convenor;
• Newcastle Campuses Committee Convenor;
• Central Coast Campuses Committee Convenor;
• Cloud Campus Committee Convenor;
• Sydney Campus Committee Convenor; and
• Port Macquarie Campus Committee Convenor.

That are also several positions that are elected externally to the SRC and hold ex-officio membership on the Council:

• Student Member on University Council;
• Student Representative of Academic Senate; and
• Student Accommodation Representative.

The SRC Executive consists of the President, the three Vice Presidents and the two Senate Convenors.[20]

University of Newcastle Students' Association Ltd. was registered as an Australian Public Company, Limited By Guarantee on 27 May 2020.[21] From 30 June 2020, NUSA ceased most operations as an incorporated association alongside NUPSA and Yourimbah pending wind up and deregistration as individual legal entities. On 1 July 2020, UNSA commenced operating in place of the three separate student associations and began providing the services previously delivered by NUSA, NUPSA and Yourimbah.[22]

Amid growing transportation concerns from students as the Callaghan campus expanded, NUSA initiated a protracted student-led campaign during the late 1970s for a new railway station to be constructed on the Great Northern Railway line to service the campus. The organisation held several extended public campaigns and lobbied state and federal members of parliament for support. NUSA was ultimately successful in this campaign by the early 1990s and on 23 October 1995, the Warabrook (University) railway station was opened.[24]

In the late 1990s and early 2000s the Vice-Chancellor announced several plans to close the Huxley Library.[25] NUSA and the student body led strong campaigns against this, in one instance organizing and holding three successive rallies of several hundred students each in the same week. The large-scale student protests organised by NUSA caused the University to abandon plans to close the Library.[26]

Night-time safety at the Callaghan campus was an issue that rose prominence from the early 2010s, following reports of attacks on students.[27][28][29][30] Campaigns run by NUSA to draw attention to this issue have led to improvements to campus lighting and security services.[31]

Between 2015 and 2017, NUSA mounted a sustained campaign[32] in opposition to University's decision to outsource of facilities maintenance services to Broadspectrum (previously known as Transfield Services), a company that was controversially responsible for running Australia's immigration detention centers in Nauru and Manus Island.[33] In May 2017, the university announced that it was cutting ties with the company.[34]

From Semester 1 2020, the University's Vice-Chancellor introduced a compulsory 80% attendance requirement at small group tutorials, laboratory sessions and seminars for all first year students. The consequence of failing to meet the 80% attendance requirements for a course was Component Fail grade. In order to prove their attendance in classes students were required to use an app with geotracking software.[35] NUSA's Education Collective initiated a campaign against the mandatory attendance policy and raised concerns over the geotracking software used to monitor students.[36] In March 2020, during growing concerns of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the university announced the suspension of the mandatory attendance policy.

Other notable campaigns by NUSA include:

• Being one of the leading groups in the campaign for the autonomy and formal establishment of the University of Newcastle in the early 1950s.
• Campaigning in opposition to attempts by NSW Liberal Governments to close the Newcastle railway line and the City's CBD train stations both in the early 1990s and mid 2010s.[37]
• Campaigning against the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Governments' plans to deregulate university[38] and reduce the HECS repayment threshold.[39]
• The introduction of a cap of 50% course weighting for all exams and the move to a restricted open-book format as the default option for final exams from 2016
• Lobbying the University to purchase up to 25% green power in the early 2000s as well as moving to become the first university in Australia to be powered by 100% renewable energy, and achieve carbon neutrality in the late 2010s.[40]