Student Unionism, Sydney

These articles outline the struggle of the University of Sydney Union to purge a dissident student politician from of leadership. He had previously earned the irk of the union through arranging an atheist boycott of the union led interfaith week and through speaking out strongly against the Catholic pro-life group LifeChoices¹. In his latest endeavor Raue was accused of leaking confidential union information regarding the university’s complicity in alleged police brutality surrounding industrial action². The issues raised are the nature of student culture, secularism, tolerance and institutional relationships with religion and the interplay between these factors. Leadership and responsibility are also raised, with a tension between Raue’s personal convictions and his leadership responsibility to responsibly create a culturally active campus, both in his opposition to public religious culture and in allegations of illegality. Thirdly the dynamic between education, the state and oppression are raised, in which a union leader potentially illegally leaks information that reveals that the university is collaborating with state violence to oppress a student uprising and stifle industrial action. Ultimate questions of autonomy, self directness and entire political systems can be extrapolated from this. These issues tie in with course readings in that democracy (anti-religionism) is contrasted with culture (a cultural celebration of religion on campus), similar to the Giroux reading³. It also touches on the cultural imperialism of a white atheist attacking other more cultural-religious traditions. I wonder if he celebrates Christmas the way the Anglo academic calendar allows him to, yet seeks to stifle minority religions from expressing themselves on campus. There is also a suggested need to fight cultural politics to overcome wider political challenges, in line with the Apple reading⁴. This certainly seems to be a theme of Raue’s, in pursuing a better campus and education for students he believes in taking the fight to the institution of the university and state. In order to protest for a better learning and academic environment as part of a wider leftist project Raue seems to have had no issue fighting the university administration very hard and very publically. Perhaps I get ahead of myself, but he does seem like a typical post-Chrisendom white middle class educated male who presumes to disrupt lectures in order to improve education and fights the Catholic church (LifeChoices) as a self anointed feminist.
I personally think that it is for Sydney University to decide what kind of student union they want. If they want a culturally subversive union that fights for the great leftist narrative of student control and autonomy then Raue is the perfect candidate. His alleged illegal leaking activities in that light would be in perfect continuation with the revolutionary union leader. If instead they want a culturally focused campus then Raue perhaps should be seen as doing the union a disfavour and an impediment to the celebration of multiculturalism, in his own subversive and classically white leftist cultural imperialistic way. This, mercifully, is a matter for Usyd to agonise over.

1.     Adam Chalmers, “USU Board Censures Tom Raue,” Honi Soit, August 31, 2012, http://www.honisoit.com/2012/08/usu-board-censures-tom-raue/.

2.     Max Chalmers, “Student Union Moves to Sack Whistleblower,” New Matilda, October 9, 2013, https://newmatilda.com/2013/10/09/student-union-moves-sack-whistleblower.

3.     Henry A. Giroux, “Living dangerously: Identity Politics and the New Cultural Racism: Towards a critical pedagogy of representation”, Cultural Studies, 7 (1) (1993): accessed October 9, 2013, doi: 10.1080/09502389300490021. 1-2.

4.     M. W. Apple, Cultural Politics and Education, (New York: Teachers College, 1996).