La Trobe University Student Representative Council

There are two main student representative bodies at La Trobe University. The La Trobe University Students' Union is responsible for the Eagle Bar, Contact Student Services and so forth. The La Trobe University Student Representative Council consists of 9 elected office bearers and 7 elected general representatives. It also employs a student rights officer, an accountant and a class delegates organiser. The 2007 President is Sarah Cole.

History
During the 1970s and 1980s, La Trobe University, along with Monash University, was considered to have the most politically active student body of any university in Australia. The was a prominent organisation on campus, often with the cover of a front organisation sometimes encouraging the name 'La Trot'. The social activism of the university students is demonstrated by the following La Trobe students who were of a leftist persuasion that were all good friends at the time and played a major part in student politics; Bill Kelty from the ACTU and AFL Commissioner, former Treasurer Tony Sheehan, Don Watson, Geoff Walsh (Bob Hawke's press secretary, High profile union officials Brian Boyd, John Cummins and Garry Weaven, former federal treasury official and now Westpac CEO, David Morgan. Some other Labor figures and people from the left side of politics include Mary Delahunty, Phil Cleary. Despite the general socialist/leftist atmosphere several conservative corporate/business figures and Liberal politicians have also emerged from La Trobe.

Present
At present the student body at La Trobe is less actively involved in politics, as is the case at most other universities. Socialist Alternative, and National Labor Students (NLS), are still very active, with both the SRC and Union President coming from NLS. La Trobe student organisations (both SRC and Guild) have been largely run by NLS over previous years, in coalition with various independent groupings. The Federal Government's introduction of Voluntary Student Unionism (VSU) is beginning to again politicise students. This year (2007) in the SRC the office bearers are members of the NLS with also 2 independents and 1 member of the Greens

Related organisations
The SRC publishes a student newspaper, the notorious , which was the subject of a Federal Court case in 1995 after the Office of Film and Literature Classification ruled that it "...promotes, incites and instructs in matters of crime" because of an article on shoplifting (reprinted from elsewhere). Some members of Rabelais' editorial staff served prison sentences.

The SRC funds and administers Clubs and Societies. This body is responsible for funding the various student clubs on campus. The largest faculty-based student club on campus is the Law Students Association (LSA).

Postgraduate students are represented by the La Trobe University Postgraduate Association, a member of the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations.

The students at the Bendigo campus are represented by the Bendigo Student Association (BSA), a much less activist and political organisation than the student union. The BSA publishes the 3RD Degree.

The La Trobe University SRC is affiliated to the National Union of Students of Australia and sends 6 voting representatives to its annual conference in December.

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