Australian National University Students' Association is the students' union of the Australian National University (ANU). It is better known by its acronym, ANUSA. ANUSA acts as a representative body for the undergraduate, postgraduate and research students of the Australian National University, while also providing a number of goods and services to those students.

Not to be confused with ANU Union, a not-for-profit association that once managed retail operations in the former ANU Union Building.

Until June 2023, the Postgraduate and Research Students' Association acted in an equal capacity to ANUSA at the Australian National University as a representative body for postgraduate students. Since July 2023, ANUSA has been the sole representative body for all students at ANU.

Objective The objectives of the Australian National University Student Association are: To promote the welfare of, and further the interests of, undergraduate students To work for quality and equity in higher education To afford a recognised means of representation for undergraduate students within the university and the wider community To foster community, equity and diversity within the university

As a recipient of a student services and amenities fee, the ANU utilizes ANUSA under its formal process of student consultation as required by the Student Services, Amenities, Representation and Advocacy Guidelines (Representation Guidelines).

History Key events

"Wadgate" The 1996 ANUSA elections saw the losing "Rage" ticket embroiled in scandal. 146 votes for the "Rage" presidential candidate Daniel Jenkins were excluded by the Returning Officer after allegations of ballot stuffing. The fraud was discovered when a student sitting in a cafe saw a voter attempt to stuff a wad of ballots into the ballot box. When the Returning Officer opened the ballot box, five wads of ballots were found, all of which gave their first preference to Jenkins.

Facilities and services ANUSA moved into premises in the Concessions Building in Union Court in 1999, following a major refurbishment. The Brian Kenyon Student Space was opened in 2011, named after Brian Kenyon, who drove ANU's late night bus for 26 years until 2014.

Recent history

2024 Pro-Palestine Protests

In April 2024, following Israel–Hamas war protests on university campuses in the United States, ANUSA and a number of other societies and clubs staged their own pro-palestine encampment on Kambri lawns. Rallies by members of the encampment as well as counter-protests by Jewish students occurred in the following days, attracting local and national media attention, as well as a notable police and security presence similar to other universities in Australia.

List of presidents of the students' association

The following students served as President of the ANU Students' Association

1962 Don Brewster 1963 Chris Higgins 1964 Tony Hartnell 1965 John Yocklunn, Peter Paterson 1966 Keith Baker – SRC/ John Yocklunn – ANUSA 1967 Alan Brooks 1968 Alan Brooks 1969 Bob Erwin 1970 Mark Cunliffe 1971 Michael Wright 1972 Richard Refshauge 1973 1974 Michael Dunn 1975 Julius Roe 1976 Liz O'Brien 1977 Jon Nicholson 1978 Peter Cardwell 1979 Stephen Bartos 1980 Louise Tarrant 1981 Jeffrey Dalton 1982 Gary Humphries 1983 Bill Redpath 1984 Peter Taylor 1985 Lesley Ward 1986 Neil McFarlane 1987 Kate Andrews 1988 Andrew Major 1989 Mary Todd 1990 Jon Coroneos 1991 Elizabeth O'Leary 1992 Amanda Chadwick 1993 Kath Cummins 1994 Caitlin Wyndham 1995 Hamish McPherson, Craig Cork, Pip Bolding 1996 William Mackerras 1997 Matt Tinning 1998 Harry Greenwell 1999 Helen Stitt 2000 Russell Egan 2001 Maciej Wasilewicz 2002 Joanne Yin 2003 Steve Michelson 2004 Max Jeganathan 2005 Aparna Rao 2006 Laura Crespo 2007 Claudia Newman-Martin 2008 Jamila Rizvi 2009 Sham Sara 2010 Tully Fletcher 2011 Leah Ginnivan 2012 Fleur Hawes, resigned, Dallas Proctor 2013 Aleks Sladojevic 2014 Cameron Wilson 2015 Ben Gill 2016 Ben Gill 2017 James Connolly 2018 Eleanor Kay 2019 Eden Lim 2020 Lachlan Day 2021 Madhumitha Janagaraja 2022 Christian Flynn 2023 Ben Yates 2024 Phoenix O'Neill 2025 Will Burfoot

Structure

Membership ANUSA is an association of ANU's more than 24,000 students. There is only a single class of membership. An ANU student is a member of ANUSA provided that they have not written to the General Secretary of the Association specifically stating that they do not wish to be a member of the Association. The provision to opt out of membership is rarely exercised.

Finances ANUSA is financed by a block grant from the university, using revenue collected from the Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF). In 2016 ANUSA was allocated $1,681,535 by the university, or 32.6% of the total SSAF revenue collected.

Student advocacy Whilst ANUSA is affiliated with the National Union of Students (NUS), it did not pay accreditation fees in 2016 due to concerns about the efficacy of NUS and issues relating to student wellbeing at the NUS National Conference. This resulted in its voting rights being suspended at the NUS National Conference that year. In 2017, the body reaccredited to the NUS, however failed to accredit in 2018 again after the NUS did not meet a number of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) passed by the ANUSA SRC.

References

External links ANUSA Website Woroni Undergraduate Newspaper