What’s the point of SRCs?

Ask any aspiring student politician what a student representative council or SRC is and you’ll always get the rhetoric, “it’s the highest and only student decision-making body recognised by the Higher Education Act”.

While that might sound impressive, it’s not exactly empowering. Reading through the Act, the greatest power afforded to any SRC is the requirement to consult them on certain policy matters before a decision is taken to another body of which the SRC is a mere fraction. It’s no wonder why any news of the limited policy action of an SRC is overshadowed by the political power plays.

We’ve had Tshwane University of Technology suspend its president, Wits suspend its SRC and, most recently, Tuks apparently suspending candidates in Economic Freedom Fighters’ student command seemingly after contesting and winning an election. I may as well add the UCT dude who got suspended due to a guilty finding in his rape case.

Nothing new

It’s nothing new. Back in 2010, I was serving on the University of the Free State SRC that got klapped with suspension. Did it change anything? I wish I could answer in the affirmative but if you just google “SRC” news, you have to get through five pages of misconduct and suspension news before getting to any policy graft… and then realise that’s news of the Zimbabwean Sports and Recreation Commission, not student representative councils.

It’s beyond pathetic that what is supposed to be an empowered policy driving student body is almost always reduced to a protest organising fundraising committee. Seriously? You need elections to do that?

Just set up an NGO if you really care that much about raising money for student inclusion. If there’s nothing going on from a policy level then who cares that you’re the “highest and only student decision making body recognise by statute”?

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SRC’s

It’s not like protesting things you don’t like and raising funds for the poor are difficult decisions. Being a functional SRC is a drastic hardship. Your term typically starts at an inconvenient time halfway through the second semester so right as transition happens, there’s gearing up for year-end exams.

Over the December break, good luck getting the team together; especially when many are there to pad their CVs and not to do any work. As the year starts, it’s all the festivities, followed by the inevitable exclusion and deregistration fights and then you’re already halfway through the term and nothing has been achieved.

As you realise this, you can try push for some policy change but with only one council and two institutional forum meetings left in your term, it’s not like you have much scope to push anything through. And even if you did, you’d have forgotten all the lobbying you’d need to do and get outvoted anyway.

Leaders

No wonder these “leaders” resort to the lowest hanging fruit to maintain some form of relevance. It’s been over a decade since hearing of any SRC doing actual policy work. It’s too much effort for those who are fixated on their own survival, rather than the wellbeing of students. Yes, there must be times when the representatives of students must be vocal, take some action and show their force.

Is that the job of an SRC though? Not according to me and certainly not according to the Higher Education Act. Students, protest all you want under the guidance of your SRCs but do so in the knowledge that those SRCs have seats in places where decisions are made; the same decisions that make you unhappy and desirous of protest.

It’s a bad sign of our student leadership if they can’t lobby with the seats they have and, instead, turn into event management committees.

What’s the point of SRCs? To deliver for students and be their representatives. It would be great if that could be done at a policy level again.

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