Hi,
My name is Alex De Ville, and I am the President of the Rivcoll Student Representative Committee of Charles Sturt University Wagga campus, who were the subject of an article on the 12 February 2008 etitled: No-go-week for Christian O-Week by Joseph Smith.

This article was re-printed in the Wagga campus newspaper, the Hungappa Term 1 Week 1 2008, pp. 28-29.

The first set of paragraphs in this article are written in such a way that it appears that the Rivcoll SRC have only banned the Christian Fellowship from O-week activities on campus. This is not true. Rivcoll SRC have put into policy a previously unstated rule that all Rivcoll clubs are preferred to have no presence on campus during O-week due to the intensity of the programme, and the desire to encourage commencing students to bond with their fellow first years. The O-week programme at CSU Wagga is one of the most intensive of any campus in Australia, and includes compulsory sessions for all first year students for four of the five days of O-week. This means that the first years have a heavy information load in those four days. On the fifth day, most first year students are sorting out their enrolments, organising their timetables, and attempting to understand the university environment. CSU is one of the largest providers of Distance Education in Australia, and as such, has a vital online element – subject outlines, subject forums, all official communications, and enrolments are done in an online environment. This online environment means that there is intensive instruction regarding navigation and use of the university’s websites and online facilities.

In the second set of paragraphs, there is the Christians’ Response, in which it is stated that ‘in recent years university clubs were not allowed to make contact with students during the Monday or Tuesday of O-week’. There was a policy that stated this that dates back about 5 years, but was rescinded approximately 4 years ago. After this was rescinded, the ‘policy’ became unstated that clubs were preferred not to have a presence on campus during the first three days of O-week.

Mr Richard Wilson (who is one of the Visiting Spiritual Advisors at CSU Wagga and pastor for the Christian Fellowship) states that Rivcoll moved the official Clubs Day to the week after O-week because ‘a lot of other clubs couldn’t be bothered doing anything during O-week anymore...’ This statement is untrue. Many clubs were reticent to attend O-week because they understood that the programme is very intensive, and it was better for the first years to settle in to the university environment before they thought about which clubs to join.

Mr Wilson is stated as believing that ‘the SRC was under pressure from the orientation week leaders to ban club presence from O-week’. This is untrue. The ban was put into policy two months before the O-week Leaders were chosen for O-week 2008, so how is it possible that the SRC were under pressure from them?  In addition to this, Rivcoll finds it offensive that Mr Wilson believes that Rivcoll is able to be swayed by any one interest group on campus.

In the next set of paragraphs (entitled Christians will fight ban), it is stated that the ban was put into place in response to the behaviour of the Agricultural students.  Mr Wilson then goes on to state that it is difficult to pin the ban down to religious discrimination. It is not possible to claim that the Agricultural students are to blame for the ban, nor is religious discrimination to blame. All Rivcoll have done is put into policy something that was previously unspoken and was adhered to by the majority of clubs.
It is then stated that 6 campus clubs have been united and proactive in fighting the ban, seeking to overturn the rules in time for next year’s O-week’. The clubs in question wrote a letter to Rivcoll that was unfortunately full of inaccuracies and statements that were slanted.  This letter was signed by only one executive member of each of the clubs without the approval or knowledge of the other members of that club, including the rest of the executive, in many cases. This letter stated that ‘many students who come to uni have a strong interest in joining a spiritually based club which may not be appreciated by members of the SRC who don’t share that interest’, and suggested that the policies of Rivcoll were directly to blame for the ‘declining’ interest in clubs on campus, and the ‘declining’ social life on campus. 
Rivcoll is well aware that students are interested in joining spiritually-based clubs on campus. Many of the Rivcoll SRC members are involved in spiritually-based activities both on campus and in the wider community. In addition to this, Rivcoll have been very active in helping a new Christian club start on Wagga campus. Rivcoll finds the accusation that we are against spiritually-based clubs very offensive.

As to the accusation that Rivcoll are responsible for declining club involvement – there is no decline in club involvement. In fact, clubs like the Christian Fellowship and the Ag Rugby team are going from strength to strength. There are periods when interest in certain clubs declines (there was the demise of 3 clubs last year), but there are always new clubs starting up (there was 5 new clubs start up last year).

As to the accusation that Rivcoll are responsible for the decline in social life on campus – this is probably more due to the current economic climate whereby students are severely disadvantaged economically and it is necessary for them to work rather than simply study. This means that students are coming to their classes and then leaving the university to get to work, or to study because they need to work in other hours.

At the end of the article, there is a response from the Treasurer of Rivcoll, Kai Zauner.

Rivcoll feels that the entire article has been written in such a way that the truth of the situation is not fully explored or explained. Nowhere is it stated that this ban is for ALL Rivcoll clubs, but leans the reader towards believing that the ban is only for the Christian Fellowship. Rivcoll is uncertain why Mr Wilson believes that this ban is a case for discrimination, as it covers all clubs, and does not single out any one club for preferential treatment.

A.J De Ville,
President, Rivcoll SRC
CSU Wagga.

Thanks Alex, and welcome.

You state that

Alex De Ville - 22 February 2008 02:09 PM

The first set of paragraphs in this article are written in such a way that it appears that the Rivcoll SRC have only banned the Christian Fellowship from O-week activities on campus.

If it is of reassurance, I read the article in question reasonably carefully and this is not the impression I received. After all, in the article Joseph Smith says

[quote author="Joseph Smith"]The guidelines state that if a club wants to hold an event during O-Week it must be held off-campus.

[red mine :-) ]

which necessarily implies that the guidelines apply to any club, not just the Christian Fellowship.

So I wonder if your fears at this point may be unfounded.

Just a clarifying question, if I may.

You state that

Alex De Ville - 22 February 2008 02:09 PM

It is then stated that 6 campus clubs have been united and proactive in fighting the ban, seeking to overturn the rules in time for next year’s O-week’. The clubs in question wrote a letter to Rivcoll that was unfortunately full of inaccuracies and statements that were slanted.

However you said earlier that

Alex De Ville - 22 February 2008 02:09 PM

Many clubs were reticent to attend O-week because they understood that the programme is very intensive, and it was better for the first years to settle in to the university environment before they thought about which clubs to join.

I’m not quite sure how to put these two things together. If many clubs were reticent to attend O-week (and they must be the most timorous clubs in all of Australia, if my 16 years of experience with clubs on tertiary campuses is anything to go by), then it seems odd that six of them would bother to complain about being banned. How many clubs do you have? Perhaps the six represent a vocal minority.

And my goodness, the Riverina people must be significantly busier than people at the universities in Sydney, Melbourne and other capital cities of Australia if they can’t find time to have student groups operating on campus during Orientation week.

Anyway, thank you for taking time out from your schedule to clarify your views on the matter! I do have a few other questions, but the Uni keeps you very busy and I wouldn’t want to take you away from an extraordinarily crowded programme.

Gordon Cheng - 22 February 2008 02:25 PM

I do have a few other questions, but the Uni keeps you very busy and I wouldn’t want to take you away from an extraordinarily crowded programme.

Gordon, I find your sarcasm quite unbecoming and hardly conducive to further clarification/discussion.

Why do you think I’m being sarcastic, Angus? I’m assuming that what Alex says about the busyness of campus life at Charles Sturt is true. Do you doubt [her] word?

[edit. Sorry for the wrongly assigned gender!]

Gordon, I’m not going to play word games with you.

I didn’t read Gordon’s comment as sarcasm.
Email is a worry at times. Hard to catch the tone.

I think we miss the underlying stuff sometimes, and at other times see things that weren’t there.

Angus: excellent—that will leave Alex free to answer what I hope are some reasonable questions, raised by [her] committee’s surprising policy.

I’m operating on the charitable assumption that Alex is both being truthful, and here to discuss what [she’s] written.

[edit: apologies for the gender reassignment! Problem now fixed.]

Just to clarify a few things:
I am actually female. I know that doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but it makes it easier for people to relate…

Yes, actually the programme for O-week is very intensive. As i have said, the programme has compulsory sessions on four of the five days of O-week, and most of these sessions take all day. The online environment of CSU is vital to the students being a part of the CSU community, and takes quite a bit of understanding to navigate and use. I have looked at the programmes for the major universities in Australia, and have found that at most, the university runs the first two or three days with sessions that only pertain to the courses and some general information on the university community. The last couple of days at these universities are devoted to the student associations, wherein the Clubs Days are held.

At CSU Wagga, the Student Association (Rivcoll) are heavily involved in the compulsory sessions, and the night events that are on every night of O-week. Before VSU, Rivcoll were even more involved in the running of O-week, as we trained and organised the O-week leaders and coordinators. The university now run the o-week leaders and coordinators.

The decision that we have made is not as peculiar as has been intimated, considering the intensive nature of O-week here at CSU Wagga. It is not possible to apply what happens at universities in the city to what happens here.

In addition to this, the clubs have actually had the opportunity for more promotion than ever before. There was a flyer and individual brochures placed in the o-week showbags that were given to each of the first years, there was information on each one of the clubs in the univeristy newspaper which not only is in print form, but goes online, and the O-week Leaders were given flyers on the Rivcoll clubs to hand to students who asked for them. In previous years, none of this has happened, and any clubs who ahve come to O-week have had to rely on the few students who happen to pass them.

I am sitting here right now, in the Rivcoll office, with Clubs Day going on outside. There are literally hundreds of students here. We do not believe that the Rivcoll policy to ban clubs on o-week will affect the numbers joining clubs in any way.

One last thing - we have 35 clubs on Wagga campus.

David McKay - 22 February 2008 02:45 PM

I didn’t read Gordon’s comment as sarcasm.

Hi David. While my comprehension isn’t always what I’d like it to be, there was nothing that I could see in Alex’s initial post to indicate that she or anyone else at CSU Wagga would be exceptionally busy except for first year students, and only during those 5 days of O-week.

If Gordon had stated that “O-week” would be keeping Alex busy then I would have understood it as a genuine expression of concern. However, the combination of Gordon saying “Uni keeps you very busy” together with the hyperbolic “extraordinarily crowded programme” led me to understand this as sarcasm.

Hi Alex

Welcome to the SA forums and thanks for taking the time to respond to the article about Oweek.  I agree with you that the headline and wording of the article did imply that it was only Christian groups who were banned from Oweek. 

I will remember particularly the students and staff of CSU, particularly those who serve in SRCs and student clubs in my prayers. All the best for the academic year.

I suppose people will be able to make up their own minds by reading the article.

My apologies for the inadvertent sex-change, Alex. I will go back and edit accordingly. Thanks too for the clarifying responses.

If the students were in primary school or high school, I could see sense in the ban.

As it is, there’s a nanny-state feeling about the whole set-up. It doesn’t surprise me that there would be some backlash from enthusiastic student groups, and it shouldn’t surprise the people at Rivcoll that the situation might attract negative publicity.

It seems to me that the original article could probably plead ‘guilty’ to a slightly sensational headline ("News flash!: Paper prints sensational headline!"), but beyond that they have been really quite even-handed in printing a response from a Rivcoll committee member, and providing a forum like this where Rivcoll’s decisions can be defended at length.

I think the six clubs that wrote the letter expressing disappointment ought to be heard out, and that inviting them and the 29 other clubs that operate on campus would add rather than detract from the enjoyment of O-week.

Alex De Ville - 22 February 2008 04:10 PM

At CSU Wagga, the Student Association (Rivcoll) are heavily involved in the compulsory sessions, and the night events that are on every night of O-week.

Well, that does sound busy. What do these night events involve?

Ah
OK Angus.
I think i detect the tongue in cheek in the question about the night activities.

Hi all

I just wanted to respond to a few of the assertions made by Alex in her response, and to draw our attention back to a few issues she didn’t respond to. I have some interest in this topic as I was for several years the Vice President of Rivcoll and also a committee member of CF. A few of the decisions Alex referred to as being made several years ago I was actually party to.

I first want to deal with a correction Alex made of Richard’s comment:

Mr Richard Wilson (who is one of the Visiting Spiritual Advisors at CSU Wagga and pastor for the Christian Fellowship) states that Rivcoll moved the official Clubs Day to the week after O-week because ‘a lot of other clubs couldn’t be bothered doing anything during O-week anymore...’ This statement is untrue. Many clubs were reticent to attend O-week because they understood that the programme is very intensive, and it was better for the first years to settle in to the university environment before they thought about which clubs to join.

Actually the story is a little more complex. Towards the beginning of 2004 a meeting was held with the clubs executives. This meeting was not minuted, it was not evenly distributed across all the clubs (some clubs having one delegate, others having seven or eight, still others with none) and had no decision making authority (though people in attendance were unfortunately lead to think they did have said authority). It was “decided” at this meeting that a number of the members of the clubs didn’t want to come and have a presence during O week as it involved returning to Wagga a week early with the expenses and effort that ensued. The meeting then “decided” that to make things “fair” what needed to happen was that all clubs should be banned from attendance and all the crazy rules were dreamed up at this assembly. The then Rivcoll board, of which I was the Vice President - Education denounced the whole thing as the sham meeting it was, and asserted that student welfare was often well looked after by the clubs on campus. Yet ever since then this bizarre spectre of “no clubs on campus during O week” has haunted the campus.

I found it odd when Alex said:

After this was rescinded, the ‘policy’ became unstated that clubs were preferred not to have a presence on campus during the first three days of O-week.

Rivcoll Union (pre VSU) didn’t operate in unstated rules but in policies and bylaws that are voted on by the board (who were voted for by the students). If it isn’t written down then it didn’t exist.

The wierdest thing about this meeting was their idea that fairness involved everyone being equally disadvantaged. At that time CF members were sleeping in people’s lounge rooms and doing all sorts of things to make sure they could welcome the next bunch of Christian students in O week (and just hand out cordial to all the rest of the students). They were showing initiative and were have been chastised for it. 

The University’s programme is no more intense now than it was when there was a clubs day in O week. I remember my O week at CSU and there were many compulsory sessions but I don’t remember my involvement in the CF welcome night BBQ making the whole thing all a bit much. If anything it offered me the chance to feel ‘part’ the Uni community. As someone not living on campus, and not particularly interested in getting smashed at comedy night, this appealed to me.

When people arrive at Uni their “wants” vary. I don’t think it is controversial to suggest that Rivcoll cannot meet the individual student welfare needs of every single student on Campus. People slip through the gaps. That is where clubs come in. They meet niche needs that Rivcoll cannot. People can meet with others who share similar interests etc.

It was always my opinion that Rivcoll would have far more success selling itself as a great organisation in O week if there were more voices singing its praises. By getting clubs offside (or rather off site) with this policy the number of voices diminish.

Finally I want to be frank. The article states, and from my reading of Alex’s reply she makes no attempt to refute, that if anyone wore club clothing during O week there would be consequences for that club. If there were any posters on the walls promoting events, there would be consequences for that club. This is madness. It is fascism. Is my beloved Rivcoll to employ Gestapo to enforce such a policy? What is to stop me, a socialist, saying I “saw” a Liberal Party club T-shirt somewhere on the expansive grounds of CSU Wagga, invoking dire consequences for my political opponent? Alex, I’m not sure if you are still reading this thread but can I implore you to see what nonsense it is for the SRC to be stifling student initiative.

The University is Federal land. Anyone who wants to peacefully assemble on it may. Any organisation that seeks to prevent this is, to my reading, in violation of the UN Charter for Human Rights, the Constitutiion, Mabo and the vibe!

The University is Federal land. Anyone who wants to peacefully assemble on it may. Any organisation that seeks to prevent this is, to my reading, in violation of the UN Charter for Human Rights, the Constitutiion, Mabo and the vibe!

lol ;)

Yeah well said Stephen. It all has the whiff of Dodgy Brothers (or Sisters—after my previous gender gaffe I want to be evenhanded here) about it.

Not only Nanny State but illegal Nanny State. State as the beast of Revelation 13:2. Sorry, getting a bit carried away here, but you get the picture.