An update from the GSA President: July 1st 2025
To my fellow graduate students,
Congratulations on making it halfway through the year! It has been quite the rollercoaster so far, and I hope you’ve found the time to rest and reset. For those who joined us at the End of Semester Party last Friday, it was fantastic to see you there and to celebrate your achievements with you. I hope you had a great time.
At the same time, we recognise that not everyone may be feeling celebratory right now. GSA acknowledges that a range of conflicts, crises and difficult events are unfolding around the world, and we recognise that this may be affecting many of you. We extend our empathy to all graduate students, along with your families, friends and communities during this challenging time. A list of relevant support services and resources is included in our full statement, which I encourage you to read.
I’d also like to share an important update:
Earlier this month, GSA published our Protest Rule Changes Report and sent a follow-up letter to the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Emma Johnston, outlining the concerns raised. While many of us were already aware of the widespread disagreement with the new protest rule, this report aimed to better understand why students felt the way they did, and to highlight the deeper impacts on student life and student’s rights.
Last week, the Vice President, General Secretary and I had the opportunity to meet with the Vice-Chancellor to discuss the findings of the report. We appreciated the University’s willingness to engage with us on this issue. While we were disappointed to hear that the new rules will not be rescinded, we are continuing to work with the University to ensure that students’ right to protest is meaningfully protected through the upcoming Student Misconduct Policy review later this year. I encourage you to familiarise yourselves with the current misconduct policy and share your experiences, concerns or feedback with us.
Further work will be done in collaboration with UMSU to explore ways to better balance the safety of students participating in protests with those who are not, as well as to clarify what constitutes ‘reasonable disruption’. GSA continues to advocate for student’s rights to peacefully protest, including in indoor spaces.
Additionally, we raised concerns about the Wi-Fi Terms of Use. While the University clarified that access to network data is limited to investigatory purposes, we discussed the need to better define what constitutes ‘misuse’ in today’s digital environment and to be transparent about exactly how this data is being stored and shared. Once again, I encourage you to read the updated Wi-Fi Terms FAQs to better understand how your data is managed. And as with the misconduct policy, if you have questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
As usual, you can reach me at president@gsa.unimelb.edu.au.
Stay warm and take care.
Yours sincerely,
Ethan Chou