SRC Report

The storminess of the last few SRCs meant that the prospect last Wednesday of a brief fairly uncontroversial one was very appealing to most. Apparently, though, it did not appeal to all. At least one person, Paul Norman, couldn't face the possibility of a (choke, gag, I can't say it!) short (yuck!) SRC and so singlehandedly went about making it a long one. I really did get the impression that Paul had got out of bed on the wrong side that morning.

Before all that started though, Anne Riddel, language and literature faculty rep, reported that a meeting of the faculty committee during the August vacation had been informed of the possibility of a resignation in the Italian department. With the university currently trying very hard to cut its spending, thanks to the Government cutting its grant, the person resigning probably wouldn't get replaced. There's only three of them anyway, so that could mean the Italian department will be "completely wiped out", said Anne. She asked anybody concerned about this prospect to express that concern to her.

Mr Norman then entertained the masses with a report on two meetings of the University Council's committee on site and building development and utilisation which recently discussed the fate of the Hunter Building. This report was in fact brief and informative. Paul said that the plan for retaining the building now involved bolting the outside wall to the back wall, unlike the previous proposal of "using all sorts of funny cements".

A lot of concern was expressed that the building would still be unsafe in an earthquake or high winds even after the reinforcement work had been done, he said, but it became apparent at the meeting that "a lot of the concern for safety was being used to discredit the proposals of the Friends of Hunter". Paul added that students should oppose plans to hold a competition to find a design for a replacement for the building unless a study, costing $30,000 is carried out to find out the cost of retaining its facade, so that entrants wishing to do so in their design can put in the costing.