BY REBECCA MECKELBURG
ADELAIDE — Despite the presentation of a petition signed by 80 students which called for the re-affiliation of the Flinders University M1 Action Group, the May 16 student council meeting of the Students' Association of Flinders University (SAFU) voted against re-affiliating the group.
The right-wing dominated student council had originally voted to disaffiliate the M1 Action group just one week before the M1 (May 1) anti-corporate blockades of stock exchanges around the country. Elicia Savvas was the only student council member to oppose disaffiliation.
At the May 16 meeting, 15 students from the M1 group attended to argue that the original disaffiliation motion be rescinded and that the group be re-affiliated. They asked the council to provide reasons for the disaffiliation and to explain why the M1 group had not been consulted prior to its disaffiliation.
The students argued that the M1 group had been the most active association on campus this year. They also argued that students should have the right to form action groups in the Students' Association.
After one-and-a-half hours of "discussion" and red-baiting the re-affiliation motion was defeated by a bloc vote of Student Unity councillors. Student Unity is aligned with the right-wing faction of the Labor Party. Only four councillors voted in favour of re-affiliation.