Hectic year ahead for new student president
	Head start: Harry Greenwell prepares for a busy year
By Shelly Simonds ANU Arts/Science student Harry Greenwell is taking a light class load this year. It is just as well, because as Students' Association President he will be extremely busy - sitting on the University Council, the Building and Grounds Committee, The Board of The Faculties and the Finance Committee, just to name a few. Other duties include managing the Students' Association's emergency loan program and second-hand book store; working as an advocate for students involved in disputes on campus; and the essential matter of representing ANU students in national affairs by lobbying government and responding to the media. "The difficult thing is that, in addition to all the student representative work, there's managing the office. We recently had to interview for a position and write a job contract. That's not something students usually have experience in. The challenge is not to let it distract us from the national policy issues," Mr Greenwell said. During January, the Association wrote a submission to the Federal Government review of Abstudy. "What we found very disappointing was that the government made the changes first and then called for a review. And now they ask that all recommendations be cost neutral. It's really a bizarre approach. We felt it was necessary to ask that funding for Abstudy be restored regardless," he said. Mr Greenwell said Abstudy was a proactive way to encourage Aboriginals to participate in higher education. In their submission, the Students' Association asked that Abstudy be retained as a separate assistance scheme rather than merged with the common Youth Allowance as the government has proposed. A Narrabundah College graduate, Mr Greenwell is finishing an Arts/Science degree in Maths and Philosophy. He served as the Students' Association's Secretary last year. As a student representative on the Board of The Faculties during 1995-97, he was heavily involved with a campaign to instate supplementary exams for students who narrowly fail a course. "This is a critical issue now with HECS increases - it's so expensive to repeat a course. We've been working on this project for 18 months and I'm very pleased it will be in place this year." One of the greatest challenges for the coming year was "getting something good" out of the West review of higher education, Mr Greenwell said. "Trying to apply market-based ideas to the university system is the wrong direction because you don't have anything like an open market in education," he said of the review. Mr Greenwell said the consequences of increased competition in education have to be more thoroughly considered. "Money spent on advertising and marketing isn't necessarily university money well spent," he said. Mr Greenwell also voiced concerns that the suggested reforms in the West paper could create an entrenched elite in higher education. Goals for the Students' Association this year include improving the emergency loan scheme and the second-hand book store; expanding the loan referral service for students who need access to credit in order to finance education; and raising the profile of the organisation among students. "We want to get the word out that we're not just about power games and working our way up the greasy poll. We really are here for students."