Freethought University Alliance

Couch Surfing at the 2012 Global Atheist Convention

// January 24th, 2012 // 3 Comments » // Announcement, Couch Surfing, Global Atheist Convention

The 2012 Global Atheist Convention is rapidly approaching and many students from around Australia are looking for a place to stay in Melbourne. The Freethought University Alliance is coordinating a couch surfing arrangement to provide students from around the country with a free place to sleep each night of the convention. With the price of registration and travel combined, the cost to attend the convention is already a challenge for many students. However, your kind offer of free accommodation for the weekend could make all the difference. If you as a fellow student, or a member of the atheist community have the ability to open up your home for a University student from elsewhere in Australia, we’d love to hear from you. Just fill out the form on our “Got a Couch?” page and we’ll be in contact with you when we have someone who may wish to stay with you.

If you are a University student from regional Victoria or interstate you can fill out the form on our “Need a Couch?” page. We will do our best to find you someone to stay with in Melbourne who is attending the convention.

“Got a Couch?”
“Need a Couch?”

Please know that we cannot guarantee accommodation for anyone. Even the matching of individuals does not guarantee accommodation. We are just facilitating the swapping of contact details, the final decision concerning whether or not to stay with an individual in Melbourne or to have an interstate student stay with you is your decision. As such we suggest you should ensure you are comfortable with the situation by corresponding via numerous means such as email, telephone, or Skype.

2012 Student Leadership Conference

// November 11th, 2011 // No Comments » // Announcement

Tickets on sale now!

Freethought University Alliance at the 2012 Global Atheist Convention

// August 28th, 2011 // 1 Comment » // Announcement

- Free 3-day passes for student leaders
- Travel and accommodation grants
- Student Leaders Conference

We’re excited to share with you that the Atheist Foundation of Australia has launched a student grant initiative which will offer an initial 10 free tickets to the 2012 Global Atheist Convention to the Freethought University Alliance.

The Global Atheist Convention, to be held in Melbourne in April 2012, boasts an impressive line-up of world renowned speakers including Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and many, many more.

The Freethought University Alliance will be allocating the free tickets to the 10 most active affiliated groups located outside of Victoria.

This list includes the following groups:

- Australian National University League of Extraordinary Atheists
- University of Newcastle Atheist Society
- Macquarie University Atheists League
- University of Wollongong Secular Freethinkers
- University of Sydney Atheist Society
- James Cook University Society of Atheist Philosophy
- University of Tasmania Atheists
- Bond University Rationalists, Skeptics and Thinkers
- Griffith University Skeptics and Freethinkers
- University of Western Australia Atheist and Skeptic Society

Allocation of the tickets will be at the discretion of the group, and decided upon by their own student committee. This could include competitions, fundraisers or splitting the costs of one ticket between a group of students to offer each student a small discount.

It is possible that a second round of grants may be announced at a later date, and it is our hope that we will be able to offer a free pass to every affiliated group with the Freethought University Alliance who are located outside of Victoria.

Travel and Accommodation Grants

Additionally, thanks to generous donations from organisations and individuals, the Freethought University Alliance will be offering a limited number of travel and accommodation grants for additional assistance to any student traveling from interstate. The allocation of such grants will be subject to availability and expressions of interest can be sent to scottsharrad@freethoughtalliance.org.au.

Student Leaders Conference

Finally, we would like to announce that the Freethought University Alliance has commenced planning for a “student leaders’ conference” to be held as part of a fringe event to the Global Atheist Convention. This will include lunch, workshops, student panels and guest speakers and take place on Friday 13th April 2012. We encourage students traveling from interstate to consider planning their itinerary to arrive on Friday morning or Thursday evening if they wish to take part in this event.

We will endeavour to keep registration for this event at a low cost to ensure it is accessible to all students attending the Global Atheist Convention.

New freethought clubs formed on Australian campuses

// October 29th, 2010 // No Comments » // Announcement

The Freethought University Alliance is pleased to welcome and affiliate a number of new clubs that have formed on campuses around Australia over the past few months.

Since the Alliance’s Inaugural General Meeting earlier this year, elected conveners from each state have been busy working behind the scenes to recruit students and affiliate clubs on new campuses, to give a voice to young Australian atheists, skeptics and humanists who want to promote science, reason and secular values.

The Rationalist Association of Monash (RAM) in Victoria will be headed by President Aaron Henriques and Vice President Alastair Tait. “We grew to nearly 100 members within a week of our official launch. Though we are still a small club, we expect to grow a lot more next year, and stand up at Monash University as banner for atheists, humanists and skeptics to unite under” said Henriques.

In Western Australia, Matt Jacob was elected President of the newly formed University of WA Humanist Association. “We only have a number of members for the moment but we’re growing” said Matt. “We recently hosted Guy Curtis, lead WA Senate Candidate from the Secular Party of Australia, who spoke about the current state of secularism in Australian politics. It was a great event.”

In Queensland, a new sub-group that will break off from an existing Philosophy Club called BURST (Bond University Rationalists, Skeptics and Thinkers) will be led by Olivia Lesslar and Ingrid Skiaker. Also in Queensland, the hard work of Jayson Cooke has seen the Griffith University Skeptics and Freethinkers expand to two more campuses, Nathan and Mt Gravvatt in Brisbane as well as the Gold Coast campus.

To get in touch with any of these clubs, please visit the Groups & Societies listing on the Freethought University Alliance website.

Jason Ball
President – Freethought University Alliance
jasonball@freethoughtalliance.org.au | 0407781406

TAM Australia

// June 19th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Announcement

The Amazing Meeting, or “TAM” is the biggest get-together in the skeptical universe, and in November 2010, TAM comes to Sydney, Australia!

The Freethought University Alliance is rounding up as many skeptical student leaders as possible to attend this fantastic event, with international speakers including James Randi, Simon Singh, Eugenie Scott, George Hrab, Brain Dunning and the entire cast of the Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast!

Early bird registration is now open, and will be available until July 4th – but hurry as these tickets are limited and are selling fast!

A number of great initiatives have been announced by TAM organisers, to help students attend the event, such as:

-$280 discount early bird price. Half can be paid at registration and the remainder must be paid by September 1st. To be eligible for an early bird ticket you must be a subscriber to the Australian Skeptic magazine ($44 hard copy or $22 digital) or be a member of the JREF (US$25).

- $150 reimbursement. Students who register for an early bird ticket can submit an application for $150 reimbursement. Submissions will be accepted soon via the TAM website, and will be judged on merit and special cases. Only x10 available.

- Accommodation Billeting. Come July, students will be able to register to be billeted up with a local TAM attendee, to help save on accommodation costs. All students based in Sydney, please consider registering as a host! Places are subject to availability.

So what are you waiting for? REGISTER NOW!

Host an atheist student!

// February 20th, 2010 // No Comments » // Announcement

Do you have a spare bed/couch/mattress?

Do you live near-ish to the Melbourne CBD?

The Freethought University Alliance are looking for people to host interstate student leaders attending the upcoming Global Atheist Convention (12-14th March). The convention, which will feature the likes of Richard Dawkins and PZ Myers, will be an opportunity for atheist student leaders from across the country to meet for the first time to discuss ways to unify and expand our growing student movement.

With the price of registration and travel combined, the cost to attend the convention is already a challenge for many students. However, your kind offer of free accommodation for the weekend could make all the difference. Please help the Freethought University Alliance in our quest to get as many students from all over Australia as possible to attend this spectacular event.

Please email anna@umss.org for more information.