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Salient. Official Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 41 No. 8. April 17 1978

NZUS'A Handbook

NZUS'A Handbook

"If National Office can't see how offensive this is to Lincoln students then it just shows how far removed they are"—Lincoln President Guy Macindoe at the National Executive meeting, March 12. "The book has failed. It split us. We handed it out as a joke"—Andrew Guest, March 12.

The debate over the NZUSA Handbook is one of the clearest indications of all of the kind of problems NZUSA is trying to cope with. On the one hand the handbook is an uncompromising account of policy and that has not enamoured it to many, on the other the constituents were given ample opportunity to supervise its content, did not take sufficient advantage of this and rushed to blame National Office.

Photo of people sitting at desks

Lincoln's Guy Macindoe turns to face an unseen protagonist, while Auckland's Mervyn Prince, SSH director Bob Lack and Vic's Lindy Cassidy keep a watchful eye.

I doubt if anyone will now deny that the Handbook does go too far in certain areas. For example, NZUSA has a lot of policy opposing various pieces of legislation brought in by both parties in recent years. But there is nothing which specifically aligns the organisation against one particular party. Thus the adjoining photographs of Muldoon and South American troops in full battle dress, with the caption "Many students think the joker on the right and his mates are planning to use these types below," have been singled out by many constituents as indicative of the sort of thing which is guaranteed to drive a lot of students away from NZUSA. There are eight pages of songs which are widely considered a waste of space.

However, as Victoria President Lindy Cassidy has said, the Handbook "can't be apolitical because NZUSA is a political organisation." Constituents accepted last year that a main aim in bringing it out was to spread information on NZUSA's policy. The point has been made several times that if constituents now object to the content the proper thing to do is change policy. Arguing against its presentation has often been merely a smokescreen for policy complaints.

Nevertheless, there are many things the Handbook does not do. These have been best expressed, not by the South Island Presidents who are in the forefront of the opposition to it, but in the Auckland student paper Craccum. There is no diagram to explain the structural workings of the organisation, and no budget. There is little in the way of practical advice on getting activities underway, from social events to political lobbying. There are no lists of organisations which can help students with landlord hassles, childcare facilities, etc. Assuming that students do accept the policies of NZUSA (and there must be something for everybody in there somewhere) there is nothing which can help them get in touch with like minded people.

Given these criticisms, we must turn back to National Office's explanation of how the Handbook came to assume its present form. Firstly, a page plan was distributed to all constituent presidents. No one made any comment. The copy was available and presidents were invited to inspect it. They didn't. Photos like the one of the South American soldiers are there because campuses were asked to provide National Office with photographic, and graphic material and by and large they didn't. It was a National Exec, decision to include songs. Again, copies were circulated; again there was no comment.

Nevertheless complaints abound. Some are misdirected some are petty, some are merely an excuse to attack NZUSA, but many are valid. The style in which policy is presented has alienated a lot of students.

It is not a valuable exercise to rush in and point the finger. Constituent presidents did not fully appreciate their own overseeing responsibilities National Officers were out of touch with the probable reaction and possibly out of touch with each other, and no one had enough foresight to ensure that proper communication channels were kept open and USED. Everyone will be wary of making the same mistakes again.