Lincoln

"I suppose it is government interference in student affairs, but we aren't keen to make a statement on it one way or another another"—Lincoln President Guy Macindoe at National Exec, 18 February.

Of all the threatened withdrawals, Lincoln's is the easiest to understand. The Lincoln College Students Association has never wanted NZUSA to be a political organisation. In its opinion work should be centred exclusively on education and welfare. How even these areas are approached without getting into the political arena has never been adequately explained, but it is clear that international issues and those of a direct political nature (like the SIS act and abortion) Lincoln thinks NZUSA should have no part.

This has meant that the current President Guy Macindoe consistently abstains in voting on such issues. Lincoln does not necessarily oppose NZUSA policy on, say, superpower contention, it just does not think there should be any at all. No other campus takes such an extreme view, and some (particularly Victoria) argue very strongly that NZUSA must play a strong role in placing student requirements in their broader context, must work to make students aware of the wider community around them, and must fight political attacks on student welfare and education in a political way.

If the organisation is working for better bursaries it is immediately dealing with government. If it is campaigning against racism it is doing no more than saying that we have a responsibility to combat injustice because not to do so is, in effect, to condone it. It is probably fair to say that from NZUSA's point of view, adopting an apolitical role would be tantamount to admitting that universities are ivory tower institutions which owe nothing to the community around them and have no effect on that community. Lincoln, as far as can be ascertained, argue that universities are educational institutions and should function within an educational ambit. In the end it gets down to the question of how one defines education.

I say all this because the most significant thing about Lincoln's position is their request for a qualitative difference to NZUSA's makeup. How this might come about so that NZUSA remains even potentially worthwhile is not at all clear,

It is interesting to look at Lincoln's attitude to bursaries. Last year when every other campus was campaigning vigorously for significant increase in the STB Lincoln's stand was opposed to any increase at all. While the other student papers carried stories and graphics summarising the student plight Lincoln's Caclin ran a cartoon of a student sitting in his study surrounded by expensive toys: stereo, skis, etc., writing a letter to the Minister of Education demandinga bursary increase.

Yet this year, after Lincoln students have faced probably their hardest holiday employment situation ever, a large number of them are reported to have applied for the hardship allowance. Therein lies the clue to Lincoln's position. Most of its students do not see the relevance of most of what NZUSA does, and possibly to not know how it works in those fields where they do accept its presence. NZUSA leaders had to do some hard political lobbying to get that hardship allowance.

Lincoln is committed to the principle of a national student organisation, but does not feel it is being adequately served at the moment., either by policy or by the present setup.

It wants the positions of NVP and IVP scrapped and a Welfare Vice President created in their place. It wants one of the Research positions eliminated, and commercial operations scaled down even further than is at present happening.