President

The bursaries march on April 11th, before Easter was a great success and a large measure of thanks for this should go to Geoff Adams, the Education Officer, who did a lot of the essential work preparing for the march behind the scenes. The success of the bursaries campaign to date has also been due to the fact that many students did not just sit back and do nothing, but were prepared to help in jobs such as handing out leaflets etc. One group even set up a stall downtown. Students also turned up in some numbers to the march itself even though it was pouring with rain.

Hopefully this series of events will mark a turning point; at least now people are seen to be prepared to back up their own association ($43) on what is after all a basic welfare issue of direct concern to students at large.

Of course a bursaries march is not the only way to pursue the problems of financial support for students, and VUWSA will be following up with further different forms of action for the rest of the year.

SRC; and we had the elections for people to represent VUWSA (i.e. you) at May Council of NZUSA. I will not be going. SRC chose to ignore the fact that I was elected President last year and instead chose one of the people who I defeated quite decisively in the election last year to represent you as one of the chief delegates. It would be fair to say that the majority of the rest of the delegates elected were of the usual politico character from that bastion of student opinion - the so—called 'Progressive' Students Alliance. Obviously there is a question to be asked; who should represent you at May Council? Those elected towards the end of a thinly attended SRC meeting of politico's or those who have substantial common electoral backing in the previous year's elections? Surely if someone is lucky / unfortunate enough to get elected by a simple majority to a key position-in the Association, then due recognition of that fact should be forthcoming. As it stands, people who last year were rejected by those of you who voted at the election have now been 'elected' by an SRC representing a small sectarian sector of opinion to purportedly represent you at May Council of NZUSA. It is up to students to pay due notice to these anomalies in their own association which after all they do pay $43.00; - or is so called' "democracy" (aborted) to continue?

As far as NZUSA itself is concerned; a bit of a crisis seems to be looming on the horizon. Canterbury after a series of General Meetings has voted to continue their projected withdrawal from NZUSA (your national union) for the time being. A[unclear: bin] ding referendum on the issue has again [unclear: bed] called for. Last year Canterbury students voted conclusively to withdraw in such a referendum. We need a national union to represent us on key student welfare issues at national level. Yet NZUSA is in danger Why is this? — In the past two years a [unclear: lard] body of students have expressed discontent with NZUSA and it's policies, which seem to be in many cases to be rather irrelevant to most students.

It has been demonstrated that this sentiment not only exists at Canterbury but also on other campuses. The problem really boils down to the individual campuses —Vic' included. The question of policies which alienate students will again be considered at the special general meeting next term. Come along and have your say on the role of the association then — it is your $4 and how you are represented, which are the issues at stake.

At May Council also, it is likley that at least 3 constituent associations of NZUSA will move to wind up student travel [unclear: bureai] Ltd. This is because they presumably have no confidence in the future of the [unclear: comp] and in at least two cases they feel that the debts of STB Ltd should be paid out of the surplus on the student travel card (ISIC)

Last year's Victoria executive decided to guarantee a pro rata share of a $125,000 overdraft facility to keep STB Ltd [unclear: opera] Some constituents are refusing to give such a guarantee, so May Council should prove to be interesting.

I hope you have an enjoyable May [unclear: hoi] and don't work too hard - Take Part [unclear: in] Capping Week.

Andrew Tees