Salient: Victoria University Students' Paper. Vol. 27, No. 4. 1964.

SGM Reverses — Exec. Decision

SGM Reverses

Exec. Decision

Students have allowed their executive to make statements on moral, political and religious issues which do not directly concern the Students' Association.

Helen Sutch moved that a previous executive resolution, which prevented any such statements being made, should be rescinded. The motion was passed at the Special General Meeting of the Students' Association held on Monday, March 23.

Miss Sutch in her opening speech claimed that the Students' Executive should have the right to speak out on certain issues, even if it did not exercise this right. She said that by rescinding the motion the students would be "taking the gag out of their own mouths".

A member of the Executive said that if the Executive was to speak out on such issues it would be using its position to influence the public—the Executive was elected to make opinions on student affairs and not other matters. The next speaker pointed out that it is the nature of students not to agree on any one issue. Therefore it would be wrong for the Executive to make a representative statement of student opinion because it would be committing some students to view's that they did not necessarily hold.

Answering this, another speaker said that the Executive could only be expected to reflect the general opinion of the majority which is characteristic of any democratic government.

One speaker believed this was the only Students' Association he had heard of which excluded its right to comment on anything except what is related to its own "personal petty life." Another said that by gagging itself in such a stupid way the Executive showed that it had no confidence in itself.

The motion was discussed for and against for about an hour and a half. One of the last speakers remarked at the beginning of his speech "I'm in a bit of a dilemma actually because there are two sides to this question". Many people showed that they agreed with him. The motion was carried by a majority of 84 to 16.