Salient. Official Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 41 No. 9. April 24 1978
Executive Cut and Thrush
Executive Cut and Thrush
Here I am in the Board Room, come along to keep an eye on the boys (there are a lot of boys on exec at the moment, all enthusing about Looking for Mr. Goodbar as they enter... but that's another story). I am also curious about the sunset which one Salient reporter has written on at length, but no, those days are gone (Now is the winter of Lindy Cassidy's discontent?)
There wasn't much for the exec to do: a small matter of a technical misappropriation of funds, some ritual mudslinging at the Students' Arts Council, a semantic wrangle over where SRC officers and clubs could best be hidden, a bit of arguing over sweatshirt prices, and some long term wishful thinking about the university's slide into the Aro St. Valley... a somewhat jovial affair all round really.
So much for Culture
Except perhaps in spirit, the Cultural Affairs budget didn't get cut. That's the standing joke on executive these days, by the comment, "Take it out of Cultural Affairs." They don't always do it, but it's happened often enough to give the joke a cutting edge. Cultural Affairs had $6,000 not so long ago, last year it was $3,500 and now it's $3,000. Exec recently decided to increase the levy to the Students Arts Council: more money for culture? Not a bit of it, the cash came straight out of of Cultural Affairs.
But down to business. Sports Officer Peter Thrush gave a fine display of how to look involved by taking an early monopoly in a discussion of the Hello Sailor concert. The way he and others put it, you'd would think it was a clean open and shut case of the Arts Council taking VUWSA for a ride, but the valiant exec are having none of it. At issue was the question of who was doing whom a favour by having booze sold. Affliction with a simple case of pedantry all round, I'd say.
Capping is going to make a loss. Not that the capping controller, Spiro Anastasiou, is incompetent (the mere fact that he was able to pinpoint the exact amount of the loss in dollars and cents — $239.54 — must form a remarkable testimony to his ability) but for some reason the ball isn't expected to produce any revenue.
"Do they anyway?" asked Thrush.
"Well I've made money on them," replied Treasurer Steve Underwood, momentarily distracted from loading another six rounds into his calculator. Thrush then tried a measure of financial scare tactics over the viability of balls in general, and one in particular he was associated with. So Underwood blew nonchalantly into the battery chamber of his machine and remarked, "He tried to blame me too, the bastard." Your humble reporter is not cognisant of all the facts but it could very well have been something to do with last year's Easter Tourney, for which Thrush's name is still held to be mud around the country. Nothing personal, Peter.
Chunder Blunder
It was then discovered that no allowance had been made for the pies to be... shall we say... "utilized"... on the chunder mile. The sensible thing, of course course, is to get a sponsor to donate them, the mouldier the better, but Thrush had an another idea. "They should bucket chunder and make people eat it," be suggested. Salient is considering offering a prize to the first person to correctly guess on the day which option they choose.
Don't think I'm getting at Thrush, but I wouldn't feel competent it I didn't give him the proper attention due to one who was attending his last ever exec meeting. SRC Coordinator Peter Winter was also in a state of imminent retirement, but he took a rather different attitude. Fact of the matter was, he hardly contributed a thing while he was there and took the first opportunity (when Lindy Cassidy bent down to look at someone's shoes under the table) to leave.
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Peter Thrush promoting music and sport.
Speaking of chunder, it appears the Friends of Hunter made lots of lovely lucre at a fundraising do and Welfare Officer Andrew Tees threw up all over the exec workroom floor. But enough of telling tales.
Breaking down the Barriers
A straightforward piece of information came up at this stage. For a while now some members of the gardening/caretaking staff have been pushing for study leave to enable them to do some varsity work. It seems that a loophole in the regulations governing non-academic staff has allowed the powers-that-be to block this. But now, after a Chancellor/Thrush motion was passed at the University Council the way is clear.
However the decision will only apply to this year, "with no precedent being established", and the NZ Vice-Chancellors' Committee has been asked to comment. Could it be some people are worried that two hours a week study leave will destroy a hallowed tradition of job stratification? (Underwood's comment that the two Geology employees also involved usually spend their time breaking rocks is to be ignored).
Tourney Titbits
Victoria came fourth at Easter Tourney, behind all the biggies. "Do we usually do well at sport?" queried Cassidy:
"We would have won last year if we'd been allowed to count up the points the way we wanted to," replied Thrush. But apparently we do have the record for the wooden spoon.
(One little piece of information that didn't come out at the meeting was the conduct of one of our team captains (who had better remain nameless). Seems this chap thought it would be a jolly sporting idea to flood one of the hostels. Not content with that he tried to flood the Canterbury Union's lovely ballroom and for an encore was going to convert a car. That's when he was stopped. Someone else had got there before him and dropped out the gearbox.)
Back to the meeting. Exec decided that the little room on the middle floor of the Union building (which SRC ruled some weeks ago would be the exclusive realm of SRC officers) is now to be the exclusive domain of the SRC officers. Shows you how many exec members listen at SRC. Clubs are to be given the little room on the top floor, and everyone is to get their own locker. Whoopee-do.
Thrush seems to think that SRC officers shouldn't complain even if they can't swing a mouse by its tail in the confined space, they've got their own telephone haven't they? The bookshop, according to Underwood, is going into the large room above the theatre. What large room? The one you can see from the Olympic swimming pool on the city side of the library of course, but more of that later.
Kevin Callinicos introduced the subject of sweatshirts (long sleeved variety). He wanted the association to invest in 250 at a cost of $10.40 each. When it was pointed out that only 100 T-shirts had been sold it was decided to lower the order to 100. They will retail to students at $12 each, that sum being the Cassidy compromise between Underwood's high price insurance against loss and Thrush's low price genuine service to students (such a wonderful chap).
Get it while you can?
Some people might remember a strong bid by most exec members to deny the travel expenses of Vic delegates to NZUSA policy workshops in Christchurch. They lost and four people were elected at SRC to go (Massey sent 25). Some people might also remember that Wellington airport was closed on the relevant Saturday,
Now it so happens that all four delegates were given their flight money on the Friday and only one of them actually flew down that night. The rest couldn't get there, but on Monday where was the money? Obviously there was no dire need to get it back, but it transpires that one member of the delegation, the education rep Sue Cairney didn't have it anymore. Her promise to pay it back when bursaries came out is not, methinks, a suitable excuse for having spent it in the first place.
Pie in the Sky
There were two more items of note. Everyone is pretty pissed off at the attitude of the Catering Management towards their job. The restaurant has been struggling bravely on all year with poor attendances, yet although it fulfills an obvious need the general outlook is not "We must make this work," but "It'll have to go." Last week attendances actually started to pick up so the place closed early. The reason? Not enough food. There's going to be a big stink soon if something doesn't happen.
Just before this came up Cassidy gazed into the distance and began talking about the way the university is expanding away from the Student Union Building. (That enormous concrete slab by the bike park isn't a runway for the Vice Chancellor's private plane, it's the start of a new building).
Thrush and Underwood came to the rescue with the exciting piece of news that the university architects (Kingston, Reynolds, Thom and Allardice, the people who brought you most of the scenic delights around campus) have a colour drawing in their office of an extension to link the recreation centre with the SUB. As well as the aforementioned swimming pool it contains tennis courts and an administrative tower. Building on top of the theatre has always been intended, but that's an insignificant part of this plan.
Back to earth, Underwood reckoned there were ways of enhancing the present building, like (you guessed it) a pub. If the restaurant proves viable enough to keep open this is quite on the cards, so watch out.
There's one thing about that architectural proposal: have they forgotten what Salient went to some pains to discover and reveal last year, that they're going to build a chapel thereabouts... ?
Simon Wilson