Salient. Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 42 No. 2. March 5 1979
Exec The Retracted Resignation et al
Exec The Retracted Resignation et al
At the first SRC of 1979, the editors of the 1979 Handbook (Simon Wilson and myself) were criticised for appearing to prejudge the Executive in our introduction. It was not explained whether we should have made no comments on them at all, or should have merely mad innocuous comments, or exactly how we should have attempted to introduce the Executive. But that is now a problem for the editors of the 1980 Handbook, Salient is in the position to actually make some comments on the performance of the Exec on the basis of three month's observation.
The easiest member to assess is Man Vice-President Kevin Ward. Resigning after two days in office, both of which were spent in Australia, he could be described as a complete washout.
With the holidays, most of the other Exec members have not been very heavily involved in working in their positions. With the exception of Peter Edwards (Treasurer) and Andrew Tees (President) the others have been spending their time during the days involved, presumably, with their holiday jobs. In the case of Caroline Massof (Woman Vice-President), although at varsity for the whole time, she spent most of her time working in her capacity of Orientation Controller, and therefore she has not been able to spend much time on Exec business, although she was acting President for a short time during January.
Jonathan Scott (SRC Coordinator) has spent some time up-dating the SRC policy, and it looks as though Phil Sowman (Sports Officer) and Mike Carr-Greg (Cultural Affairs Officer) have been spending time setting up their jobs - their success will have to be judged once things start moving (or not as the case may be). It is not clear what Ian McElwee (Accommodation Officer) has been doing. In the meeting where the Exec discussed recommending to SRC that the position of Accommodation Officer be removed, he took no part in the debate whatsoever. When specifically asked what his opinions on retention of the position were he merely shrugged his shoulders and said that he thought there was a job that could be done, but that if the Exec decided to remove it.........he shrugged again and relapsed into silence .... One might have expected that a person who stood on a platform of building up the position would have made stronger opposition to the proposal. Helen Aikman (Publications Officer) has had little to do so far in connection with Publications as Salient has only just began so it is too early to really evaluate her performance.
Peter Edwards did not return to Wellington to properly take up office until the end of Janaury, but since has been working almost full-time, as both supervisor for the SCSP workers at Vic. and Treasurer. He has not been happy so far in his position, and at last week's Exec meeting he handed in his resignation. After much debate however he retracted it to "give the job a bit more time".
Edward's dissatisfaction arose from the belief that the Executive was "not working properly". People were pursuing their "petty power politics" rather than "working as a team". He commented at the Exec meeting that people seemed more concerned with pushing their own barrows than with representing VUWSA. While it is true that some Exec members hold definite political views, to complain that all the woes of Exec are caused by politicking amongst them shows a poor understanding of the situation. Most of the Execs of the 70s have run the complete gamut of political thought without the producing the sort of divisions that Edwards is complaining of.
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The SRC watches the Handbook Editors hoisted on high
There appear to be several reasons why these differences have produced such problems. The first one is that it is clear that there are some people in the Exec who just don't get on. Listening to tales of the amazingly petty disputes which have occurred, this seems the only conceivable explanation. But' these problems are no excuse for threats or resignation or petty obstructions. Exec members are elected to represent members of the Association, and this necessitates working together. It may have been recognition of this which caused Edwards to withdraw his resignation. However the causes of these problems are far from cured, and it will require far more than a few withdrawn resignations to make this Exec work properly.
Two essential ingredients for a successful executive appear to be lacking in VUWSA at present. The first is a proper recognition of the work that each member is responsible for. In theory (if not possible in practise at least recently) it is the Secretary (for 1979 John Hebenton) who is responsible for basing with the Office staff and sorting out their particular problems. As it happens Hebenton, neither this year or last, has taken this upon himself and it got left to Edwards to handle this side of the Association.
Edwards is not well suited to that type of work, and it places a great amount of pressure on him at a time when he should really be trying to come completely to grips with the complex finances of VUWSA, kindly endowed him by former Treasurer Stephen Underwood. It is certainly long overdue for Hebenton to pull his finger out and start doing the job he was elected for.
The other important ingredient is leadership. Somebody should be directing the efforts of the Executive, sorting out disputes amongst them and generally ensuring that everybody is working properly in their area. This is one of the most important functions of a President. This is one of the things that Andrew Tees has failed to do. The individual Exec members appear do do what they feel they should, when they are inclined and independently of the activities of each other. There [ unclear: appe] to be no leadership from the President, either in encouraging activities or the reverse.
As far as settling disputes within the executive goes, he appears completely out of his depth. The "Edwards Affair" is a case in point. It arose out of a pay dispute concerning the SCSP workers at VUWSA, and from there mushroomed in an increasingly petty fashion, as Tees apparently stood by and did nothing. Had he taken a stand the whole matter would have been resolved weeks ago.
Tees stood on a platform of "knowing" what students wanted, yet he doesn't seem to know what he wants, or at least be able to act confidently and surely. If he cannot win the confidence of his own Executive, what hope has he of winning the respect of the various bodies with whom he must negotiate on our behalf.
Peter Beach