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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 38, Number 10. 22nd May 1975

Editorial

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Editorial

'NZUSA's policy is made by twice yearly Council meetings in May and August each year. All local Students Associations are represented by delegates who vole in line with decisions of general meetings, student council or SRC meetings on their campuses'. 'NZUSA's main function is as a trade union seeking the best possible working and living conditions for its members. It also takes stands on wider issues on which students, through their representatives, have expressed their collective views.'

NZUSA is your Union 1975.

There is a great deal of significance in the placing of this year's May Council at Waikato University. Waikato runs its students association affairs through SGMs. The quorum for SGMs is 20. The number that normally turns up is less than 20. This Council Waikato abstained on nearly half the motions because it had no policy. For the motions they did vote on, the policy, often as not, came from the Executive not SGMs.

It would be hard to say that Waikato's reps. at Council truly represented Waikato students — but at least they did abstain on the many things they had no policy on. However, most of the other delegations at Council voted against policy decided by students on more than one occasion. Most delegations: voted on contentious issues without any policy from students. The general feeling of many people at the Council was that students mattered for very little and that student decisions often acted as a hindrance to the noble task of deciding NZUSA policy,

At one stage during Council a legal opinion was asked for when Auckland delegates seconded a motion in direct opposition to general meeting policy of Auckland students. No legal opinion being forthcoming, the Auckland delegates went on to vote against the policy of their students! 'NZUSA ... can only really be effective If you participate actively in student affairs'.

NZUSA is your Union 1975.

It wasn't just that student leaders tend to ignore the wishes of students and vote accordingly but that they didn't seem to be too worried about getting students active. Instead they wanted to expand the top echelons such as NZUSA. Students are just getting a grip on NZUSA now but if the bureaucratic machine is continually expanded they may never be able to fully control their representatives. It is time for a moratorium on NZUSA's growth until democracy exists at constituent levels.

Victoria opposed the planned National Union of tertiary students (NUS) on the grounds that it was building unity from the top and not the bottom (such as through local area councils). But it would appear that the unity of NZUSA still comes mainly from the top and not the bottom. Still, many NZUSA policies rely on only one or two direct expressions of student opinion at campus level. Much of the policy is still based on the personal viewpoints of delegates to Council. And these delegates are generally appointed by executives and presidents rather than directly elected by the local student body — so they don't really have the excuse that they were elected to (mis) represent students.

I have tried comparing the optimistic statements of the pamphlet NZUSA is your Union to the realities of this year's May Council to show that all is not well in the national body of university students. Mind you, things aren't as bad as last Council when Victoria introduced the novel policy of abstaining on major issues they had no policy on and became an object for ridicule — now Waikato are following in our steps and other delegates are being a bit more careful in their voting.

May Council did have this good side: things are improving slowly as regards democracy. But at the same time the bureaucracy in NZUSA is also expanding (viz the pay rises for elected officials). However, what are probably the most important aspects of Council are the commissions where students active in the various fields get together to find out what's happening on other campuses, plan strategies, pass on ideas, work out priorities and decide how national officers can best help them.

There were a lot of new faces at this May Council and most of them would have found the commissions quite useful even though national officers did tend to be a bit harsh in their chairing. Overall this May Council showed signs that democracy was creeping into NZUSA as well as into local associations. More contentious motions were referred back to constituents for discussion and by August Council most constituents will have discussed these motions. Before motions were not referred back to students. When they first started to be referred back many constituents didn't bother to arrange discussion. Now altitudes nave changed and constituents are more willing to see more of NZUSA policy decided directly by students and not on the spot at Council. However NZUSA like the Waikato catering still has a long Way to go.