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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 39, No. 1, March 1, 1976
[Introduction]
Students at Victoria have always been suspicious of the wheelings and dealings of their national officers, and largely as a result of this NZUSA president Alick Shaw was turned down when he ventured up here last year seeking a rise in the annual NZUSA levy. John Ryall ventured along to the first National Executive meeting for 1976 to see if anything had changed.
The first NZUSA National Executive meeting of the year is a chance for constituent presidents to give some indication of the direction, or lack of direction that their campuses want the national body to follow over the next 12 months.
The first meeting for 1975, held two weeks ago in the Students' Association boardroom, did not make any earth-shattering decisions, but certainly impressed the point that the constituents intend to control the National Office, and not vice-versa.
Several times national officers were held to account over comments they made, or in one case, over actions taken in the last few months. This could mean either that the presidents consider that every decision should be in accordance with the needs and desires of the individual student on each campus, or that there are many presidents trying to shift attention from their own undemocratic associations by using the national officers as whipping boys.