Asian Stud Ass Conference

Apart from alterations of the new NZUSA office in Courtenay Place and reports on proposed orientation tours by national officers, the only remaining items of interest were reports from Don Carson and Petra Van den Munckhof on their trips to, and attendance at, the Asian Students Association Conference in Bangkok.

Don's trip involved visits to Australia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia (where he failed to get past the airport), while Petra visited Australia, Thailand and Malaysia.

Although two reports were presented, discussion centred around Petra's, which was highly critical of the preparation given her by NZUSA for effective participation in a conference on Women in the Third World, which was run in conjunction with the ASA Conference.

NZUSA accountant Peter McLeod was also very critical of what he termed a waste of NZUSA resources. He pointed out that it cost $1,000 to send the two delegates to Bangkok, plus over a month's salary for the International Vice-president, and it was irresponsible if they were not fully prepared. This feeling was backed up by the presidents, who agreed with the emphasis placed on our Asian commitment, but thought that any future spending should be assessed in terms of value-for-money for both ourselves and the Asian students.

Don Carson was also questioned about his voting on two motions which effectively expelled Israel, and admitted three Arab nations to ASA. Many of the presidents were not happy with his support of the Arab admissions because NZUSA policy indicated that the ASA geographical boundaries should stop at Pakistan.

Both Petra and Don were asked to present more detailed papers for NZUSA May Council, to be held this year in Auckland.