Underwood Asked to Resign

After the masses of reports had been delivered the shit finally hit the fan. There was a procedural motion by Finlayson/ Skinner that the motion by Ward/Ryall "that noting the conflict of interest between his roles as Man Vice-President, and as an employee of the Victoria Book-centre, this SRC request Steve Underwood to resign from the position of Man Vice President."

Tony Ward got up (to the sound of boos and hisses) and stressed the fact that the motion was in no way meant to reflect upon his performance in that position, but that there was a matter of principle involved and that he wanted to see just how important SRC thought the conflict of interest was. He also pointed out that the motion was a recommendation only, and that SRC did not have the power for a vote of no confidence. He said that Steve Underwood's work on the bookshop was excellent, that in his executive position he had worked far beyond the call of duty, and that this was very laudible, although the conflict of interests still remained. He pointed out that he would be in a very invidious position when something occurred involving bookshop staff.

Next person to speak was John Ryall who didn't get quite so many boos and hisses as Tony Ward. He said that Victoria University had always attacked NZUSA for having its paid staff manipulating the political officers. Adding to that he said that when paid staff become political officers a power bloc can easily occur.

Martin Doyle, the next person to arise from the depths of the Union Hall thought that we weren't just talking about a principle. He felt it was also a point of practice as could be seen by two serious incidents involving staff which had already occurred this year, and gave as an example the ever-present Goodall affair. He said that it was dangerous to persist in the present conflict as the same thing could easily occur with regard to the bookshop.

Somebody then wanted to know if Messrs Ward, Ryall and Underwood had discussed the matter in private and were told that the motion had not been discussed at length, but the motion was really only meant to gauge student opinion, and that the motion was only a matter of principle, not expulsion. John Ryall pointed out that it was up to students to decide, and not Ward, Ryall and Underwood alone.

Gyles Beckford was asked just how much influence the executive has over the book-centre. It is run by a board of five, consisting of President of Students Association, Treasurer of Students Association, Company Secretary (Steve Underwood), Company Lawyer and one member of the Academic Staff.