Overseas Students Given Scant Attention

Three hours after the beginning of the meeting we arrived at the report on the admission of overseas students. In a manner totally unbecoming the seriousness of the question it was steamrolled through with little thought or morals.

Chairman Gould looked first at the report, than at the clock. The clock gained his support first and he hummed and haa'd and suggested tabling the report to a later meeting. When told that if the report (which demanded that Professorial Board make certain recommendations to Council to bring to the OSAC meeting on July 27) was delayed one meeting it would miss the only OSAC meeting for the year. Could started to rejoin that "The price of waiting even a year." Commonsense did prevail and the campaign against overseas student cutbacks was finally seen as worthy of the meeting's attention.

The recommendations in the report stemmed from a desire to take back from OSAC the policy making functions on overseas student admissions and to remove anomolies and Inhumanities in the present procedures. The report suggested that a Standing Committee of the NZ Vice-Chancellors' Committee be set up to make policy on overseas student admissions. Warning was given to OSAC that it "is an agent of the Universities; it does not have a policy role".

The recommendations were passed without much discussion but a motion by the student reps to condemn the present cutbacks was lost by about 6 to 9 (about 35 people were still at the meeting). There had been no discussion except by Gould and others that it was an unecessary motion and it was only being voted upon because notice had been given a month before and it could not be ruled out of order.

But, fortunately there is still a chance that this motion can be put and passed at the Council meeting before the OSAC meeting. Finally, it was stated by Chariman Gould (who also does Vice-Chancellor impersonations) that given the salaries of the members of the board it cost the University $600 for every hour it met. Obviously the University's academics decided not to waste too much on overseas students.

— Phil Spector