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Salient. Official Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 41 No. 14. June 12 1978

NZUSA Runaround

page 9

NZUSA Runaround

NZUSA: the good news and the bad news. Four campuses have been highly critical of NZUSA over the last few months. Three of these (Massey, Canterbury and Lincoln) have indicated that they will withdraw from the association, while from the association while Otago's President, Andrew Guest, stated as little as two months ago that his campus could go the same way.

First the good news. Canterbury held an SRC recently which passed two highly significant motions supporting the idea of a national student body and agreeing that NZUSA should be that body. President Mike Lee had been talking about a referendum on the issue, but many of the exec exec members were strongly opposed to such a course of action.

Their reasons are sound. One of Canterbury's reasons for saying they would pull out in the first place was that a need was felt for a regeneration of student interest in the affairs of their associations, both local and national. A referendum does not encourage informed debate so much as pander to those sections of the population which have no wish to acquaint themselves with the various issues concerned.

Photo of Grant Liddell

Grant Liddell

Given this there also seemed to be a clear feeling that the chances of wording a referendum in a non-influential way were slim. These are the same reasons, that a motion proposing a referendum on NZUSA at Vic was thrown out at last week's SRC (see story).

The Canterbury motions are the clearest indication yet that things are looking better on that campus, and appear to pave the way for recommittal to NZUSA.

Down in Otago Andrew Guest is chorusing with the best of them. His column in the latest Critic begins with the sentence "Although there has been a lot of shit flung around about NZUSA this year, I think that our national students association has changed in many ways, and that perhaps we can begin to look to it with some confidence."

Guy Macindoe at Lincoln isn't so confident. He was personally appreciative of the decision made at May Council to chop the IVP but his persistent attempts to abolish all International policy went unheeded, and word had it he would still have an extremely difficult job if he went back to his association to argue that they should stay in NZUSA.

Macindoe has been a very good President in this respect, working consistently to find a formula that would accommodate the feelings at Lincoln while recognising the basic standpoints of the other campuses. I say has, because his term of office finishes at the end of June. It is unlikely that anyone of the same ilk will emerge to take over the reins.

There is another side to Lincoln of course, and nowhere does it find more consistent expression than in the editorial comments in Caclin: ".........the NZUSA May Council, which we as Editors deem a non-event....... May Council was a non-event for the editors because we didn't attend. Our job by definition deems that we ought to have been present, but our apologies — we're only human. We would rather spend our holidays making money than listening to such adolescent drivel such as whether or not NZUSA should purchase land on the moon." (It's a bit ironic that any attempt to block the odd silly motion which came up was met with derisive remarks to the effect that NZUSA must be able to laugh at itself. You can't win).

By now you'll have guessed I've moved into the bad news. There's worse to come: Mike Pratt, President of Massey has resigned. As of immediately a little while ago, that is to say without giving any notice, he packed his bags and took up a job as a training officer at GM Trentham. Pratt admits to being worried about the future of Massey, and says, "I would weep if Massey pulled out of NZUSA."

Photo of Mike Pratt

Mike Pratt

Massey is now in a very similar situation to Lincoln, with no immediate prospect of a presidential candidate prepared to work constructively to find a way for the constituent to work with the national body. An SGM was to have been held this month but has been put off until July, by which time a new top-dog should be installed. The general feeling at Massey is still very hard to gauge; like Canterbury last year the association seems to be in the stage of having made the big step and are now trying to find out what they mean by it. But things ain't rosy.

Down in National Office they've just got themselves a new Education and Welfare Vice-President, Grant Liddell from Otago. Words like "reliable" and "competent" are being bandied about his head (with wonderful regularity).

And what about Vic? Last week two motions deriving their inspiration straight from Canterbury were presented to the SRC, one on an NZUSA referendum, the other on a Mens' Rights Officer. The arguments against both these ideas are outlined in the SRC article, but one further point needs to be made. On the other campuses where such proposals have come forward, they can clearly be seen as attempt by various people to find some means of coping with what are demonstrably real problems.

Here at Vic there has been no agitation over withdrawal from NZUSA except from the few people behind the referendum motion. Their actions cannot be seen as a genuine attempt to come to terms with existing problems, but as band waggoning and barrow-pushing. Were they genuinely concerned, they could be expected to become involved in the activities of NZUSA. It will probably never be said enough that NZUSA can only function as well as the campuses allow it to, and that means it must involve all of us.

Simon Wilson