Canterbury's Big Decision: How it Happened

In many ways at Canterbury, NZUSA was the scapegoat for dissatisfaction with local student politics. Within two years there had been four presidents (two having 'resigned' or been 'purged') of whom only two could be considered competent. The overall quality of Canterbury student leadership was at a particularly low ebb. Within the internal administration there had been a distasteful 'jobs-for-the-boys' network running; prominent student politicians just happened to be employed in the best paid jobs around the Union Building.

Last year the Bursary Campaign at Canterbury was shockingly organised. Meanwhile Association fees had since 1974 risen dramatically, largely due to an unfortunate Deed of Management signed with the university which while giving the Association some autonomy in the control of the Union Building, considerably lessened the university's financial contribution to the costs of the building.

Why then was it that NZUSA became the scapegoat for Canterbury's internal problems? To a large extent this was because it was easier to express dissatisfaction towards those who were further away - the national officers in Wellington - because of the lack of direct personal contact. Certainly local student politicians encouraged this trend. As well as this, National Office itself was unimpressive in communicating to students the sort of things it was involved in. It failed to make proper use of student newspapers as a means of communication. Canterbury students simply had no idea of the nature, life and workings of their national association.