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Surprise Win for Bob

Report

[unclear: The] snap resignation list Tuesday night [unclear: sident] Andrew Tees transformed what [unclear: romised] to be a short uncontroversial [unclear: a] "Impossible." they cry) into some bas[unclear: oss] between the Nuremburg Trials [unclear: lecture] on constitutional law.

[unclear: es]' resignation meant that the [unclear: Execu-] cording to the Constitution, had to [unclear: nt] from amongst itself someone to be [unclear: dential] candidate at the next SRC, in [unclear: see] the next day, and alter being [unclear: elec-][unclear: ke] over the job for the remainder of [unclear: car]

[unclear: seems] the Constitution, though, has no [unclear: ion] for what happened at the meeting, [unclear: t] the Executive's appointee, Woman President, Caroline Massof, was not [unclear: d]

[unclear: At] before this little puzzle had everyone [unclear: ing] for their copies of the Constitution [unclear: rguing] over what to do, Tees told the [unclear: ng] of his reasons for resigning, (A copy Tees' letter appears on page 2.)

[unclear: Following] his speech a motion thanking [unclear: ew] for his work as president was passed [unclear: mously], but the beautiful moment was [unclear: shattered] by a raucous bellow from one [unclear: a] Craw of "Let's hear the real reason for [unclear: signation]". No sense of occasion, poor

[unclear: rohne] Massof then told the meeting her [unclear: ns] for accepting nomination for [unclear: presi-] and outlined her involvement with the [unclear: tation] and her experience on the [unclear: Exe-] the ended up by saying that the fight [unclear: st] education cuts is not yet over and [unclear: he] will work hard towards gaining an [unclear: ate] living allowance for students.

[unclear: a] show of hands, however, the [unclear: mee-] ejected the appointment of Caroline, [unclear: hat's] when the shit hit the fan. First [unclear: as] Lindy Cassidy, who explained to the [unclear: ling], in case people didn't realise, that [unclear: osition] of president had to be filled,[unclear: ac- ng] to the Constitution, by a member of [unclear: executive.]

[unclear: len] Aikman then repeated this piece [unclear: formation] and, after a disruptive Mr [unclear: s] was silenced by Paul Norman, said Caroline had been the Executive's [unclear: un-][unclear: ous] choice of candidate. She moved the motion be reput in case people had [unclear: nderstood] the situation when they had [unclear: voted].

[unclear: After] the motion to reput the motion [unclear: a] wait, it gets better) had been [unclear: secon- by] Paul Norman, Leslie Brown [unclear: label-he] meeting up till then "an attempt by Executive to ram their candidate down [unclear: s] hroats without adequate discussion." [unclear: sked] a member of the Executive to [unclear: ex- f] what exactly was the ruling of the [unclear: titution.]

[unclear: an] Vice-President Paul McHugh [unclear: obli-] referring to part k, section five of that [unclear: wed] document, which says:

[unclear: ert] a vacancy occurs the Student [unclear: Re-entative] Council shall as soon as [unclear: prac-le] appoint a member to fill such [unclear: va-y] provided that only an elected [unclear: of-I] shall be appointed to fill a vacancy [unclear: e] office of President."

[unclear: he] crunch words, obviously, come [unclear: af-e] office of President."

[unclear: aul] said that there had been "careful [unclear: deration]" for 2½ hours before the [unclear: utive] had decided Caroline was the person to recommend to SRC. The choice the meeting faced, he said, was to have a member of the Executive fill the vacancy "or else have no president at all." "The choice is as simple as that. The loss of this motion means effectively that there will be no president and therefore no Association."

He said that people should not vote against the appointment of Caroline just because they may disagree with her political views, because the role of president was more administrative than political.

Rire Scotney said that whether the meeting likes it or not the motion had to be recommitted, "unless you want to change the Constitution which we can't do here (at an SRC)", after which Peter Beach asked whether the Executive's appointment effectively meant that Caroline was the only member willing to stand for the position. Paul McHugh replied that Caroline is the only member of the Executive with the necessary time available, and experience to invest in the job. The fact is that all its other members have portfolios at the moment was a major consideration in the choice, he said.

Clown prince Winter then outlined a game which he thought the meeting should play, namely "Presidential Chairs" (similar to musical variety). It seemed a silly game, but Gerard said that "that's about as silly as we are being here." Urging that the motion be reput, he said, "If you want to vote against Caroline you can, but for God's sake let's get on with it". The motion that the original motion be reput was now put (tricky, isn't it), and carried.

Discussion then moved to whether or not Caroline was the right person to fill the vacancy and if not how the problem of having no president could be resolved.

Alan Phillips said that the Association has an Executive that is "split down the middle" and that it would be wrong to elect someone as president who holds a view too far to one side of that split, as, he said, Caroline does. "We should therefore find someone who is as near as possible to neutral", and to achieve this he suggests debate on who should fill the vacancy should be allowed to continue for a week. Leslie Brown then asked why the meeting couldn't appoint an interim president from the Executive until the general elections for 1980 were held in the third term. He would be "quite happy" to vote for such a motion, he said.

In defense of Caroline. Victoria Quade said that the only reason people didn't want her as president was because of her political persuasions, yet Lindy Cassidy, "who you all know has got pretty strong political views," proved an excellent president for two years. Referring to the very successful Citizen Band concert recently, Victoria said the reason it was a success was because "Caroline worked bloody hard on it." "That's the sort of thing you should be looking at and not some 'right versus left' nonsense."

After Dan Cottrell bemoaned the fact that 'a handful of students were deciding who was going to be president, Gerard Winter asked the meeting why Caroline was not present at the meeting. "She's out watching 'Days of Our Lives', that's why. Do you want a president who watches 'Days of Our Lives'?". The truth was Caroline was required to leave the meeting while the question of her election was being discussed.

Simon Wilson then moved a foreshadowed motion that, if Caroline was not elected, that she be appointed interim president and that position be filled for the rest of this year by holding a by-election in conjunction with the approaching general election. This was seconded by Peter Beach.

Speaking against this, John Penney argued, somewhat oddly, that if Andrew Tees was as incompetent as people made out then the Executive would be able to get by without a replacement "quite well" for a couple of weeks. Chairperson Margaret Underwood pointed out, however, that if for nothing else, a president is needed to sign cheques and chair committee meetings.

Exec member, Martin Eadie said that Caroline should take over the task of president because she is the only member of the Executive with the necessary experience. "She is the only member who was on it last year," he said. "Five of us were elected last month and only two others have been on it the whole year."

Gary Lewis tried to have the voting deferred to enable "the large number of students who are probaly still in bed" to take part in it, but he failed and the motion to appoint Caroline president was reput. But after all that it was lost again. So over an hour of arguing had resulted in no progress on what happened in the meeting's first 15 minutes. Things were getting desperate.

Help appeared on the horizon, however, in the form of Simon Wilson and his foreshadowed motion. After another outburst from Robin Craw was silenced by the chairperson, Simon said that in his opinion the motion that Caroline be appointed interim president until the general elections are held "resolves everything that has been said till now."

John Penney moved another foreshadowed motion that Caroline be appointed until an election could be held at an SGM, but a few minutes later withdrew this motion and said people should vote for Simon's motion.

Leslie Brown also urged the meeting to vote for Simon's motion, saying it was "the most sensible thing I've heard so far this lunch-time," after which Victoria Quade berated the meeting for its lack of rational argument and the way in which Caroline's qualifications for the job had been ignored by the voters.

Robin Craw again got up to speak and managed to blurt out "There's been a cover-up here" before a hail of jeers and a chorus of "Off, off, off" forced him to return to his scat. A motion that the speaking order be re-opened to allow him to have his say was defeated and in a resounding victory for good sense Simon's motion was passed unanimously. It had taken an hour and 35 minutes to get there though.

Half of those gathered then disappeared out the exits as the meeting moved onto reports. There was only one, from Simon Wilson on the Fightback Campaign, at the end of which he thanked everybody who had helped with the campaign. He made special mention of Joanna Tuffield. Geoff Adams, Caroline Massof, Heather Worth, Tere Scotney and Ganesh Nana for the unstinting work they had done on it.

A motion of thanks to Simon for his work on the campaign "and for organising the most successful march in Victoria's history" was moved by Johnathan Scott and seconded by Tere Scotney. Needless to say it was passed unanimously.

After the meeting had been told by Paul Norman of what the Association was doing in support of the campaign to save Whirinaki Forest, a motion was moved by Caroline Massof and Simon Terry for VUWSA to endorse Simon Wilson's candidacy for the president of NZUSA was passed unanimously.

The election of delegates to the August Council of NZUSA was the last matter to be dealt with. The only contested elections were between Tim Rochford, Andrew Beach and Paul Nor man for the two positions of national delegate and between Leonie Morris, John Henderson and Robyn Wood for the two positions of international delegate. The first was won by Tim and Andrew, the Second by Robyn and Leonie.

The other delegates are: Chief delegates Caroline Massof and Helen Aikman, Finance and Administration Margaret Underwood and Peter Beach, Education Rire Scotney and Geoff Adams, Women's Rights Victoria Quade and Virginia Adams and Accommodation and Welfare was Bob Wallace.

Mark Wilson