Editorial

While for the past week the national officers of the New Zealand University Students Association have been travelling round the seven campuses selling themselves and the organisation to which we all belong, all is not well back at home.

NZUSA has been without an elected President since November 15 last year, the day Simon Wilson resigned at the certain prospect of the close passage of a motion calling for his resignation. While it is now too late to debate the merits of being sacked for painting anti-nuclear warship slogans, there is no doubt that the resignation has caused NZUSA's work and influence to be severely damaged. At the November Special General Meeting (composed of delegates from each campus plus NZUSA's national officers) the then Education and Welfare Vice President, Helen Aikman was appointed interim President.

It is a position she still holds today. Two similar general meetings (In mid-December and mid-February) held to consider applications for the position have proved fruitless. Several students have come forward, but none have been considered by the meetings to be capable or experienced enough to do the job. Our President, Virginia Adams, reported to the VUWSA Executive after the February SGM that "none of the candidates had remote possibilities of being able to do the job." Candidates have included Brian Small, the current NZUSA Education and Welfare Vice President, and John Stansfield, 1980 President of Massey University Students Association. However, Small withdrew his nomination just before February's meeting, and Stansfield failed to turn up.

This coming Saturday (March 14) there will be a third, and hopefully conclusive, Special General Meeting of NZUSA to appoint a President for 1981. Helen Aikman has served notice she will not be working past this date. Unless the quality of the candidtaes has dramatically improved (there are two people in the running) NZUSA risks not having a president of any sort in a week's time.

Sadly, NZUSA's national office has not prospered under the arrangement operating since Simon Wilson's forced resignation in November. There has been a lack of overall co-ordination and cohesion of the work done; the officers adopting an overly individ ualistic work style, often not seeking approval before launching out on a new project. There have also been a couple of cases of officers indulging in activities which just should not have happened. It is the job of the President to keep a check on the work of officers, to be able to criticise and correct, and to build unity within national office. But it would seem that this influence has been largely lacking since Wilson's demise.

What NZUSA now needs is a President who can take a hold over the officers and point them towards carrying out the policy set at May and August Councils. 1981 has the potential to be an important and successful year for NZUSA — with the movement to prevent the Springbok tour and education able to become a huge issue in this year's General Elections.

If NZUSA is to receive the active support of its members, it needs to be seen by students to be working along the lines of its own democratically set policy. For example, now is not the time to consider a very large and expensive women's conference for women students and non-students to discuss NZUSA's work on women's rights. This proposal, which the WRAC Co-ordinator has already spent much of her time on, cannot avoid undermining the system of setting policy at Councils, where students come along armed with campus policy to set NZUSA's.

Very much depends on getting a President of NZUSA with the required experience and abilities to halt the current drift. Probably the only thing worse than not having a President, is having one who is unable to carry out the many difficult duties involved in the job.

Stephen A'Court