Cosgrove: Hated by graduates, loves thy penis
At Fridays 1:30 graduation ceremony, VUWSA President Joel Cosgrove turned up on stage wearing a “I (heart) MY PENIS” shirt.
These shirts were sold as part of a MAWSA/VUWSA “I <3 My Penis” campaign for safe sex and free STI check ups, because men are less likely than women to get tested. Which in itself is a worthy cause, but there is a time and a place to support it, and it wasn’t particularly appropriate at the formal occasion of graduation.
Cosgrove did not wear the shirt to the 6pm ceremony. In fact, he wore a suit to all the other ceremonies. Maybe, he only wore the shirt because former Salient News Editors Nicola Kean and Laura McQuillan were graduating at 1:30 and he has a dislike of Salient. You know those communists and their hatred of the free press.
He stuck out like a sore thumb with his massive overgrown beard and the shirt, and was the only person seated on stage not in full academic dress. Probably because he doesn’t actually have a degree.
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(Fig 1.) A wide angle shot of the stage. All the people except Joel are in academic regalia and wearing suitable clothing for the occasion.
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At the parade on Thursday Cosgrove was wearing a suit. So why did he feel the need to wear the t-shirt on Friday’s ceremony? He could have chosen something more appropriate to the occasion, but the university should not have allowed him to sit on the stage at all.
This is a prime example of the complete lack of respect he holds for students.
This is a direct insult to you the students of Victoria University, because he is the one up there representing the student body. It is an insult to the graduating students. It is an insult to their families who came to watch them graduate. It is an insult to the academic staff of Victoria University who work tirelessly so you can graduate.
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(Fig 2.) A close up shot of Mr. Cosgrove displaying his inappropriate shirt. You can almost see his distaste for you.
Many students weren’t impressed in the least, with a number calling him “a dickhead”
What makes it worse is that Joel was passed two notes during the course of the ceremony asking him to cover it up. He eventually did. But after the ceremony, was showing the note off like a badge of honour. Like him being an idiot and insulting people was something to be proud of.
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(Fig 3.) Joel proudly displays the note passed to him by academic staff.
The University does not have to let the President sit on the stage. They do so because he is a representative of you, the students. They especially do not have to let anyone who has yet to graduate sit on stage. I would not be surprised if in future graduations the University doesn’t allow the President to sit on stage, thanks to Cosgrove’s idiocy. This would be a major blow for students.
Salient will be running an in-depth story in next weeks edition.
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UPDATE: Comments have been switched off on this page. If you would like to comment on this matter please do so here.
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All photos on this page by Sean Gillespie.
183 Comments
23 May, 2008 at 10:40 am
The media will make a story out of anything, if you weren’t at the ceremony you have no right to say it had an impact either way because you weren’t there to know. Don’t let them wind you up when you wouldn’t have been so opinionated if the coverage hadn’t reached such a scale.
Joel doesn’t make great choices, i think we have concluded that.
He did give give the dull ceremony a bit of spice.
Get a sense of humour people.
23 May, 2008 at 11:42 am
So really like only me and Nicola Kean get a say? Oh the irony!
23 May, 2008 at 11:53 am
“if you weren’t at the ceremony you have no right to say it had an impact either way because you weren’t there to know.”
Which is we don’t study history and we don’t have political reporters on TV, news papers and radio, telling us what happened that day in parliament. What a stupid thing to say: because we’re not there we shouldn’t care and should not have an opinion on it.
He did not give the dull ceremony spice, he made it rancid with his foulness.
By writing about stuff like this, it applies pressure on Joel to stop and think about things before he does them, which will benefit ALLLLLL students. Well at least we hope that it will make him stop and think… it probably won’t. He has probably consolidated his views in an effort to rationalise his actions.
23 May, 2008 at 1:05 pm
John, I probably didn’t out my post much but I will respond to your examples with my own opinion just to back myself up.
End to class society: Show me a method that makes everyone equal, well off AND works in practice and I think I’d probably be all for it.
End to racism: In my opinion we kinda lost that when the humans that left the Rift Valley started to change and evolve. We almost are racist by accepting those people are different and there are races at all.
End to oppression of women: This is something that will hopefully die out over time, and if it doesn’t it will be for the same reason that we have racism: They are different to men so men will be weary of them.
The University thing I will accept as an issue we should still be fighting for.
23 May, 2008 at 2:22 pm
>150
23 May, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Yeha…. I can’t be bothered… keep ‘em coming.
23 May, 2008 at 4:53 pm
I think it is disgusting that Joel Cosgrove wore that t-shirt to graduation. It is really disrespectful to the university and all the grads. He shouldn’t have been let in. I personally do not see him as a representative of me as a student. I just hope that when I graduate he will have finally finished his degree and left. Yeah right.
23 May, 2008 at 5:18 pm
“End to class society: Show me a method that makes everyone equal, well off AND works in practice and I think I’d probably be all for it.”
It’s called socialism and it works. It doesn’t make everyone “equal and well off” overnight, but it sure beats a society where poor Pacific Island women are murdered by their electricity company because they got behind on the bills.
“End to racism: In my opinion we kinda lost that when the humans that left the Rift Valley started to change and evolve. We almost are racist by accepting those people are different and there are races at all.”
Um… that’s rubbish. Racism is not “accepting those people are different”. Racism is upholding a system and set of ideas that treats certain people as second class citizens, or even less than human, because of the colour of their skin, and carrying out actions that enforce this. Racism remains very much present in NZ society today, it’s just generally a less open and more sophisticated version than that of the National Front.
A world without racism is perfectly possible, and one way or another we will get there eventually – the only question is when. And that will be determined by how hard people are willing to fight for it today, by fighting the system that exploits and propagates racism in order to maintain itself – capitalism.
“End to oppression of women: This is something that will hopefully die out over time, and if it doesn’t it will be for the same reason that we have racism: They are different to men so men will be weary of them.”
For fuck’s sake, not that tired old bullshit. SEXISM DOES NOT EXIST BECAUSE WOMEN ARE DIFFERENT TO MEN, AND MEN ARE “WEARY” OF WOMEN. That’s sexist in itself – you’re blaming women for their own oppression. “If only they weren’t so different, if only they’d stop their nagging and give men a break, then there wouldn’t be any sexism!”. What bullshit. Just as with racism, sexism exists because the capitalist system is based on exploitation, inequality and oppression, and sexism is a form of that. Sexism and capitalism must end together, or they won’t end at all.
“The University thing I will accept as an issue we should still be fighting for.”
Wow, how magnanimous of you! You’re willing to fight for the one issue that personally affects you! What an awesome person you are!
Say what you like about Joel as a person, his superb beard and his t-shirt that… *shudders*… had the word PENIS on it (!!!), but you cannot deny that he is a firm and active opponent of all the problems mentioned above, and stands up and fights for the principles he believes in.
In my book, that makes him a thousand times better person than all the precious, PC, prudish losers here who are getting up in arms about the word “penis”. Ffs, most of you couldn’t even care less about the t-shirt, you’re just using it as an opportunity to pursue a personal vendetta against Joel!
23 May, 2008 at 5:49 pm
“By writing about stuff like this, it applies pressure on Joel to stop and think about things before he does them, which will benefit ALLLLLL students. ”
Yeah im really sure the TV3 interview went right over his head. We better just keep bitching online to really hammer this home right?
23 May, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Alastair, three questions.
1. How does an electricity company cutting off electricity to a home which had not informed them of its special circumstances count as ‘murder’. Claiming a company is guilty of murder is a pretty serious allegation, it implies a high degree of antisocial culpability. You might want to refine that statement.
2. How does socialism ‘work’ ? The only way its ever had any institutional effect was when socialism was marred with force and coercion. Are you advocating for violence and oppression in order to create equality and justice? Seems like a strange road to travel…
3. How is capitalism racist? That makes absolutely no analytical sense. Its not Pareto-efficient. Capitalism could in fact be seen as the great destroyer of racial attitudes. Commerce and trade lead to societal integration, economically and culturally. The true capitalist sells to any market, regardless of race. Care to justify yourself beyond the slogans of your party?
23 May, 2008 at 6:58 pm
CONRAD
Finally you’re coming into your own!
Congrats, and nicely said.
Gib
23 May, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Alastair you took my comments way too far. I do not blame women for their oppression. It’s a two way street, men are weary of women and women are weary of men, I do not for a second believe that “If only they weren’t so different, if only they’d stop their nagging and give men a break, then there wouldn’t be any sexism!”
The stance I took on racism is more a statement about how we treat racism as a society and how many people treat anything different with trepidation. I suppose you are all for the abolition of Maori education grants and their doctors getting more money to treat Maori and Pacific Islanders if you want no racism?
And as for only one of those affecting me, I am Euorpean-Indian-African, racism is very relevant for me; in fact being French has earned me disparaging remarks regardless of any other ancestory.
23 May, 2008 at 8:09 pm
OMFG.
Joel & Rachael rock.
& blogette:
your mean and twisted little mind should get back inside your straight-jacketed body, go scream at the padded walls, you miserable little bitch! You’ve caused enough havoc for the past decade, do not walk past my house again!
23 May, 2008 at 11:03 pm
shaddup kerry
go be an activist
23 May, 2008 at 11:08 pm
Alastair:
The words “socialism works” make about as much sense together in a sentence as the words “Microsoft Works” – a great ideal that is hopelessly complicated, intrinsically corruptible, and inherently authoritarian. Show me an example, ANY example, where socialism and communism have actually worked in human history as they were intended. Stalin and Mao did not embody the Dictatorship of the Proletariat – they personified the Dictatorship of Madmen – and they were far less concerned with the dissolution of the state than they were with the amassing of power. Any system that assumes upon the complete and unquestioning good in all human beings is simply not tailored to work in a world that is, well, flawed.
Capitalism is, at its core, an ideology that preserves the freedom of the individual to act as they will in the accumulation of wealth and happiness for themselves and their family, unencumbered by the state insofar as they do not act to the detriment of others. Thus, at its core, it is neither racist nor sexist. Compare this with the centralised and inhibitive nature of the communist state, where the wealth and wellbeing of the individual is entirely dependant on the mercy of a ‘benevolent’, all-controlling, demagogic Party, and can be taken away on a whim if one so much as utters a single word out of line with the ‘communist ideal’. Stalin deported millions of minorities to Gulags in Siberia, from which few of them returned. Call me crazy, but I fail to see the equality in that.
Statistically, capitalism has done far more to reduce the divide between rich and poor than socialism ever has. Check out the works of leading economist Xavier Sala-i-Martin and the reports of the World Bank, which show a spectacular decline in poverty in Third World countries and a reduction in the income gap over the last thirty years – with, ironically enough, the biggest jump being in the decade and a half since the fall of the Soviet Union. The statistics speak for themselves.
If you re-read the hundreds of posts on this topic so far, you will see that this is NOT a case of a small cadre of prudish conservatives getting up in arms about a *gasp* ‘naughty word’. This is about inappropriate behaviour – inappropriate because of the formality of the venue and the fact that Joel is meant to represent the entire student body at events like these. If I were to stride into the middle of a Workers’ Party meeting, whip out a megaphone, and start extolling the virtues of capitalism, would you consider that appropriate? Of course not. Men’s health issues are a very important issue, and I respect Joel for supporting the campaign – but when he is representing the student body on the penultimate day of their degree he should preserve at least a modicum of respect for the occasion.
Sorry if this all sounds harsh, man, but when you launch an unprovoked attack against the system that has done more for the wellbeing of humankind than any other in history (as well as trying to tenuously pin every negative label you can find under the sun to it), what do you expect?
Matt.
P.S: I used a geeky computer metaphor and bagged out Microsoft in the same sentence – my day is complete!
23 May, 2008 at 11:28 pm
I think the best thing about all this isn’t what Joel’s wearing, but his expression. It screams, “Yeah, I love my dick. What of it?”
Now, if we can open our imaginations for just a second and consider what the A-Team would’ve done…
24 May, 2008 at 1:19 am
Aside from gutting student organizations so that there would have been no campaign of which to have a T-Shirt…
I genuinely think Lukas et all would have respected the occasion.
24 May, 2008 at 11:59 am
I think Lukas would have worn a robot costume. Because he’s a robot.
24 May, 2008 at 3:31 pm
I wasn’t really gunning for a matter-of-fact reply, but you’re probably right, Conrad.
And Shitkicker, why would a robot need to wear a robot costume?
25 May, 2008 at 12:44 am
Alister is my god, his poorly substantiated points “socialism works”, off topic ideas “…prudish losers… up in arms about the word “penis”…”. and ridiculous theories have won me over. HI-OH for the workers party, point me in the direction to sign up; it will be a double plus good time for all.
P.S. a cocktail made of beer, bourbon and vodka is not recommended (yes it is a cocktail, coz it’s in a fancy glass)
25 May, 2008 at 8:33 am
Michael Oliver, you just don’t think sometimes do you.
25 May, 2008 at 3:34 pm
joel crosgove to dress up in joel cosgrove costume so people will recognise that he’s joel cosgove
25 May, 2008 at 5:24 pm
& blogette:
your mean and twisted little mind should get back inside your straight-jacketed body, go scream at the padded walls, you miserable little bitch! You’ve caused enough havoc for the past decade, do not walk past my house again!
Geez, get a nurofen and STFU you crazy nutbag.
25 May, 2008 at 5:31 pm
‘Geez, get a nurofen and STFU you crazy nutbag.’
post of the week
25 May, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Well, given that some of us do know who blogette is, and what a complete stalker she is, that comment stands.
She does walk past my house, she does insult a close friend of mine incessantly, she is a bloody nuisance of 10 years’ standing.
Conrad, you just weren’t around when this stuff happened, so STFU yourself.
Grow up by another decade, FFS. Into secondary school EQ, for instance.
25 May, 2008 at 7:05 pm
why wouldn’t blogette be allowed to walk past your house kerry
25 May, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Dear Kerry,
Can you go one comment without saying something negative about the people who write for Salient.
I think you it is you who needs to grow up. From what I read you’re in your late forties and you spend your time condescending people half your age.
Could you please stop commenting on here. I will be emailing Tristan to ask him to block you. You bring nothing to the argument.
PM
25 May, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Peter Manglethwaite:
Now hang on a minute – Kerry’s got as much a right to post here as does anybody else. Whilst her and I rarely agree on anything, I value her contributions and her arguments quite highly. And whilst I haven’t been on here nearly as long as some people, i’ve rarely known her to issue any personal insults unless she herself has been personally insulted first.
There’s been plenty more users who have made far worse, and far less constructive, comments than she has.
Matt.
25 May, 2008 at 8:20 pm
“Conrad, you just weren’t around when this stuff happened, so STFU yourself.”
What the hell Kerry! Im _NOT_ popozao. I only EVER post under my own name, why the hell would I need a pseudonym? It sure isn’t to insult you, previously in this thread I did that under my own name. Why would I change….
Good god Kerry… seriously. If you want to come up to the office so I can show you the different IPs, and then watch you apologize, feel free. I hope jumping to conclusions that are based purely on prejudice isn’t a trait all full time activists hold…
25 May, 2008 at 8:35 pm
matt
her contributions are mired in spite and condescension. she is always the first to get on her high horse and say attack the idea, not the person, but then no matter what she writes it s so full of malice to the writers.
case in point: http://www.salient.org.nz/features/global-warming-so-hot-right-now
speaking to people as nice as Sarita like this, when she hasn’t been personally insulted is par for the course.
i would value her contribution more if her comments were not peppered with hatred towards all those around her. she claims she is mature, so she should know the best way to fight fire, is not with fire, But with CO2.
you’re right, there are plenty of other users on here who bring less, most of them have the descentcy to use a pseudonym to mask who it is. imagine if you wrote for Salient and this malignant woman who has the audiacity to engage in superciliously indulgent treatment, especially of those she considers inferior on this website, and she comes in, how uncomfortable would that make you feel? No one else seems to have the same problesm with the contributors of Salient than she does. None of the other contributors seem to fight like she does with everyone else.
I don;t want her to put them off from writing. She should grow up, act her age and get a clue about interpersonal relationships.
I do admire you standing up for her though.
PM
25 May, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Nine off-topic posts in a row = the end of useful debate.
25 May, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Joel is a cock.
We are now back on track people!
26 May, 2008 at 10:45 am
Comments are about to be turned off on here and moved to a new post… get in quick!