Salient

Eye on Exec

By Sarah Robson | 24 Mar, 2008

I was expecting a lot more of my first VUWSA Exec meeting experience. There’s little juicy scandal to report (even what was said in committee was slightly boring) and no one said anything really dumb. Welfare Vice- President Melissa Barnard is the exception to the latter, and her attempts to make a really long straw were often more interesting than the meeting’s official proceedings.

After last week’s marathon two-hour-plus meeting, it seemed I’d struck it lucky - this week’s festivities took less than half an hour. It was short, sharp and mostly to the point.

There was some discussion about whether or not President Joel Cosgrove had apologised for his absence. He was in Australia, or somewhere, on VUWSA business, apparently. By default, this meant he didn’t really need to apologise, or something.

I turned down the offer of pizza and chips after my late introduction. Everyone else ate instead. It was amusing when people had their mouths full and wanted to say something. Nevertheless, food was consumed and motions were passed. Jolly good.

In other news, Campaigns Officer Sonny Thomas had written an update on the Law School crèche situation. General consensus was that the update was “really good.” I didn’t get to read it (reading over shoulders at a distance is tough), so cannot report its contents to Eye on Exec readers. Stink.

Since no one could think of any more urgent general business, the Exec moved onto the general business and gave some money to the Postgraduate Students Association (PGSA). Questions were raised over the inclusion of the cost to refurbish a room in the budget. It was clarified that the money would only be used for this purpose if the PGSA couldn’t get the University to paint the room (the room is rented by the PGSA from the University), or if they couldn’t find any leftover paint from somewhere else to do it themselves.

Barnard evidently was not paying that much attention to the proceedings and could be overheard explaining the technicalities of consuming alcohol through a really long straw to Activities Officer Fiona McDonald. Barnard’s straw-sucking technique involves making sure you “get a really good seal,” otherwise “you’ll have to give it a blow job.” Education Vice-President (and standin chairperson in Cosgrove’s absence) Paul Brown took the opportunity to bring the meeting to order by bashing his beer bottle on the table like a judge.

The matter of New Zealand School of Music students and their eligibility for bus tickets has been resolved, with students now authorised to receive free bus tickets. The criteria for bus ticket eligibility is an ongoing concern for the Exec and the issue will be discussed further. Barnard suggested setting up a working party on the matter and nominated herself to chair it. Brown said no. That was that.

With the pizza gone and Barnard in periodic fits of giggles, it was lucky the Exec had dealt to all the items on the meeting’s half-page agenda (it’s usually longer, I’m told) and the meeting was closed. Administration Vice- President Alexander Neilson claimed the leftover Pepsi, since no one objected. Maybe next week Barnard will have time to put her alco-pops in a more conspicuous vessel before Salient arrives.