VUWSA at war with itself. Confusion reigns
UPDATE!
VUWSA President Jasmine Freemantle has confirmed that the motion, “That VUWSA actively supports the Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill,” is void following yesterday’s Student Representative Council (SRC) meeting.
Freemantle told Salient this morning (Thursday) that the VUWSA solicitor “has confirmed that the motion was void.
“The meeting was closed, and as outlined in the constitution, could not be reopened.”
Freemantle also said the SRC meeting planned for this Friday will be postponed.
A motion has been passed that has seen it become VUWSA policy to “actively support” Roger Douglas’ Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill.
The motion, “that VUWSA actively supports the Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill”, was passed by a majority of ten votes at Wednesday’s Student Representative Council (SRC) meeting.
“The passing of this motion is a significant breakthrough for the many students who feel that VUWSA is not receptive to or representative of their views,” ACT on Campus Vice President Peter McCaffrey said.
The SRC had been called to discuss the recently released Tertiary Education Strategy (TES), as well as the voluntary student membership (VSM) issue.
The meeting has been described by some students as a “clusterfuck”.
It took 40 minutes for the one motion to be passed, as a number of “stalling tactics”, including multiple quorum counts and points of order, were employed by parties on both sides of the VSM debate.
The motion, which was supported by members of ACT on Campus, Young National, as well as a number of politically unaffiliated students, was finally passed with a vote of 45–35.
At one point the meeting was deemed closed because it was claimed quorum was not met. The meeting continued regardless under a new Chair, Hugh McCaffrey (who is of no relation to Peter). Once it was confirmed the required quorum of 50 was reached following yet another count of hands, the meeting was properly resumed.
“It was the biggest SRC I’ve seen in my four years at university, and yet they claimed that they didn’t have quorum, because it wasn’t the right kind of people who showed up,” Peter McCaffrey said.
Peter McCaffrey says there were multiple procedural problems with the meeting.
“VUWSA had no idea of its own rules, and the rules they knew they deliberately ignored.”
As well as the age-old quorum issues, Peter McCaffrey said motions were allowed in the middle of votes, and speakers continually interrupted the meeting’s proceedings.
Alex Sorenson, President of the Massey Wellington Students’ Association, who was also present at the SRC said that the meeting “was hijacked by one group of people and both sides of the debate were fuelled by emotion.”
This “muddied the procedural functionality of the meeting,” she said.
Clandestine SRC breaks rules
It has been brought to Salient’s attention that VUWSA will hold another SRC meeting this Friday at 11am in the Mount Street Bar.
Notification of the SRC meeting was placed on the VUWSA noticeboard on Wednesday afternoon. [Photographic evidence to the right. JJW]
The notice says that the meeting will be held “pursuant to part IV s. 2 (3-4) of the VUWSA Constitution.”
However, part IV s. 2 (4) of the VUWSA Constitution says that “such special meeting shall be held no sooner than three (3) office days and not later than ten (10) office days after the date of receipt of a requisition [for a meeting], or resolution by the executive.”
Fewer than 48 hours will have passed between the notification of the SRC, and the meeting actually being held, directly contravening the procedures outlined in the constitution.
Comment was still being sought from VUWSA President Jasmine Freemantle at the time of publication.
Stay tuned for more updates.
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Sarah Robson
Editor for 2010, politics nerd, panda fan and three-time award-winning student journalist.
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59 Comments
18 Oct, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Electrum – what’s your point? VUWSA’s meant to be under the scrutiny of all the students now, and all it’s doing is pandering to a radical left viewpoint that a fine minority of students hold (though, admittedly under Freemantle, she has taken one or two steps to rectify that, and in return, she’s been kicked out of the Workers Party because they thought she was just going to be a puppet). Meanwhile, VUWSA struggles to get quorum at most SRCs and the majority of students don’t get anything from VUWSA other than $150 sucked out of their bank accounts every year.
So, we’re left with two options – either this completely unrepresentative system continues, and students are forced to continue shelling out money year upon year without seeing the benefits other than Salient and maybe a half-hearted appearance by VUWSA at meetings about raising fees; or, we bring in VSM, and then VUWSA is put under more scrutiny to be representative of more than just a Workers Party or ACT on Campus fringe, because if it doesn’t become representative of the entire student body, it will die. The current CSM system tacitly condones VUWSA’s current misrepresentation of the student body. VSM does not. It’s not about VUWSA becoming controlled by a fringe group like it is now – it’s about VUWSA surviving through representing everyone and removing politics from the equation.
19 Oct, 2009 at 12:15 pm
I really feel for JF… when VUWSA goes down she will be rembered as the one who let it fail… Despite the fact this generation of students… are simply not ideaologically driven, (just talk to them and you’ll see, pragmatists to the core and leadership should pay attention to the constituency mood)…the writing really has been on the wall for over 10 years. The funny thing is the lack of planning, where is the contingency fund? Student Associations were here (VSM legislation) in 1999… and nothing has been put in place? Is this a cynical belief that the associations will be able to manipulate their constitutions to ensure survival, or just plain head in the sand blind stupidity… either way you have to wonder if something preferable can come out of this mess.
19 Oct, 2009 at 12:20 pm
I think this clouds the real issue – how in the world have students become so moronic that ACT on Campus can manage to drum up enough people to pass motions at Student Exec meetings. At the latest Christchurch meeting, they had one member turn up. One.
I mean….this is the party that denies climate change, pro-smacking, privatise ACC, cut taxes for the rich, allowed the demonic David Garrett into Parliament. Something is seriously wrong where young people support this bullshit. Seriously depressing. Good on VUWSA for pissing them off; they deserve it for committing treason against the collective student soul.
19 Oct, 2009 at 2:06 pm
RIP democracy, killed by VUWSA and Orange (and Bill)
19 Oct, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Orange – just because ACT may be bad in all those ways, doesn’t mean they can’t manage a rare moment of lucidity or two. And just because people support VSM, doesn’t mean they suddenly become rabid ACT supporters.
19 Oct, 2009 at 4:40 pm
there really isn’t a single person who looks good in any one of those three vids just hammers home the idea that students are an unorganised rabble more interested in petty bullshit than doing anything of substance
20 Oct, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Hahahahahahahah. These vids are just hilarious. Couldn’t have provided Roger Douglas with better ads if these had been scripted and staged.
20 Oct, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Say what you want about National Socialism, at least its an ethos.
20 Oct, 2009 at 2:31 pm
vuwsa is so bad someone bin it
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