Ali Cook

VUWSA has decided to request $7000 from the VUWSA Trust to fund Re-O Week: a three-day, glorified party scheduled for the second week of Trimester Two. The request alone is concerning. Why would VUWSA consider a party to be a reasonable use of Trust money? Just weeks ago, students were left homeless after flooding damaged their flat. Across the University, demand for the community pantry has increased by 400% since 2024, as reported by Salient. It remains unclear whether VUWSA will...

“Tikanga doesn’t come out of nowhere. It’s not something that’s been foisted on people because of a particular stripe of government.” That is how Māmari Stephens describes tikanga Māori’s place in legal education. Tikanga refers to Māori law, values, principles, and practices, and courts have increasingly recognised tikanga as part of Aotearoa’s legal system. At Te Herenga Waka, the Faculty of Law is now expanding the teaching of tikanga Māori across its Bachelor of Laws (LLB), embedding it...

In 1971, US President Richard Nixon declared drugs “public enemy number one.” What followed was the War on Drugs—a campaign built on a simple idea: that harsh punishment could eliminate drug use. It didn’t. But the way it framed drug use as something to criminalise continues to influence much of Western drug policy, including Aotearoa’s. The Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 frames drug use primarily as a criminal issue, rather than a health one. The consequences are severe. Supplying a Class A...