vsm submission by act on campus

Submission To The Education And Science Select Committee

On The Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill

March 28th 2010

March 22nd 2010

To The Education And Science Select Committee,

I am pleased to make this submission on behalf of ACT on Campus.

ACT on Campus is an independent nationwide organisation of students and young

people that support the ideas of libertarianism and classical liberalism and the ACT

Party.

Supporting Freedom of Association through Voluntary Student Membership and

through this bill is official ACT on Campus policy, is a fundamental ideal of the

organisation and is supported the ACT on Campus executive, membership and

supporters.

I wish to appear before the select committee to make an oral presentation.

Kind regards,

Peter McCaffrey

Vice-President

ACT on Campus

5/97 Boulcott Street, Wellington

[email protected]

021 141 7026

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1) This is a submission, on behalf of ACT on Campus, in SUPPORT of the Education

(Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill.

2) I wish to appear before the select committee to make an oral submission.

3) In summary, I submit;

a) that it is a fundamental human right to choose what groups and organisations to

associate, or not associate with.

b) that the current system of compulsory student membership of students’

associations, as outlined in the Education Act 1989, does not allow for this

freedom of association of students as guaranteed by the Bill of Rights Act 1990.

c) that this compulsory membership of students’ associations cannot be

demonstrably justified.

d) that students’ associations that force students to become members can not truly

represent students’ views on issues and that students can be better represented

under a voluntary membership model.

e) that consistently low voter turnout at students’ association elections further

emphasizes the lack of representation of students’ views.

f) that that compulsory membership removes accountability and responsibility

from students’ associations as no matter how they perform they have a

guaranteed income the following year.

g) that the vast majority of services on campus would be unaffected by VSM as they

are either provided by the university or other organisations already, or are very

cheap to run any services.

h) that any services that would be affected are those where either students don’t

want them or where a small minority are currently unfairly benefiting from a

subsidy from the majority.

i) that fraud is more likely to occur in organisations where there is little

accountability and a lack interest and involvement by members.

j) that voluntary student membership, as provided for by this bill, would uphold

that right to freedom of association and provide for accountability and

responsibility and that therefore this bill should be passed.

PART II: FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION

A Fundamental Human Right

4) Freedom of Association is a fundamental human right and is guaranteed, amongst

other places;

a) in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, Part 2, Section 17 (Freedom of

Association) where it states:

i) ‘Everyone has the right to freedom of association.’

b) in the United Nations Universal Declaration Of Human Rights, Article 20, where it

states;

i) ‘Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.’

ii) ‘No one may be compelled to belong to an association.’

c) in the Convention For The Protection Of Human Rights And Fundamental

Freedoms, Article 11, where it states:

i) ‘Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and to freedom of

association with others, including the right to form and to join trade unions for

the protection of his interests’.

5) Although the New Zealand Bill of Rights does not explicitly mention the right to not

belong to an association, this has been firmly established in legal commentary and in

case law:

a) ‘The starting principle unquestionably is that no one can be compelled to join an

association.’ - Butler and Butler, ‘The New Zealand Bill Of Rights Act: A

Commentary’.1

b) ‘The positive/negative dichotomy is misleading, because it suggests that the

freedom not to associate depends upon the existence of a stand-alone right. But the

decision not to join an association can be characterised as an exercise of the right

to freedom of association, just as remaining silent may be an exercise of freedom of

expression, and choosing to be agnostic is an exercise of freedom of religion.

Questions about whether these latter rights include a negative component seldom 1 Butler and Butler, The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act: A Commentary (2005), P15.7.10.

arise.’ - Rishworth, Huscroft, Optican, and Mahoney, ‘The New Zealand Bill Of

Rights Act (2003)’.2

c) ‘[Freedom of Association] must be viewed as encompassing a negative right of

association’ - The European Court Of Human Rights.3

6) Students are the only sector of society that are denied this right and forced to join a

union – the students’ association at their university.

a) Before compulsory trade unions were outlawed, students’ associations justified

their compulsory nature by referring to themselves as ‘like trade unions,

advocating for our members’.

b) After trade unions were made voluntary, students’ associations swapped

arguments and instead suggested they should remain compulsory because they

‘were not like trade unions, they simply provided services to students’.

c) Another common argument used by Compulsory Student Membership [CSM]

supporters was that students’ associations were just like the Law Society,

providing services to their members. This argument was also quickly dropped

when the Labour Party made the Law Society voluntary in 2007 and Clayton

Cosgrove said: ‘We haven't had compulsory unionism for 20 years. Why should I as

a politician tell you or anybody else what you should belong to?... If you want to join

the footy club, the workingmen's club, the institute - go for it. It's your choice and

you should have that right.’

7) Given that we have established that the current law breaches Freedom of

Association, under Section 5 of the Bill of Rights the onus shifts to the government to

show that that limitation is demonstrably justified and the only way to do so is to

fulfill4:

a) does the limiting measure serve a purpose sufficiently important to justify

curtailment of the right or freedom?

i) is the limiting measure rationally connected with its purpose?

ii) does the limiting measure impair the right or freedom no more than is

reasonably necessary for sufficient achievement of its purpose?

2 Rishworth, Huscroft, Optican, and Mahoney, The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act (2003), p354.

3 Sigurður A. Sigurjónsson v. Iceland, 30 June 1993, § 35, Series A no. 264.

4 New Zealand Supreme Court, R v Hansen, Hansen at 41.

iii) is the limit in due proportion to the importance of the objective?

8) The Government has never shown that the restriction of Freedom of Association

caused by Compulsory Student Membership is demonstrably justified and a simple

reading of the requirements to do so suggests it would not be able to.

Conscientious Objection

9) The current law around student’s association membership is the result of a

compromise between National and New Zealand First on a private members bill by

Tony Steel in 1998. The Education Act 1989 currently states:

Section 229(A) – Institutions at which membership of a students association

is compulsory:

(5) A students association may, on the grounds of hardship, exempt any

student from the obligation to pay the membership fee of the association;

and a student so exempted may nonetheless be a member of the association.

(6) A students association may exempt any student from membership of the

association on the grounds of conscientious objection; and, if exempted, the

association must pay the student's membership fee to a charity of its choice.

(7) Every students association must ensure that information about the

rights in subsections (5) and (6) is available to students before enrolment,

and must make rules for dealing in a fair, timely, and consistent way with

applications for exemption under either subsection.

10) Section 229(A), (5) clearly does not protect Freedom of Association and was not

intended to.

11) Section 229(A), (6) allows students to conscientiously object to being a member of

their students’ association, however this does not protect Freedom of Association as

it assumes membership by default, requires the student to actively apply for

conscientious objection, and leaves the decision up to the students’ association as to

whether the objection will be granted (‘A students association may exempt any

student…’).

12) This suggests that it is acceptable to violate human rights as long as a process exists

whereby that right can be won back through an appeal. We believe rights are a

natural entitlement of each citizen and should always be upheld, not subject to

arbitrary decision by the students association.

http://www.legislation.govt.nz/libraries/contents/om_isapi.dll?clientID=2169117259&infobase=pal_statutes.nfo&jump=a1989-080%2fs.229a-ss.5&softpage=DOC&wordsaroundhits=6#JUMPDEST_a1989-080/s.229a-ss.5

http://www.legislation.govt.nz/libraries/contents/om_isapi.dll?clientID=2169117259&infobase=pal_statutes.nfo&jump=a1989-080%2fs.229a-ss.6&softpage=DOC&wordsaroundhits=6#JUMPDEST_a1989-080/s.229a-ss.6

13) Applying this idea to another fundamental human right, like freedom of speech,

would make the recent Electoral Finance Act seem mild by comparison. We would

not consider it acceptable to deny individuals or news media their freedom of

speech and prevent them from saying anything unless it was approved by the Prime

Minister upon application if he decided it was appropriate.

14) Section 229(A), (7) requires students’ associations to;

a) Ensure that information about exemptions and objections is available to students

before they enroll. This is never even attempted, never mind completed, by

students’ associations and students’ associations have even publicly admitted as

much in the media:

‘The legislation clearly states that students can conscientiously object,

however I think student associations… should be stating in their pamphlets

that you can actually do this… It’s not something that we advertise’ -

Massey Wellington Students’ Association President, Alex Sorenson.5

b) Determine how they will handle applications.

15) A copy of the Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association’s [VUWSA]

‘Policy on Exemption from Membership’ is attached to this submission as Appendix

I. In it, VUWSA states;

a) 6. In the case of application on the grounds of conscientious objection the application must state clearly the grounds on which the student has a conscientious objection and the application will need to demonstrate a deeply held philosophical conviction that compulsory association infringes the applicants rights in ways and for purposes that are demonstrably offensive to the applicant.

b) 7. In line with past precedents set by the University when dealing with

conscientious objection, the President shall work with a definition of “conscientious” which shall include moral, philosophical and religious grounds, but not dissatisfaction with policies (that can be affected democratically) nor dissatisfaction with VUWSA services.

16) Freedom of Association is not a conditional right and this policy only allows for

exemptions under certain conditions, so clearly these clauses do not protect

Freedom of Association.

5 http://mediadarlings.net/2009/09/13/some-validity-to-vsm-lobby-mawsa-president

17) Conscientious Objection does not guarantee Freedom of Association; it forces you to

join by default and then leaves it up to the students' association to decide if you can

leave. Students’ associations are not required to give you any reason for your

request being denied, and in the unlikely event you request is accepted, you still

don't get your money back; it is donated to charity.

18) During this year, 2010, several student presidents have approached ACT on Campus

to try to explain how easy it is to conscientiously object and ask why we don’t just do

that instead of trying to change the law.

19) In particular, we have been told by the 2010 VUWSA President that if we just send

an email to him, we’ll be let out immediately, no questions asked and that it’s really

easy to do so. Putting aside the fact that this goes against VUWSA’s own policy for

how this process operates, it is very convenient for VUWSA to promote this option

so much and make conscientiously objecting to compulsory membership very easy

while a voluntary student membership bill is being debated in Parliament.

20) This is convenient because it gives students’ associations a (rather poor, but non-

the-less, additional) argument against voluntary student membership. However, it

ignores the fact that:

a) students’ associations are meant to be promoting this option all the time to

everyone who arrives at university, not just while a VSM bill is debated in

Parliament and not just to those who happen to be campaigning for VSM.

b) in the past, when a VSM bill was not being debated in the House, VUWSA, along

with other students’ associations around the country, have gone out of their way

to make it as difficult as possible to conscientiously object to compulsory

membership, including:

i) restricting eligibility to only those with religious or moral, not political or

practical objections.

ii) making the application process as bureaucratic, time consuming,

confrontational and complicated as possible in order to try to dissuade

students from pursuing the option.

iii) Requiring some applicants to appear before a full tribunal of student

executive members to plead their case and demonstrate that it fits the

required criteria. In some cases applicants have been subject to cross

examination and humiliation by these tribunals who have argued that by

merely bringing a claim for exemption a student is guilty of greed by

‘attempting to undermine the collective enterprise’.

c) As we already know, if an applicant makes it all the way through this process and

is generously granted conscientious objection by the students’ association, they

do not even get their membership fee returned to them.

d) This unadvertised, deliberately long and complicated, process has,

unsurprisingly, led to very few people choosing to try and attempt to

conscientiously object and yet the fact that few people have bothered to try is

lauded by students’ associations as proof that everyone must be happy with their

associations.

21) Another common argument is that somehow students’ associations are analogous

to local councils, but this ignores the fact that councils are public institutions that

have hundreds of pages of legislation governing what they can and cannot do, as

well as being ultimately responsible to Parliament through a Local Government

Minister. Students’ associations have none of these checks and balances and are

simply incorporated societies that just so happen to benefit from a law that forces

people to join and pay them money.

22) Students should be free to choose not to associate with their students’ association,

or any other group, for any reason, not just for a prescribed set of reasons as

determined by the students’ associations themselves.

23) For any further legal arguments regarding how the conscientious objection option

in the current law is contrary to the Bill of Rights we refer to the copy of a legal

opinion by Mary T. Scholtens QC that we have been provided, which is attached to

this submission as Appendix II.

Referenda

24) The Education Act 1989 also currently sets out a method for individual universities

to hold referendums on the issue and states:

Section 229(B) – Initiating change relating to compulsory membership of students associations: (1) The students of an institution at which membership of a students association is compulsory may request the Council to conduct a vote of all students at the institution on whether membership of the students association should continue to be compulsory. (2) The students of an institution at which membership of a students association is not compulsory may request the Council to conduct a vote of all students at the

institution on whether membership of a specified students association at the institution should become compulsory.

(3) A request under subsection (1) or subsection (2) is not effective unless it is accompanied by a petition requesting the vote, signed by at least 10% (as calculated according to figures provided by the Ministry) of all students currently enrolled at the institution.

25) Practically, a referendum is not a good method to determine whether membership

of a students’ association should be voluntary because:

a) 10% of students is an incredibly high threshold:

i) On average students’ associations’ annual elections have a turnout

percentage in the single digits

ii) Attendance at IGMs, AGMs or SGMs is regularly below the required number

for meetings to be quorate. Passersby or those eating lunch nearby are

regularly asked to raise their hand and pretend to be participating in

meetings to allow meetings to begin.

iii) For example, at Victoria University, where there are over 20,000 students;

(1) Turnout in annual executive elections is regularly below 1000 – less than

5%. The turnout of 12% in 2007, when both left wing and right wing

tickets contested the election, was considered very exceptional.

(2) IGMs, AGMs and SGMs that require only 100 students - less than 0.5% of

students - regularly fail to gain quorum and people eating lunch in

adjacent areas are called upon to simply raise their hands and pretend

they are participating in order that the meeting may go ahead.

(3) Student Representative Council [SRC] meetings, where motions can be

voted on by students, require only 50 students - less than 0.25% of

students - to be quorate yet almost always also have to resort to asking

nearby students to pretend to be participating in order to continue.

b) Students’ associations have demonstrated they are willing to go to huge lengths

to prevent referenda from occurring. When an attempt was made to collect

signatures at Victoria University in 2007, the first day of signature gathering saw

petition sheets stolen by a VUWSA supporter and destroyed.6

6 http://www.salient.org.nz/news/act-pushes-for-vsm-on-clubs-day

c) Even if a referendum is successfully obtained, students’ associations have

millions of dollars of compulsorily acquired membership fees to spend

campaigning against the referendum as well as paid staff members and a huge

amount of resources, while supporters of the referendum have only their own

money and any donations they receive, with which to campaign.

d) Finally, there is almost no incentive to even attempt to run such a campaign. Any

rational student would be far better off simply paying their students’ association

fee, considering it a sunk cost, and getting a part-time job rather than spend

hundreds of hours trying to collect signatures, run campaigns and trying to

change the current situation. Those of us campaigning for Voluntary Student

Membership are in fact acting quite irrationally as we personally lose a lot while

the gains are spread over hundreds of thousands of students around New

Zealand.

26) These practical examples are perhaps best demonstrated in the case of the Waikato

Student Union which was voluntary between 1998 and 2000:

a) It was asserted in the House during the first reading of this bill that students at

Waikato University had tried voluntary student membership and decided they

didn’t like it and opted to return to compulsory membership in another

referendum. This summary neatly glosses over a lot of important facts that I will

outline.

b) It was also asserted that foodbanks, emergency housing and a hardship fund

were services that collapsed during voluntary membership at Waikato

University. However, these services were never provided by Waikato Student

Union, before, during or after voluntary membership. These services were

actually provided by the university through separate levies that were unaffected

by voluntary membership and still continue to this day. WSU, though, did once,

while compulsory, try to justify using student money to purchase houses by

claiming that if they bought enough they could eventually force down Hamilton

rent prices.

c) In September 1996, after two years of campaigning by VSM supporters and

before the passage of the Steele bill, WSU members voted 987 to 591 to make

membership of WSU voluntary.

d) In August 1997, CSM supporters called another referendum in an attempt to

overturn the 1996 decision but this was unsuccessful and students again voted

for voluntary membership.

e) A third referendum was held in 1999, this time triggered by the Steele bill and

students voted for a third time for voluntary membership, this time by 1984

votes to 561.

f) By 2000, WSU had a CSM supporter as President. The executive collected

signatures to hold a fourth referendum, but deliberately held on to the signatures

until October of that year and presented the petition to the final council meeting

of the year meaning the referendum was held on 16-18 October, during exam

study week at the university when almost no-one is present on campus.

g) At the time, David Penney, a former president of APSU, the national polytechnic

student association and then a university employee, pointed out the problems

with the timing of the referendum saying:

i) ‘The University will have less than one day to officially notify students of the

vote where as normal practice is two weeks. Maximum voter turnout may be

undermined by the timing of the vote, which is recommended to take place on

the first three days of study week when on-campus numbers are low; the

integrity of the process may be undermined given the short lead-in time.’

h) This was, of course, the deliberate strategy of the CSM supporters, the

referendum was won despite greatly reduced turnout and WSU duly returned to

being compulsory.

27) Principally, even without any of the above practical issues, referenda should not

even be considered as a ‘solution’ to this problem;

a) Freedom of Association is an individual right and joining a union is a decision for

students to make for themselves, as individuals.

b) A referendum does not guarantee Freedom of Association to students’ it simply

leaves that decision to the majority of students who are then free to impose their

will on the minority.

c) The main purpose of guaranteeing human rights through a bill of rights, or some

other constitutional mechanism, is to restrict the capacity of the majority to

violate the rights of the minority. The New Zealand Bill of Rights sets out those

things that we, as a democratic society, believe the majority should not be able to

vote away from the minority.

d) There would be outrage if it was suggested that a majority vote in a referendum

was an acceptable way to determine whether someone is eligible to a right to

freedom of speech, freedom of movement or even the right to life.

e) Unfortunately it is already clear, from speeches on the first reading of this bill,

that some members of the House do not recognise that Freedom of Association,

along with other rights in the New Zealand Bill Of Rights, are individual rights,

not group or majority rights.

f) To guarantee Freedom of Association, the decision to associate with a group

must be a personal one, not decided by voters at a polling booth.

g) For any further legal arguments regarding how the referenda option in the

current law is contrary to the Bill of Rights we refer to the copy of a legal opinion

by Mary T. Scholtens QC that we have been provided, which is attached to this

submission as Appendix II.

PART III: REPRESENTATION

Voluntary Representation

28) Organisations generally provide one or both of two things to their members,

Representation and Services. Representation is an important concept and is the

underlying reason why Freedom of Association is so vital.

29) Each person has their own views on each issue and through freedom of speech they

have a right to express those views that they hold.

30) People join representative organisations because they believe the views of those

organisations reflect their own views. They voluntarily decide to allow that

organisation to speak on their behalf and represent them.

31) This is how every organisation, except students’ associations, works in NZ, but some

obvious examples would be the Automobile Association, Grey Power, Political

Parties and Greenpeace - people join them because they agree with them.

32) Just as each person has their own views on each issue, students are no different.

Some drive cars, some bike, some support the Greens, some support ACT, some

support Greenpeace, some don’t. Students should have a right to decide which of

those groups represents them. Students do not all have the same views, they do not

speak with one voice, there is no ‘student voice’ that needs representing, there are

hundreds of thousands of different student voices with different opinions.

33) We persist in pretending that all students must think the same about issues and

therefore can be represented by one organisation. Students’ associations claim to

represent all students and technically they do, but only because the law of New

Zealand forces students to join and give up their representation to their association.

34) Because of this forced association, every time a students' association takes a

position on an issue it is misrepresenting some students. This is, of course, also

possible in voluntary associations, but because they are voluntary people are able to

leave the organisation and stop funding it if they disagree with what is being said or

done.

35) There is no reason why compulsory membership is required to ensure students are

adequately represented. Pensioners are not forced to join Grey Power, but this

doesn't stop Grey Power providing them with representation if they wish to join. Car

owners are not forced to join the Automobile Association, yet hundreds of thousands

of people decide to do so anyway. Workers are not forced to join a Trade Union, yet

are free to do so if they agree with what the union is saying.

Participation

36) One of the common arguments against VSM is that if students’ are being

misrepresented by their students’ association they are free to get involved, vote,

stand for executive and change what the students’ association is doing, however this

is easy to respond to:

a) Firstly, freedom of association means that you shouldn’t have to get involved and

change an organisation just to avoid being misrepresented by it, you should just

be free to not join.

b) Secondly, as has already been mentioned in Section 19,, there is a huge

imbalance of power between students’ associations and individual students that

mean there is very little incentives for a student to get involved. It is much more

efficient to consider your membership fee as a fine for not agreeing with the

students’ association and get on with your life.

c) Finally, VSM is not a political issue; it is a human rights issue. If National or ACT

supporters did ‘get involved’, managed to gain control of a students’ association

and used it’s compulsorily acquired funds and resources to support National or

ACT policies, we as National or ACT supporters would no longer be

misrepresented, but every Labour or Greens supporter on campus would be and

this is just as equally unfair and equally in contradiction with freedom of

association as if Labour or Greens supporters control the students’ associations.

37) Occasionally some students who disagree with their students’ association don’t act

rationally and do try to get involved. In 1994, Melanie Davis, a Vice-President of the

Auckland Institute of Technology Students’ Association collected more than twice

the number of signatures required to hold an SGM about VSM. On 13 June 1994, the

NZ Herald reported that Melanie Davis had be sacked from the executive: ‘Miss Davis

said last night that the executive of the association passed a vote of no confidence in

her late last week after asking whether she supported its views against voluntary

membership.’

38) Another example of students trying to ‘participate’ comes from VUWSA. On the 14th

of October 2009, supporters of VSM at Victoria University attended a VUWSA

Student Representative Council meeting. According to the VUWSA constitution, an

SRC meeting has the power to: ‘make resolutions on any matters and may give such

directions or recommendations as it may think fit to Executive regarding the execution

of matters so determined, provided that the Council shall have no power to commit the

Association to financial expense or make directions on financial matters.’

39) As one of the VSM supporters, I moved the motion: “that VUWSA actively support the

Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill.” The proceedings of the meeting

and subsequent events are as follows:

a) At the start of the meeting, when the VUWSA executive realised that a lot of VSM

supporters were in attendance, they immediately dispatched people to run

around the campus to find people to help defeat the motion while those left in

the room started delaying the meeting by taking a long time over every issue that

was being discussed.

b) Next, the executive called for another quorum count and the two executive

members counting the quorum blatantly lied when reporting the number

present and proceeded to declare the meeting inquorate and therefore closed.

c) At this point I disputed the claim that the meeting was inquorate and called for

another quorum count with independent counters. When this was refused I

moved for the chair of the meeting to be replaced.

d) When the VUWSA executive realised that we weren’t going to go home just

because they declared the meeting closed, they decided to start participating

again, and kindly agreed to allow us to open the meeting again. Another quorum

count was taken and magically the quorum was again easily obtained with 64

present, despite no-one having left or arrived in the mean time.

e) During these quorum counts, VSM opponents deliberately abstained from the

quorum count in order to try to reduce the number of participating students to

try to force the meeting to close.

f) The meeting finally proceeded but quorum counts were repeatedly called for by

executive members, despite there clearly being the required number in

attendance every time the count was called and with no-one having left. This was

the largest SRC turnout I had ever witnessed in four years at university and the

executive were deliberately using this as a delaying tactic and in the hope that

some VSM supporters would give up and go home.

g) The executive deliberately ignored the standing orders in the VUWSA

constitution, even when this was pointed out to them, and allowed multiple votes

on motions, as well as debate on procedural motions and repetitive, baseless,

points of order. At one point the executive started making rules up, like trying to

require quorum counts to be done by roll-call.

h) This entire process of voting on one motion took over 40 minutes because of the

executives delaying tactics. In total, a motion that the motion be now put was

moved six times, the motion itself was moved four times and there were at least

eight quorum counts were called for during the meeting.

i) Finally the motion was voted on. The official count was announced as 54 for and

35 against, though our own count was 60 for and 30 against which makes more

sense given the earlier quorum count figures when VSM opponents were not

participating. In the end we decided to take the win and not dispute the final

count.

j) A full video account of the entire meeting is available on YouTube.7

k) Twenty minutes after the completion of the meeting, VUWSA posted a notice on

their notice board calling for another meeting at 11am on the Friday in an

attempt to reverse the motion. The Friday was only than two days later, much

earlier than the five days notice that the constitution requires for a meeting.

They tried to do this because Friday was the last day of term and meetings can

only be held during term time.

l) When we pointed this out to VUWSA they ignored us until we threatened to get

an injunction to prevent the meeting from taking place, at which point they

cancelled it.

m) The following day, the VUWSA executive unilaterally declared the meeting, and

therefore the motion, invalid because it lost quorum without any further

justification. Some of those at the meeting made an official complaint to the

VUWSA solicitor which is defined as the official mechanism for appeal in the

Constitution and obtained the signatures of fifty people who confirmed they

were present for the entire meeting. I believe another submitter to the select

committee will present this complaint and these signatures as part of their

submission.

40) There is no provision for the executive to declare motions or meetings invalid in the

constitution and there has been no explanation of why this was done.

41) Since this declaration, VUWSA have actively campaigned against the Education

(Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill with students’ money and resources, 7

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQZgPljtHuA

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8O01T8Eros

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0SAyL8hWl4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQZgPljtHuA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8O01T8Eros

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0SAyL8hWl4

despite the students at Victoria University democratically voting to direct VUWSA to

actively support the bill.

42) This one meeting neatly summarises the approach of students’ associations to

representation. Students’ associations are happy to represent all students when it is

an issue that they agree with, but as soon as students vote for a policy which the

executive disagree with they ignore the views of the students.

43) This shows that not only do students’ associations inherently misrepresent students

who may be in the minority on a particular issue, but they are also willing to

deliberately misrepresent the majority of students if the majority does not follow

the executive’s beliefs, even if the majority has followed the precise constitutional

requirements to change official policy.

44) More broadly, the Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill is a perfect

example of this kind of misrepresentation. At all campuses around the country, some

students support the bill and some oppose it, however;

a) Every single student at a compulsory students’ association is forced to fund the

Save our Services campaign against the bill which is being run by the students’

associations and by the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations [NZUSA],

who are funded by students’ associations.

b) This campaign has paid for websites, advertising, full colour laminated posters,

leaflets and dozens of bright orange t-shirts. When we jokingly enquired if we

could have some of the students’ money to get some VSM T-Shirts printed we

were told to ‘Stuff off’ by the NZUSA Co-Presidents and we ended up paying for

our own t-shirts to be printed that read: ‘We paid for our shirts. You paid for

theirs!’

c) VUWSA even hired a $225/hour professional photo booth for three full days of

publicity for their Save our Services campaign during Orientation Week,

managing to spend more in one hour on photographs than ACT on Campus spent

on our entire campaign over the last year.

d) The students’ associations and NZUSA wont’ even tell students’ how much of

their (students’) money is being spent on the campaign.

45) Students’ associations have hundreds of thousands of dollars in their political

campaign budgets, in addition to the NZUSA budget which is entirely political. For

example, OUSA have produced thousands of flash postcards for people to use to

submit to this select committee of which I’m sure you have received some. By

comparison, ACT on Campus has only spent about $150 on our campaign in total on

printing a few posters.

46) Some other examples of misrepresentation by students’ associations include;

a) The ATSA being angry that infighting within the Alliance Party threatens to

overshadow the real issues in election year: ‘Students need the Alliance to be

working cohesively as a unit…’ 8

b) The ATSA endorsing a Paid Parental Leave bill put forward by the Green Party.9

c) An NZUSA Press Release urging people to vote Labour or Greens in the 2005

election.10

d) Workers Party on Campus given over $2000 for printing by VUWSA in November

& December 2008.11

e) VUWSA laying a communist wreath on ANZAC day in 1973, 2006 and 2007 that

said: ‘To the dead and the dying in the struggle against imperialism, victory shall

be theirs.’12

f) VUWSA rejecting an invitation to lay a wreath on ANZAC Day because ‘I don’t

want to look like we support war at all’.13

47) Again, it must be re-emphasised that it is not the concept of an association or union

supporting the ideas of one particular party or organisation that is objectionable;

rather the fact that they do so with compulsorily acquired membership fees and do

so while claiming to represent all students. ACT on Campus would have no issue,

whatsoever, with a voluntary students’ association taking any of the above positions

as that would be an issue for the members of that association to resolve.

48) For more examples of misrepresentation by students’ associations, please see

Appendix III.

8 ATSA Press Release, 20/02/02

9 ATSA Press Release, 22/03/02

10 NZUSA Press Release, 14/09/05

11 VUWSA Executive Minutes, 11/11/08 & 17/12/08

12 http://www.salient.org.nz/blog/vuwsa-anzac-wreath-would-support-war

13 http://www.salient.org.nz/blog/vuwsa-anzac-wreath-would-support-war

http://www.salient.org.nz/blog/vuwsa-anzac-wreath-would-support-war

http://www.salient.org.nz/blog/vuwsa-anzac-wreath-would-support-war

PART IV: ACCOUNTABILITY

49) Compulsory Student Membership gives students' associations a guaranteed income,

regardless of whether the previous year’s income was spent effectively, whether

they accurately represented their member’s views, provided anything of use to their

members or even did anything at all in the previous year.

50) Whatever the students association does, they receive student money the next year

meaning that they have no incentive to fulfill student’s expectations, act responsibly

or improve the quality of their services as students are unable to take their money

and spend it anywhere else.

51) Voter turnout in student elections is consistently very low [3%-6% is quite

common] across pretty much every campus in the country and a general lack of

interest in student politics means that elected student leaders represent the opinion

of a tiny minority of students, not those of the majority and that there is very little

action to hold them accountable to students in general.

a) In 2009, the majority of 103 students at an IGM voted to support a motion that

VUWSA contribute 12 million dollars of students’ money towards a university

building project. At the following VUWSA executive meeting, the minutes tell us

that Jasmine Freemantle, the then President of VUWSA, commented:

Jasmine Freemantle expressed her joy at reaching quorum at this years

VUWSA IGM, held today 18th March 2008...

... and the VUWSA Trust now has the official support of students and VUWSA

to fund $12 million of the University Campus Hub Development Project...14

b) Salient, the student newspaper reported the meeting as follows:

In what has been touted as a major victory for the Campus Hub

Redevelopment Project (CHRP) and the VUWSA Trust, a 103-strong student

quorum voted overwhelmingly in favour of committing $12M of VUWSA

Trust funds towards the CHRP at last Wednesday’s Initial General Meeting

(IGM).

A concerted effort on the part of the association was undertaken to ensure

quorum was reached… The large turnout was a marked contrast to the 14 Minutes of the 12th meeting of the 2009 VUWSA Executive, 18th March 2009

embarrassing lack of interest demonstrated at the 4March Special General

Meeting, where the motion was to be originally broached.15

c) That the VUWSA executive would consider a simple majority vote by fewer than

0.5% of students at an IGM meant that a project had ‘the official support of

students’, speaks volumes about how students’ associations think representation

works, never mind the idea that VUWSA would consider spending 12 million

dollars of students’ money on such a flimsy mandate at all.

52) There is a huge power imbalance between a student and their students' association.

The students' association is in control as they can force the student to join and pay

them again the next year regardless of what they do and the student has no power to

act against this.

53) There is no incentive for a single student to try to hold a students’ association to

account for anything that they do. There is little legal recourse for any action by a

students’ association and, moreover, because the benefit of holding a students'

association to account is spread over all students, while the costs are borne only by

the individual, students' associations can get away with abuse, fraud, and

misrepresentation. As has already been mentioned above, students are actually

acting rationally by forgetting about the fees they have already paid and getting on

with their lives, rather than spending hundreds of hours campaigning against the

students’ association trying to change the system.

54) Some other examples of the lack of accountability in students’ associations include;

a) Low voter turnout (picking them out like this makes them appear exceptional,

but actually these figures are common place):

i) 1994 - OPSA - 1.8% Turnout.

ii) 1995 - AIT SA - 0.13% Turnout (30 votes cast out of 23,000 students).

iii) 2001 - WSU, VUWSA and OPSA - All <3% Turnout.

iv) 2002 - WSU President elected with 207 votes out of over 12,000 students.

v) 2005 - WSU - 1.4% Turnout - President elected with 138 votes.

vi) 2006 - VUWSA - 6% Turnout.

15 http://www.salient.org.nz/news/there-will-be-hub

http://www.salient.org.nz/news/there-will-be-hub

vii) 2007 - VUWSA - 12%, an exceptionally high turnout that everyone was

surprised by.

b) Low Annual Meeting turnouts (again, the norm, not the execption):

i) 1985 - VUWSA - Seven SGMs were required to gain quorum to pass required

motions.

ii) 1986 - VUWSA - Five AGMs were required to gain quorum to pass required

motions.

iii) 2003 - WSU - AGM had a turnout of 5 people out of about 13,000 students.

iv) 2009 - VUWSA - IGM gains 103 attendees and is reported by Salient as a huge

success for having such a large turnout and achieving quorum. Quorum is

100.

c) Undemocratic decision making and general incompetence:

i) 1995 - WSU spends $25,000 on radio spectrum without consulting students

beforehand.

ii) 1997 - High Court judge bans a student meeting branding it ‘undemocratic’.

iii) 2003 - A former AUSA President, in a media interview, recalls:

(1) purchasing cars with student money, hiring luxury speedboats for

executive outings, buying ski chalets, having taxi fares paid for the year,

and the association purchasing a thoroughbred racehorse.

(2) delegates from student executives around the country have allegedly

been sent to Libya for activism training, the Philippines to observe female

exploitation, Cuba to learn from Fidel Castro’s regime, and Moutua

Gardens for “protest experience”.

iv) 2003 - Waikato Institute of Technology Students’ Association struck off for

failing to file any financial accounts

v) 2006 - Wanganui UCOL Association struck off for failing to file any financial

accounts since 2003

vi) 2009 - MAWSA executive minutes state: ‘Jane would like to thank everyone

who helped out with the clean up this afternoon. She also discovered a bank

account that no-one was aware of.’

vii) 2009 - VUWSA By-Election declared invalid and the election of five

replacement executive members is overturned by an independent panel after

I (Peter McCaffrey) complained over the use of multiple different ballot

papers with different lists of candidates on each, a complete lack of security

in the voting system allowing for multiple votes to be cast by anyone and the

constitutional rules over a no-confidence option not being followed.

55) Making membership of students’ associations voluntary gives power back to

individual students, putting them back in control and forcing students' associations

to be accountable to students. If students’ associations don’t perform, students may

choose not to join the next year, punishing the students’ association financially.

56) Further examples of the lack of accountability in students’ associations can be seen

in Appendix III.

PART V: SERVICES

New Zealand

57) First and foremost when considering services provided by students’ associations, it

is important to remember that these services are no provided free of charge by

students’ associations as they like to promote. Students are paying hundreds of

dollars a year, often over a thousand dollars over the course of a degree.

58) Even if we assume that the amount of services provided by student’s associations

decrease, we must always remember that students have hundreds of dollars extra in

their pockets with which they could:

a) they could buy those same services from elsewhere at a better price.

b) they could purchase things that are more valuable to them as was so eloquently

(and accidentally counter-productively) explained by CSM supporter, OPSA

President Meegan Cloughley, who admitted that if VSM came in:

‘If they [students] are given that choice, they would put that money on to

rent, books or other things that would have more of an effect on their

course.’16

c) they may even choose to voluntarily join their students' association.

d) get a mix of the above possibilities.

59) If students truly value those services that are provided to them by students'

associations then they will join them voluntarily and be willing to pay for those

services. If students are unwilling to buy the services offered by students'

associations then that is a poor indictment on the current services provided by

students’ associations and simply more of a reason to allow people to save their

money and be forced to pay for those services.

60) Students' associations existed for decades before membership was made

compulsory and they provided almost identical (if not more) services than they do

currently, for example:

a) OUSA was set up in 1890 and by 1892, 93% of students had voluntarily joined

and paid one shilling.

16 Channel 9 News Report, October 2009

b) Between 1890 and 1914, when OUSA became compulsory, it ran a (profitable!)

student magazine and newspaper, held socials and Capping, organised clubs

(including the Debating Society), lobbied the university on behalf of students and

even raised funds for and erected the first Student Union Building.17

c) UCSA was also equally successful under a voluntary membership model for many

years before becoming compulsory.

61) Many services on campus are not provided by students' associations anyway and

could not possibly be threatened by voluntary student membership.

a) Most cafes, shops, vending machines and other services on campus around the

country are privately run and would be unaffected by any change to this law.

b) Similarly, most Health Services, Gyms, Rec Centers, Creches, Counseling Services,

Financial Support, etc, are funded by separate (non-students' association) levies

that would be unaffected by this bill.

c) One of many specific examples includes the Student Union Building at Victoria

University which is actually funded through a separate Amenities Levy that is not

controlled by VUWSA.

62) The remaining services that are actually provided by student's associations are

either:

a) easily excludable through the use of membership cards.

b) things that not everyone will want anyway and may be glad to not be forced to

fund, such as so-called 'representation' and lobbying of the government.

c) already freely available to so called 'free-riders' outside university, for example

publications like student magazines and radio stations. Student magazines are

usually distributed in the local city for free already and/or published on the

internet for anyone to read, while radio stations are inherently freely accessible

either through radio waves or through internet streaming. Most of these

publications receive much of their funding through advertising and so would

want as wide a readership as possible regardless of any law changes.

17 Sam Elworthy, "Ritual Song of Defiance, The Otago University Students' Association," 1990

Australia

63) The Save our Services campaign, funded by students’ through their students’

association’s political campaign budgets and through NZUSA have tried to make a

big deal out of supposed impacts on services as a result of the VSU bill that was

passed in 2005 in Australia.

64) It is important to realise that the VSU bill in Australia was very different to the law

being proposed here in New Zealand. The VSU bill in Australia didn't just stop

students' associations from collecting compulsory membership fees, it also banned

the collection of ANY non-academic services fees by the university, things that fund

Health, Counseling and other services here in New Zealand.

65) Under the New Zealand VSM bill, only students' associations' membership fees are

affected.

66) Opponents of VSM in New Zealand have suggested that we learn from the mistakes

of the Australian VSU example; however this has already been considered and taken

in to account in this improved New Zealand VSM bill.

67) The Australian VSU bill was undoubtedly bad for BAD students' associations in

Australia - it allowed students' to stop funding and escape incompetent, biased,

politically motivated or corrupt organisations. But GOOD Australian students'

associations have continued to thrive and provide valued services to their many

members, for example:

a) The students' association at the University of Canberra saw membership fall to

fewer than 5% after the VSU bill was passed while the University of West

Australia has membership rates of about 60%.

b) Many students' associations who lost large numbers of members with the

introduction of VSU have reformed their organisation and started providing

services that students want. This has led to these organisations returning to high

membership levels again and this is positive as it means that students’

associations are working more effectively and students’ are getting higher

quality services that they that actually want.

68) Additionally, it has been a deliberate strategy by Australian students’ associations,

the Australian equivalent of NZUSA - the National Union of Students [NUS] and by

other student leaders to make any effects of VSU in Australia appear much worse

than they actually were in order to build pressure for a return to compulsory

membership and the guaranteed income that the students’ associations had

previously enjoyed. In particular, we have seen:

a) unsupported assertions by student leaders and Labor politicians that services

have been affected.

b) student unions maintaining existing levels of spending despite reduced income

in an effort to run up a deliberate budget deficit with which to pressure

politicians and the government into making changes and universities into

providing extra funds.

c) student unions opting to cut funding to clubs and societies while retaining or

even increasing funding for political activities, eg:

i) The RMIT Student Union asserts on its website that voluntary student

unionism has led to its advocacy service being scaled back – yet it still finds

the money to produce an expensive radio program on 3CR every Saturday

morning called ‘Blazing Textbooks’ – a show that is described as promoting an

‘anti-capitalist perspective on current issues in education from around

Australia and the world’.

ii) The University of Melbourne Student Union stripped its clubs and societies

budget by $18,000 (24%) in order to fund a $15,000 increase in its donation

to the National Union of Students for their political activities.

69) Opponents of VSM in New Zealand have also produced image and video adverts

consisting of scary sounding headlines about services being cut. However a simple

search for the articles themselves reveals a very different story, for example:

a) ‘Uni Service Costs Treble Post-VSU’18:

i) ‘The cost of playing sport or eating at university cafes had trebled

at some institutions since voluntary student unionism (VSU) was enforced.’

ii) Welfare, advocacy and other such services didn’t triple in cost at ‘some’

[unspecified] institutions. It’s simply that average students now no longer

have to pay for the entertainment and subsidise the lunch of a small minority.

b) ‘Poor students must rely on charity’19:

18 http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/20/2195426.htm

19 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/poor-students-must-rely-on-charity/story-e6frg6nf-

1111112796123

i) ‘The student council scrapped its $1500 interest-free loans last year.’

ii) This students’ association didn’t cut any real tangible services, it just had to

stop acting like a bank, providing free money to students.

Waste

70) A common argument used against voluntary membership by CSM supporters is that

any savings from reduced students’ association fees will simply be taken up by

increased university service fees to cover lost services and that the university will be

more expensive because they have to hire staff and can’t use student volunteers.

This simplistic argument ignores a few important things:

a) It assumes that services will be lost, which we do not necessarily agree with.

b) It assumes that the university can’t use volunteers, just as the students’

association does, which is just silly.

c) It assumes that volunteers will simply stop volunteering for the students’

association if voluntary student membership is passed, when actually there

doesn’t seem to be any causal relationship here.

d) It is based off a flawed understanding of the nature of prices charged by

compulsory associations:

i) The membership fee charged by compulsory associations is not a market

price, it is not set by supply and demand.

ii) Instead, the membership fee charged by compulsory associations is a

political price, set by a vote of members.

iii) Similarly, a compulsory associations spending priorities are set politically.

e) Because of this, and because of the general nature of students’ associations, we

cannot assume that the prices charged and incurred by students’ associations are

efficient.

f) Therefore the university, or even the students’ association once it is voluntary

may be able to provide the same services more efficiently which actually reduced

the cost to students rather than increasing it.

g) As an example, in 2009, VUWSA spent 71.3% of its budget on administration

while only 1.7% was spent on clubs and 5% on clubs grants.20 A voluntary

VUWSA would be forced to focus spending on service delivery, rather than on

administration items like $140,000 on ‘Executive Expenses’ alone.

i) A selection of examples of waste at compulsory students’ associations

include:

(1) 1994 - AUSA pays for the legal costs of a student who was fined for

possession of explosives during a students’ association protest.

(2) 1995 - AUSA purchase a $30,000 Speedboat for use by the Auckland

University Water Ski Club

(3) 1995 - AUSA receives an application for $300 for Cally Somerville to go on

a tour of the Philippines sex trade. Due to concern that overseas trips of

this sort would not be of any value to students Cally was only given $150.

(4) 1997 - AUSA hires a stripper and students vote on how far the stripper

‘should go’.

(5) 1998 - AUSA bail out their Ski Club with an $80,000 loan.

(6) 2003 - One month after receiving a $180,000 bail out from Massey

University, MAWSA find enough money to set up a radio station.

(7) 2004 - OUSA buys a half share in a Dunedin Whitcoull’s book shop for a

reported $750,000.

(8) 2007 - VUWSA President, Geoff Hayward spends over $20,000 ‘pimping-

out’ the VUWSA Van with tinted windows, speakers etc. Despite having no

authorisation from the executive the bill was paid and could not be

reversed.

(9) 2009 - The 2009 VUWSA President threatens the 2008 VUWSA President

with legal action if he doesn’t repay almost $2000 from an infamous

Australian junket where no ‘work’ was actually done.

ii) We have also provided dozens of examples of wasteful spending by students’

associations in Appendix III which shows that services could in fact be

provided more efficiently and effectively under a voluntary model.

20 “2009 VUWSA Budget”, http://www.vuwsa.org.nz

71) It’s also important to remember that it has been shown that pre-VSU in Australia,

many of the subsidies that students’ associations were providing were actually

making products more expensive than in regular shops by reducing competition and

that the same is likely happening here in New Zealand:

a) ‘A plain roll at the bakery costs at least twice as much as at other bakeries. All their

food is at least as expensive as that in comparable bakeries and cafes.’21

72) Students’ associations will be no different to every other club, association,

organisation and union in the country that successfully manages to provide services

to their members on a voluntary basis at a quality and standard that their members

would expect.

21 http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/reps/dailys/dr051205.pdf p139.

http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/reps/dailys/dr051205.pdf

PART VI: FRAUD

73) CSM creates the ideal conditions under which fraud can occur:

a) Large sums of money controlled by a small number of people.

b) Associations with very high turnover of both executive members and staff along

with a lack of accountability and management experience on the executive.

c) Little attention is paid by students to activities of executive and association. And

even if attention is paid by students, there is very little recourse for students to

hold their students’ association accountable unless it can be proven that laws

have actually been broken

d) A proven history of poor financial management and accounting.

e) A captured membership that can’t even withhold funding if a lack of

accountability or even fraud is suspected, never mind proven.

74) Fraud is more likely to occur in organisations which have poor levels of

accountability and low levels of involved by its members. When turnout executive

elections is so low, with many candidates being elected uncontested by just a few

percent of the student body and when students cannot punish abuse by leaving the

organisation, problems will always develop.

75) Some examples of recent fraud at compulsory students’ associations include:

a) December 1999 - Brendan McQuillan, President of Nelson Polytechnic Student

Association, admitted stealing $8,004.

b) November 2003 - Florence Bailey, office manager of Massey Students

Association, jailed for two years and three months after stealing $203,000.

c) November 2005 - Victoria University Maori Student Association treasurer Wi

Nepia jailed for stealing $161,000.

d) 2005 - Otago University's Te Roopu Maori, the Maori students' association

collapsed amid allegations of financial impropriety. Estimated fraud $21,000.

e) April 2007 - Clelia Opie, officer of VUWSA spends $6,000 on phone calls.

76) For more examples of fraud by compulsory students’ associations, please see

Appendix III.

PART VII: CONCLUSION

77) We hope that the content of this submission has convinced you of the urgent need

for students’ associations to be returned to voluntary membership and for the right

of Freedom of Association to be returned to students.

78) While the bill is itself very simple, the issues behind it are complex and we thank

you for taking the time to read our rather lengthy submission.

79) This submission draws on submissions to earlier VSM bills and updates the

arguments with the latest legal precedent and further examples of the excesses and

irresponsibility of students’ associations from the last few years

80) The fact that this is now the fourth VSM bill to come before the house shows that:

a) the issue has not and will not go away until resolved.

b) the compromise that was attempted with the last bill has failed to solve the issue

c) full voluntary membership of students’ associations is required to solve the

principled human rights argument and the practical accountability and

responsibility issues.

81) It is time that Parliament returned to individual students’, on campuses across New

Zealand, the power and choice it took away when it made student’s association

membership compulsory and it is time that Parliament allowed students the same

fundamental human rights that everyone else in New Zealand enjoys.

82) We commend the bill to the Select Committee and to the House and ask that it be

passed in to law with no amendment to the intent of the law and only any technical

or legal amendments required to ensure a smooth implementation of such intent.

83) Please contact me at the details provided above should the committee have any

questions relating to my submission.

84) I look forward to appearing before the committee to give an oral submission.

APPENDIX I: VUWSA POLICY ON EXEMPTION FROM MEMBERSHIP

Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association

Te Ropu Tauira o te Kura Wananga o te Upoko o te Ika a Maui Inc

Policy on Exemption from Membership

The purpose of this policy is to set out the grounds upon which a student enrolled at Victoria University of

Wellington can apply to be exempted from membership of the Association as they are entitled to do under the

Education Amendment Act 2000. The policy also sets down how such applications shall be handled by the

Executive, and who shall be responsible for dealing with them.

1. The Association shall prescribe an annual membership fee, payable by all students enrolled at Victoria University of Wellington, in accordance with the Education Amendment Act 2000.

2. Any student may apply in writing to the President for exemption from membership on the following grounds: 2.1 Financial Hardship 2.2 Conscientious Objection

3. All such applications shall be considered by the President, or in his/her absence, the Education

Vice-President.

4. The President shall only consider an application for full or partial exemption from membership on the grounds of financial hardship that meet the following criteria: 4.1 extraordinarily high rents or other living expenses 4.2 exceptionally high medical/dental costs 4.3 very high transport costs 4.4 above average childcare costs 4.5 unusually large course-related expenses 4.6 exceptionally low income 4.7 unable to use VUWSA facilities - ie Union Building/Recreation Centre

5. The President shall be delegated the authority to grant full or partial exemption to any student

meeting the above criteria subject to the following restrictions: 5.1 5 or more criteria = Full Exemption 5.2 3-5 criteria met = 3/4 exemption 5.3 2-3 criteria met = 1/2 exemption 5.4 1-2 criteria met = 1/4 exemption

6. In the case of application on the grounds of conscientious objection the application must state clearly the grounds on which the student has a conscientious objection and the application will need to demonstrate a deeply held philosophical conviction that compulsory association infringes the applicants rights in ways and for purposes that are demonstrably offensive to the applicant.

7. In line with past precedents set by the University when dealing with conscientious objection, the President shall work with a definition of “conscientious” which shall include moral, philosophical and religious grounds, but not dissatisfaction with policies (that can be affected democratically) nor dissatisfaction with VUWSA services.

8. Any student granted exemption on the grounds of conscientious objection shall be required to

pay a sum equivalent to a charity which has been endorsed by the Executive. In addition to the charities approved in Appendix 1 of this policy, the President shall refer any other charities requested to the Executive for approval.

9. If a student is dissatisfied with the decision, they may appeal to the Executive, who upon receipt

of such an appeal shall form an ad-hoc committee comprising: 9.1 A student member of the Academic Board (not the President) 9.2 A senior academic appointed by the Executive 9.3 A past officer of the Association

10. The deliberations of the committee shall be final.

APPENDICES:

Appendix A: List of approved charities

Date first approved: Monday, 12 September 2000

Date last amended: Monday, 12 September 2000

APPENDIX ONE:

1. Rape Crisis 2. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) 3. Women’s Refuge 4. VUW Hardship Fund / Food bank 5. Campaign for a Better City 6. Wellington City Mission 7. Wellington Life-Flight Charitable Trust 8. Books in Homes

APPENDIX II: NEW ZEALAND BILL OF RIGHTS OPINION - MARY T. SCHOLTENS QC

APPENDIX III: WASTE, ABUSE, MISREPRESENTATION

Examples of waste, abuse and misrepresentation by students’ associations in NZ that we

have been able to collect - there are, no doubt, countless more.

Particular highlights have been marked in orange for easy reference.

NZUSA/APSU/ATSA/USNZ/Nationwide Source Date

…the current proposal before NZUSA for it to spend $50,000 on promoting petitions to hold referendums on such diverse issues as a free health system, cutting military spending, energy efficiency, repealing the employment contracts act etc

Young Nationals submission on Tertiary Students Assn Voluntary Membership bill

1994

Three tertiary student associations are being investigated by the police for possible fraud. The students associations at Bay of Plenty Polytechnic, Manukau Polytechnic, and Auckland University are being investigated after student leaders called in the police and auditors….It is understood the two polytechnic student association investigations involve thousands of dollars.

Sunday Times 30 Jan 94

[APSU president] Mr Jason Hemopo said it was wrong to liken student bodies to trade unions. Mr Hemopo said students’ associations were more like consumer advocate groups such as the Law Society and Accountants Society – both of which have compulsory membership – than unions.

NZ Herald 10 Mar 94

In fact the Select Committee has been told: “There are very few issues on which the tertiary sector has a single view and this (opposition to voluntary membership) is one of them.”

NZVCC Newsletter, No 34

May 1995

Education Minister Lockwood Smith has released a report by tertiary student unions [NZUSA & APSU] he says was kept quiet because it shows increased fees do not deter people from higher education.

Waikato Times 19 July 95

…pro-life students – male and female – are being forced to fund an organisation (WECA) that promotes abortion because they pay compulsory union fees to NZUSA – WECA’s income source

NZ Catholic 16 Feb 97

Bickering among university student associations and a lack of commitment to the national body have contributed to the resignation of national student president Patrick Rooney, he has said.

Dominion Post 29 Oct 98

Student associations are using sources other than fees to fund pro-compulsory campaigns in the forthcoming voluntary student membership referendums. The move allows them to sidestep the controversial VSM law…Associations, under advice from their national offices, are using donations from alumni and other supporters, along with funds from alternative sources of income such as dividends and vending machines.

NZ Education Review 12 Feb 99

NZUSA is today welcoming the government’s decision to cut public funding to new private training courses and providers.

NZUSA media release 24 Jul 01

NZUSA has echoed the criticisms of other groups that the Knowledge Wave conference is in part trying to turn back the clock to the failed policies of the 1980s and 90s.

NZUSA media release 3 Aug 01

ATSA is angry that the infighting within the Alliance Party is threatening to overshadow the real issues in election year….students need the Alliance to be working cohesively as a unit…

ATSA media release 20 Feb 02

…Charlie Chambers, co-president of NZUSA, failed to mention that her organisation and other student associations receive most of their income from money borrowed by students under the student loan scheme.

Clint Heine, letter to the editor

NZ Education Review 13-19 Mar 02

ATSA strongly supports the proposed amendments to the Paid Parental Leave Act put forward by the Green Party.

ATSA media release 22 Mar 02

It is dishonest for the Public Tertiary Education Coalition to claim it represents all tertiary students because students are only linked to the group as a result of compulsory membership of student associations…

Student Choice media release

16 Jul 02

The majority of tertiary students are having their political views misrepresented by their student associations…

Clint Heine, article

ODT 19 Jul 02

The electoral rout of the Alliance confirms that NZUSA and ATSA misrepresented the political views of most tertiary students when both organisations endorsed the Alliance’s education policy…


29 Jul 02

But what about (ATSA’s) call for zero fees for tertiary study and universal student allowances? And (ATSA president, Julie) Pettett’s assertion that tertiary students deserve a paid holiday, paid by the state that is, because full-time study is basically a full-time job?

NZ Education Review 13-19 Nov 02

Free trade is already failing students says NZUSA as they co-host the launch of the ARENA booklet Free Trade at Any Price.

NZUSA media release 31 Jul 03

Up to ten students have been arrested after the occupation of the Massey University Registry protesting fee rises. Arrested students include NZUSA co-president Fleur Fitzsimons, and MUSA president Andrea Grant.

NZUSA media release 9 Oct 03

Claire Medcalf (M@WSA President)….explained that Massey Wellington, as an ex-polytechnic, did not have a culture of sports clubs on its campus and this meant participation in USNZ activity was only achieved by 1-2% of the student population. At present, with the funding constraints facing M@WSA following a fraud in 2002, it was felt that full benefit could not be derived for the value of their levies. M@WSA believed that other polytechnics would face the same problems in membership of USNZ.

USNZ AGM minutes 31 July 04

Despite being challenged, NZUSA have failed to declare how much of their income comes from money borrowed under the student loan scheme, says Student Choice spokesperson Matthew Flannagan.

Education Weekly 1 Nov 04

Maori student organisation isn’t representing the interests of Maori students. Education Forum media release

15 Feb 05

The National Maori Students’ Association’s claim that the student loan scheme breaches the Treaty of Waitangi should be thrown out of court…

ACT media release 15 Feb 05

University students *NZUSA+ are backing their teachers’ campaign for more pay but are worried about how it will affect them.

Newsroom 11 Jun 05

A universal student allowance would be a regressive policy with funding from it going mainly to people who may not need it as much as others in society, a student leader said earlier this month….Conor Roberts, administrative vice president at AUSA and Young Labour’s national leader *said+ ”You can’t get away from the fact that a lower socio-economic person starting, for example, a trucking firm would not a get a government subsidy, as students do.”

Education Forum Subtext

July 05

NZUSA has again shown a complete disregard for the actual opinions of the students it claims to represent…

Young Nationals media release

21 Jul 05

Today’s statement by NZUSA urging people to vote Labour Greens misrepresents the political views of thousands of students who support parties of the centre right…


14 Sep 05

The Aotearoa Tertiary Students Association has collapsed after nearly 20 years of existence and is likely to be liquidated next month unless a last-ditch rescue effort is successful….ATSA had had financial trouble since 2001. In that year about nine of its 12 members had resignations on the table and three of its members took it to court, resulting in an out of court settlement, which left ATSA in a bad financial position.

Education Review 15 Sept 05

“A few years ago *ATSA+ started a training organisation. It’s been on the back foot since then.”

Claire Medcalf, president M@WSA

Dominion Post 28 Sep 05

The student movement’s call for the government to significantly reduce our tertiary institution’s fee levels by improved funding of tertiary institutions is a call which can also be won by public pressure and reasoned argument.

Camilla Belich, co-president, NZUSA

Education Review 3 Nov 05

NZUSA’s salivation over the demise of Dr Wayne Mapp’s Employment Relations (Probationary Amendment) Bill is a gross misrepresentation of the opinions of students.


25 Aug 06

NZUSA and bank workers union Finsec have joined forces to fight the ever-growing student debt….Finsec campaigns manager Andrew Campbell *NZUSA co-president 1999] said the recent Finsec better banks campaign aimed to improve services to customers…

NZ Herald 26 Feb 08

The Board noted the rearrangement of the meeting agenda due to the gravity of the organisation’s financial situation.... The Board expressed their disappointment with the management of the Uni Games…The Board noted that the Uni Games had originally budgeted a $90k surplus and would now face a potential $30-50k loss (dependant on trust funding applications). This represents a $120-140k turnaround and will a significant challenge for the remainder of this year and several years to come….The President (Hamish Hopkinson) had attended a meeting of Oceania nations in Samoa to establish the Oceania University Sports Association (OUSA). The President apologised for not being elected onto the OUSA Board as was hoped for.

USNZ board minutes 6 April 08

Despite complaints from student politicians, the student loan scheme is a goldmine for student groups because it allows the cost of compulsory student association membership to be hidden in the amount students pay at enrolment…


10 April 08

It was also noted that University Sport NZ is in danger of insolvency as they receive no revenue other than from Student Associations.

UCSA executive minutes

11 May 09

(USNZ) is in some financial trouble and it seems to be getting worse….It is predicted that USNZ will ask UCSA for more money. They also want to outsource some of the events – they currently administer Uni Blues, Uni Challenge, Uni Games etc but do a mediocre job at them.


8 June 09

University Sport NZ has a current deficit of $5000 with a worst case scenario of $35,000. The forecast to the end of the year is not looking good. UCSA is a member of this organisation so may be asked to help prop the organisation up or wind it up.


13 July 09

Auckland

Auckland (University) students have given the association authority to spend $10 a head to run a $225,000 advertising and publicity campaign to encourage public debate on the Government tertiary education policies (sic).

Seven full page advertisements subsequently ran in the NZ Herald on 6 (x2),7,8,9,14 (x2) September

NZ Herald 14 Sept 93

$2000 spent on team building session for AUSA Exec Craccum 11 March 94

An Auckland University student fined for possession of explosives during a protest last year has had his costs paid by the Students’ Association…

NZ Herald 18 March 94

The executive of the Auckland Institute of Technology students’ association has sacked a vice-president who succeeded in calling a special general meeting about compulsory membership.

NZ Herald 13 June 94

A $30,000 speedboat was bought for Auckland University’s water ski club by its student association, a select committee heard yesterday.

NZ Herald 12 April 95

Among those arrested [in a protest against the Asian Development Bank] was the president of the Auckland University Students Association, Mr Brendon Lane….*Superintendent Bryan Rowe said+ action by the students was “disappointing” after steps had been taken to warn the president of the Auckland University Students Association, Mr Brendon Lane, against unlawful demonstration.

NZ Herald 4 May 95

Cally Somerville’s request *to AUSA executive+ for $300 to go on a tour of the Philippines sex trade was passed after being reduced to $150 after several members expressed concern that overseas trips of this sort would not be of any value to students.

Craccum 30 May 95

The controversial Waterski Club speed boat was saved [by AUSA executive] from being sold when its low resale value was disclosed, and that it would be unfair to the club’s members.

Craccum 30 May 95

AUSA Research Officer Bruce Cronin was detained at the airport and interrogated for an hour by airport police after returning from a meeting in Manila of the non-governmental organisation working on the Asian Development Bank.

Craccum 30 May 95

…the president *of the Auckland Institute of Technology Students Association+ was elected on a total poll of 30 votes out of a population of 23,000 students.

The Dominion 1 July 95

The president of the Auckland University Students’ Assocation…appeared in court today charged with inciting disorder likely to lead to violence.

NZ Herald 18 July 95

The police are investigating whether articles offering tips on shoplifting and bomb-making in the Auckland University student newspaper Craccum are lawful.

NZ Herald 4 Oct 95

The police yesterday foiled students who planned to throw boxes off the Auckland Harbour Bridge in protest against their loan scheme debts….The president of the Auckland University Students Association, Mr Brendon Lane, was arrested on a charge of breaching the peace shortly after the 10-vehicle procession was stopped.

NZ Herald 22 Aug 96

A convicted fraudster tells students how to rip off allowances in the latest issue of the Auckland University student magazine Craccum….The editor of Craccum, Martyn Bradbury, confirmed that Timothy Selwyn, who has convictions for forgery and fraud, was the source for the article.


Auckland University began an inquiry this week into a campus strip act (in 1997) where students took a vote on how far a stripper should go….Student levies paid for the nude dance routine, and those pushing for voluntary student association membership said the incident was an example of the association misusing money it collected through compulsory union fees.

NZ Herald 1998

The University of Auckland Students’ Association is under fire after bailing out its ski club with an $80,000 loan. The funds will come out of the association’s reserves. The club had difficulty paying off a $130,000 loan taken out two years ago.

NZ Herald 26 Mar 98

Police have promised to arrest the “ringleaders” of an Auckland University student protest that ended in chaos yesterday.

Dominion 25 Sep 98

…(AUSA) publishes a blatant guide to benefit fraud….Yet does the university not enforce the compulsory membership of the student association and collect the fee which is in part a compulsory subscription to the publication….Craccum insults its compulsory subscribers with such unsophisticated advice and wastes their scarce money. They should seek a refund.

NZ Herald editorial 24 March 07

A High Court judge has banned a students’ meeting scheduled for this week, branding it undemocratic.

NZ Herald 29 Sept 97

AUSA is under fire after bailing out its ski club with an $80,000 loan….the association also recently sold a speedboat, bought in 1993 for $20,000, for $9800.

NZ Herald 26 Mar 98

…my employer (AUSA) for the past year, is patently unrepresentative of its 25,000 members.

Alex Spence, news editor, Craccum

NZ Herald 23 Oct 98

Disgust meets student mag’s suicide guide. Auckland University’s student magazine *Craccum+ has published a guide to committing suicide.

NZ Herald 7 Mar 2000

…Auckland University student magazine Craccum was pulled from circulation within hours of hitting stands because it contained a recipe for the drug “pure speed”, also known as “P”.

NZ Herald 29 May 02

…Craccum is telling students how to make drugs and current editor Colin Mitchell has no regrets…. Then there was Martin Bradbury who, as Craccum editor in 1995, printed a guide to shoplifting….In that same decade Craccum ran a piece by Tim Selwyn which told students how to defraud the student allowance scheme by marrying a fictitious person.

Sunday Star Times 9 June 02

The Auckland University of Technology has officially banned Lucid [magazine] from distributing on campus after pressure from their student association, AuSM.

Lucid Sept 02

[Former AUSA president Graham Watson] recalls presidents purchasing cars with student money, hiring luxury speedboats for executive outings, buying ski chalets, having taxi fares paid for the year, and the association purchasing a thoroughbred racehorse….Delegates from student executives around the country have allegedly been sent to Libya for activism training, the Philippines to observe female exploitation, Cuba to learn from Fidel Castro’s regime, and Moutua Gardens for “protest experience”.

Investigate Oct 03

Complaints about an anti-Asian poem in the Unitec student magazine have forced the contrite editor and writer to admit their mistake and apologise.

NZ Herald 21 Sep 04

NZ’s largest student association has offered any Auckland University student a $5000 reward if they are able to make a successful citizen’s arrest of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her visit to Auckland over the weekend, for her role in overseeing the illegal invasion and continued occupation of Iraq.

AUSA media release 24 July 08

AUSA will today lodge a formal complaint with police over the impending visit of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

NZPA 25 July 08

(ASA 2008 president Brad Heap) recommended leaving (NZUSA). He also accused NZUSA of being too “…involved in internal politics between associations” and “spending too much time and money on small subgroups who pander to the organization.”

Satellite (online) March 2010

“I think the one thing that students notice the most is probably our orientation and events in O-Week are a fraction of what they used to be. We used to have the big bands come in, and we used to have awesome parties. Now AUT constantly have better parties across the road, despite having about half our population.”

Elliot Blade, AUSA president

Salient 8 March 2010

Waikato/Bay of Plenty

The Teacher Trainees Association has been all but inoperable this year. At a levy rate of $27.50/member this is a disgrace.

John Craig, WSU president

1988

…students must really ask if they are getting value for their student union fee – up 26% for 1989.

Keith Lyons, WSU vice-president

1988

Waikato University has brought in commercial caterers for its student cafeterias and halls after losing $149,000 last year. The student union services management board, which supervises the operation, still has a further $171,000 debt incurred over several years before 1992. The board, consisting of student union representatives and university hierarchy, including the vice-chancellor and finance registrar, brought in the Company Catering Company in a bid to trade out of the debt.

This Week 19 March 93

The WSU has refused a request by the voluntary unionism campaigner Mr Michael Laws to address students on campus when he visits Hamilton on May 16.

NZ Herald 6 May 94

“Voluntary membership is not wanted by students in NZ but right wing conservatives see the student’s association as a union movement and want to weaken it.”

Phil Mitchell, president, BoP Polytechnic Students Assn

Bay News 31 Aug 94

WSU votes to increase levy by 13% next year Waikato Times 3 Nov 94

Compulsory student association fees could be invested next year in a small business to provide regular income, according to the new BoP Polytechnic student president.

BoP Times 4 Nov 94

Waikato University’s student union has vowed to clean up its student diary after advertisers threatened to withdraw from next year’s edition. Student president Paul Williams said several articles on sex in this year’s union handbook had offended advertisers.

Waikato Times 12 Nov 94

The Territorial Army was shut out of Waikato University’s orientation week because of the Army’s stand against openly homosexual behaviour, and fears of confrontation with student anti-war demonstrators. The president of the WSU, Alayna Ashby, confirmed that the union had turned down a request from the Territorial Force in Hamilton to set up a booth during orientation.


WSU’s plans to set up a television station are on hold after a meeting this week....WSU successfully bid for a $25,000 low-range frequency, but some students say the decision to spend their money should not have been made without their approval.

Waikato Times 17 March 95

Student union owes members some answers….*WSU+ can reconsider its fee structure – it raised fees by 13 per cent this year – and perhaps, if it’s brave enough, give members a choice as to whether they really want to belong to an organisation that’s not only bloated with cash, but doesn’t have the wisdom to consult members about doling out thousands of dollars on a dubious investment before it makes it.

Waikato Times editorial

17 March 95

The Auckland Council of Civil Liberties says a [WSU] planned policy to control the distribution of information and services on campus should not go ahead in its present form.

Waikato Times 13 April 95

WSU has suspended the editor of its student magazine while it investigates confidentiality breaches.

Waikato Times 31 May 95

A triple student marriage ceremony [to qualify for student allowances] performed at Waikato University earlier this month was a hoax. The organiser, [and WSU employee] Mr Dale Frew said yesterday that it was time to “come clean” and admit the three marriages were never registered.

NZ Herald 23 Aug 95

Student politics at Waikato University have been thrown into turmoil following a more than two to one no-confidence vote in the Waikato Students’ Union.

Hamilton Press 31 Aug 95

The [BoP] polytechnic students association has decided not to grant any more hardship loans until it receives more money back from outstanding loans.

BoP Times 31 Aug 95

Plans to form a student housing company by outgoing WSU members have been stalled by the incoming president and his deputy.

Waikato Times 6 Jan 96

Police are investigating threatening mail sent to new WSU president Jo Muller which the union suspects is linked to a smear campaign against student magazine Nexus.


WSU has instructed lawyers to take action against [AUSA] for an article that appeared in the Auckland campus magazine, Craccum yesterday.

NZ Herald 23 Mar 99

Last week, for approximately 48 hours, there was an occupation of B Block. The action was part of a nationwide series of protests, organised by ‘Fightback!’ and in some cases, the local Students’ Union.

Prof Bryan Gould, University of Waikato vice chancellor

University of Waikato Official Circular

4 Apr 00

The editor and staff of Waikato University’s student magazine have resigned, threatening legal action as an audit of the journal determines whether it will appear again.

NZ Herald 16 May 00

WSU has put aside nearly $95,000 for an unspecified project, likely to be the revival of a campus radio station.

Waikato Times 4 Aug 00

Last year under voluntary membership WSU claimed it had 3800 members and an income of around $38,000 – a substantial amount for any incorporated society. Yet under compulsory membership, the cost of WSU will sky-rocket to over $600,000 a year – a 1500 percent increase.

Renee van Rhyn, opinion piece

Waikato Times 28 Mar 01

The WSU support for the government’s fee-freeze deal is hypocritical when the re-introduction this year of compulsory membership of WSU added over half a million dollars to the annual cost of attending Waikato University…

Student Choice

Media release 18 June 01

One of Waikato University’s student union co-presidents has walked out of the job, citing personal reasons for her departure. Mecina Stanbury failed to front up to the student executive last Friday when it met to discuss unauthorised spending.

Waikato Times 24 Jul 01

Voter turnouts of as low as 3% in student association elections at Waikato and Victoria Universities, Otago Polytechnic have further undermined the credibility and legitimacy of compulsory student associations…

Student Choice

Media release 5 Nov 01

The 2002 WSU president has been elected by only 207 of 12,000 Waikato students, yet in 2002 all students will have to pay WSU a total of $500,000.

Student Choice

Media release 29 Nov 01

This year’s WSU executive has been torn apart by vicious personality attacks and mud-slinging, racism allegations, conflicts of interest, a potential defamation case and anonymous poster campaigns.


The editor of Waikato University’s student magazine Nexus has been suspended for its coverage of WSU affairs this year, and the magazine now faces a defamation case claiming $40,000 damages from one of the Maori members of the executive.


Debate [at a student meeting] centred on $10,000 of WSU money granted to an executive member to take a defamation case against student-owned Nexus Publications Ltd, which publishes student magazine Nexus.


Allegations of vote rigging and internal corruption surround the Waikato Institute of Technology student association’s vice-presidential election last week.


The meeting was called after WSU president Joanne Wrigley posted motions to have executive members Moananui Rameka and Sonny Pouwhare ousted for unprofessional conduct and incompetence….WSU staff member and executive disability officer Jacky de Souza told the meeting of the fear caused by fierce rows in the WSU offices.


One of NZ’s top student politicians has been called in to review Waikato Institute of Technology’s controversial vice-presidential election, amid further claims of corruption.

Waikato Times 13 June 02

Waikato University’s student president has resigned, saying she could not achieve anything with dysfunctional executive….The ongoing dispute has seen a defamation case taken against student magazine Nexus and its editor suspended, talk of racism, and grievance cases taken by WSU-paid employees against executive members. In an open letter to students [resigning president+ Ms Wrigley said some the executive’s actions were questionable ethically, breached the constitution and weren’t in students’ best intersests.


Following the latest problems to afflict the WSU, Student Choice has challenged Waikato University vice-chancellor Bryan Gould over the legitimacy of the compulsory association.

Education Weekly 5 Aug 02

A group of students have taken over the WSU building over a censorship row with the union’s executive.

students.co.nz 12 Aug 02

In the latest incident in a troubled year for the WSU executive, last week’s elections were called off after voting began amid tight security which included guards at polling booths.

Waikato Times 8 Oct 02

Waikato University’s student president has called on students to shake off their apathy when the three-day elections for next year’s executive start today at the third attempt. Arapiu Seymour, who won a by-election for vice-president and was then elevated to president after the resignation of his predecessor, said the lack of interest in the future of WSU was an indictment


Free Beer, Free Coke, Free BBQ, Free Entertainment

Special General Meeting

WSU poster 16 Oct 02

A defamation case filed against the Waikato University student magazine Nexus last year has been settled out of court for more than $30,000. Previous WSU education officer Moananui Rameka claimed $40,000 in damages from Nexus Publications Limited, which owns Nexus.

Waikato Times 8 Mar 03

The WSU has settled personal grievances with some employees one month into the academic year. The Waikato Times understands that up to $10,000 has already been spent this year on legal fees and settling personal grievances among WSU executive members and employees.

Waikato Times 2 April 03

WSU – which had an income for (sic) $728,000 last year – managed to get just five people to its annual meeting yesterday – that’s a tenth of the number required for the meeting to go ahead.

Waikato Times 5 Jun 03

The WSU has lost $60,000 on Orientation Week in the past two years. Waikato Times 18 Jul 03

Staff of Waikato University weekly student magazine Nexus arrived for work on Monday to find their computers had been taken….WSU president Daniel Philpott said the confiscation of Nexus equipment was the latest event in the ongoing saga involving the company and former executive officers of the WSU.


WSU has put the defunct student magazine company Nexus Publications Ltd (NPL) into liquidation.


A female president of Waikato University in the late 1990s had a letter pushed through her bathroom window threatening her with rape, purely because she was an advocate of voluntary union membership…the threats against the president became so disturbing that the university security guards gave of their own time to monitor her house….*former WSU executive member Madeleine Flannagan was also+ sent hate mail threatening violence…a note arrived, made from letters cut from a magazine, saying: “You shut up or I’ll make you bitch.”….Two of the past presidents we spoke to who stood for voluntary union membership recall being physically manhandled on more than one occasion…

Investigate Oct 03

Wintec’s student president was yesterday voted out of her presidency….Allegations had been made about Ms Hastie’s use of SAWIT funds.


Waikato Institute of Technology’s student association has been struck off the Companies Office register of incorporated societies for failing to lodge its financial accounts.


This year [WSU] has increased O Week spending to $60,000 from $20,000 in 2004. Waikato Times 8 Mar 05

The results of the election for WSU’s 2005 executive released last month, show only 202 of the compulsory association’s 14,500 members voted. WSU president, Sandy Pushpamangalam, was reelected by only one percent of students, with a total of 138 votes.


10 Mar 05

The compulsory WSU has raised its fee for 2005 by 50% despite protesting against an increase in tuition fees last year…


1 Apr 05

The latest accounts for the compulsory WSU show the association posted a loss of $243,127 in 2003, up 1060% on the previous year, and net assets fell 59%...


14 Apr 05

A Hamilton student association with more than $500,000 in funds is being investigated by police over complaints of financial mismanagement. Police have confirmed they are investigating a complaint against the Student Association of the Waikato Institute of Technology, whose expenses include annual payments of $27,000 for its president, $17,600 for the vice-president and $17,600 for a treasurer.

Waikato Times 28 Apr 05

The man who raised the alarm about alleged financial mismanagement at a Hamilton students’ association was suspended a day after an official complaint was made to police….It is understood Mr [Howden] Clair provided the documents that fuelled the complaints laid by Act on Campus.

Waikato Times 29 Apr 05

MP calls for action over student union….Ken Shirley has called on Wintec to take action over its troubled student union following last week’s Waikato Times story that police were investigating complaints about it.


Police yesterday raided the homes of Wintec student leaders and the office of the tertiary institute’s student union.

Waikato Times 9 June 05

In 2002 the Waikato Students Union voted to give 100 percent of Waikato University Maori student fees to Komiti Awhina (the Waikato University Maori student union) but its failure to file annual reports led to it being struck off the register last year.

Waikato Times 24 March 06

The Waikato Students Union has been ordered to pay a former employee $10,000 for “hurt and humiliation….The compensation is one of the highest sums awarded by the *Chief Employment Relations] authority for a grievance relating to “failure to provide a safe workplace”. Mr Wilson said the “stress suffered by Ms de Souza was at a level more serious than most I have seen”.


[Former WSU vice president Jacqueline de Souza] had sought $20,000 in an action which included a claim against a “sham redundancy” and “bullying” by then-president of WSU, Daniel Philpott.

Herald on Sunday 21 May 06

Two University of Waikato students received $1000 awards this week for the WSU Sole Parent/Caregiver Awards 2008.

Education Review 12 Sep 08

A Waikato Student Union director has resigned citing the behaviour of the vice-president as one of the main contributing reasons. WSU disabilities officer Jeffery Hawkes said vice-president Glen Delamere once told him he’d like to see his nose on the end of his fist.


Massey

Budget finally approved at meeting probably without a quorum Chaff 2 May 94

Massey University has forked out between $40,000 and $50,000 to cover the costs of a six-day occupation by protesting students…

Evening Standard 15 Aug 98

Massey University has come to the rescue of its fraud-stricken Wellington students union with a loan of up to $180,000….*MWSA+ president Melanie Borich said up to $100,000 could have gone missing from the association’s coffers.

Dominion Post 17 Mar 02

The MUSA president [Huia Welton] married a former vet student two years ago in a political protest and can now divorce him as they have spent two years living apart…In the meantime the 22-year old…has earned $132 a week from the taxpayer through a student allowance payable to married couples.

Sunday Star Times 14 April 02

MUSA fees, despite government-imposed fee freezes, have risen 34 percent in three years, says anti-association fees campaigner Clint Heine. According to figures released by Mr Heine, compulsory MUSA membership fees have risen from $135 in 2000 to $180 for next year.

Manawatu Evening Standard

16 Oct 02

Police have been called in to investigate suspected financial irregularities involving Massey University’s Wellington Students’ Association bank account.

Dominion 18 Dec 02

The police investigation into financial irregularities in the accounts of MWSA highlights the fact that the pool of money at risk, the association’s $350,000 income, is derived from compulsory membership…


20 Dec 02

Massey University’s decision to loan $180,000 to a “fraud-stricken” student union is indefensible..

ACT media release 17 Mar 03

Just over a month after being bailed out by a $180,000 loan from Massey University to overcome financial difficulties, M@WSA, the compulsory student association at Massey University Wellington, has found enough money to set up an FM radio station…


2 May 03

If MUSA’s doing such a great job, why does it need to press-gang students into joining?....MUSA’s a rich organisation, for starters, with an annual income in 2002 of $2.381 million….it’s the biggest landlord in Palmerston North, with over one million dollars invested in property.

Deborah Coddington MP

Chaff article July 03

A *police+ raid of Massey University Extramural Students’ Association this week could be linked to a student plan to take over the university call centre during the October 8 protest.

Manawatu Evening Standard

18 Oct 03

A woman who defrauded Massey University’s Wellington Students Association of $203,149 has been jailed for two years and three months.

Dominion Post 1 Nov 03

At the time of the referendum four years ago, University of Waikato students voted to make membership of their association voluntary. Students very quickly lost their voice and student services rapidly ran down and eventually disappeared.

Liz Barker, EXMSS president

Off Campus Aug 04

MWSA withdrew from University Sport New Zealand because it was not getting value for its $12,000 in levies and other fees, president Claire Medcalf said.

Dominion Post 23 Aug 04

The Student’s Association of Whanganui UCOL is currently not able to hold legal meetings as it has been ‘struck off’ the Companies Office Register for not filing accounts with the Office since 2003.

Nexus 10 April 06

Youth.co.nz a company mawsa was involved with has gone bankrupt, Stephen estimates they owed mawsa around $500-$600 dollars. Stephen then goes on to emphasises the importance of mawsa changing its charitable status tomorrow.

Massey at Wellington Students Association (Mawsa) executive minutes

21 July 09

Jane would like to thank everyone who helped out with the clean up this afternoon. She also discovered a bank account that no one was aware of.

Massey at Wellington Students Association (Mawsa) executive minutes

14 Sept 09

Wellington

As a dramatic shift from representative to participatory democracy [the student representative council in 1969] brought a Marxist modus operandi to *VUWSA’s+ functioning, an ideal that generations of left-wing students had striven for since the 1920s.

A Radical Tradition: A history of the VUWSA, 1899-1999 (2002)

p.127

In 1969 [VUWSA] president Gerard Curry reiterated a complaint voiced by many of his predecessors, that the most pressing difficulty facing the association was apathy among its members…

A Radical Tradition p.127

As with general meetings, the risk remained that on specific issues SRC [Student Representative Council] could be dominated by a vocal minority, leading to confidence in it being eroded.


After the 1967 AGM instructed the association to write to the prime minister expressing opposition to his government’s policies on Vietnam, nuclear testing and the internal Security Service, even Trotskyite Owen Gager expressed concern that as so many had abstained from voting, such a letter would ‘attribute to people ideas which, perhaps, they do not hold.’


…in Salient, *editor+ David Harcourt named a police officer who was reportedly seen to kick *a+ Waikato University student….the officer initiated a defamation suit in the order of $60,000, sufficient to bankrupt the association.


As the decade [1970s] progressed, SRC was plagued by poor attendance. Even when the executive’s often heated internecine battles gave promise of blood being spilled on the floor of the union hall, less than 3% of enrolled students could be expected to attend.


SRC continued to operate through the 1970s, although with diminishing support from students. A Radical Tradition p.161

By the close of the decade [1970s] SRC meetings were often attended by only a few score of the 6000 association members.


…*in 1974+ questions were asked about the unequal distribution of club grants, specifically in the case of the cricket club, which received a grant higher than the members paid in total fees.


…in 1976, with the level of support for the association lower than at any time in the past, the no confidence option was extended to all positions…


The association entered a period of financial difficulty in the early 1970s, largely due to improvident lending to some of the more influential clubs.


Amid accusations of corruption of the democratic process, including bloc voting, double voting, and voting by as many as two dozen non-members recruited from city offices, on 3 July 1972 an SGM in the quad attended by around 130 students voted to donate $2000 to the Vietnam Aid Appeal, and this at a time when, despite an extra $30,000 in income from the increased membership fee, the association ran a substantial deficit.


…it has always been the case that some students cannot resist the attractions of political life, although with fewer voting and otherwise concerning themselves with the workings of the association, there was correspondingly less control over those who did choose to take part.


In April, [1976, vice-president Stephen] Underwood again came under fire after he threatened to sue the Wellington Teachers’ College Students’ Association after his scheme to sell bean-bags to students was described in the college’s papers as a ‘scam’.


Soon after its establishment *in 1975+ the *VUWSA+ trust had to intervene to prevent VUWSA’s troubled catering service from financially ruining the association.


Capping had an inauspicious start to the decade [1980s] after the appointed controllers appeared about to blow the budget to the tune of $10,000.


All this contributed to a substantial loss for the association, with the performance budget [for 1985] ballooning from $17,000 to $37,000.


After suffering sustained financial losses over several years the union catering operation became the subject of an SGM in March 1980. Those attending voted to set up a limited liability company to run this side of the association’s business….Despite this, however, the catering venture lost large amounts of money. By 1985 over $70,000 was owed to creditors.

A Radical Tradition pp182-183

By midyear (1980), seven of the ten executive positions were vacant and a by-election had to be called.


By the beginning of Virginia Adams’ presidency (1981), three members of her executive had resigned, a fairly typical state of affairs.


Describing themselves as a ‘Coalition of Moderates’, these half dozen students claimed to have joined together ‘spontaneously’ to counter what they saw as the dominance of the students’ association by the Workers’ Communist League, described…as a ‘relatively tiny ruling group of Marxist-orientated students, who while supporting the pretence of democratic activity, actually shut out opposing views through a bias within the staff of Salient and a barely-disguised contempt for democratic procedures in SRCs’. (1981)


Despite the controversy surrounding (VUWSA president Leighton) Duley, participation in association elections declined, from 1830 in 1983 to a mere 846 in 1985 (11% of eligible voters).


Serious personality conflicts plagued the exec throughout 1985, so that by May it was facing a motion of no confidence…Simon Johnson…withdrew his resignation to better oppose (1983 president Stephanie) Howarth’s proposed trip to the USSR. Haworth had already spent three weeks in Moscow in April, prior to her attending the Twelfth World Festival of Youth and Students there from 27 July to 3 August.

A Radical Tradition p.190-191

In all, seven SGMs were held in 1985. The following year it took five attempts between April and June before a quorum was obtained for the AGM….The reforms introduced earlier in the decade had failed to make the executive behave more professionally.


Within VUWSA complaints were being voiced about the level of the association fee and, more portentously, about compulsory membership. (1986)


Others questioned the legitimacy of an executive made up of a majority of officers who had faced no direct opposition in the election, with most having only just survived the requirement that ‘no confidence’ votes be less than 50% of the total votes cast.


(In 1988, VUWSA president Grant O’Neill) inherited several significant problems from (former president Nigel Mander), the most dramatic the loss of around $100,000 in the 1987 stockmarket crash.


A Maori student protest against the role of the Maori Development Ministry, Te Puni Kokiri, in the fiscal envelope proposal to settle Treaty of Waitangi claims was senseless, the chief executive of the ministry, Mr Wira Gardiner says. About 80 people protested outside the ministry’s head office in Wellington on Friday and burned an effigy with a tyre around its neck, bearing a sign saying Te Puni kupapa (traitor). The protest was organised by a Wellington student group, Ngai Tauira, as part of a nationwide protest against what the students see as marketing of the Government’s proposal to settle treaty claims.


VUWSA is organising a National Conference Against Privatisation… Salient 3 Aug 98

Police stopped student protesters storming the NZ Business Roundtable’s office yesterday….The protest was part of Victoria University Students’ Association’s conference against privatisation.

Evening Post 14 Aug 98

Victoria University’s student president could be expelled after he has faced the university’s disciplinary committee….*VUWSA president Hamish Hopkinson+ used *a+ phony student as a means of supporting the Students Association case for compulsory membership….Prof Sharp said his complaint would allege the president attempted to “mislead the university body to influence voting in the referendum”.

Evening Post 5 March 99

[VUWSA plans] to sue the police and Parliament’s Speaker, Doug Kidd, for up to $200,000 for wrongful arrest for allegedly trespassing in Parliament grounds.

The Press 3 Sep 99

The jury decided that Begg, an executive director of the Wellington Polytechnic Students Association, had defrauded IBM [of $2.5 million] by misleading the firm into believing his scheme to sell poor families computers had the financial backing of the association and the polytechnic.

Dominion 27 Jan 00

VUWSA’s initial general meeting…will be presented with an Annual Report that shows VUWSA lost $165,000 last year.

Salient 2 April 01

Students take submissions against free trade agreement to the public VUWSA media release

24 May 01

The editor of Victoria University’s student magazine Salient is threatening legal action against rival publication Lucid if it publishes an article she claims is defamatory….The Lucid article outlines the process for appointing the editor of the student-funded paper Salient and accuses it of being undemocratic.

Evening Post 20 Jul 01

…in 1974 *Salient+ ran a piece on how to make lethal weapons, including hand grenades, and on how to form a lethal and effective guerilla unit.


VUWSA campaign officer Nick Kelly said students burnt the effigy (of vice-chancellor Stuart McCutcheon) as a protest against a 3 percent fee rise next year…


Victoria University’s students association is investigating the suspected theft of more than $130,000 from Maori students by a former treasurer.


While the last three years have seen student participation in VUWSA elections drop to a record low of less than 7% last year, a number of issues , and the introduction of e-voting, could result in increased voter participation this year.

Salient 6 Sep 04

Victoria University Students’ Association president Jeremy Greenbrook is standing by the university’s marketing purchase of Craccum, Auckland Univeristy’s magazine cover. In March, Mr Greenbrook condemned Victoria’s growing marketing budget as a waste of students’ money. Lobby group Student Choice says his “flipflop” in favour of this recent spend amounts to hypocrisy.

The Wellingtonian 2 June 05

A former Victoria University Maori students association treasurer has been charged with defrauding the group of $175,000.

Dominion Post 11 July 05

Defrauding a students’ association in five easy steps: step one, go to the bank and present falsified documentation to set up internet banking to which you have sole access. Two: transfer money via the internet and cheques made out to cash to the account of a kohanga reo for which you are also treasurer. Three: transfer the money from the kohanga reo’s internet bank account into your personal bank account and onto your credit card. Four: tell the

Salient 8 May 06

kohanga reo committee that the money was loans to keep it afloat, and when grant money comes in, the loans will be paid back. Five: produce falsified financial records to the Ngai Tauira exec and get them accepted.

The Buck Stops (Where), Nicola Kean

A “ridiculous, racist” gag from Victoria University’s student newspaper has upset the Chinese Embassy and has international students threatening to study elsewhere.

NZ Herald 13 May 06

A week before VUWSA holds a meeting to protest increases in tuition fees, the VUWSA president has proposed raising the association’s own compulsory fee…


28 July 06

Victoria University student leaders went on an alcohol-fuelled spree after an executive meeting, vandalizing the walls of their offices and making thousands of dollars in calls to a psychic hotline.

Dominion Post 7 May 07

VUWSA is under the spotlight with allegations of drunkenness, vandalism and misuse of an association telephone.

The Wellingtonian 10 May 07

“With the damage done to the university’s reputation by VUWSA’s recent antics, and substantial numbers of students dissatisfied with being forced to join the association, it’s time to ask whether compulsory VUWSA membership is doing more harm than good to Victoria University”…

Letter to the editor

Dominion Post 23 May 07

Uni mag *Salient+ teaches students how to ‘rip off WINZ’. An article in a Wellington student magazine called “How to rip off WINZ” has not gone down well with Work and Income.

NZ Herald 3 Aug 07

American diplomats say a student magazine article giving advice on how to bomb their Wellington embassy is insensitive, in light of other attacks on United States embassies.


Lower voter turn-out mars VUWSA elections. VUWSA’s annus horribilis is almost over….Lowlights include May’s vandalism by welfare vice-president Heleyni Pratley who scrawled graffiti on office walls during a drinking session at the student union offices, while women’s rights officer Clelia Opie totted-up a $4000 bill by making 0900 phone calls to a psychic-hotline. In June, queer rights officer Rachael Wright added to the furore after admitting to urinating in public (but contested allegations of stripping) while at a national students’ union conference in Christchurch. At the same conference vice-president Joel Cosgrove allegedly stole a “debt monster” from his OPSA counterparts. In January…he accused Australian Prime Minister John Howard of being a racist.

The Wellingtonian 25 Oct 07

…Nick Kelly, a former VUWSA President and current mayoral candidate,…was issued with a two-year ban from the University premises.

Tertiary Update (AUS)

11 Oct 07

…Stuart McCutcheon (the Auckland Vice-Chancellor) is way more of a principled student hating arsehole than anyone at Vic Uni.

Joel Cosgrove, VUWSA president

Salient 26 Mar 08

A drunken mob of 130 Victoria University students is accused of trashing rooms and leaving two Rotorua motels strewn with vomit, alcohol and food before being evicted. The students were in Rotorua for last week’s University Games *funded by compulsory fees+.

Dominion Post 21 April 08

Damage to a Rotorua motel during the recent University Games has highlighted the fact that the games are largely funded through a compulsory levy imposed on all university students…


24 April 08

Victoria University’s student president has been reprimanded for wearing a tee shirt deemed offensive to a graduation ceremony

3 News 21 May 08

At the end of last year, former President Geoff Hayward decided to spend over $22,222.22...to upgrade VUWSA’s van, with the support of current Education Vice-President Paul Brown. Although they did this without the proper authority, the payment could not be reversed and VUWSA was stuck with the bill.

www.salient.org.nz 11 Aug 08

Vuwsa gives Workers Party on Campus $500 for printing. Vuwsa executive minutes

11 Nov 08

Vuwsa gives Workers Party $1705.20 for book printing Vuwsa executive minutes

17 Dec 08

Victoria University of Wellington Student Association President Jasmine Freemantle has issued a warning to the former President (Joel Cosgrove) that legal action would be taken against him if a substantive attempt to repay $1730.76 in outstanding monies stemming from his infamous

www.salient.org.nz 23 Feb 09

Australian junket last year was not initiated.

*A document describing VUWSA’s controversial 2007 purchase of a vehicle+ describes how 2007 VUWSA president Geoff Hayward, and then Education Vice President Paul Danger Brown “signed the purchase order” for approximately $20,000 worth of modifications to the VUWSA van without going through the proper channels....It then goes onto list four possible scenarios “available to the association executive in repairing this failure.”....The fourth scenario, and by far the most alarming, suggests that the 2008 Exec “do nothing and hope that no one ever finds out that the constitution was not complied with.”

Salient 30 Mar 09

The first (Workers Party) meeting of the year set the tone with Joel Cosgrove refusing to pay back the money he owed VUWSA his a trip to Australia he took on student money. Joel whilst President visited Melbourne for 10 days. By all accounts he spent a lot of time in bars and pubs, attended the conferences of a couple of socialist organisations and generally had a great old time.

Nick Kelly

nickkellyandthe

workersparty.

blogspot.com

29 May 09

Canterbury/West Coast

The most important objection [to making the Canta editor a paid position (1963)] centred on the philosophical question of whether students’ fees should be used for the purposes of paying other students. There was concern that once payment was introduced for one job in an association ‘composed of unpaid jobs’ it would ‘creep into other things’ and the concept of students undertaking tasks as a service to other students would be lost.

Players, Protesters and Politicians, Sharfe

(1995)

p.110

*UCSA’s+ Orientation, which had in over the previous years returned a small profit, made a disastrous $23,000 loss [in 1986].

Players, Protesters and Politicians

p.130

ACT NZ spokeswoman Donna Awatere yesterday accused UCSA of having brought a ski lodge, a tramping hut, and a forest, all valued at from $700,000 to $1m, with money from student subscriptions.

The Press

The MP for Banks Peninsula, David Carter, said a student was prepared to swear an affidavit that he taped a conversation in which the president of UCSA, Darel Hall, admitted paying “rent-a-crowds” to protest.

NZ Herald 30 June 98

University of Canterbury student president-elect Francis Quainoo may not be able to take up the position….Mr Quainoo was manager of two companies which failed in 1995, with losses of $400,000.

The Press 8 Sep 99

[ChCh Polytechnic ceo] Mr John Scott said the association [CPSA] should now use the [compulsory] membership-fee income it will receive from students to contribute to student services, including those that have been provided solely by the institute. When the association campaigned for a return to compulsory membership it stressed the provision of student services as a major issue. Students supported that and it was reasonable to expect CPSA to accept that responsibility, Mr Scott said.

The Press 15 Nov 00

In 1996 [Canta] – under the guise of satire – ran a fake advertisement which featured pictures of dead concentration camp victims.


The president and vice-president of a West Coast polytechnic students’ association have resigned after allegations they made threatening phone calls to other students. Tai Poutini Polytechnic Students Association (TPPSA) student leaders Todd Dunick, 24, and his deputy, Paddy Brand, 19, are facing criminal charges in relation to the phone calls.…Relations between TPPSA representatives and TPP management had already broken down after (TPP CE) Campbell refused to hand over the student levy, about $170,000 of fees collected by the polytechnic on behalf of the association….Campbell said Dunick introduced radical changes at the association, including awarding himself a $900 clothing allowance, bringing his salary to about $27,000, and the use of a vehicle.

The Press 3 Apr 06

UCSA has entered into an agreement that secures RDU’s long term future. A newly formed company, RDU98.5FM Ltd, has agreed to sub-licence the frequency from the UCSA….*UCSA president Warren Poh said+ “There is nothing in our constitution or anything else that says we have to discuss this sort of thing with the student body.”

UCSA media release 27 Nov 06

The decision by the compulsory UCSA to sub-licence the frequency for its radio station RDU has debunked two myths put about by supporters of compulsory student association membership…for years compulsory supporters have argued that compulsory membership is


30 Nov 06

necessary to ensure ‘student control of student affairs, yet the sale of the licence happened without consultation with UCSA members….compulsory supporters regularly claim that compulsory membership is essential to providing so-called services. Yet the sale of the licence is an admission that UCSA no longer wants to subsidise RDU, an activity which some people would regard as a service….*UCSA president+ Warren Poh admitted that funding the station was financially untenable and the sale came about after “many years of having to subsidise the station…UCSA has paid a substantial amount every year to keep RDU going.”

The annual “Undie 500” rally organised by the University of Canterbury’s engineering society Ensoc faces closure after violence and arrests marred the event.

Education Review 31 Aug 07

Police are investigating a former Christchurch Polytechnic Students’ Association staff member for suspected fraud….*CPSA interim co-president Tracy Cox] said the 2007 return was still being finalized and she could not comment on whether all the students’ money was accounted for in that year.

The Press 27 Sep 08

Te Akatoki (Uni of Canterbury Maori students association) was struck off the register in 2008 due to questionable accounting practices and for failing to supply requested documents. In April 2009, a new Te Akatoki executive was formed; the association was reincorporated and came back into existence.


11 May 09

The budget went over last month but this is due to a payment of $25,000 being made to Te Akatoki. They will now be made payments on a monthly basis.


8 June 09

Otago

OUSA AGM votes to give $200 to the Seafarers Union Critic 27 Apr 94

1.8% of Otago Polytech students vote in executive elections Critic 27 Apr 94

[O]nly 171 students voted in this week’s by-election…about 13,500 association members had been eligible to vote.

ODT 25 Mar 95

Two university staff unions are taking legal action against another union, the Otago University Students Association, over the restructuring of its staff.

ODT 27 Apr 99

OUSA is setting up a $20,000 indoor skateboarding facility…which it hopes to open in six weeks’ time.

ODT 24 June 99

OUSA has learned lessons from a failed “managed flatting scheme” that cost the association more than $50,000, association president Andrew Campbell says.

ODT 1 Mar 00

OUSA is to hold a referendum over a proposal to build a $900,000 waterfront aquatic centre. ODT 10 Mar 00

Students at Otago University have expressed concern at the announcement made that fees to join OUSA are to rise by 23% next year.

Prebble’s Rebels media release

9 Aug 00

The Otago University Students Association has reported a net deficit for 1999 of more than $11,000, after sustaining an operating deficit of $260,920…The accounts show more than $105,000 was lost through bad debts and the failed linked flatting scheme.

ODT 10 Aug 00

Two University of Otago students played a significant role in a Waikato University referendum which backed compulsory student union membership….*OUSA+ spent $800 – mainly for pamphlets and campaign materials – supporting the WSU’s compulsory membership campaign…A veteran Otago student activist, Mark Baxter, spent two weeks campaigning at Waikato before the vote.

ODT 21 Oct 00

If OUSA president Ayesha Verrall is opposed to an increase in the Otago student health levy, she should justify the 23% ($219,000) increase in the cost of OUSA membership imposed on Otago students this year…


4 Jul 01

OPSA is warning chief executive Dr Wanda Korndorffer and some members of the polytechnic council they may face protests from some students if they attend the graduation ceremony next week.

ODT 27 Nov 02

OUSA has had to pay almost $14,000 extra after making a mistake on a GST return. Critic Mar 03

“It’s historically been a left-wing publication, and I guess it still is…Many of the staff are left-wing, although our volunteer writers have a wide diversity of political opinions.”

Patrick Crewdson, Critic editor

University of Otago Magazine

June 03

OUSA is rushing to the aid of AUSA, helping them campaign for a return to compulsory student membership….OUSA is showing its support for the campaign by sending one of its members to the Auckland campus next week….NZUSA…support AUSA’s campaign and are extending substantial assistance to the campaign.

Critic 4 Aug 03

…Andrew Cushen looks likely to be the next *OUSA+ president, but results are provisional while alleged campaign rule breaches are investigated….presidential candidate Mr Ketchen was penalised 5% of his vote after allegedly making derogatory comments about Mr Cushen.

(a Critic article earlier identified Mike Ketchen as a National Party member)

ODT 29 Aug 03

OUSA has admitted to overspending its budget for the University Games by more than $50,000…OUSA said, “Due to a significant number of late withdrawals, more air travel was booked than was necessary….this money is non-refundable and around $30,000 was lost.”

Critic 15 Sep 03

While OUSA criticised Otago University for increasing its fees, the compulsory association’s own income is budgeted to rise 9 percent to $1.2 million in 2004…


19 Dec 03

OUSA has bought Whitcoull’s half share in the award-winning Dunedin bookshop….*OUSA president Andrew Cushen] said as the money came from accumulated reserves, there was no constitutional requirement to consult ahead of the deal.

ODT 1 Apr 04

A lawyer has been brought in by the OUSA following further allegations its purchase of half the University Book Shop for a rumoured $750,000 was unconstitutional.

ODT 8 Apr 04

Southern Institute of Technology students will head to the polls again after SIT chief executive Penny Simmonds declared results of a referendum on re-establishing a student association invalid.

Southland Times 11 Mar 04

In their heart-of-hearts the campus Left knew that [the then OUSA president] had been elected by a minority of the student body, and that the majority of the association’s membership held considerably more conservative views than their executive’s.

Chris Trotter

ODT 2 Apr 04

Students might protest against students at the University of Otago’s next council meeting, with the Maori students body, Te Roopu Maori, saying it was bullied out of its seat at the table.

ODT 6 Oct 04

Rules governing the recent OUSA elections were changed part-way through, while an association employee breached rules to back some candidates, according to a report by the returning officer.

ODT 14 Oct 04

Staff at OUSA are to embark on industrial action following the breakdown of collective employment agreement negotiations with their student employers….Mr Scott (AUS) said union members noted that while OUSA has been calling on the Government to ensure that student allowances keep pace with the rising cost of living, it was not prepared to apply the same principle to its own staff.

AUS media release 16 Feb 05

OUSA has been left with egg on its face after criticising an advertising campaign which appeared in its own magazine.

ODT 1 Aug 05

Critic editor Holly Walker was last night standing by her decision to publish an explicit drug rape article, after a day defending it to media around New Zealand.

ODT 23 Sep 05

The NZ Drug Rape Trust considers the article “Diary of a drug rapist” in the OUSA publication Critic highly offensive and lacking in any ethical stance or justification.

NZ Drug Rape Trust media release

23 Sep 05

The Race Relations Conciliator looks like being drawn into the furore over the “offensive issue” of the University of Otago student magazine Critic.

ODT 26 Sep 05

Student Choice has raised serious concerns over forced-funding of a recent issue of Otago student magazine Critic.

Eduvac 10 Oct 05

Otago University magazine Critic is facing fresh criticism after it tried to auction off a “replica” of David Lange’s amputated leg on website TradeMe.

Herald on Sunday 4 Dec 05

An issue of an Otago University student magazine that included a date-rape “how-to” guide has been banned more than four months after it was printed and distributed in Dunedin.

ODT 2 Feb 06

Police want to talk to members of the University of Otago Maori students association, Te Roopu Maori, in relation to “accounting practices”….Te Roopu was last year repaying a debt to

ODT 16 Feb 06

the Inland Revenue Department from its annual budget of $68,000, according to reports in the student magazine, Critic.

The average age [of OPSA members] is around 32 years-old, and the majority are women. OPSA submission on Employment Relations (Probationary Employment) Amendment Bill

May 06

At the end of 2005, Te Roopu Maori [TRM], the [University of Otago’s+ Maori students’ association, collapsed amid allegations of financial improprieties. As two of the three signatories for the association’s accounts…(President) Francis Pirini and…(Treasurer) Lisa Sherman, who were flatmates at the time, were alleged to have committed fraud against the association….Payments that went through in 2005 included a total of $5,980 paid to landlords of a flat occupied by Lisa Sherman and Francis Pirini. Including the $5,980, a total of $11,304 was paid out or spent on expenses that didn’t relate to planned TRM expenditure….In 2005, however, TRM made payments totaling $2,177.12 that were not supported by invoices….cash payments totallling $7,842.89 were drawn from the TRM account, and cannot be substantiated by any invoices or supporting documentation. Overall, the discrepancies add up to a shocking $21,324.01 of the association’s money – almost a full third of their income from the OUSA levy.

Critic 31 Aug 07

Dunedin police are to clamp down on a University of Otago cannabis-smoking protest group, saying there is evidence gangs and convicted drug dealers are infiltrating it….Norml, which has held the protests on campus for four years….Norml is aligned to the Otago University Student’s Association Clubs and Societies group…

ODT 6 June 08

OUSA president-elect Jo Moore was “gutted” and experienced a “huge shock” when told yesterday she had been disqualified for the 2009 association presidency.

ODT 9 Sep 08

About 2000 drunken participants and onlookers at the Otago University Students Association annual toga parade smashed shop and car windows and hurled rubbish bags in Dunedin’s main street last night.

NZ Herald 25 Feb 09

Political

The themes beginning to grip our nation as a whole, with tragic effect, have all been farcically prefigured in the hothouse world of student politics….Confronted with the almost complete indifference of the student body to the minutiae of their associations’ administration, student politicians learned to view politics as…the process of making one’s way within a self-perpetuating oligarchy….Wary, and often openly contemptuous, of their constituents, the student politicians of the Left tended to view their associations as convenient cash-cows, bodies to be captured for the resources they could bring to political agendas that possessed only the most tangential relevance to the students whose compulsory levies kept them afloat….Looking at the present government, it requires little imagination to see how the motifs of student politics have begun to repeat themselves in the historical neighborhoods of grown-up politicians….the use of the state’s resources to fund the pet projects and outré agendas of left-wing politicians carries a distinct flavor of the day when NZUSA became the patron of all manner of peculiar causes….The crude identity politics that led to NZUSA having six vice-presidents is now threatening to alienate the whole country from itself.

Chris Trotter

The Independent 8 Oct 03

Rather than representing all students, [student associations] are pushing a narrow political agenda which misrepresents the views and opinions of the majority of tertiary students.

Glenn Peoples, Student Choice

Dominion Post opinion piece

29 June 05

“one of the implications of *NZUSA+ pushing that barrow [of free education, universal allowances etc+…is that much of their focus and energy goes into arguing these, effectively, zero-likelihood options. And that takes away from discussion, for example, of getting better value for money for the students – putting more pressure on universities and polytechnics to deliver higher quality education. This sort of issue never gets a look-in because here we are talking about whether we ought to have fees and loans or not – it’s a lost opportunity.”

Norman LaRocque, Education Forum

Salient May 05

Student Choice recently discovered that OUSA have banned the distribution of Lucid, a free student magazine, on campus….the same thing has been done by student associations at Canterbury University, Massey Palmerston North, AUT, Waikato University, Unitec, Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology, UCOL Palmerston North and the Eastern Institute of Technology.


27 Jan 05

And students do not vote as a cohesive bloc, even when an organising body tells them to. The unholy and unproductive alliance between the far left and university students’ associations is a soap opera. The NZUSA, which helped launch the Greens’ tertiary policy, put its resources at the last election into backing “any party” that promised a universal student allowance. They meant “any party” except New Zealand First, which promised an allowance but was excluded from endorsement because the obstensible education lobby group disagreed with Peters’ stance on immigration. The Alliance, which ended up with 0.80% of the vote, was the only party endorsed by the “representatives of students.” Subsequently, student activists found Parliament’s third-largest party unwilling to even meet them.

Ben Thomas and David W Young

NBR 10 June 05

At the same time student politicians are criticising the so-called bums-on-seats method of government funding for tertiary eduation, compulsory student associations continue to receive their income through exactly the same funding approach…


8 April 06

vsm submission by act on campus

Documents