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by Rory MacDonald | 3:04 am, 18/10/2010
They are convenient, sometimes necessary, and always costly. We’re not talking about a fuck buddy, but the Dunedin taxi service. Whether you jump in them on the cold, cold nights, or when you don’t want to be seen with whoever you’ve pulled from the increasingly scummy Metro Bar, taking a taxi in Dunedin is often a liberty that we students take for granted.
by Teuila Fuatai | 1:58 am, 18/10/2010
The Otago Daily Times last week ran a heart-warming tale about 73-year-old Wakari resident Tony Brosnan getting some students around to do his housework.
by Julia Hollingsworth | 1:49 am, 18/10/2010
The results of the OUSA referendum were announced last Thursday, with only 2 of the 13 motions meeting the required quorum of 1049 votes.
by Julia Hollingsworth | 1:07 am, 18/10/2010
The role the Otago Daily Times played in the recent local body elections is coming under scrutiny.
by Julia Hollingsworth | 11:08 pm, 17/10/2010
Finance and Services Officer James Meager has resigned from his position on the OUSA Executive. Meager’s resignation letter casts doubt on the way the Exec is run and OUSA President Harriet Geoghegan’s leadership style.
At least OUSA isn’t this bad
by Gregor Whyte | 3:45 am 26/08/2010
At least $750 000 has been misappropriated by former members of the Whitireia Polytechnic Students' Association’s Executive, the Dominion Post reported last week. The scale of the fraud has left members outraged and the Association struggling to remain solvent.
A professional audit of the Association’s accounts has shown that the former Executive members effectively used the association’s funds as their private piggybank. Expenses amounting to tens of thousands of dollars were claimed for everything from family accommodation, to an iPod and dock. One Executive member spent over $5000 on mobile broadband services, while a $25 000 phone bill is yet to be paid. Other missing funds have not yet been traced, but include a single withdrawal of $20 000 in cash.
Former Association President Loretta Ryder appears to have been the chief beneficiary of the free-spending Executive. In one year she was paid a salary of $45 000, a bonus of $10 000, and received an unexplained cash transfer of $11 972. She was also reimbursed thousands of dollars for expenses for which no receipts were provided.
An extraordinary meeting of the Association was called, at which auditor Imran Kamal told the gathering: "This is one of the most difficult audits I have been involved with ... I don't think the Association is solvent.” Membership of the Association is compulsory, and all students enrolled at the Polytechnic paid an automatic fee of $135 each year.
The scandal has provided ammunition to the supporters of Voluntary Student Membership (VSM), who have claimed that such a fraud would be unlikely to take place under VSM. However, the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations has rubbished these claims. “While it is blatantly clear that WISA has failed its members, it would be wrong to imply one example as representative of all students’ associations.”
When quizzed about whether she was planning anything similar to the Whitireia fraud, newly re-elected OUSA President Harriet Geoghegan said “God no,” before adding “I think its terrible, fraud from an organisation that is designed to help students is like kicking them when their down.”
Geoghegan points to the numerous checks and balances that OUSA has in place, including an elected Financial Services Officer, and the General Manager who is also heavily involved in the budgeting process. Geoghegan receives a $30,000 honorarium each year. The OUSA President’s job comes with a credit card that is only for use on things that have already been budgeted for.
