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The week before last, OUSA ran its first Student General Meeting. SGMs are a constitutional requirement that are currently necessary to allow OUSA to continue operating. However, if you were re-creating OUSA from scratch, you would have to be a complete muppet to come up with a process this stupid to meet an end goal of keeping the Exec accountable and getting student feedback.

On the upside, this SGM saw a really good debate about the process and external policy as well as a surprising amount of support for an overhaul, despite perceived difficulties.
I’m currently being a policy geek and working on the necessary constitutional changes, and working within the stupid process to change it … sigh. Meanwhile, a song about what’s going on, inspired by Josh Hercus (and Facebook), written in part by Joshua Neary and myself, because no one wants to hear me rant about how much OUSA is held back by its constitution. I’ll leave you in suspense …
 
Sing to the tune of Tick Tock (Ke$ha):
 
Wake up in the morning feeling like H. G. Diddy
Put my glasses on, I’m out the door – I’m gonna hit this uni
Before I leave, brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack
Cause when I leave for the day, don’t know when I’ll be back
I’m talking – planning away the days, days
Can the budget pay, pay
Always on the phones, phones
Van-booking, online SGM please please
No Design School parties
Wanting to get a little bit tipsy
[CHORUS]
Don’t stop, make it pop
NORML, smoke Union Lawn up
Tonight, I’mma fight
‘Til we see the sunlight
Tick tock, on the clock
But the OUSA party don’t stop no
Woah-oh oh oh
Woah-oh oh oh
Ain’t got no pub on Castle Street, but got plenty of beer
Ain’t got no money in my pocket, cause I borrowed to get here
Now, new students are lining up cause they hear we got swagger
But we kick ‘em to the curb unless they’re smarter than Mick Jagger
I’m talking about – everybody getting crunk, crunk
Boys rioting in my junk, junk
Gonna arrest him if he getting too drunk, drunk
Now, now – we failin’ ‘til they kick us out, out
Or Roger Douglas shut us down, down
Roger Douglas shut us down, down
Ro-ro shut us down, down
No, the meeting don’t start until I walk in …