A motion is being put to students in the current student referendum that would see the 2006 motion that OUSA officially opposes the Student Code of Conduct (COC) rescinded, and would also void the referendum result of 2005 wherein students voted that OUSA should be in opposition to the Code.
In 2006 OUSA lost its court battle with the University when it tried to prevent the introduction of the COC. Since then, no students have been allowed on the appeals board when it has dealt with disciplinary appeals due to a ‘conflict of interest’.
The appeals board is made up of members of the council and deals with both disciplinary appeals (i.e. if you throw poo at someone during a parade) and academic appeals (ie. if you didn’t get into a professional course due to a traumatic event before exams and you think you should have). Currently, one of three student representatives from the University Council can be on the appeals board when it faces academic appeals but not when it faces disciplinary appeals.
This means that when a student does something really bad and faces expulsion or serious penalties from the University, no student representative is allowed to judge the merits of the case and provide an independent voice.
Currently the three students eligible to sit on the appeals board are the OUSA President, Education Officer Katie Reid and Student Representative for the University Council, Jono Rowe. Critic spoke to Rowe to find out about the new motion he is pushing to get passed in the current referendum. The referendum question asks ‘Should OUSA recognise the existence of the Code of Student Conduct and work with the University to ensure that students' best interests are taken into account in its application?’
Rowe made it clear that students are free to oppose the motion, but stressed that “the reality is that the COC is now here to stay and it is really important that OUSA adopts a neutral stance to the COC so we can get back on the appeals board and make sure the COC is applied fairly.”
“We need students on the board to even out the age demographic as well as providing a fairer decision on disciplinary outcomes.” Ex-OUSA President Harriet Geoghegan agreed, adding “as far as representation goes, this is probably one of the most important issues facing us”.
Graduate James Pearson questioned the motion, “Surely students can still be represented on the appeals board and opposition to the COC in general be maintained? I'm not au fait with the particulars but the COC is fucking ridiculous to be fair.”
A Facebook page titled “Vote to give students back our COC appeals” has been set up to explain the issue and is already gathering strong support.
Voting in the referendum is open until June 2 and can be done online at http://voting.ousa.org.nz/
OUSA wants a share of the COC?
