It seems the Easter Break was well-needed for the OUSA Exec, who showed up to their first meeting back looking a bit sleepy – except for the golden labrador, Bailey, who enthusiastically chewed his squeaky toy the whole time. President Liam had worked throughout the break, something he admitted may or may not have been a good idea, and had packed out the agenda with four big (perhaps overly ambitious) campaigns that he wanted to run this year. The hour-and-a-half meeting included “robust discussion” (again) with equal moments of tension and celebration (it was Ngātiki’s birthday).
The meatiest portion of the meeting centred around the four campaigns that Liam had laid on the table, seeming intent on honouring his repeated publicly stated intentions for this year to be “one of action”. Cue Critic leaning forward in our corner seat, fingers poised on the keyboard.
The campaigns – each with their own snappy title – targeted subwarden welfare (‘Care, Not Exploitation’), housing quality (‘Raise the Standard’), automatic student membership (‘Stronger Together. Automatically.’) and local body elections (‘Student City’).
True to form, Liam and Academic Rep Stella’s voices rang out the loudest in the discussion. Stella warned that despite there being only 15 minutes left in the allotted meeting time (Wednesdays 9am-10am, allegedly) she had a lot of questions to ask. Liam prefaced by saying that he would be happy to amend anything, especially the proposed budgets which he admitted were “quite grand” according to Finance and Strategy Officer Daniel, and were a number that Liam had “pulled out of [his] ass”. There was $4,300 budgeted total for campaigns this year (a combination of $800 from OUSA and $3.5k of Liam’s Uni Council pay) and Liam had given $5,000 to the printing budget in the local body elections campaign alone, so it’s no wonder Daniel looked a bit nervous.
Broad concerns raised by the rest of the Exec centred around the ambitiousness of the campaigns. Stella worried that a lot of them relied on engagement from a student body that, in her opinion, had proven itself to be “apathetic and disconnected”. Speaking from her experience with the lecture recordings policy campaign, which has been ongoing since May last year, she said that even just one campaign has required a lot of effort. “If we had an involved student body, I wouldn’t be saying this. But we don’t,” she said. Given last year’s census revealed that under half of students knew who the President was, she may have a point.
The typically quiet Daniel also chipped in. He was worried they were trying to do too much. “Honestly, the Exec already look tired as fuck,” he said. “As passionate as we are [...] I’m worried that we’re going to burn out.” He referred to the presentation from the Uni’s Dean of Learning and Teaching Tim Cooper they’d had earlier in the meeting, who had listed the odds stacked against them: full-time study, being part of multiple committee groups each, working more than they’re paid to, and attempting to balance general life commitments outside of this. “Given all that, it’s hard to get anything done,” Tim had said. “To be effective, you do need to prioritise.”
The concerns about loading already full plates with these plans – on top of the personal goals that each Exec member had campaigned on – were a tough swallow for Liam, who noted that they could have been raised before he spent the Easter Break planning each campaign. “This is a very ambitious plan,” he admitted. “I think, tentatively, that we can handle it.” He noted that he was keen to front-foot the VSM campaign and “maybe” the housing campaign, intending to delegate the others. Bailey’s dad (AKA Residential Rep Callum) had already had boots on the ground consulting with subbies for the subwarden campaign, one aiming to address “identified inequalities” in the job and that had had 95% interest among subbies he’d spoken to.
The next question from Stella took aim at the local body elections campaign, which included plans to “endorse” candidates. “I am quite against supporting a candidate or group of candidates,” she firmly stated. She reasoned that their role should be to “facilitate an environment where students can be educated”, but not sway opinion. This was especially important given the left-leaning Exec (both Jett and Liam are Labour members) which would alienate students aligned with parties such as National, Act and NZ First, who “do come up with good policies on the odd occasion that are really good for students”. Liam accepted that evaluating candidates based on their alignment with student interest, but not outright endorsing candidates, was something he would be willing to do.
Before the squabbling had begun was a rapid-fire round-up from everyone. It revealed that Liam’s ANZAC Day speech may be appearing in the Otago Daily Times. Vice Prez Amy had a meeting with the Proctor (“lovely man”) about a safe streets campaign for walks home that aren’t dodgy. Stella is still chipping away at her lecture recordings policy, which the Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Pro-Vice-Chancellor Advisory Group are set to make a decision about anytime now. Jett has been busy with submissions and got a brief telling off from the rest of the Exec for sending them in for consultation a bit tardy (the most recent being sent to Exec at 8pm the day before it was due).
There was also an update about the Aotearoa Tertiary Students’ Association (ATSA). The latest Critic Te Ārohi reported on ATSA was in a lengthy rabbithole of a feature (Issue 8) detailing the history of its predecessor, New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations (NZUSA), that went to shit (it’s in liquidation now). ATSA is the fresh start, one which Liam has been heavily involved in. He sadly couldn’t make the last meeting because of a lecture, so his sub-in Amy said, “The meeting ended very quickly because you weren’t there.” Liam said things are “starting to get going, which is good.” There’ll be a conference in May where Critic Te Ārohi will be in attendance, popcorn in hand, for all the juicy gossip.
And with that, the meeting was wrapped up at 10:20am and the supermarket mud cake was sliced for Ngātiki’s birthday.