In the wake of news that Political Rep Jett Groshinski will be running for council and continuing in his role despite a conflict of interest, anti-OUSA Exec propaganda posters have popped up on notice boards around campus calling for Jett to resign. As of writing, Jett tells Critic he has no plans to vacate either role.
Amidst the typical club events notices, appeals for Masters’ project participants and advertising for Mexican flan fundraisers, eagle-eyed observers have spotted the artistic flair of fourth-year History and Politics major Fergus Parks. Critic Te Ārohi caught up with the propaganda-perpetrator who accused OUSA of being an “old boys’ club” in their apparent failure to acknowledge their responsibility to their constituents (students) and make decisions behind closed doors.
Fergus’ warpath began when he read an online article published by Critic on June 3rd titled ‘Council-Gunning Political Rep’s Conflict of Interest’. The article reported on Political Rep Jett Groshinski’s recent Labour-endorsement to run for council in this year’s local elections. An admirable feat for a student who’ll be rubbing shoulders with a typically older crowd in his race, but one that prompted “robust” discussions among the Exec over how he would manage the clear conflict of interest being a supposedly “neutral” political representative of students.
While some members of the Exec voted for his resignation, the majority agreed it was manageable if he stepped away from their Local Body Elections campaign and gave up the chair of Political Action Committee. Fergus shared the position of Academic Rep Stella, who’d been spotted by Critic in a video call to be wearing a big frown and holding up a sign that read “JETT RESIGN”. “Well I gave it a read and frankly I was outraged,” Fergus told Critic, calling the conflict management measures a “band-aid solution”.
The bee in Fergus’ bonnet was that the Exec’s actions have, in his view, failed in their obligations to the student body that they serve. If the University of Otago campus were New Zealand, students are its citizens, and OUSA is the Beehive that houses Parliament (the student Executive) which directs the factions of Government (departments like Student Support) and is reported on by the Press Gallery (Critic Te Ārohi). The Exec, as the elected representatives of students, are in public-facing roles to serve the needs, wants and desires of their constituents.
Fergus laid out his gripes in a stern 500-word email to Critic Te Ārohi on June 4th. “I was left concerned about the fairness and impartiality of Jett Groshinski in his role as Political Representative, following his decision to run for the local council. As the article outlines, Groshinski is a member of the OUSA Executive. The same body that, in a recent referendum, proposed to and I quote, ‘endorse local election candidates who campaign for policies to support students and improve student outcomes in the upcoming 2025 Local Body Elections.’” 56% of students voted against this, with multiple comments noting the fishiness of an Exec member being one of said candidates.
There were also worries about the Exec as a whole being Labour-affiliated. Not only is Jett running for council as a Labour-endorsed candidate; President Liam White is also a Labour member and Vice President of Southern Young Labour, a conflict he’s openly noted. Given the strong affiliation, Fergus said it sets a precedent of student leadership positions being “strategic pawn for political agendas, rather than roles dedicated to genuinely representing the diverse interests of all Otago students.”
Critic Te Ārohi spoke with Liam and Jett for their response. Liam had had an email exchange with Fergus (probably a robust one, knowing him), responding to Fergus’ fears about the Labour-aligned friends not managing the conflict properly. “Which I think is an entirely fair thing to be concerned about,” said Liam. An important thing to remember, however, is that everything goes by the Exec, three of whom were vocally against Jett continuing in his role but were outnumbered by the rest. “So everything has to go by them and the Exec are watching it really closely to make sure that it is managed responsibly.”
While it is true that the Exec had the final call on how they would manage Jett’s conflict of interest in running for council, it’s worth noting that none of them were very happy about it. Apart from Liam, none of them had been made aware of Jett’s aspirations for council until the ODT published an announcement on May 21st (prompting a very awkward Exec meeting straight afterward). At the following week’s meeting where they discussed the best plan out of four options Jett had laid out – ranging from “baseline separation” to “full resignation” – even those who wound up voting for him to stay said they were faced with “two unideal options”.
There were multiple aspects of that meeting that Fergus had taken issue with. The first was that they had considered holding the meeting in confidential committee, effectively meaning that Critic would be unable to report on it, and therefore leaving students in the dark. “That would be absolutely ridiculous,” said Fergus. “[Groshinski’s] going into a public role while still being a representative of [students], so students damn well have a right to know what he’s planning on doing as the political representative of the students.”
A serious consideration of the Exec had been that if Jett were to resign, they were worried they wouldn’t be able to find a replacement for the role. Fergus had a strong reaction to this suggestion. “Bullshit,” he said, rolling his eyes. “I’ll go for it, for goodness sake.” He said he was sure many other Politics majors at the university would as well, calling the Exec “lazy” for not wanting to put the effort in to organise a by-election. “Well, guess what? That’s the job you were voted in to do bucko: to represent the people. And when the people want change, you need to hear those voices.” Liam’s response was that Fergus couldn’t claim to be a representative of all students and that the Exec’s main concern was whether a new representative would get up to speed in time for local elections in September.
The self-described history nut has taken matters into his own hands to spread the word about the Exec’s actions. Armed with Politics tutorial knowledge of Kremlin propaganda posters (a class he ironically takes with Jett), MediBang (poor man’s PhotoShop) and his parent’s printer (plus $85 in ink and $45 in paper), Fergus went on a postering spree around campus. “Look I’m not trying to say ‘down with the Executive, burn, anarchy’. What I’m just simply trying to do is to raise awareness,” he said. Campus’ own Banksy was spotted chuckling to himself as he tacked up images of the Exec puppeteering students at the voting booth.
“I do appreciate it when people reach out, because otherwise I have very little idea what the student body actually thinks,” said Liam. “We represent 20,000 students, and so to have a student reach out with a concern is great.” Outside of that, he said the Exec can only infer from their own experiences and operate within their own bubbles. Liam reckoned more students should take advantage of using university spaces to promote what they believed in but would also encourage students to speak directly to the Exec to air concerns first.
Jett didn’t say much to Critic about his reaction to the posters – or couldn’t without being interrupted by Liam – other than that he was “shocked” (“reasonably concerned” in Liam’s words). Liam reckoned it was the first instance of that sort of student response to Exec activity since the 2010s. Jett said it was “a little bit confronting” for someone to be publicly calling for his resignation and was “surprised” at the backlash.
Critic’s notes from the initial Exec meeting about Jett’s candidacy show that multiple members even expected no one to notice nor care. But Fergus certainly does. By failing to consult with students on his candidacy, a role that might compromise his ability to serve students’ interest across the political spectrum, and then continuing in that role, Fergus reckons Jett is left with two options: to either stay in his role and do the job he was elected to do and drop the political campaign, or resign in order to campaign. “I personally still think it’s a manageable conflict,” was Jett’s response.
Fergus’ parting words for students was this: “Every now and then, you gotta find something you stand for, whether it’s the ongoing war in Palestine, climate change, the issues with gender equality pay. You need to stand up for something once in your life, and I’d say if you want something to be done, you do it yourself. Stand up, be heard.” With that, he left to put up more posters, leaving one in the OUSA stairwell on the way out.