Two quarters (for non math majors: half) of a year in, it’s been hectic for the OUSA Executive. They’ve been no strangers to Critic Te Ārohi’s headlines, with a referendum, BDS postures and questions of Political Rep Jett’s conflict of interest making appearances – a let’s not forget the countless hours of behind the scenes work that never sees the light of the news. To get their honorarium (fancy OUSA-speak for the Exec gets paid), each member must submit a report of what they got up to in the last quarter. Critic has the hot goss:
Liam White – President
President Liam White has had a stacked quarter, backed up by his report being just under double the length of other Exec members. As the spokesperson of OUSA, he’s been featured in the media a lot. Heck, he even mentioned Critic’s (alleged) tabloid presidential scandal of his modelling career as proof of this. Liam notes, however, that he wants to shift from reactionary to proactive comments to media in the future. Within OUSA, he called their policy framework “completely wrong” and alongside Admin-VP Amy is actioning better internal running of the organisation. When talking about meetings with Vice-Chancellor Grant (who he said is trying to be more accountable on student issues), Liam mentioned Grant has made fun of his fashion choices in the last quarter. Critic humbly requests a fit check before the next meeting.
The President’s report was perhaps the most brutally honest of them, even admitting that he’d considered resigning four or five times. “I’ll be honest, the relationship between myself and the 20-hour roles have certainly been tested in the last month and a half,” he said. It seems Liam is pressing ahead for better days though, saying, “I think it’s probably fair to say that this year has had some significantly more difficult discussions than last year; looking at BDS and Jett’s Council runs that probably haven’t been handled perfectly on my end. I stand by all decisions made, but have also found some resources from Sports NZ around how to be a better chair so will be following these up.” A tough semester, but Mr President is keeping his chin up for the greater good of students.
Amy Martin – Administrative Vice President
The Administrative Vice President perhaps does the most behind the scenes out work of anybody on the Exec, keeping everyone in line on the inside and focusing on student engagement. Amy has continued to grow the Exec’s Instagram presence (@ousaexec), slowly demystifying the role of OUSA. The referendum at the end of last semester was also some of Amy’s work, with 1766 student voters being the fruits of her labour. Internally, there’s so much more the AVP does behind the scenes that not even Critic can grasp fully; from helping other Exec members achieve their goals, OUSA policy and constitution review work, and coordinating the Aotearoa Tertiary Student Association (ATSA) conference – it’d be no surprise if Amy still sees OUSA green when she closes her eyes.
Daniel Leamy – Finance and Strategy Officer
OUSA didn’t go bankrupt last quarter, so obviously Daniel has done something right. He reckons the Exec budgets “looks healthy at this point of the year”, so Critic will ask (for the second time) for a cheeky budget raise if that’s the case. Aside from counting pennies, Daniel also helped Residential Rep Callum with flat visits with and writing referendum questions pros and cons with VP Amy. On the back of Jett’s announcement to run for council, he’s taken over Jett’s roles as Political Action Committee chair and leading the engagement drive for Local Body Elections next quarter. All this work isn’t without its challenges, though, with Daniel saying, “I continue to be frustrated by the layers of bureaucracy, and reluctance from the executive to embrace necessary and meaningful change.” Let’s see what next quarter holds, with Daniel declaring he’s “committed to pushing the executive to be bold”. Rest assured the Daniel Leamy fan club (affiliated last quarter) will be behind him – despite disappointingly not getting a mention in his report.
Stella Lynch – Academic Representative
Demonstrating her impact this past quarter, Stella said she has “been interviewed by Critic a lot”. No lie, most significantly uncovering a fee discrepancy in a 400-level Marine Science paper that the University did not seem to be aware of. This has had a real tangible impact on students, with the discrepancy fixed and another student potentially uncovering a discrepancy in one of their own papers. As Academic Rep, Stella’s work is founded on being on an insanely high number of different committees, causing her to admit, “I don’t have a work-life balance which is disappointing.” The uphill battle of establishing a lecture recordings policy continues to tick along, with a focus group getting established at the start of this semester. As a testament to her grit on behalf of academic accessibility, this would reportedly be the first time an OUSA Exec member has been named co-sponsor of a University policy.
Amy Whyman – Welfare and Equity Representative
Behind the scenes work dominated the second quarter for Welfare and Equity at OUSA – but that just means exciting things are on the way! A proposal for mandatory Te Whare Tāwharau training for tutors and demonstrators is in development and making its way through the layers of Uni-bureaucracy. Along with the Admin-VP, the Amys have also been working on a safe streets campaign for students which should hopefully come to fruition in Q3. Work is also ongoing around special consideration protocols, which many in the community believe are not up to scratch for students with chronic illnesses or disabilities.
Jett Groshinski – Political Representative
Considering the current political climate, it's no surprise the last quarter has been busy for the Political Rep. Jett wrote submissions on numerous policies of concern to Otago tauira: the Regulatory Standards Bill, taxation of charities, safety improvements on State Highway 1, Otago Regional Council public transport plan, and the Dunedin City Council nine-year plan. Within the university, he engaged with clubs Pride in Law and UniQ on bill submission workshops. Meetings with political big-wigs were arranged, and he even found time to praise (or drag) prezzie Liam for being “less late” to meetings this quarter. Jett has relinquished chair of the Political Action Committee after his well-publicised run for Dunedin City Council was announced.
Callum Hadlow – Residential Representative
Quarter two brought the first glimpse of winter in North D, with many people seeing how truly cold their flats can be. As Residential Rep, Callum embarked on a student quarter ‘flat sting’ to check whether flats were up to Healthy Homes standards (I think we all know the answer to that). Off the back of Q1, he finished his visits to all of the Uni’s Residential Colleges. A few students who had flatting issues reached out and he gave his helping hand as well, but didn’t give much detail into what or how. A big issue on his plate has been trying to resuscitate the Subwarden Committee to ensure our college kaiawhina get the working conditions they deserve. Deep in his report, when talking about Admin Vice-President Amy, Callum said, “I have a suspicion that I have reduced the amount of years on her life.” (Blink twice if you need help, Amy). Unfortunately, Callum’s been under his ten hours and the Exec voted to cut his honorarium by half for a month.
Josh Stewart – Postgraduate Representative
As the Postgrad Rep for 2025, a huge part of Josh’s role is trying to build up the profile of the (relatively infant) Society for Postgraduate Students (SPS). After battling low engagement, the tides began to change in Q2, marked by a transition to more social events. A monthly postgrad morning tea was organised, a huge success to top off Q2. Within OUSA, Josh has also sat on eight different committees, and has helped voice concerns raised over whether postgraduate tutors are being overworked, to the detriment of their research output. This quarter hasn’t been without its challenges for Josh though, reporting an 8.29 hour average for his 10-hour a week role. As a result, the executive voted to reduce his honorarium by 10% over a 4 week period.
Deborah Huang - Clubs and Socs Representative
Clubs and Socs Rep Deborah has probably spent more time thinking about a very different type of clubs than freshers have. Getting the word out of our Uni’s many clubs’ antics to Critic Te Ārohi, Radio One and Te Aka Tauir (the undergraduate magazine) has been a priority. Behind the scenes, she made a new Clubs and Socs constitution template, making the onboarding process easier and transparent in the future. The template was redrafted in conjunction with Te Rōpū Māori to include a new Te Tiriti o Waitangi clause, becoming a mandatory part of the constitution template for all new clubs. Deborah also mentions wanting Critic to feature more clubs – our inbox is open.
Ibuki Nishida – International Representative
Ibuki’s Q2 has had the International Students’ Association (OISA) front and centre, with a series of exciting events. A fundraising bake sale and an international karaoke night were bumper events for OISA and planning was undertaken for both the Multicultural Ball and international students arriving at the beginning of Sem 2. Buki also helped Residential Rep Callum with flat visits and Academic Rep Stella’s for her lecture recording policy. Looking ahead to the next quarter, Ibuki is looking forward to doing more work on other Exec campaigns now that he’s put the grunt work into OISA.
Seluvaia Ratoul – President of the University of Otago Pacific Island Students’ Association
Seluvaia may take the cake for the most appearances of any Exec member in the last quarter, showing face at 24 (!) different events associated with the Pacific Islands Students’ Association (UOPISA). The relationship between OUSA and UOPISA has been bolstered with a memorandum of understanding (MOU) being signed. A huge (and ongoing) battle for Selu has been securing a UOPISA Fale. For now, they have a temporary space in the IBS building (an unfortunate acronym), used for various meetings, but they’re relying on Campus Development to find a permanent Fale for Pasifika students. UOPISA is also collaborating with academic associations to make sure staff support for our Pasifika whānau is adequate. A pretty cool night market was hosted in collaboration with Te Rōpū Māori, too.
Ngātiki Taylor & Porourangi Templeton-Reedy – Te Rōpū Māori Tumuaki Takirua
As always, the Te Rōpū Māori (TRM) Tumuaki Takirua have wrapped up a busy quarter. On top of all their work supporting Otago’s Māori tauira, Ngātiki and Porourangi act as ‘ex-officio’ members on the OUSA Exec. An MOU has been signed between OUSA and TRM, strengthening the ties between the groups further. Another huge win for TRM was securing a space for Māori students in the library, rounding off a semester of incredibly high student engagement with TRM. On the admin side of things, Ngātiki and Pou sit on a whopping eight different OUSA-related committees, are undergoing strategic planning with other Māori students’ associations around the motu, and continue to host tauira at the TRM whare and run weekly kaupapa.