To fight for their proposed lecture recording policy, the OUSA Exec team, chalk in hand, marched outside to do a deadly battle. Despite the bitter cold and rainclouds forming, concrete outside the OUSA offices was transformed into a sea of chalked messages – before immediately getting washed away overnight.
OUSA has been working toward a mandatory lecture recording policy for some time now. Critic reported on arguments for recordings in 2022 (back when your sister was at uni) and Academic Rep Stella Lynch said, "We were in staff-student consultation this time last year." So… a while. The Exec thought the policy had momentum, but a recent tip from a Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC) revealed more opposition than anticipated. Hence, the “demonstration” (not a protest, they insisted).
Out came the chalk. The demonstration involved writing all the reasons for a mandatory recording policy on the concrete. The idea was that these chalk arguments would then grow like black mould, until they reached staff workspaces where they "couldn't ignore them". While the lads in green set out general points such as, "English isn't my first language," "I have clashes," and "It isn't 1995" (true!), students were slow to join them. What's worse, Stella Lynch was late to her own demonstration.
But she had a valid excuse: working on recording policy consultation! "Work" was the word which kept whipping about this issue. Critic spoke to three students who, despite being in favour of the policy, did not attend the demonstration. One explained that she was taking unpaid breaks from her fixed-hours office job to attend an unrecorded History lecture. Another student was more forceful: "I have work with casual, irregular hours. If I don't work, even if it clashes with an unrecorded lecture, well, I need to eat and pay rent." He added, "Sorry, couldn't protest. Had work." Ahem, it's a demonstration, not a protest.
Stella explained that the new policy, the first Uni policy ever put forward by OUSA, would mandate lecture recordings – as long as technology allowed and there were no ethical needs for privacy. In a statement provided to Critic, DVC Stuart Brock said that as it had been last revised "several years ago" (in 2016, specifically) it was necessary to update the policy.
Stella did not disagree. "We're behind – back of the pack," she explained, packing some punches. Lecture recordings were supposedly "super hit-or-miss […] depending on the day, department, lecturer and what side of the bed they woke up on." In every consultation, psychology was singled out as the naughtiest child. Senior staff in the Psychology Department have allegedly claimed their recording policy was “superior cognitively." Those brainiacs.
“Every other NZ uni has policies to make lecture recordings available to a larger degree than [Otago]," she claimed students had confided in her. Some allegedly would have swapped unis if they knew the state of Otago's lecture recordings; some already have.
While Brock has said, "[OUSA's] proposed approach is consistent with many other domestic and international university policies,” it’s the Senate vote in October that has got OUSA worried. Following the end of the policy consultation later this month, the Senate vote is made up of "senior academics", with an "overwhelmingly negative" view on recorded lectures, explains Stella.
A big reason for the negativity is attendance. Lecturers hear "recording" and think of their paper of seventy, which only thirty show up to. DVC Brock emphasised that while recordings support equity of access, any policy would underline that they were no substitute to regular on-campus lectures. Stella, meanwhile, pushed against the "myth of the lazy student", who is really dealing with cost of living, poor mental health, sickness-inducing flatting conditions, and time poverty. "We pay for tuition, and we'd still like to have it [if we get sick]," she pointed out, adding, "I have severe ADHD, I wouldn't have passed Ecology or Zoology without recordings."
So, will Stella's blood, sweat, tears, and chalk support students as she hopes? And will this demonstration-not-a-protest be recorded? In the meantime, don’t expect the chalk outside Auahi Ora to disappear anytime soon (or Critic’s cold from reporting in the rain).