A special general meeting (SGM) has been called with a motion for OUSA to re-adopt BDS. The culprit? One of OUSA’s own: Political Representative Jett Groshinski. The SGM will take place this Thursday, August 21st, at 1pm in the Main Common Room.
An SGM is an invitation for the student body to gather for and vote on a specific motion. The key thing is that, compared to a referendum, it is binding; the Executive has to do what the students say. In order to hold one, fifty signatures must be gathered. From Critic’s understanding, Jett acquired these under the noses of his Exec, and submitted the motion prior to their meeting last Thursday. It should be noted that Jett did vote against dropping the BDS posture a few weeks back, so has remained presumably outspoken on the matter.
Before the news of the SGM was addressed by the Exec, guests Francisco Hernandez (Greens List MP based in Ōtepoti) and Jomana Moharram (Dunedin-based Greens Youth MP) spoke to their open letter critiquing the decision to abandon BDS posture. Long story short, they believed the Exec shouldn’t have abandoned it, and that they should review the policy for a moderate, phased approach through appropriate consultation.
Once Fran and Jomana left, the next 45 minutes of the meeting was spent in strict committee for reasons of “personal sensitivity” according to President Liam. Much like getting kicked out of a host you stayed a little too long at, all non-Exec – Critic, the OUSA CEO and Secretary – scurried out of the room (looking a bit sour). While feeling #censored, Critic did some Googling. According to the OUSA constitution (give it a read) ‘strict committee’ may only occur “for reasons of confidentiality or commercial sensitivity of the likely content of the discussion”. Liam cleared up the constitutionally-ambiguous decision to Critic afterwards by amending his wording to “reasons of confidentiality”.
As a result of the SGM getting pulled by Jett, a motion was passed to remove him from OUSA’s Finance and Expenditure Committee (FESC). Liam explained to Critic that this was due to the Executive expressing “serious concern” regarding their faith in him to keep commercially sensitive information confidential, particularly noting the sensitivity of the upcoming development of the OUSA budget. Keep in mind, this is the second time that Jett has gone behind the Exec’s back – the first being when they found out through an ODT article that he would be running for council, presenting a sizable conflict of interest for OUSA and prompting calls for his resignation.
Another agenda item at the Exec meeting was a review of ‘Liam’s Solution for Peace in the Middle East’ (yes, it really was called this). In this plan, recommendations 1, 2, 2.5, and 4 were set out (not sure what happened to recommendation 3). The Executive unanimously passed a motion to adopt recommendations 2, 2.5, and 4: the recognition of Palestinian statehood; calling-on all Aotearoa MPs to do the same; and publicly supporting Chloe Swarbrick’s “Unlawful Occupation of Palestine Sanctions Bill”. For once, the Exec were all onboard.
What’s recommendation 1 you may ask? That’s to rescind motion 342/25 – AKA the motion that got rid of OUSA’s BDS posture in the first place. Rather than being addressed internally, Jett plans on airing OUSA’s dirty laundry at the SGM on Thursday.