In the blink of an eye, quarter three wrapped up at OUSA at the end of August. With everything from scandals to elections dominating headlines, the Exec has still been hard at work serving students’ interests. While its impossible to cover everything, here’s a taster of what the Exec has done in order to get their honorariums (AKA their pay) this quarter. With over 23,000 words and twelve reports to trawl through, Critic Te Ārohi has the recap (minus the bureaucracy-induced headache).
Liam White – President
Q3 Average Hours - 31.92/40
It was another jam-packed quarter for OUSA’s President. Continuing to be the face of the association, he was featured in the Otago Daily Times five times and Critic four times. Liam continues to engage with local politicians, having recently met with the mayor to address Castle Street’s waste and student housing concerns. Impressively, he fired off 22 different letters to MPs and Ministers over issues such as paid placements, trains, and a postgrad student allowance. For OUSA, he spoke on behalf of them at a forum about homelessness, and is planning events to foster a stronger relationship between Uni and Polytech students.
Despite being a busy bee, Liam and the team haven’t been able to make progress on all they set out to achieve. “Most of the campaigns seems to have fallen by the wayside as the team works to prioritise what is both most important, and can be feasibly achieved over the next couple of months,” he said. Another factor could also be the palpable tension within the Exec lately. Since Q2, however, Liam reckoned it had chilled out. “Credit where it is due, I think the Executive has been much better at sitting around the table,” he said. “It feels far less tribal now. I think we can still do some work on building and developing consensus, but it is hard when we have so much business to cover.”
At last week’s Exec meeting, however, a few concerns were raised over Liam’s report. The Exec acknowledged Liam prioritising his mental health as a reason for not meeting his 40 hours, but a few members had concerns. Seluvaia (President of UOPISA) also pointed out Liam’s lack of engagement with UOPISA. He’d failed to show at the UOPISA Awards Night as promised, and she said this was a continuing trend from other quarters. Finance and Strategy Officer Daniel also noted, “Liam has missed some very important meetings this quarter.” Ultimately, based on this, the Executive voted to reduce Liam’s honorarium by 10% over the next month.
Amy Martin – Administrative Vice President
Q3 Average Hours - 20.88/20
Amy has wrapped up a sleepless quarter three by nearly finishing all the policies for OUSA’s “behind the scenes stuff”, including an updated constitution for their upcoming AGM. Amy’s been integral to the organisation of the recent Exec elections alongside OUSA Secretary Donna. Outside of this, she’s met with six committees, continuing to work on a ‘safe streets’ campaign, and has been in comms with the Sustainability Office and Te Oraka. Amy seemed proud of her “near-perfect” attendance record in Exec meetings, but did note that balancing the workload is “no longer in [her] vocabulary”. “I hope to one day figure it out, but for now I will continue to suffer with my devastating lack of limits,” she said.
The Exec were pleased with Amy’s efforts over the big quarter she’s had. Liam noted that he was “not overly comfortable with her work life balance at the moment” as a result (she consistently got four hours sleep during election week). Daniel said Amy had worked “exceptionally hard,” while Seluvaia thanked her for being the “bridge” between UOPISA, Te Rōpū Māori, and the Exec this year. Political Rep Jett did raise, however, that he didn’t find his weekly catch-ups with Amy very “productive” – perhaps owing to her having sought his resignation, and him refusing. Ultimately, the Exec unanimously agreed to accept the report and give her the full honorarium.
Amy Whyman – Welfare and Equity Representative
Q3 Average Hours - 17.73/20
Quarter three has seen “great engagement” with social and welfare issues with students for Amy Whyman. Key projects have been HIV-test kits on campus, proper use of OUSA-run rooms on campus, and the Sophia Charter Action Plan. Amy mentioned the Welfare Committee, however Clubs and Socs Rep Deborah pointed out that they’d only met one time this year.
Amy’s helped out with other Exec initiatives this quarter, including chalking campus to support Academic Rep Stella’s lecture recordings policy and running a Re-Ori stall. In her advocacy, she attended meetings with an impressive 11 different committees or working groups; including a meeting with the Disability Issues Advisory Group to discuss disabled tauira’s welfare on campus. Before her term is up, she is shaping up a future campaign to advocate for College Subwardens, and has recommendations ready to present to the Uni over its special considerations policy. Amy acknowledged that she was under hours this quarter, but explained, “I was away with my family and dubious Wi-Fi for 2 weeks, which is the main contributor for the lower average.”
When the Executive approved these reports at last week’s Executive meeting, it was noted Amy W has been under her 20-hour target for all three quarters this year. Noting a conflict of interest as her flatmate, Liam argued against cutting her honorarium by saying that he didn’t want to “tie Exec roles to their hours,” prompting disagreement from multiple Exec members. Ultimately, the Executive voted to cut her honorarium by 10% for the next month.
Josh Stewart – Postgraduate Representative
Q3 Average Hours - 9.6/10
The University’s shock reduction in doctoral scholarships was the dominant issue for Josh in Q3. Josh had raised concerns over the cuts to the ODT, Graduate Research Committee, and the University Senate over this, managing to help get a mini-round of 15 scholarships in October. “I like to think that this policy change came about as a direct result of everyone’s pushback, which is something to be proud of,” he said.
Josh noted that turnout and engagement for the Society for Postgraduate Students continues to improve. He also sits on ten committees and helped ‘hall-bash’ to promote voting in the Local Body Elections. Josh aimed to build a stronger relationship with our Ōtautahi/Pōneke campuses; increase engagement with Commerce Postgrads; and is helping to organise the upcoming Supervisor of the Year awards in Q4.
When approving his Q3 report, Josh apologised that family things have gotten in the way of duties this year, the “one time” he’d been successful in being elected. The rest of the Exec sang Josh’s praises though, with Daniel calling him “super helpful” with the Political Action Committee. Liam also appreciated Josh’s efforts to increase his hours since the last two quarters. Overall, Josh’s report was accepted and his honorarium will be paid in full.
Porourangi Templeton-Reedy – Te Rōpū Māori Tumuaki
Quarter three has had an adjustment period, with Pourourangi having assumed the role as the sole tumuaki of Te Rōpu Māori (TRM) following Ngātiki’s resignation earlier this quarter. Pou has sat on seven OUSA committees, worked on TRM’s strategic framework, and signed a memorandum of understanding with Te Huka Mātauraka (the Māori centre). Furthermore, there was lots of prep for Te Huinga Tauira (the national Māori Students’ Conference); helping TRM become Radio One trained; and releasing a TRM EP. There has been good engagement with TRM in Q3, according to Pou, with events such as the first session of Poipoia Te Kākano (governance/leadership programme Māori student execs), a ki-o-rahi charity event, and hui with the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Māori), and student pastoral care. The Exec acknowledged his efforts of stepping up this quarter, accepting his report with zero issue.
Seluvaia Ratoul – President of the University of Otago Pacific Islands Students’ Association
Selu has wrapped up yet another busy quarter, representing UOPISA on nine different committees around the University. Herself and other UOPISA Exec members sit on a number of OUSA committees, too. Selu ran a Pacific workshop for OUSA staff, and has been encouraging more people to run for the UOPISA Exec as that time of year approaches. For current projects, a 2026 Equity Fund proposal in the works, as is the ongoing task of finding a permanent space for her exec. On the administrative side of things, Selu has been restructuring UOPISA policy to be more similar with TRM’s/OUSA’s, as well as trying to get UOPISA a seat on Uni Council. No issues were raised with Seluvaia’s quarter three report in an Exec meeting three weeks ago – the Exec called it “great”.