$5 lunch was overrun last week with three days of lunchtime forums to give students a chance to dissect the policies and promises of the 25 candidates running for the ten OUSA Executive positions for 2027. To save you from over six hours of forums, here is our three-page summary of the 12,000 words of notes we took.
Day One
President
Last year was the first time in three years students had two options for president. This year, we have four! What luck. International Socialist Organisation member Rosie Cruickshank, current Finance & Strategy Officer (FSO) Troy Gibbons, current Postgraduate Officer Fergus Parks and fresh-faced Lochlan Hanham are all gunning for the full-time role at the helm of OUSA.
Rosie has campaigned with her politics on her sleeve. Self-described as a “revolutionary” socialist, she doesn't believe voting for her will change everything. However, she believes it will help her go further in building a broad-based “fighting student movement,” which will fight for Gaza, and against landlords, the ruling class, and capitalism. She would, “militantly and belligerently,” use the president’s 40 hours for activism, because the role has “very little power.” She is currently involved in the Education Action Group (EAG) and Otago Students for Justice in Palestine (OSJP).
Current FSO Troy reckoned "OUSA needs bold, experienced, and progressive leadership.” Drawing on his year of Exec experience, his priorities were "practical steps to meaningful change." He promises to have U-Bar open three days a week and make $5 lunch free, which he has said will cost a 2% budget increase. Troy was careful to only promise to “advocate” for a Winter Energy Payment. He is looking forward to mobilising students more, having worked on Gig for Gaza, and the OUSA leaders debate.
Lochlan says "pure sheer dogged tenacity is the offer." They say they are not officially a part of any political grouping, but promise to fight for students against this “rotten” government. They were nominated by Sarah Al-Shanfari, who they tautoko with in saying big promises like student bars have become a “cliché” in OUSA exec campaigns.
Fergus said, “why would I be a good president? Don't know. I’m not AI yet, I guess. The University makes money. Would be nice if we could have some of the money.” He added that at least he knows how the system works, although he did not submit a bio or picture to Critic. When asked if he was a joke candidate, Fergus responded, “I’m the Joker, baby.” Okay.
Although Rosie and Troy seemed to be making a real effort to highlight their positive relationship, verbal projectiles did fly elsewhere. Lochlan, to the question ‘how do you rate this year’s Exec?’ said, “I have some feelings about Daniel Leamy that I'm not sure that I should talk about – negative ones.” They threatened to tell us what happens in an EAG meeting, getting halfway through criticising President Leamy’s stance on radical action. They were then rebuked by Kamesha Jones for answering the question with personal critique about Daniel, rather than the Exec’s collective actions this year.
Fergus identified three key issues for OUSA: money, nuclear devastation, and candidates with overt political ties. Other students present seemed to share that third concern. Also pointing fingers, Fergus pointed out a code of conduct complaint from earlier this year, about Troy. Yeowch.
When the point was raised to Rosie that every other elected and potentially non-socialist Exec member would have a vote in meetings, she assured that she had a lot of experience as the “minority in the room.” Troy admitted he had run into similar problems, having pursued an OUSA statement opposing move-on orders and asset sales, but lost the vote on Exec.
Critic asked Troy what he had to show for his year as FSO, since we have no student bar, no fees-free at all, and a cut named “the University bookshop” – all of which are contrary to his 2025 election promises Troy said the Bookshop thing was “unfortunate,” and reminded us he was going for small, deliverable promises this time around. But his headline accomplishment as FSO? $111,000 in extra spending, including $30,000 in extra clubs and individual grants, $56,000 for student support in satellite campuses and $15,000 for a Student Voice Coordinator.
Student engagement is a big part of Lochlan’s pitch, but Critic Te Ārohi then queried about students reportedly seeing Lochlan shout “coward” at passing-by students who did not join a recent Education Action Group protest. Lochlan did not deny this, and ummed and ahhed about whether this was their preferred method of engaging students, before admitting it was, “perhaps harsh,” but “perhaps the right thing in the moment.” Perhaps.
A few other highlights: Rosie wants to say “fuck you,” to Grant Robertson, which Fergus thought wouldn’t help OUSA’s relationship with the uni. Troy shilled for an Otago Daily Times article, where he spoke about AI, and betrayed Critic in doing so. Lochlan said they were aware the President role was basically just a bureaucratic “imperial fuck-ton of meetings.”
Administrative Vice-President
Kamesha Jones was AVP for 2026, and is re-contesting the position for 2027. The only candidate working to frustrate those ambitions is Sarah Al-Shanfari. But there was not much frustration in this forum, which was far less tense than the Prez one.
You might know Sarah from Critic’s very own Survivor series. Sarah has been President of UniQ, the queer student’s club, for a year and a half. Sarah highlighted her ongoing attempts to transition UniQ into the Otago Rainbow Students’ Association (ORSA), which has involved constitutional work and getting together “siloed” rainbow groups.
Kamesha believes this year has been "transformative" for OUSA in terms of engagement and political self-identity. “I've been learning how things work, putting down roots, and laying groundwork to build momentum. Whether I'm here or not, I hope next year's exec can build off of that.” On top of her AVP work, Kamesha has written policy for the 1,000-large tramping club, including the alcohol policy.
Engagement was a more contentious issue. Kamesha was the first AVP to preside over an inquorate SGM since 2022. Reflecting on that, Kamesha said, “I think it's about working better with the marketing department – we don't have a super great amount of cohesion, and that’s something that I would like to change from the get-go.” Next year, she wants to see an Engagement VP and a Disability Rep role put in place – for real this time.
One of Sarah’s campaign reels criticised the current exec for failing to make quorum. She stood by it, adding “I know my comments may have seemed aggressive, but it’s fair criticism.” UniQ has also had low engagement, and Sarah admitted it had not been easy, that quorum was often barely met, and that the last three presidents had “come and gone and done nothing.” The ORSA rebrand was meeting Rainbow demand for activism, she said.
Finance & Strategy Officer
There’s only one candidate for this: Ella Coudret. So if she can’t win here, then tough cheese. Fingers crossed she beats Mr No Confidence on the day.
Day Two
Academic Representative
Ben de Ruyter, Dominic Seralius and Niko Fay are running for Academic Rep for 2027. Dominic has been an academic rep for POLSA, and has also been front-facing in the burgeoning History Students Society. Studying PPE and Law, Ben has consulted on two master's proposals, and was involved with developing an AI ethics paper. He had a bit of a fan club going, with an enthusiastic response to all his answers. Once Ben finished his slot, about half the room packed up and left. Bummer. Niko’s big pitch is his experience – he is the Humanities Faculty Rep, working with staff on academic policy. Niko says, “Don’t vote for the status quo. Vote for Niko.”
Each of the candidates committed to doing something about the contentious lecture recording policy. Each of them reckoned lecturers were playing fast and loose if designated as a lectorial (which can’t be recorded), and taking off their mics and all sorts of silly stuff. ‘We will end the silly stuff’, they all said, but acknowledged the importance of lecture attendance. Unfortunately, if you were after some concrete answers on how precisely the policy should change, you’re shit out of luck.
Ben advocated for the “complete and entire removal of Turnitin from our education system.” Wowza. Turnitin recently updated its policy, which would have allowed AI services to train off of student submissions. Turnitin has U-turned, but says they will revisit the policy next year. Ben says he “Kinda fucking hates AI.” Dominic feels AI has a place, and doesn't want to ban it outright. Niko thinks the university’s “AI in everything” policy is shortsighted. Dominic overall seemed a little afraid of the overtime bell, keeping all of his answers to a tight twenty seconds.
Welfare & Equity Representative
Sarah Al-Shanfari, Reuben Tait, Hamza Baalousha and Yuri Castañeda are this year’s candidates for Welfare & Equity Representative.
Sarah’s campaign page describes her as “an advocate for asylum seekers, refugees and the rainbow community.” Hamza is an executive member on the Otago Disabled Students’ Association, and wants to centre mental health, and thinks the role should be ‘Wellbeing’, not ‘Welfare’. Reuben admits they are new to advocacy, and without a lot of direct experience. But he credits his 1st-year struggle and burnout, and Zoe Eckhoff, with getting passionate to make a difference. Yuri is Philippines born, Qatar raised, and is running on a platform of connecting students and uplifting welfare for all.
One question of particular contention was about bathrooms on campus. One of Sarah’s key campaign themes is that there is only one gender-accessible bathroom in a Central Library of 2,000 study spots. Hamza disagreed, saying that it was “pretty stupid to push for two” – not that it isn’t an issue, but because other groups needed more, and the role was about “prioritising.” Yuri quickly disagreed with Hamza, and wanted to talk to Sarah afterwards about a map of pre-existing gender-accessible toilets.
Clubs & Societies Representative
It was a crowded and experienced field for the Clubs & Socs Representative race. Ella Grayson, Leila Daniels, Cheol Shin and Dominic Sarelius all put their hands up for the role this year. All candidates talked about the experience they bring to the table: Ella has served on POLSA, SOULS and PILO execs; Dominic on POLSA, History and Classics Students’ Association; Cheol has worked with Asian Law Students, Locals, and Debating Society execs, and Leila with Commerce Students Association and GEMS.
As far as the questions went, the candidates were pretty agreeable for most of the forum. All candidates agreed on the differing needs of small and large clubs, but visibility being the key issue. Cheol emphasised the importance of clubs continuing to do events past the first few weeks of the semester, while Leila hoped to see a more “streamlined” clubs system that works for everyone.
Day Three
Political Representative
In the race for Political Rep is EAG activist and President of the (now-defunct) Otago University Tea Enjoyment & Appreciation Society, Lochlan Hanhlan; Thomas Brocherie, a 1st-year Law student, a former co-director of the campaign to reduce the voting age to 16, and who cut his teeth in youth parliament; and Connor Knights, another EAG activist, and a current delegate for Unions Otago.
Thomas declared, “there are no nine words [more] useless than: I’m running for OUSA, and here are my promises. So here are my plans.” They have seven plans, and counting – such as grandfathering fees free. Thomas touted his ability to coordinate a Youth MP open letter in 2025 about lowering the voting age, which was also the subject of a bill he helped get into Parliament in 2023, before the coalition killed it in 2024.
Lochlan wants to “doggedly stand like a mule,” against the University and Government, achieve the EAG demands (all but one they recited easily), and regularly call MPs up, because that is more “achievable” than trying to get them to show up to campus. For Connor, he wants to achieve fees-free over all years of study, and reckons he can “make noise,” and also get non-progressive students involved, thanks to his union experience.
Asked about potential conflicts of interest, candidates were honest: none for Lochlan (but they are friends with nearly everyone in EAG and ISO). “Two ticks Green,” grins Connor (who can’t say this if he wins). Thomas is a Labour Party member (to which Lochlan went, “hmmmm”). They all bravely committed to not running in a DCC election. Then everyone did the decent thing, and stabbed each other in the front. After Thomas said he supported BDS, Connor forced him to admit he had not always been “compliant” with BDS. Thomas returned fire: another year of full-fees-free advocacy was “Colossal waste of time,” because both major parties had ruled out bringing it back. Grandfathering was good, anything more was blue sky thinking. Lochlan, otherwise jammed between these two candidates, and muttering “I am woefully underqualified,” perked up at that: “If you have no blue sky behind your grey clouds, you suffocate! Because there is no atmosphere.”
Postgrad Representative
Current Postgrad Rep Fergus Parkes has two other tauira coming for his role, Virology PhD student Kristina Hames and Botany MSc student Imogen Harris. Fergus said his tenure has been marked with “a lot of admin” and changes to the graduate research fund. In the absence of first hand experience, Kristina brings her experience founding the Microbiology Students’ Association, and the Dunedin Chiasma exec. Imogen just wrapped up her time as Tramping Club President, the largest club on campus. Despite being busy bees, all three candidates were confident to put in the hard yards for the ten hour role.
All three candidates agreed on the difficulty of engaging with postgrads, all shut up in write-up rooms scattered across campus. For Imogen, a big concern was ensuring greater disability support for postgrads, also acknowledging the difference in needs required between undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. Kristina talked about the cycles of poor feedback and issues that can persist year after year in postgraduate environments, and the difficulty of working through supervisor issues when they only look after a small number of students at a time.
In terms of the social side of things, Fergus did admit he “killed” the Society for Postgraduate students, due to a lack of engagement – something that had been snowballing before he had taken up the role. Kristina and Imogen both pointed towards engaging within departments first to help bolster connection and community. In terms of the political sphere, topics like the cutting of the postgraduate students’ allowance was raised, with all three candidates showing an appetite for the political side of OUSA.
International Representative
Tim Podornicov, Ilham Nadhirah Azman, and Allyson Tan are your International Rep candidates. All three candidates have moved to New Zealand: Tim from Moldova, and Allyson and Ilham from Malaysia. Allyson is currently the OISA rep for Media and Communications, and Ilham is the Social Impact Lead, International Ambassador for the University, and the Vice-President of the Asian Students’ Association.
Ilham believes that the biggest challenge international students face is making friends as they often flat immediately rather than going through halls, leaving them trying to integrate themselves into established groups. Allyson agreed that it can get pretty lonely, and emphasised the total culture shock that she experienced of moving somewhere completely new where inside jokes don’t translate and lolly names are all confusing. Tim agreed with his fellow candidates, and highlighted high international healthcare fees as a huge barrier to dealing with the challenges above.
In terms of tuition fees, Tim is aware that this role would have little power over the amount international students are charged, but instead could work to use these more effectively to create programs that help this group, and ensure they are treated equally despite getting charged more. Ilham and Allyson both agreed that while they can’t affect how much international students pay, how fees are allocated could be improved. Allyson suggested a more centralised support system as a possible use, and Ilham floated ideas of creating more opportunities, or even just more spaces for international students to hang out. All three candidates also emphasised the need for more events for international students, by offering support this way by being a visible shoulder for struggling students to lean on.
A question from the audience about dealing with racism faced by international students drew a powerful response from the candidates, and a beautiful display of solidarity. Tim emphasised that this issue goes beyond just international students, and that hate absolutely shouldn’t exist at all.
Residential Representative
Incumbent Zoe Eckhoff and challenger Jacob Rush closed out the forums, after three days of the longest $5 lunches in recorded history. Jacob, current student engagement rep for Locals, wants to advocate for a rental warrant of fitness, and be a voice for students in halls. Jacob wanted to meet students where they are, and work with other programs like UniFlats and Locals, to offer support, while advocating for bigger policies from local governments. Incumbent Zoe laughed that she was asking to keep her job, and had really enjoyed this year, listing off her biggest achievements as advocating and supporting students who reached out, and trying to de-mystify processes like the Tenancy Tribunal through her flatting pamphlets.
Jacob and Zoe both agreed that the Uni could be doing more in terms of advocacy work and potentially rental warrants of fitness. Zoe emphasised that financial problems and tenancy problems are often joined at the hip, so fees free is huge. Jacob wanted to address the harms driven by a prevalent drinking culture, adding that he supported Troy’s U-Bar policy because “everyone can run for a student bar, nothing ever happens.” Zoe agreed, pledging her full support.
Information overload yet? Voting is open for the 2027 OUSA Election until 4pm on Thursday. Check your student email for the link to vote.
