News

Last week’s Exec meeting was a very brief and quiet affair, quite in contrast to the five-hour Budget-setting experience of a fortnight previous. The meeting took barely over half an hour, possibly a record for the gabber-mouth Exec.

Victoria Nicholson briefly presented the Elections 2011 Returning Officer’s Report, a tome that weighed more than the average newborn, and made OUSA Secretary Donna Jones cower in fear. The presence of ex-arch-enemies Harriet and Dan was the lumbering white elephant in the room, but the meeting was surprisingly comfortable given the mud-slinging and bad-mouthing of last month. Dan moved a motion to thank Victoria for all the work she had done, which was duly passed.
   Donna’s report as Returning Officer for the Referendum was next up, at which point Donna pleaded never to be made Returning Officer again. Dan then moved yet another motion, thanking the lovely Donna for putting in the hard yards.
   The Otago Student Animal Legal Defense Fund was then affiliated. Unusually, this prompted barely a whisper, except a mumble from Dan about the loyalty owed to Clubs and Socs.
   General Rep John Philipson resigned in a lengthy letter to the Exec, addressed “to the family.” His resignation was based on purely personal reasons, namely his inability to contribute adequately to OUSA because of a high workload in other areas. The letter noted his sadness in leaving the role, thanked the Exec for enriching his time at Otago, and referred to Donna as a “surrogate mother.” The Exec has not yet indicated whether they intend to hold a referendum to find a replacement General Rep.
   In a very topical move Travis piped up with a sausage sizzle plan to help Christchurch in light of the recent earthquake. $200 was allocated from Campaigns, prompting Walker ‘Jokester’ MacMurdo to say: “we grant you your wieners.” Takes one to know one.
   Just as the meeting closed, Health Sci Rep Dave swaggered in to give a last notice for his debut event, the Health Sci Tournament Week. No one cared.