Exec stupid but manage to finalise Budget, somehow

Posted 10:05pm Sunday 26th September 2010

OUSA has finalised their 2011 Budget, which will be voted on by online referendum early next month. The proposed Budget was carried unanimously by an eleven-strong Exec amidst concerns about the constitutional changes made earlier in the year.  The Exec voted against the contentious VSM Read more...

Execrable - 24

Posted 9:56pm Sunday 26th September 2010

Last week’s Budget meeting was a demoralising, almost four-hour-long process that sapped Critic’s will to live. Much of the meeting was taken up with tediously assessing submissions and considering the disputed Budget lines. After all the blabbing a few meetings ago about a referendum to Read more...

The real scandal: Inept student leader still thinks coffee at 1980s prices!

Posted 5:44am Monday 13th September 2010

OUSA is considering withdrawing from the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations (NZUSA), but NZUSA maintains membership is worthwhile. OUSA President Harriet Geoghegan says the main reason OUSA is considering withdrawing from NZUSA is a lack of value for money. “For the amount we Read more...

OUSA bad at long distance

Posted 5:40am Monday 13th September 2010

The recent OUSA election, and the withdrawal of the Wellington-based Postgrad candidate under controversial circumstance, has raised questions about the quality of support OUSA gives to distance and satellite students. Satellite students study at campuses outside Dunedin, while distance Read more...

University Announces Award Recipients

Posted 5:24am Monday 13th September 2010

Three University of Otago researchers have been named the recipients of the University’s Early Career Awards for Distinction in Research. The awards, worth $5000 each, recognise academics with outstanding research achievements early in their careers.    The three recipients were Read more...

Execrable - 23

Posted 4:09am Monday 13th September 2010

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 Read more...

Cancelled flights give Otago students the blues

Posted 1:57am Monday 6th September 2010

University of Otago students are among those caught out by Pacific Blue’s surprise withdrawal from the New Zealand domestic market. The first service to go is the direct Dunedin to Auckland service, a change that will take effect from September 17. Pacific Blue has said publicly that people Read more...

OUSA to set $90 000 on fire. Maybe.

Posted 1:27am Monday 6th September 2010

OUSA intends to put its membership in New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations (NZUSA) in the hands of its members. In 2010, OUSA paid $86 169 in membership fees to NZUSA. The fees go towards national representation of students and lobbying in Parliament. In the revised OUSA Budget, the Read more...

It’s a Numbers Game

Posted 1:09am Monday 6th September 2010

The first draft of the 2011 OUSA Budget was released last Wednesday. OUSA Finance and Services Officer James Meager said that there were no major changes within the Budget, bar the increase in student levies. The student levy has increased from $159.64 per year to $211.88, an increase of Read more...

Hookers and Blow: Not budgeted for

Posted 3:37am Thursday 26th August 2010

The first draft of the OUSA Budget, written by Finance Officer James Meager and General Manager Stephen Alexander, has been released amidst controversy over levy increases and withdrawing from NZUSA. However, there are several other changes in the proposed new Budget, and Meager was quick to Read more...