Lettuce Continued from page 15
and nitpicking for personal gains. Perhaps you need some counselling as causing emotional stress to others is very disrespectful and could possibly lead to murder and paedophilia. I also wonder how many students who pay these compulsory levies (I am one as well!) take note of what the exec are doing and what issues have been coming up lately. I all know good and well that these happen every once and a while but I do not have time to go nor do I have interest in going. The WSU seems to be an insular state in which they have petty squabbles over who is holding the koosh ball for when it is someone’s turn to talk. They have a lot of student money they are responsible for. Perhaps students should be more informed. My mother say “if you don’t have something good to say Ashleigh, don’t say it” but I ignore her anyway. Maybe she is right. But anyways, I am not too knowledgeable about the inside happenings of the WSU but I notice there is something stirring. Please to be informing the students as we pay levy and we have right to know if that the exec we voted for are causing troubles. Lovingly yours, Ashleigh
Sex Toy Concept hey here’s my idea for a new sex toy.. attaches to your standard beater, your eggs should be light and fluffy within seconds.
VP responds to article - Part 2 Dear Editor Nexus 3 of 2006 reported on the March 8 WSU Open Student Meeting (‘OSM as lively as ever’). It was said: “WSU Vice President Carl Gordon came under fire from members of the WSU Executive for bringing items to the OSM
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that were, apparently, not on the agenda, not discussed by the WSU beforehand and which could have a significant financial impact on the organisation”. Firstly, there was only ONE item which was of concern to some Executive members, not “items”. It was the item about “abating student loans”, which WAS on the published agenda (in Nexus which came out on March 6). Secondly, the OSM is the WSU policy making body where ANY subject can be raised without notice by ANY member, to allow members their rights of input. Motions don’t need to be discussed first by ‘WSU’ (actually this means the Executive). Thirdly, the main part of the item is already WSU policy, having been passed at last year’s April OSM – I raised it again so that new WSU members could have their input, and, given that we had been successful with pushing for interest free student loans (I was the person who promoted this last year), we could move on to the issue of reducing student debt further. Fourth, there is no conceivable way such a resolution could have a financial impact on the organisation. No-one raised this point last year, and everyone, including the government (and the 2005 WSU Executive), knew it referred to the government being responsible for ‘the financial impact’. To say that WSU could somehow be responsible, because of the resolution passed, for the NZ$ 8 billion total tertiary student debt in NZ, or any part of it, is absurd. The WSU President was the only person to vote against the motion “That the capital on Student Loans be abated at 10% per year of the original amount for students who graduate and stay and work in NZ”. She was reported as saying “she was troubled by the Vice-President’s actions from a constitutional point of view”. There are no ‘constitutional’ implications to my ‘actions’ at all. The President is further quoted: “Students need to realise that OSM voting has a huge impact on the running of the union – which then affects what is provided for the whole student body” (actually, Executive meetings generally have a greater impact). There were NO impacts on what is “provided for the student body” from the resolution on abating loan capital at the OSM. To imply that there were is misleading. Part 1 of this letter was published in the previous issue. Carl Gordon WSU VP
and situation covered in last week’s article ‘Students Stage Protest over “Unfair” Eviction’ have been portrayed in a misleading manner. The article quotes Dey Street Campus management as saying of the evictee that “We gave him several warnings before eviction”. The DDDFDSRC and WPC challenge Dey Street Campus management to produce documentation of any warnings that they had presented to the evictee. Allegations that the evicted person was at any stage threatening and abusive towards Dey Street Campus management are totally unfounded. The evictee never threatened management at any stage before his eviction or during the protest against eviction. However, in the days following the protest the husband of the Dey Street Village manager did make threats. This included stating, incorrectly, that the people involved in the protest were woman abusers, and that they were ‘all going to get it’. The owner of the van that the evictee was forced to live in was approached and was urged to get the van back because the van “was not going to be safe when people caught up with him (the evictee)”. Management were quoted as saying, “If you’re struggling with your rent you don’t party down and drink beer, like happened in this instance”. The evictee strenuously denies this attack on his character. The real reason the evictee, Riki Aaron, did not pay his rent in his last week was because his student allowance payment did not come through in the second week of study as he had expected. The evictee can back this up with documentation. The evictee can also show that he was refunded $300 bond upon leaving Dey Street Village. This means that, overall, he was clear of debt to Dey Street Campus at the time of his eviction. The evictee got on well with other tenants he met during his two years of residence. On one occasion before his eviction he showed goodwill to another tenant and management by paying that tenant’s rent when he fell behind. Since his eviction the tenant has received help from progressive people in the community. After seeing an article in the Waikato Times, one Hamilton couple put the evictee up in a bed and breakfast for one week. This shows that there are people out there willing to take the right side over these kinds of issues. Riki Aaron can be contacted for comment at 021 266 8773
Dey St Debacle Members of the DDDFDSRC and Workers Party on Campus (WPC) feel that the events Issue 6 · 3 April 2006
Send us lots of letters again! 300 words before Tues 5pm to nexus@waikato.ac.nz