VUWSA Imapct Report 2012

VICTORIA UNIVERSITY OF WELLINGTON STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION

IMPACT REPORT 2012

Our Achievements in 2012: President’s Report

Kia ora, I am pleased to present the 2012 Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association (VUWSA) Impact Report. This report aims to highlight and demonstrate how VUWSA has impacted the lives of students and worked to improve the overall student experience at Victoria University of Wellington during 2012.

2012 has been a massive year for VUWSA. We have faced new challenges that have tested the strength of our organisation and the spirit and faith of our members. We have continued to work hard for the students of Victoria and made progress at both an institutional and national level for the benefit of all students at Victoria. Our organisation has undergone a lot of change, both internally and externally in 2012, and we have come out stronger for it.

For me, 2012 was very much about taking a long, hard and frank look at our organisation.

For so long VUWSA has operated under the same rules and conditions, but in 2012 our world was been turned upside down. The Introduction of Voluntary Student Membership really challenged the Executive to think hard about what we did and why. While I still continue to see the introduction of VSM as nothing more than an ideological attack on the student movement and the collective student voice, the silver lining of VSM is that it has refocused our organisation and Executive. In spite of VSM I believe VUWSA will continue to play a vital role in the lives of students and staff at Victoria University.

It’s important to mention the people who have helped make this year such a success.

Nothing that we have achieved this year has been the result of one person, but the result of a group dedicated to making Victoria a better place to be. Thank you to the VUWSA Executive and staff, to the amazing VUWSA Trust and our VUWSA alumni who were always willing to share advice and give a hand where they could. Thank you to the countless student representatives, especially those who went above and beyond the call of duty. And thank you to the many University staff and Council members who I worked with in 2012.

Despite the stress and anxiety at times, I have loved every minute that I have been involved with VUWSA. VUWSA is such a vital part of Victoria University and the gains that we have made over the last 114 years cannot be overstated. I wish VUWSA and its members all the best for the future.

Bridie Hood President 2012

Led By Students, For Students – the 2012 Executive Bridie Hood – President Josh Wright – Vice President (Academic) Ta’ase Vaoga – Vice President (Welfare) (until her resignation) Rory McCourt – Vice President (Welfare) (following the resignation of Ta’ase Vaoga and subsequent by-election) William Guzzo – Treasurer Adele Redmond – Campaigns Officer Sara Bishop – Women’s Officer Debbie Zhang - International Students’ Officer (until her resignation) Sam McKearney (following the resignation of Debbie Zhang and subsequent by-election) Sophie Turner – Environmental Officer Andreas Triandafilidis – Activities Officer Reed Fleming – Clubs Officer Rory McCourt – Welfare Office (until the resignation of Ta’ase Vaoga and subsequent byelection) Sam Vincent – Education Officer Genevieve Fowler – Queer Officer

Building on Good Practice: General Manager’s Report It was another successful year for the Association in many respects which was filled with a variety of events, activities and initiatives. It was also a year that brought further challenges resulting from the introduction of the Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Act. We have continued to build on our progress from last year with a concentrated focus on student engagement, awareness, satisfaction and quality of service, internal processes and overall business efficiency. We conducted a Satisfaction & Communication survey, with the results being used to guide us into the future so that we are both engaging and relevant for students.

Our key focus was to continue building our awareness and to implement and deliver better quality outcomes for all students whilst ensuring our existence provides operational excellence and a strong leadership framework.

As part of the on-going efforts over the past 12 months and preparing our road map for the future, our three year Strategic Plan commenced this year, so our focus over the next three years is underpinned by clear operational plans, frameworks and measurable objectives throughout the whole organisation. Our key objective is to ensure that we prioritise operational resources so that we will meet the challenges of our students in the years ahead.

The VUWSA Events Team were again incredibly busy organising the traditional events including Orientation, Re-Orientation, Clubs Week, University Games, the Snow Games, the Blues Awards and all the weekly ongoing events throughout the year. Although we experienced resourcing and personnel restraints, we still delivered over 20 key events with over 20,000 attendances. It’s a credit to the whole team who assisted with the delivery of our events programme.

Our Class Representative Programme continued to grow from strength to strength, with 94% of classes being represented in 2012. Overall the level of representation provided across the University by VUWSA representatives was considerable and received excellent feedback in relation to their value and commitment.

Our Advocacy service delivered over 397 successful outcomes for students, most resulting on a wider impact for the student community through changes in University policy, process and decision making. Although Club Support was moved to VUW from July, our support and assistance to Clubs remained as strong as ever, with over 60 Clubs affiliating and many more requesting advice and assistance from the Clubs office.

Operationally, 2012 was a difficult year. Inflationary pressures were constant. Much of the price increases were absorbed and we were still able to achieve our targets and deliver our many valuable services, in particular our many welfare services.

I would like to thank everybody who assisted VUWSA in making 2012 a very positive year.

To all the staff of VUWSA, thank you all for your commitment, enthusiasm and your dedication to on-going excellence.

I also wish to recognise the efforts of Bridie Hood (President) and the 2012 Executive, the VUWSA Trust and the many volunteers who often go unnoticed, a special thanks to you all.

Thanks must also go to VUWSA’s many partners, led by the many staff at Victoria University who showed their appreciation in so many ways. Your commitment to and support of VUWSA is greatly appreciated.

I look forward to working with you all again in 2013.

Regards

Mark Maguire General Manager

Representing and Empowering Students: Your Voice at Vic There were over 1,300 student reps across the University supported by VUWSA in 2012, speaking up for students at every level and making sure you have the best possible student experience possible!

Student representation is essential to the overall student experience at Victoria.

Students must always have a say in issues that affect them. This is why VUWSA exists and why student representation at campus and national level is supported - from individual class representatives in lecture theatres, to those on Faculty Boards, University Council and every other working party, board and committee in between.

Developing our ability to fully engage students through the representative functions of VUWSA and strengthening the student voice was a key focus in 2012, and built on fundamental changes implemented in recent years. This was the result a huge amount of work put in by the VUWSA Executive and staff to ensure that student representatives were empowered in their roles and that there were clear and open feedback channels between students and VUWSA. Facts:     

1357 student representatives across the University 31 training sessions Over 150 meetings attended 50 briefing papers written Over a dozen scholarships awarded

Class Representatives In trimester one of 2012, 97% of Victoria undergraduate courses had Class Representatives, a level unmatched by any other university in New Zealand. This is up from 94% in the second trimester of 2011.

We restructured Class Representative trainings to be shorter, more collaborative, and more casual. These changes were welcomed by Class Representatives when they gave feedback. We also revamped the Class Representative Booklets from a problem-solving guide into a community-building, collaborative guidebook. For the first time the guidebook now has a section on Facebook Faculty Delegates In 2012, we selected a fantastic group of Faculty Delegates, from a superb pool of applicants, and feedback from the University has been exclusively positive regarding their contributions.

We also revamped and redesigned the Faculty Delegates booklets to make them more engaging and more readable.

Submissions VUWSA compiled numerous submissions on behalf of students in 2012, formulated through extensive consultation and research.

Among other things, VUWSA submitted in 2012 on the CUAP 1 Year Masters Proposal, Masters Completion Times Proposal, the Review of Undergraduate Education – Phase

Two, as well as Class Rep Submissions on Programme Reviews –supported and written

by VUWSA, including Public Policy, History, Religious Studies and Information Management. We also ran a very successful survey on the Politics and International Relations Programme Review.

In terms of issues outside the university, VUWSA made submissions on the marriage equality bill before Parliament, to the Wellington Regional Council on its Fare and Bus Reviews, as well as continuing to put pressure on the Council to introduce a tertiary student concession on public transport.

Wellington City 10 Year Plan – VUWSA canvassed the views of our members on the WCC’s Long Term Plan, which included proposals to cut funding for Te Papa, sports fields and environmental groups. We submitted the views of those members and gave a presentation to Council. The recommendations included maintaining funding for the three aforementioned items, and looking at ways of improving accommodation and public transport quality in Wellington. This consultation was part of the Executive’s focus on Better Campus, Better Wellington – engaging students as citizens. The success of this process is marked -VUWSA has been invited to meet with the Mayor and provide feedback on subsequent Council decisions.

New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations (NZUSA) NZUSA is the only group in the country lobbying for students and our interests at a national level. Their work has seen some real gains for students including the introduction of interest free loans, introduction of fees maxima, preventing a privatised student loan scheme, and having controls placed on Student Services Levies. A lot of this would not have been achieved without having NZUSA working for students, at a national level, every day.

VUWSA expressed frustration with NZUSA’s performance repeatedly in 2012. We were disappointed that consultation did not occur before NZUSA claimed mandate around the campaign to gather signatures for the Citizen’s Initiated Referenda on the partial privatisation of the state’s energy companies and Air New Zealand. In recent years VUWSA has developed a strong culture of member-led democracy and it is our view that our national body ought to support that culture.

VUWSA was also frustrated at the lack of action from NZUSA and other students’ associations around Budget 2012.

Examination of the issues regarding NZUSA requires sober reflection and in the context of the voluntary student membership environment, which has weakened all students’ associations and their ability to organise and lobby at a national level.

Changes to NZUSA were made in 2011 to prepare for a loss of resources, and VUWSA’s contribution fell by half to $45,000 per annum (excl GST).

A much clearer picture of what a modern 21st Century national level student association lobby group could or should look like will depend on the legislation that governs our sector and our own financial ability to support such an organisation.

Budget Cuts Campaign In 2012, VUWSA campaigned strongly against the Government’s changes to student loans and allowances in the Budget. The Government signalled a rise in the repayment rate for graduates earning over $19,400 from 10% to 12%, along with the withdrawal of student allowances for postgraduate students and those studying second degrees. We believe the changes will have large impacts on students and graduates, and enrolment numbers for students (especially in Maori, Pasifika and low income categories) are expected to decline.. The Government’s changes are not consistent with keeping tertiary education accessible, or encouraging higher qualifications. The Government seems to lack a coherent vision about where it wishes the tertiary education sector to head.

VUWSA worked alongside We Are the University to organise a day of action in May 2012. A march was organised to Parliament and subsequently VUWSA received coverage across the media.

It is extremely important for VUWSA to continue to stand up for adequate student support (Constitutional Goal No. 2), and that we continue to articulate the very real relationship between student support academic quality and equity. University should be a place for everyone.

Supporting Student Welfare and Wellbeing Being a student isn’t always easy and sometimes you just need a little bit of support to help you get through.

In 2012, VUWSA provided students with a quality range of support services to make sure their time at Victoria was the best it could be. Whether it was a food bundle from the food bank to help students through to their next pay day, or an advocate to help resolve issues with StudyLink – VUWSA supported students in numerous ways.

Facts:     

Over 2200 students vaccinated against influenza at VUWSA’s Free Flu shots 400 boxes of cereal munched through at stress free study week breakfasts 19,490 free 10-trip bus rides given out 523 students collected free bread 351 food bank parcels given out

Advocacy and Advice One of the most important services that VUWSA provides for students is access to an professional, independent, confidential, and free Advocate.

The year our Advocate continued to work closely with students who faced a variety of issues – both within and outside the University. Our advocacy service delivered 397 successful outcomes for students in 2012.

Free Flu Shots Following the high demand from students following our 2010 and 2011 Flu Shot clinics, we increased the amount budgeted for Flu Shots in 2012, with supply meeting demand.We had a focus on ensuring that halls students were immunised, especially

after the Swine Flu scare of 2010. We ran successful clinics at all Victoria Halls of Residence.This service continues to be very popular with students and our partnership with Student Health helped make 2012 the most successful year to date.

Food Support Tough financial times and high unemployment have seen a continuation in the strong use of our food bank and free bread services. It is not unfamiliar to see students return several times a year to utilise our food bank service. Similarly, our free bread is generally gone within a few minutes of our Kelburn Office opening on Wednesday and Friday mornings.

We appreciate the continued support we receive from both AroBake and Brumby’s Bakery in Karori that allows us to provide our Free Bread service on a weekly basis.

Regular BBQs During 2012 we also regularly held a free BBQ at the Kelburn campus to feed hungry students. This continues to be popular.

Stress-Free Study Week Breakfasts & Lunches In 2012 students continued to queue up at Karori, Kelburn, Pipitea and Te Aro campuses for a free breakfast during Trimester 1 and 2 study weeks.

This year we also provided a free lunch to complement these breakfasts.

Bus Tickets With classes spread over four campuses across Wellington, VUWSA continued to help thousands of students get to their classes. 19,490 free 10-trip bus rides were issued.

Student Job Search (SJS) Having a job is important for many students in allowing them to study in the first place, providing money for food, utilities, entertainment and rent, and in ensuring they have better employment prospects after they finish. For this reason VUWSA, along with other students’ associations across the country own and support Student Job Search, who deliver a vital service to students.

2012 was another strong year of student income generated through SJS – students at Victoria had:    

4,049 job placements $9,002,148 in earned income 18,764 worker weeks $2,223 each per average job placement

Engagement: Supporting an Awesome Student Experience There is a lot more to University than just going to class. Indeed, the things we do in the rest of our lives outside the lectures, tutorials and labs can have a huge impact on academic attainment, success, and retention. VUWSA supports an amazing variety of activities and events for students to get involved in. During your time at University what you learn outside the class will be just as important was what you learn inside. Your students’ association understands that and works to improve your total student experience.

Supporting Clubs and Societies Clubs and societies are a vitally important part of the student experience at Victoria.

Joining a club while studying is a great way to meet new people, get involved in activities outside the classroom, and learn new skills and gain knowledge. VUWSA supports clubs because we think it is vitally important to have a strong and active student community on campus. A strong student community helps people to achieve, builds camaraderie and helps ensure that everyone has a great time at university!

This year we held a Clubs meet and greet at the start of Trimester 1 for clubs to network with one another and find areas where they could work in partnership together. Our Clubs Officer and Clubs and Events Manager also attended the event to talk about how VUWSA could help support them and their initiatives in 2012.

We worked alongside various clubs on campus to run Environment Week.

Following an independent review of VUWSA’s clubs management, the recommendation was made to move the management of clubs to the University. In July this transition occurred, but we continued to strongly support and assist clubs. Over 60 clubs affiliated, with much more still receiving advice from the Clubs Officer.

Long term, VUWSA must make choices about the value of clubs and develop strategies for supporting clubs in a cost-efficient, but effective way.

Rep Groups: at the heart of VUWSA VUWSA continues to strongly support the involvement of groups like UniQ and the Women’s Group in our and Victoria’s processes and opportunities. Rep groups lie at the heart of VUWSA and worked alongside us in the 2012 year to produce the highly successful Women’s and Pride Weeks, along with collaboration with the PGSA around the Government’s cuts to postgraduate allowances.

VUWSA OWEEK 2012 OWEEK 2012 was massive – and it successfully got the academic year off to a brilliant start.

OWEEK 2012 featured: a Neon Toga Party in the Hunter Lounge; Mt Eden Dubstep & Roots Manuva; a sold-out comedy evening, as well as a wildly successful show from renowned Hypnotist Guy Carter.

Throughout this, the annual Clubs Week and the Sounds in the Sun events were held at all satellite campuses.

Karorientation Karori-orientation 2012 consisted of a 3-day event held in the quad at Karori Campus.

We put on lunch for the three days, handed out freebies, and recruited music students to play live acoustic music, which was well-received by the students at Karori. It was a relaxed and laid-back event, and we received positive feedback from students.

Events, Activities and Week-long events VUWSA supported and/or hosted two week-long events: Women’s Week, Environment Week and others.

Uni Games The 2012 Uni Games were held in Wellington and participation was at average levels.

The Voluntary membership environment has greatly reduced the subsidies being offered by students’ associations and the sustainability of these games and its overarching organisation (USNZ) are in doubt.

Blues Awards This year we celebrated our annual Blue awards with a drinks and nibbles style event in the Hunter Building and Council Chambers.

We gave out 21 Blues awards, with the vast majority of students either competing in Debating or Ultimate Frisbee. Sebastian Templeton (Debating) was named Sports Administrator of the Year and Samantha Lee (Surf Life Saving) was named Sportsperson of the Year.

VUWSA also attended the New Zealand Blues Awards as a member of University Sports New Zealand. Bridie Hood served as USNZ Board Member in 2012.

Iran and nuclear issues panel discussion In May VUWSA held a panel discussion exploring nuclear issues and Iran. Iran plays a central role in the Middle East and the panel talk was designed to be a way of finding out the issues on the ground in Iran and to gauge a variety of perspective on the nuclear issues surrounding Iran.

We were privileged to have on our panel: His Excellency Seyed Majid Tafreshi Khamene (Iran’s Ambassador to New Zealand), Dr Kennedy Graham (Green MP and former diplomat), Bob Rigg (independent expert on US foreign policy, nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation), and the panel was chaired by Dr Andrew Ladley, an Adjunct Professor at Victoria University of Wellington and former Senior Expert Mediator for the Standby Team at the United Nations.

Democracy: The Lifeblood of Your Students’ Association VUWSA runs on the philosophy of students serving students. VUWSA is a bottom-up organisation, which means that VUWSA members have the ultimate say over who and what VUWSA is, and where we put our collective effort. In 2012, we saw:     

Increase in voter turnout in 2012 VUWSA General Elections from 2011 21 students ran in the 2012 VUWSA Elections for 11 positions 2826 students voted in marriage equality referendum 3 General Meetings 1250 slices of pizza given out at General Meetings

General Meetings 2012 saw 3 General Meetings (Initial, Annual and Special) held. An important part of the meetings in 2012 was the approval by members of the changes recommended by the Governance Review. These changes to the constitution involved reducing the number of positions on the executive from 13 to 10, with the new roles of Engagement Vice President, Treasurer-Secretary, Wellbeing and Sustainability Officer, Clubs and Activities Officer, and Equity Officer created or amalgamated from previous roles.

Elections The 2012 May By-elections for Welfare Vice President and International Officer results are as follows, and occurred due to the resignation of two office holders from the Executive:

The 2012 VUWSA General Election was one of the most competitive elections seen in recent years for the 10 VUWSA Executive positions.

Increasing awareness of all aspects of the General Election was a key goal in 2012. The production of specific material produced for the first time helped encourage students to stand for an executive position, alerted them as to what to expect, and advised on how to campaign. The referendum on VUWSA’s support of Marriage Equality is thought to

have had a large impact on the increase in voter turnout. The results of the General Election are as follows: President Jackson Freeman 1245 Rory McCourt 1599 Vice-President Academic Sonya Clark 2312 Toby Cooper 498 Vice-President Welfare Paul Clutterbuck 684 Declan Doherty-Ramsay 904 Simon Tapp 1173 Vice-President Engagement Genevieve Fowler 960 Mica Moore 1835 Treasurer-Secretary Jordan McCluskey 2049 No confidence 625 Campaigns Officer Harry Chapman 1936 Isabella Whitfield 779 Clubs and Activities Officer Ramon Quitales 2105 No confidence 619 Education Officer Toby Cooper 597 Gemma Swan 2129 Equity Officer Paul Clutterbuck 657 Matthew Ellison 1832 Ramon Quitales 190 Wellbeing and Sustainability Officer Harry Chapman 817 Paul Clutterbuck 247 Declan Doherty-Ramsay 510 Rick Zwaan 1136 Publications Committee Representative Ollie Neas 2596

Referendum: Should VUWSA support Louisa Wall’s marriage equality bill currently before parliament?: Yes No

2382 (84%) 444

Backing Student Media Student Media is a vitally important part of the University experience. Salient and the VBC 88.3FM offer invaluable opportunities and experiences for students to get involved in the University community while also ensuring that students are kept informed of the most recent news within the University and the wider community.

Facts:    

Salient was runner up for ASPA – awarded second best student magazine in the country 125,000 issues of Salient printed and distributed Over 234 student volunteers at Salient and the VBC Hundreds of shows on the VBC

Salient Salient had another successful year in 2012 under the co-editorship of Ollie Neas and Asher Emanuel with Salient winning runner up for best publication, and winning best cover, best design, , and runner up best feature writer at the Aotearoa Student Press Association Awards (ASPAs) in September. Special mention must be made of News Editor Stella Blake-Kelly’s success in winning the national ASPA award for best paid news.

Salient is well placed to look more closely at its strategic objectives in 2013 and begin to move towards longer-term planning. This is widely acknowledged as necessary with the proliferation of online content and the decline in print publications worldwide.

VBC 88.3FM 2011 saw the hiring of a new station manager for the VBC, while 2012 has seen the improvements under new management and with new DJ’s, new shows and a whole new buzz. The VBC is focussing on creating fresh radio, supporting good N.Z music, plugging local bands, and championing underground heroes.

Despite technical issues from out-dated computer equipment and streaming/broadcasting complications - the VBC has managed to continue broadcasting and streaming 24/7/365.

New relationships have been made with Wellington organisations and businesses.

A reputation has been built where music from all over the world is sent to the station via mail and email from artists seeking airplay and promotion. New Zealand artists and promoters/record labels and other radio stations are also in constant contact for the VBC to promote their artists and music. We are in touch with BFM in Auckland Radio One in Dunedin regularly.

In 2012 some structural changes were made to bring the VBC into closer alignment with VUWSA and Salient. This work is complicated, requiring changes to the VBC Trust, and is expected to be continued in 2013.

Special Focus 1: Member-Driven Marriage Equality Campaign 2012 saw VUWSA play an important part in the campaign for Marriage Equality.

Building on the 2011 mandate to support the Legalise Love campaign, the drawing of Louisa Wall’s marriage equality bill from Parliament’s private members ballot provided an opportunity for members to urge the support of our community in favour of the bill.

A Special General Meeting was held to debate whether VUWSA should support Louisa Walls’ marriage equality bill and the meeting voted in favour of support.

Following this, a membership-wide referendum was also held, in conjunction with the VUWSA elections. A resounding 84% of voters supported VUWSA’s involvement in backing the bill.

The implementation of these decisions was done by the Executive, led by Rory McCourt and Genevieve Fowler. This has included supporting UniQ and Legalise Love with supplies, human resource and political support, as well conducting our own lobbying campaign on behalf of our members.

All members of Parliament were personally emailed, and visits occurred with many who were considering which way to vote on the legislation. Considering VUWSA is consistently held up as a key community group representing students (and often conflated with young people), we are confident that our impact in this campaign was marked.

Students across the range of views on the issue can take comfort in the nonconfrontational, accepting way in which VUWSA conducted itself during this process; always ensuring the views of the 16% minority were noted.

The membership-driven nature of VUWSA’s involvement in this campaign provides a great example of how a student’s association can straddle the eternal debate about what a student’s association should be and do. When members are given opportunities to drive change agendas, mandates are much clearer when the Executive heads into the community.

At a practical level, VUWSA improved its processes for organising students for the various Marriage Equality celebrations, marches and events. A submission-writing workshop was run by Louisa Wall and the Community Law Centre. VUWSA made a 15-minute submission to Parliament’s Government Administration Select Committee late in 2012 on the bill in strong favour.

Special Focus 2: Voluntary Environment – Fighting for our Survival 2012 was the first year for which Voluntary Student Membership (VSM) has come into effect. VUWSA worked in late 2011 and early 2012 to secure contracts and other arrangements with the institution, but ultimately had $300,000+ budget defecit. The Executive and management worked hard in 2012 to mitigate the effects of VSM and massive budget reductions were made. As of writing, a smaller deficit exists and VUWSA relies on donations from the VUWSA Trust.

Since the vast majority of VUWSA’s revenues in 2011 came from compulsory levies, VSM resulted in the negotiation of new funding streams from the University so that VUWSA could continue to provide quality services to students. These are known as service contracts and levy grants.

This transition in the first half of 2012 was a significant challenge, but we are proud that we managed to provide a relatively steady stream of services in the transition. A continuing priority in the future will be investigating the ways in which VUWSA can diversify its revenue streams so that we can be less reliant on funding from the University in the future.

Examples of service-models in the voluntary environment in Australia provide cause for concern as those students’ associations suffer goal displacement and the value of University-dependent contracts outweighs the need to be the source of independent student-led advocacy.

It is likely the VUWSA Executive in 2013 will pursue the exploration of alternative funding streams to work towards this diversification.

Special Focus 3: Governance Review A major focus of VUWSA in 2012 was the Governance Review. The VUWSA Strategic Plan 2012-2015 included a key project of reviewing the current governance structure of VUWSA, which has not been comprehensively reviewed since 1989. There have also been significant changes to the environment VUWSA operates in with the introduction of voluntary student membership.

The Governance Review Working Party was established to carry out this Review process. Following consultation with members, students and other stakeholders, the Governance Review Working Party proposed 12 recommendations, aimed at improving the effectiveness of the current governance structure at VUWSA. These recommendations were following feedback through Green Paper and White Paper consultation, alongside discussions with current and past Executive members. At a Special General Meeting of VUWSA members on the 12th September, all 12 recommendations passed successfully.

One of the most significant outcomes of the Governance Review was the revising of the composition of the VUWSA executive. Significant changes were the introduction of a Vice-President (Engagement) and the shift from having a Women’s Rights Officer, International Students and Queer Officer, to an Equity Officer, who would be charged with liaising with and supporting equity groups on campus. Other motions that passed successfully were revisions to the VUWSA Constitution’s preamble and goals, that VUWSA investigate the introduction of a volunteer network, and that there be greater promotion of VUWSA elections.

Finances VUWSA is a not for-profit-organisation. We use our income to fund services, events and activities for our members. Below is our statement of financial position as audited by BDO Spicers. A full breakdown of the statement is available by written request.