Voluntary Law Society Membership
It is good to see that membership of the Law Society is set to become voluntary.
One of the arguments supporters of compulsory membership of student associations have made, is that if the law society is compulsory, why can’t they be.
One answer has been that the law society does professional regulation, which student associations do not do. But law societies do more than that, and do advocate politically on issues. Hence I have been a long time supporter of having law the same as medicine.
In medicine everyone has to pay a compulsory levy (to the Medicial Council) for registration and the costs of a disciplinary process. And if they wish to they can also join the NZ Medical Association which advocates on issues.
In law, the NZ Law Society will be the regulator, and lawyers can choose whether to join theri voluntary district law societies (which may merge into a national one).
This is what should happen on campuses. Student association membership should be voluntary. Any essential student services (and few of these are provided by SAs) should be funded by the tertiary institute.
April 22nd, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Why would you not want to join a student Union? At Canterbury its $15 and that includes your access cards etc. so the actual membership works out to be around $5. With this you get cheap beer, access to all the events and free access to the student clinic plus a number of other services. No I suspect this “non-compulsory membership” thing is just an attack on anything union. Also if you found a way of destroying your membership you’d be a bit of an outcast, bit of a social reject heh? Nobody would want to associate with someone who turns down cheap tap beer every night of term time.
April 22nd, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Why would you not want to join a student Union? At Canterbury its $15 and that includes your access cards etc. so the actual membership works out to be around $5. With this you get cheap beer, access to all the events and free access to the student clinic plus a number of other services. No I suspect this “non-compulsory membership” thing is just an attack on anything union. Also if you found a way of destroying your membership you’d be a bit of an outcast, bit of a social reject heh? Nobody would want to associate with someone who turns down cheap tap beer every night of term time.
April 22nd, 2007 at 2:19 pm
But we might want to turn down a drinking opportunity with you, Thomas? Been writing letters to your idol Helen Clark recently? We remember your first entrance to Kiwiblog – even DPF called you a twat at the time!
April 22nd, 2007 at 2:25 pm
Why thank you Mr Burns.
April 22nd, 2007 at 2:35 pm
Wasn’t me you jerk off plonker !!!
April 22nd, 2007 at 2:36 pm
Prove it
.
April 22nd, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Hey Thomas tug muscle do you want me to cut and paste the wimpish emails you sent me after you got rid off me a trade me opinion darthman !! No doubt you finish your study the day before your pension – who paid for all the calls to the 0900 no. at trade me , Tim or R ?
April 22nd, 2007 at 2:42 pm
And I’ve got the ones you sent me after all apologetic like.
April 22nd, 2007 at 2:51 pm
I said to you stop making up lies and I said I would leave you alone, but no you must attack again . Hows the green room suana going ? I know all about the inner workings of your propaganda liarbour machine here in Christchurch . I got little spies everywhere. One question I think everybody would like to know is , how do you find the time to any other work as you are darthman on trade me 24/7?
Back to the topic – law societies are a club of parasties , a bit like Thimas the fart engine .
April 22nd, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Boys settle down. Thomas whether YOU want to be in a SA or not the decision should not be made on whether I MUST join. It’s great to hear CU is only $15, at Vic it’s now $120! The increase from $100 was made last year by less than 80 people with a minor majority – yet how many students does this affect? David you’re points are well received.
April 22nd, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Thomas, if it is so damn attractive, why does it need to be mandatory? Surely everyone will join anyway?
April 22nd, 2007 at 4:20 pm
“One answer has been that the law society does professional regulation, which student associations do not do.”
Actually, most of the important stuff done by student assocs is very boring regulatory work within the universities.
If you think things like standard, codified appeal procedures if you get a bad grade on an essay just appeared in the university calendars from nowhere then you’re dreaming – our student assoc have always been excellent about such things. The NZ uni student assocs do lots of boring, important work helping students with appeals, boring work on the university academic board, the discipline committee, library committee, etc, etc, etc.
That’s why the universities have almost all, almost always, preferred compulsory membership – they’re smart enough to know they need a voice to speak on behalf on students within the university structure, even if that voice doesn’t always say what they want.
People who want to not join student assocs want to freeload on that.
April 22nd, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Icehawk – that is not regulatory – that is advocacy.
Maybe you think all motorists should be forced to join the AA because of the work they do?
And all residents should be forced to join Neighbourhood Watch?
And all pubs should be forced to join the Hotel Assn?
And all lawyers forced to join the Law Society?
April 22nd, 2007 at 4:53 pm
PaulL: You could just as easily make the argument that since its so cheap and so attractive everyone would join anyway. I’ve just done a quick “sweep” if you like of people I know from UC and they are all pushing my same argument. The interesting thing is there is only one group at Canterbury actively advocating for voluntary membership and that is Young Act. They are actually advertising their “club” VIA the UC student diary which is put together through proceeds of that $15 membership fee! Not to mention they would need that affiliation to get printed there in the first place!
April 22nd, 2007 at 5:00 pm
Yeah, except your argument limits people’s freedom if it turns out that you are wrong, and they wouldn’t have joined. And my argument makes no difference to anybody if I am wrong and it turns out to be so damn attractive that everybody joins.
What are you scared of? How does making it voluntary harm the student unions? The only way I can see is if it turns out that in fact not everybody wants to be a member. In which case those people’s freedom has just increased.
April 22nd, 2007 at 5:29 pm
It would have been a damn sight easier to have just deregulated conveyancing.
April 22nd, 2007 at 5:34 pm
And with all respect to the SST the profession is not “locking horns” over the changes. The Bill has been floating around for ages and the Act was passed last year. Committees, Law Socieites and the NZLS have been working diligently on the changes for years and in particularly over the last year. It’s an article about nothing.
April 22nd, 2007 at 6:14 pm
Hasn’t anyone noticed that the Medical Council is simply the proxy for that unelected little lawyer from Wellington, AKA the Health and Disability Comm. Ron Paterson? I don’t subscribe to the HDC. I didn’t elect Ron.Yet he is SO obviously in charge of everything medical it makes me want to vomit.
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:55 am
I think what Thomas is saying is that he wants everybody to pay to join his student association so that they can subsidise his active student lifestyle.
If your polling was so accurate mate then surely UCSA will have no problems attracting members if it became voluntary. Right?
April 23rd, 2007 at 10:44 am
thomas- Good to see students at canterbury are forced to pay only $15 to a student assoscaiation they may not like. I, at vic Uni have to pay $120. The arguement for VSM is based on the simple principle of freedom of assosciation. This applies regardless as to wether the organization involved is corrupt and rips people off or provides very valuable services to the community. If you genuinely believe that UCSA is so good to students and hardly any students would choose not to join, then UCSA has little to fear from VSM.
Icehawk- if students value the advocacy work student assoscaitions do they can voluntarily join one.