Campbell is right
The Dom Post reports:
Whitireia Polytechnic chief executive Don Campbell said students should be able to opt out of paying the $135 a year compulsory subscription to student associations. “I’m quite concerned about what’s happened.”
In fact they should be allowed to decide whether or not they opt in. It’s very simple. At enrolment they get to tick a box to choose whether or not they wish to join, based on the services being provided for the membership fee.
More than $72,000 was paid out in unauthorised “hardship” grants. However, it appears not all that money went to poverty-stricken students. …
The statements, for the year 2009, show $72,259 was doled out to students who were said to be struggling financially. But Stuff.co.nz has learned of one student who was paid $350 but was recorded as receiving $1170. She received two envelopes stuffed with $150 and $200.
When she demanded to see records, she saw she was noted as receiving $1170. There were five other names on the list who had received up to $1800 each.
Student Association actually boast about how much money they give away in hardship grants, citing them as proof of why they must remain compulsory. My response is that it is unsurprising that if you offer students free money, more and more students will take it up – and that it is the job of WINZ, not student associations, to provide welfare payments.
But the culture of corruption goes deeper, and I do link it to compulsion. I don’t blame the student associations though – I blame Parliament.
The power of compulsory membership and funding is one that should be granted rarely, and with strict controls. Take for example local government – in exchange for the power to impose compulsory rates, they are subject to the Local Government Act, the Local Electoral Act, the Ombudsman, the Auditor-General, the OIA, the Local Government Commission and statutory requirements around consultation, public plans etc etc.
Student associations have been granted the power of compulsion, with absolutely no safeguards. They are not even required to have democratic elections. There is no oversight and no scrutiny. The tales of abuse are legion – and that is because Parliament has given them the power of compulsion, with no safeguards.
August 16th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
“It’s very simple. At enrolment they get to tick a box to choose whether or not they wish to join, based on the services being provided for the membership fee.”
Great idea. One that should not only be applied here, but also across the spectrum of government services, both local and central.
For example- libraries (local) and education (central).
August 16th, 2010 at 1:09 pm
As Dave Guerin pointed out in the last VSM-related thread, it’s more really more opt-out than compulsory:
http://www.whitireia.ac.nz/student_services/Pages/WhitireiaIndependentStudents%E2%80%99Association.aspx
…if you can be bothered.
August 16th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Parliament has given them the power of compulsion, with no safeguards
So, what safeguards will you recommend? Other than the ones which are already in legislation.
August 16th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
“As Dave Guerin pointed out in the last VSM-related thread, it’s more really more opt-out than compulsory”
Yip, and I’m sure that the SA advertises this widely so that all first year students are aware of this when they first enrol/attend their lectures?
Whilst the option may be novel and have the right intentions, many either apathetic or uninformed students will still remain members giving SA the undeserved mandate to rule.
August 16th, 2010 at 1:21 pm
@Redbaiter -is it compulsory to be a member of the Labour party? if not why not?
August 16th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
Stephen Joyce (the Minister closest to the action) is sceptical about voluntary student associations. This is because they allegedly provide services to all students that are a necessary part of tertiary education. However a line should probably between genuine support services and political / lobbying activities. I suspect the amount of student services provided by associations as distinct from the institutions themselves varies from place to place. One also has to ask why students who would not use student health services (eg mature students) shoulkd contribute to their running.
Interestingly a former VUWSA presidential candidate ran on a platform of free internet access and computer printing – just the thing to allow activists to print of leaflets for their, Mayoral and MP elections.
August 16th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
I wonder which SA will be next to reveal it’s dreadful practises…vsm can’t come sooner, even if it is just to protect 1st years from this sort of rubbish
August 16th, 2010 at 1:35 pm
“Stephen Joyce (the Minister closest to the action) is sceptical about voluntary student associations.”
Well then he needs to leave National, join Labour and stop betraying the principles of the party he professes to represent. A useless politically ignorant Benedict Arnold.
August 16th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
“… in exchange for the power to impose compulsory rates, they are subject to the Local Government Act, the Local Electoral Act, the Ombudsman, the Auditor-General …”
And perhaps most importantly, the Public Finance Act, which provides for surcharges on elected representatives for unlawful expenditure. That is quite a powerful incentive for those spending public money.
August 16th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Jesus. That’s some pretty hardcore theft/fraud happening there.
Criminal investigations plz. Then political ideology.
August 16th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
” Criminal investigations plz. Then political ideology.”
They’re often one and the same when this kind of event occurs, and guess what side of the political spectrum the perps are most often to be found? From Enron, Bill Clinton’s good buddies, through Obama and his ACORN group, to the Whitireia Polytechnic, they’re all out their pushing their cause and its all about the ends justifying the means. Left wing zealots have no qualms about crime or amoral action if they think it helps their agenda. The only restraint is the possibility of getting caught, and if that chance is low enough, they’ll go for it.
August 16th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Oh come on you lot. Its a place with a big heap of maori values – all sorts of stuff on their website about maori this and maori that.
Now haven’t we seen similar sort of behaviour at Te Awamutu with people spreading other peoples money around as though it was coming from a tree.
Not only has money been mis-approriated, but the records would seem to have been altered as well.
And people think that they will get away with this sort of behaviour when found out.
August 16th, 2010 at 2:42 pm
OK – now I understand.
The (now stood down president of the WISA is the sister of a former black power president. I wonder where she learned her ethics….
From the city of porirua website:
“An audit report shows huge cash payments were made to former association executive members, including almost $12,000 to former president Loretta Ryder. Ms Ryder – the sister of former Black Power spokesman Eugene Ryder – also claimed expenses of $3000 in one month. Almost $700 was spent on an iPod and dock.
The funds also paid for $18,200 of accommodation for Ms Ryder, her family and vice-president Tai Te Karu. It is understood they are cousins and live together.
A large amount of money is also unaccounted for.
About $17,000 was spent through excessive use of mobile broadband modems to surf the internet, the report said. Mobile phone bills of five members of the executive averaged $700 a month.
Ms Ryder, of Kenepuru, was stood down two weeks ago. Mr Te Karu left in April.”
Oh – just brilliant! How can people employ those parasites.
August 16th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
It gets better. Chris Carter probably took something from these people
“WHERE THE MONEY WENT :-
Loretta Ryder’s salary: $45,000 plus $10,000 bonus
A cash payment made to Ms Ryder in January 2010 of $11,972
Spending on T-sticks between June and December 2009: $17,868.24 (one member spent $5521)
Expenses: $12,385.94. Includes: $2764 paid to Ms Ryder in June 2009. The auditor notes there are no receipts or invoices. $2700 to Tai Te Karu for June 2009 ($860 was for lunch/dinner and $1840 with no breakdown)
$18,2000 to Kenepuru International for accommodation for Ms Ryder and her family and Mr Te Karu. The auditor notes the tax invoice is “not a valid tax invoice”
$667.95 for an iPod and dock
$4000 cash payment to Dick Smith in June 2009
$3431 cash payment to City Central in July 2009″
August 16th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
@Captain Neurotic, probably right but can’t say for sure.
August 16th, 2010 at 3:54 pm
sadly barry the great myth of Kiwi honesty it just that. At all levels and in all sectors we have corruption thats hidden away.
Mostly low value but still corruption.
And sadly certain (cough) ethnic groups have a higher incidence than others.
Its the crime that will not speak its name.
August 16th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Barry (527) What the hell is a T-stick?
Just to set an old man’s curiosity at rest.
August 16th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
@fatman43us.
T-sticks. I have no idea what they were buying. The info above is from the city of porirua website.
T-shicks can be (google search):
A concentrated stick of tea (as in drink)
A prepaid mobile internet thingy as sold by telecom
A disposable thermometer
A type of musical controller
I think that its probably the mobile internet thingy they spent $18k on. I just cant see they needed the cooking thermometers (they were staying at the Kenpuru International Hotel so i guess they had room service).
Possibly they might have been getting musical controllers – but $18k worth…..
And I suspect they were drinking something stronger than tea……………………………
August 16th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
Was the opt out process similar to that at other universities, where you needed to provide a valid reason, and they reserved (and often exercised) the right to arbitrarily decide that your reason was invalid? If so, then that really isn’t the same thing as a real opt-out, is it.
August 16th, 2010 at 5:55 pm
Thanks Barry. You see these things and wonder…..
August 16th, 2010 at 6:42 pm
@Paul – I suspect so, and the real kicker is that you don’t get your membership fee back they donate to a local charity (of their choosing) on your behalf.
August 16th, 2010 at 7:08 pm
Not hard to see which charity!
August 16th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
As a current Welfare Officer on the only Voluntary student association in the country, I disagree entirely with you David on the issue raised re: Hardship grants. The students who approach student associations for hardship grants are not just average Joe students out for a bit of extra “free” cash.
They are often international students, unable to access any form of government assistance yet who pay triple the fees to study here. They are often mature students with dependant children, who as a result of their circumstance have no where else to turn. They are often students who may have been victims of accommodation scams and have lost all their savings. The welfare assistance we provide, is a last resort. People don’t do it because they want to, they do it because they have no other alternative.
Our service is a point of difference because it’s quick, it’s not hugely bureaucratic in terms of processing (48 hours) and in the scheme of things it’s not actually that much (only $200 max in my associations case).
Voluntary cuts this service off at the knees. Demand too often exceeds what we can supply. AUT put in 30 times what we do for hardship grants and they are half our size! This is an important service we provide, and before you attack it, with little backing or evidence, I would suggest you ask those of us who deal with the students these grants help, how effective they are. Rather than making ad-hoc statements.
August 16th, 2010 at 8:33 pm
So you are saying all students must be forced to join a student union so that we may continue to give free money to poor foreign students Kingi? How do we really know where it is going when the above example shows just how dangerous it is to give any student union money without any form of assurance it is being spent properly?
I call bullshit that a voluntary union will have to cut grants. A student union usually spends money on political campaigns (against the right), fund clubs, funds commercial businesses (that can operate without subsidies) and pays for exec to travel about to conferences and politically minded events. These should be cut first before you start shedding crocodile tears about these “important” grants.
You union folk are all the same.
August 16th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
@Kingi, “They are often….” and this is my fucking fault how?
August 16th, 2010 at 9:13 pm
I bet Kingi would bring in compulsion back at his union if he was able to. I’m sure the students would think otherwise.
August 16th, 2010 at 9:19 pm
@Clint – He would probably be arrogant enough to claim it is in their best interests even if they don’t realise it!