The magic of modern medical science saved Josh van Veen, Campaigns Officer from succumbing to an awful bout of tonsillitis.
Plague-madness or not, Josh described conversations with Francisco Hernandez—Otago University Student’s Assocation Colleges and Communication Portfolio Executive Officer—about establishing a work report system similar to VUWSA’s and an Environmental Officer position at Otago. Details of the exchange were “not [to] leave the room or be published in Salient”. Josh had been “drugged up on painkillers and antibiotics for the last few weeks”, Seamus noting “this is how leaks happen.”
Association Manager Mark Maguire outlined the changes to VUWSA’s reporting structure in the coming months. The first association report at the end of the month will provide a “grounding base” for the Executive to start from, and will serve as an opportunity to gather further information about organisational specifics. The changes included the addition of a KPI framework, which will set measurable data to “make sure everyone is pulling their weight”.
The week of 2 May will see the rollout of Snapper cards for inter-campus bus services. $10 will grant students a card and 10 trips between campuses. Once these have been exhausted, a further 10 can be loaded at the VUWSA office. If students travel further than the allotted routes without a positive cash balance, then this will need to be paid in full before extra trips can be granted.
A motion was passed to gift $600,000 to the VUWSA Trust. Established in 1975, the Trust is used to fund long-term projects—such as the Campus Hub and Student Union building renovations—as well as individuals and groups applying for grants through VUWSA. The Trust also maintains a low-moderate risk investment portfolio.
The rest of the meeting was filled with work reports—uninteresting and correctly formatted—and Seamus, Asher and Daniel’s account of their attendance of the Select Committee hearing on alcohol reform. Paul Quinn, List MP for Hutt South and notable rugbyman, was “already yelling” at the group of 65+-year-old men overseeing when the VUWSA reps arrived. The attendees felt “ultimately unsuccessful” at getting their point across, suggesting preserving the drinking age at 18 but imposing harsher penalties for underage supply, as they felt the committee member’s “minds had already been made up”.