“I have a bone to pick with you,” VUWSA President Joel Cosgrove said to me as I sat outside the Association’s meeting room before last week’s Exec meeting.
Cosgrove was disappointed that in my writing of this column, I had mentioned how often the Exec goes off public record (and subsequently avoids public accountability). According to Cosgrove, there is “no way” he and his Exec spend most of their time off public record and insisted I come back with “the facts” supporting this claim like a “good journalist” would.
I am in the meetings. I witness first hand how often the exec goes off the record. There have been several times that the Exec has gone off the record up to five or six times during their hour-long meeting. What more evidence do I need?
I found Cosgrove’s concern surprising, especially since he has always vehemently denied ever reading Salient.
The meeting started with the usual in-jokes and time-wasting. Administration Vice-President Alexander Neilson was absent due to either “some viral disease” or he was having “some sexy time” with an anonymous person.
Queer Rights Officer Rachael Wright was present at the meeting! She said she would be explaining her absence to Salient via email. At time of print Salient has yet to receive this elusive email.
The Exec looked at the statistics on their work report behaviour. The Exec members are required to hand in reports each week outlining the work they do. If they do not hand in work reports they “technically should not be paid.”
The person with the least reports is Fiona McDonald, who is in fact not getting paid. International Student Officer William Wu, however, is not far behind McDonald but remains on the payroll.
Clubs Officer Katie de Roo and Education Officer A Stefan Tyler have handed in the most work reports since the beginning of the year.
VUWSA’s incompetence was revealed once again with dodgy accounts and bad paperwork. The exec has been forced to write off a total $12,591 because of what Cosgrove described as their “past dodgy financial set up.”
A 2004 overdue account with Syn Bar, worth about $3000, had to be written off due to VUWSA having no evidence of it ever occurring. Nicely done!
Education Vice-President Paul Brown dropped a bombshell towards the end of the meeting – he is resigning due to an offer of what he described as a “way better job with way more money.”
Brown acknowledges his departure from the Exec is “bittersweet” but believes it is “time to move on.” Come October, Brown will no longer be working for VUWSA.
On the topic of Cosgrove and Campaigns Officer Sonny Thomas, and their positions on the Change Proposal committee as voting members: the Exec was wary over whether the two would be perceived as “not open-minded” if positioned as voting members.
Cosgrove’s Workers Party ties and the potential for peer pressure were instrumental in their decision to put Women’s Rights Officer Georgina Dickson in his place.
Wright also bailed Cosgrove out for visibly helping Jasmine Freemantle with her campaign for VUWSA presidency. Freemantle has publicly criticized the Exec for “selling out” clubs.
Thomas, on the other hand, helped draft the said Change Proposal which puts people’s jobs at risk and publicly defended the methodology of the document. It was moved that Thomas would only have an advisory position on the committee.
Welfare Vice-President Melissa Barnard noted how alike the Exec meetings are to Tribal Council on Survivor.