In a sharp rebuke for their part in the burning of the New Zealand flag at the Mount Street Bar on 6 May, former Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association (VUWSA) President Joel Cosgrove, and fellow Workers’ Party members Ian Anderson and Alistair Reith were this afternoon disenrolled [Kinda like expelled. See the Student Conduct Statute pdf here. JJW] from Victoria University.
Former VUWSA Activities Officer Marika Pratley was issued with a written warning for her part in the actions in aiding the burning, which took place during the Student Representative Council meeting to discuss VUWSA’s stance on ANZAC Day.
Pro-Vice Chancellor and Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences Deborah Willis said the decision was made in light of the four former students’ “disregard for the safety of others,” and a conscious decision not to attend two meetings to discuss the incident at the University’s invite.
“The University has a statutory duty to provide and maintain a safe environment for all its students and employees and we view these students’ conduct very seriously,” said Professor Willis.
In response, Cosgrove and Workers Party Secretary Daphna Whitmore released a statement that rejected Victoria’s “draconian actions”, and expressed a defiant attitude towards the disenrolment.
“The 20-second flag burning, which took place outside in the rain, posed no danger to anyone,” Whitmore said.
“Universities are supposed to be the critical conscious of society. The actions of the University are political harassment and an attack on political freedom of expression on campus.”
Cosgrove too was defiant.
“We haven’t taken part the University’s process so far, because they’re trying to make it out as a health and safety issue when it’s actually them coming down on us for political reasons,” he said.
“They said, ‘You can meet with us at this time to present your evidence’—they were talking in those sort of judicial terms, and I was like, ‘Hang on a minute. There’s no court here. Just Deborah Willis sitting in her philosopher’s queen throne passing judgement,”
The four intend to picket outside the University’s Kelburn campus next Friday.