VSM A Go-Go!
Submitted by Rick Giles on 20 August 2009 - 2:17pmGreat news for freedom, ACT has won the legislative lotto and had our VSM bill drawn.
ACT on Campus is going to exploit that to hell and we have our own press release drafted. But here's the sponsor's message to the press about today's news from the ACT Party website..
Thankyou Sir Roger!
VSM Bill Will Set Students Free
The drawing of my Education (Freedom of Association) Members Bill is the first step in liberating students from the flawed and out-dated law that forces them to join their local student association and steals their right to make their own decisions, ACT New Zealand MP Sir Roger Douglas said today.
"Student associations are one of only a few organisations in New Zealand that can compel membership and it is students who have paid the price," Sir Roger said.
"For instance, forcing students to join and pay its fees provides associations with a guaranteed stream of income – resulting in a seeming lack of accountability to properly manage the pool of money this income creates. This has been seen in the numerous cases of mis-management that has occurred at student associations around the country.
"Further, student associations purport to represent the views and desires of the wider student body – yet most are dominated by a small minority of student politicians who prefer to push their own agenda and promote their own views rather than those of the majority.
"ACT has long campaigned to right this wrong, with my Bill having previously been in the ballot under the name of my colleague Hon Heather Roy in the last Parliamentary term.
"We allow students to choose what university or polytechnic they attend, and what papers to take; it’s time we gave them the freedom to choose whether or not to join their local student association rather than forcing them to pay a union fee if they want to study," Sir Roger said.
August 20th, 2009 at 3:36pm
This is a great step. The current law has sheltered the vested interests of student politicians for too long. As a former student I am very glad that future students won't have to suffer the improprieties of compulsory union membership.
August 20th, 2009 at 6:43pm
We don't have compulsory union membership at the University of Auckland. Frankly this issue is foreign to me. You do realize this is a drop in the bucket towards freedom right? Just checking.
August 21st, 2009 at 1:27am
Auckland is the only University that doesn't have compulsory I think... Victoria has situations like 600 students voting, out of 20,000 or so i think... Down here in Canterbury we just had exec elections for 2010 (yah for our fee being $600 instead of $85 next year :-s) - not many students I know of voted, or knew how/where to vote.
August 25th, 2009 at 12:25pm
I don't understand how Roger can say he knows what students want when he hasn't been a student in what? 5 or so decades?
By the way, if student associations don't exist through the funding from students, then who is going to fund university sport nz, student job search... Who is going to provide sports and clubs?
Who is going to do all of this? The university, you might say. But then they are going to increase student fees in order to do this.
It simply doesn't make any sense!
Basically, you all have absolutely no idea what you'll are doing!
August 25th, 2009 at 6:40pm
"if student associations don't exist through the funding from students, then who is going to fund university sport nz, student job search... Who is going to provide sports and clubs?"
You are. I presume that you feel strongly about these 'services' and wish to use them. Great, there will be plenty others that feel the same way. Students associations will still exist - they will still be able to charge membership fees to those wanting to use these 'services'. What they won't be able to do is force those that don't want them, to fund them. What you need to acknowledge however D, is that not everyone wants to use some (or any) of these 'services'. Why should they have to pay? If people are wanting to use these 'services', they should bear the cost themselves or through a voluntary collective.
As it stands most 'services' provided by students associations are poorly utilised. People using the 'services' such as O-week, are effectively seeking for others to pay for their enjoyment. Nice rort if you can get away with it. Fortunately Sir Roger's bill will ensure that people such as yourself D, who presumably use these 'services', are no longer able to rack up the bill at the expense of others.
Now I will freely concede that without subsidisation from the entire student body, there will be some things that members of students associations will no longer wish to use due to cost - such as having higher prices for O-week events. That to me is not a bad thing. If people aren't prepared to pay for what they use then they should ask themselves long and hard why they are prepared to force someone else to pay.
October 02nd, 2009 at 7:58am
MC,
I understand what you are saying but we need to understand that the universities will have to provide the services anyway, so they will get the money through a student levy and provide the services themselves for a higher cost.
Already university provides services such as career center, health and counselling which we all pay for through a student levy - Does every student actually use it? No. But every student still pays for it.
I don't know if I agree that student associations services are poorly utilised. If you look at the market research that student associations do, it actually shows that they have a high rating of satisfaction, importance & usage.
I would also like to point out that O-week is not the only thing that student associations provide. I personally have used other services such as SJS, sports, clubs etc.
What the bill doesn't address is student levy/fees - If student associations don't provide the services, universities will at a much higher rate, without representation & advocacy. How does the bill solve that?
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