Otago
University Students Association president Harriet Geoghegan
is celebrating.
Students have overwhelmingly supported a major overhaul of
the organisation's governance structure and a move to online
student meetings - both reforms she has been supporting and
promoting.
"I'm very happy. I was getting worried that the OUSA was an
organisation quite resistant to change," she said just after
online voting closed yesterday.
Almost 1400 students voted, well above the 1050 students, or
5% of the student body, needed for a referendum to be valid
and binding.
The decisions mean the association's executive will decrease
from 17 members to 10 from next year, and the representation
structure will be strengthened by the establishment of eight
committees - welfare, education, postgraduate, policy,
finance and expenditure, recreation, communications and
events.
Also, instead of students physically gathering for student
general meetings twice a year, the executive will from next
year conduct most of its consultation and decision-making
interaction with students online.
It took two different executive groupings a year to come up
with the governance restructuring proposal. Ms Geoghegan said
she believed it would result in a less unwieldy executive
which was "more inclusive, response, engaged and relevant".
However, critics argued some groups such as gay students
would be worse off because of the loss of direct
representation on the executive.
Nominations for the 10 executive positions for 2011 would
open later this month, she said.
She had not ruled out standing for a second term as president
but said she had not decided yet.
Asked how online student meetings would work, Ms Geoghegan
said the executive would put proposals directly to students
electronically.
The executive could ask students to vote in an online
referendum on a particular proposal, and students could
prompt a referendum if 5% of the student body was in support.
REFERENDUM RESULTS
• Governance restructuring: Yes - 72% (1010 votes),
No - 22% (316), Abstain - 5% (73)
• Online student general meetings: Yes - 87% (1219),
No - 10% (140), Abstain - 2% (32)
- allison.rudd@odt.co.nz
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