Student president leaves job early

The president of the Otago University Students' Association has resigned, the latest in a string of departures from its executive this year.

Ruby Sycamore-Smith's resignation, which came into effect yesterday, is the sixth from the OUSA executive in 2014.

Ms Sycamore-Smith said she resigned two months before her term finished to give next year's president, Paul Hunt, space to build his own ''vision''.

''We have had a thorough handover and he is feeling incredibly confident,'' she said.

The previous president, Francisco Hernandez, did something similar last year when he left early to investigate other New Zealand student associations.

Asked if her and the other resignations reflected badly on the organisation, she said: ''I want to make it clear that my decision to resign will be positive as it will enable Paul to start the job early. It does highlight, however, the huge amount of stress and pressure in all of the executive roles.''

She had enjoyed her time as president and was particularly proud of OUSA's work aimed at increasing voter turnout for this year's general election.

The most challenging aspect was having such a high turnover on the executive.

It was up to the executive to decide who took over as president for the next two months.

vaughan.elder@odt.co.nz

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