OUSA rethink after no quorum

Melissa Lama
Melissa Lama
The Otago University Students’ Association (OUSA) is reassessing its operations after it failed to attract a quorum at its recent annual meeting.

The meeting was supposed to be held on August 23, but a quorum of 100 students was not present, so it had to be adjourned.

It is hoped another meeting can be held before the end of this year.

While the failure to attract a quorum was disappointing, it was a chance to look at whether the association needed to have other options of access to the annual meeting beyond "just face-to-face" contact, OUSA president Melissa Lama said.

"The academic schedule is different for everyone. Not everybody views AGMs as the only means for students to engage with Ousa.

Former OUSA president Francisco Hernandez said it was concerning a quorum could not be achieved.

He believed Covid-19 may also have played a part in the failure.

"Students are busy, but it is also well documented that a lot of people still haven’t returned to campus yet because of Covid."

Ms Lama would not comment on whether it was possible the association would close.

Instead, it was important the OUSA continued to exist, she said.

"OUSA is run by students for students — you don’t get this type of service anywhere else on university campus.

"The benefits of having a student organisation means we know our student cohort the best, and when it comes down to students’ politics and voice, we are a safe space for students to bring their matters to.

She did not believe the failure to attract a quorum was because students were not interested in supporting the organisation.

"Just because a meeting doesn’t reach quorum, isn’t a measure of the lack of support from our members.

"We are confident that the value we bring to students will remove this [the possibility of closure] from happening."

The OUSA had plans to draw more students to the next meeting.

 

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