Jett Groshinski’s decision to run as a Labour-endorsed candidate at this year’s local body elections has caused tension within the Otago University Students’ Association (OUSA) executive, where he is the political representative.
He has been allowed to continue his role in a reduced capacity, and OUSA president Liam White was confident any conflict of interest could be avoided.
However, since then, fellow student Fergus Parks has posted flyers across the university campus calling for Mr Groshinski to step down from his representative role.
Mr Parks said his posters were filling a communication gap left by OUSA.
He was supportive of Mr Groshinski standing as a candidate, but the problem was he was doing it "at the same time while he’s on the executive’’.
"The perception of the students is, ‘oh, he’s just been using this role as a means to support his campaign’"
The biggest problem was it had been "effectively radio silence’’ from OUSA on the matter, Mr Parks said.
"There’s been no official posts, no official notices from the president and everything which has so far happened has only been facilitated by the student newspaper [Critic Te Ārohi], which is independent of the OUSA.
"The lack of clarity leading up to here just doesn’t fill you with hope about how they’re going to handle it"
He was also concerned Mr Groshinski would continue to receive a full wage for reduced duties while other executive members took on more work.
Mr Groshinski said the executive had agreed to a "conflict of interest plan’’ to keep his two roles separate.
He could comment on election matters as a candidate, but referred any requests for OUSA comment on to Mr White.
Mr White said the OUSA executive had held thorough discussions on the matter and there was a "diversity of opinion amongst the executives’’.
"Some people thought that he should resign outright, that it wasn’t a conflict that we could manage, and some of the executives disagreed with that.
"But eventually we went with Jett not being involved in media.
"He will not be involved in the OUSA local body election process ... and he’s going to come off as chair of the political action committee"
Mr White said he was confident Mr Groshinski and the OUSA were managing the situation, although he did say resignation was not out of the question if there was a serious breach of trust.
There had been some frustration about others picking up parts of Mr Groshinski’s role, but there was also an understanding "that just [had] to happen’’.
Asked about Mr Park’s concerns on communication, Mr White said exams meant it was an exhausting time of year and he trusted Critic to give a fair representation of the situation.
In a personal capacity, he did not want to drive more attention to the matter and would rather Mr Groshinski be seen as a student running for council, instead of standing as an OUSA executive member.
OUSA was unlikely to endorse a candidate for the election and would instead focus on educating students about the candidates, he said.
In 2022, Mr Groshinski unsuccessfully ran for Dunedin mayor and council.
