OUSA club execs were frustrated last week when a request went out that all OUSA clubs would have to redo their constitutions. This would have been a very lengthy process, and a lack of consultation ruffled some feathers. Action by the OUSA Student Exec has seen this backpedalled, with the addition of a consultation process.
The original email sent a new framework for a club’s constitution, and asked club representatives to retrofit their existing constitution to the new style. The email joked that this would create a bit of work for the students, but even more for the OUSA admins, which was not well received by one anonymous student club exec, who said that “it’s a massive ceebs, like, of course it’s gonna create work for [the OUSA admins], that’s literally their job, they get paid to do that.”
After several club execs reached out to Critic Te Ārohi and to the Student Exec, the Exec team reached out to Clubs and Socs to ask for the initial request to be repealed and for a consultation process to begin before sending a further request. This suggestion was taken on board, and will be followed through until the 4th of September. Maya Polaschek, Admin VP for OUSA’s Student Exec, said that “clubs are not required to use the new constitution for reaffiliation this year, but are welcome to do so, or to adopt any of the enclosed amendments, if they so wish.”
Instead of redoing their entire constitutions, club execs were welcomed to review the proposed changes and offer feedback ahead of next year, which they were grateful for. One club president was thankful, and said that “honestly, I wasn’t gonna do it initially. I’m literally on the slopes right now. I’ll happily make some suggestions though.”