The OUSA Exec are in the hot seat over OUSA’s Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) “posture” against businesses associated with the state of Israel – including Domino’s, who was excluded from Tent City. Two formal student complaints (and one informal complaint from a taxi driver) were the subject of “robust discussion” at last Wednesday’s Exec meeting, reaching the conclusion that they will “canvas student opinion” on the stance.
OUSA President Liam White explained to Critic that complaints centred on concerns the Exec are “pushing [their] own political agenda without consultation with students” and that they felt the Exec were “encroaching on their freedoms by taking a boycott position.” The former he was on board with, to the latter he responded: “You can still buy whatever pizza you want.”
OUSA’s BDS “posture” stemmed from last year’s Exec – primarily former President Keegan Wells and then-Pols Rep Liam – who instructed CEO Debbie that they would follow a BDS list for internal commercial dealings. The global economic and political movement “aims to end international support for Israeli violations of international law by forcing companies, institutions and governments to change their policies,” according to BDSmovement.net.
Following the BDS movement comes with a hefty price tag, including turning away business from retailers like Domino’s at Tent City, as Critic Te Ārohi reported in Issue 2. According to Liam, the broad response has been positive following Critic and the ODT’s reporting. “I’ve had quite a few students and alumni come to me to say they’re really proud of the position that OUSA has taken, but there have been at least two students who have reached out to say, ‘I have these concerns,’” said Liam.
Some of the concerns raised by an anonymous student included OUSA’s neutrality, use of compulsory student services fees for political advocacy, and the potential alienation of Israeli students. They called for OUSA to acknowledge and apologise for taking a political stance on a “complex global issue” and suggested OUSA focused on “fostering inclusivity, such as hosting events that acknowledge losses on both sides rather than engaging in boycott measures.”
While OUSA has remained tight-lipped about the exact price tag the posture has had for the association thus far, Liam admitted in an interview with Critic that it was “a lot of money”. Given FSO Daniel expressed worries over OUSA’s financial situation at last week’s meeting, there seems to be a sound foundation for certain OUSA employees’ reported sourness over the number.
Given the financial stakes, Critic pressed Liam and Pols Rep Jett on the rationale behind their “posture”. What about Steve Irwin’s philosophy of “I don’t give a rip whose money it is”, using whatever funds possible for his cause – in OUSA’s case, to the benefit of students. “I think it’s a tricky one to answer because I don’t think it accounts for the purpose of BDS, which is to put pressure on the state of Israel for its conduct in Gaza,” he said, before correcting “conduct” to “genocide”. “I think there’s definitely something to be said for putting economic pressure on bad actors in the international system. It worked against South Africa for apartheid.”
While the purpose of denying business from BDS-listed companies is to “put pressure on the state of Israel,” it’s questionable whether North Dunedin Domino’s has any connection to the state. Al Jazeera reported last month that the US-based pizza maker, with franchises around the world, is facing blowback after social media posts said Domino’s gave free food to Israeli soldiers, but that “there’s no evidence to support those claims.”
North D’s franchise owner Greg told Critic Te Ārohi that until he was denied a site at Tent City this year, he’d never heard of BDS. “I can confirm I and NZ Domino’s have no connection to Israel Domino’s,” he said*, explaining that franchise owners pay a license fee to America and then have the “exclusive rights within a defined area to operate a pizza business called Domino’s. Each entity it separate and individual and have no ties.” The only connection that Domino’s has is the name and branding.
This is something he’d explained to OUSA – falling on deaf ears. “They were set of mind and wouldn’t even consider that we might be separate to a Domino’s in Israel,” said Greg. “Everyone makes a stand and tries to support people however they can. Some donate, some join protests or boycotts.” For his part, Greg said he’s hired people from Palestine and Ukraine who have fled to Aotearoa. “It’s just disappointing people judge me or my business without getting actual facts,” he said. OUSA has not yet responded to Critic Te Ārohi’s request for a response to Greg’s comments.
At last week’s Exec meeting, thirty precious minutes of everyone’s time was spent in confidential committee hypothetically debating this. Given that Critic was there but not allowed to take notes, we asked Liam following the meeting what they talked about (on the record). “Not to Chris Luxon my way out of this, but I would probably just say that it was robust – a variety of opinions were held,” said an annoyingly diplomatic Liam. “It filled me with confidence that we could have some tricky discussions in the executive, and really respectfully.”
Official minutes from the meeting show the conclusion (with many amendments and rewordings along the way) to be, “The OUSA Exec has reached the consensus decision that we will review the BDS posture and pursue further student feedback alongside a risk assessment and policy development. Over the coming months OUSA will seek to canvas a student consensus by encouraging robust debate on campus – and hope to reach a decision by July 2025.” Liam added, “If we get there before then, fuck yeah.”
The Exec didn’t land on an exact plan on how they’d “canvas student opinion”, but discussed options such as a forum and referendum which is pencilled in for May, but to be confirmed. “This is part one of the conversation,” Liam noted. To stay in the loop, minutes of Exec meetings are published to the OUSA website and you can follow them on Instagram @ousaexec or email Liam directly at president@ousa.org.nz.
*The online version of this article has been amended to include comments from Domino’s franchise owner Greg, who had not responded to Critic Te Ārohi’s requests for comment in time for print of Issue 3, 2025.