Te Mana Ākonga, the national Māori students association, is calling for a review of the tertiary sector following recent accusations of “systemic and structural racism, discrimination, marganalisation and institutional gaslighting” at the Universities of Waikato and Otago.
TMĀ and the letter signatories, nine of which are student associations at Otago Uni, believe that the “devaluation of Māori voices and leadership” and “disempowerment of students as key stakeholders in Universities” show that Te Tiriti o Waitangi is not being honoured.
This call for action was addressed in an open letter titled “Student Associations Calling for a Formal National Review of Universities” and addressed to Minister of Education Chris Hipkins.
OUSA was initially not a signatory. Jack said that OUSA was invited to sign the letter on the Friday the letter was published, but fucked up in following through due to “miscommunication”. In a statement to Critic, Jack said that as soon as he realised OUSA was not on the list of signatories, “I promptly contacted NZUSA and Te Mana Ākonga to have our name added”. They are now an official signatory.
Jack highlighted the responsibility of universities as the “Critic and Conscience of Society” and that a part of that duty includes ensuring Te Tiriti is firmly entrenched in the education sector.
TMĀ said that given the “rapidly developing” situation, there was a tight deadline to keep momentum going, and that despite OUSA not being an original signatory, “OUSA have now committed their support to a review which TMĀ readily welcomes”.
“This is an evolving issue and ongoing support and endorsement at any stage of this process should be seen as a victory for equity,” said a spokesperson for TMĀ.