Victoria Uni’s Student Association (VUWSA) has narrowly voted to leave the New Zealand Union of Student Associations (NZUSA) in a referendum. However, only 3% of students voted on the measure, raising questions on whether VUWSA will actually follow through.
Results from the referendum, on whether VUWSA should begin the 12-month process of leaving NZUSA, were announced last Wednesday, 23 March. 317 students (36.1%) agreed that VUWSA should leave NZUSA, while 304 students (34.6%) disagreed - a difference of just 13 votes. 257 voters (29.3%) abstained from the question and did not vote either way.
Just 3% of Victoria Uni’s 22,000 students (621 people) bothered to vote either yes or no on the question. Referenda that are voted on by less than 5% of the student population are considered “non-binding”. In other words, VUWSA does not need to follow through on the results.
VUWSA President Ralph Zambrano told Salient, Victoria Uni’s student magazine, that the decision to try and leave NZUSA wasn’t “a decision that was made lightly,” but was made because NZUSA “isn’t performing as effectively as it has in the past”. He added that the money used for NZUSA’s $45,500 annual membership fee could be better spent on projects which “directly benefit our students… [such as] the community pantry and menstrual products”.
Andrew Lessells, the NZUSA President, told Salient that “I’m obviously disappointed [that the referendum was going ahead], but I'm also aware that they've had a number of longstanding concerns, we also have concerns and are committed to addressing these as well as reforming NZUSA.”
Even if VUWSA does follow through on the results, they can’t leave instantly. They have to give 12 months notice to “withdraw their membership” instead. Auckland Uni’s Student Association also began this process in June last year, telling Stuff that their decision to leave was also made after years of “unhappiness,” and questioning “the value we get for the $45,500 levy we pay”. Zambrano, though, hinted the breakup may not be final: “if our concerns are addressed, we do see change, and have confidence in NZUSA’s direction, it is more than possible VUWSA will not withdraw from NZUSA”.
This isn’t VUWSA’s first breakup: they’ve left NZUSA before, in September 2014. Then-President Sonya Clark expressed similar concerns to Salient about “significant reforms” being left undone, that NZUSA were not being “a strong national voice on student issues,” and that there were “more effective uses of $45,000 in student dollars”. Vic Uni students later voted in late 2015 to rejoin NZUSA.
OUSA has also left NZUSA before, in November 2014. Then-Postgraduate Officer Kurt Purdon told Critic that then-President, Ruby [Sycamore-Smith], had “single-handedly [done] more than [NZUSA’s] entire body in terms of representing students”. He added, witheringly, that “We lose credibility by being a part of them. Even if membership were free, I’d have serious questions about being a member”. However, similarly to what happened at Vic Uni, students voted at the end of 2015 to rejoin NZUSA. Despite occasional ups and downs in their relationship ever since then, and despite Critic finding last year that most students have no idea who NZUSA are or what they do, OUSA has stayed ever since, paying up the $45,500 annual membership fee (around 1.16% of their annual revenue).