Campaign for democratic councils launches today
A nationwide campaign to get one-third of seats set aside for democratically elected staff and students on university and wānanga kicks off at Otago University today at a rally with the university's registry steps.
NZUSA president Rory McCourt and TEU president Sandra Grey will both be speaking at the campaign launch.
Grey notes the importance of institutional autonomy for universities and wānanga:
“Institutional autonomy means no single person or group – even our parliament – should dominate our institutions councils. That’s why having a third democratically-elected and independent staff and student representation is so crucial -. We need to counterbalance the growing power of the ministerial appointees.”
ends