AUSA Student Representative Candidate Panel

This transcript was automatically generated and likely contains errors. Please refer to the original audio or video recording for accuracy.
[https://www.instagram.com/reel/DPh0ekLEznk/](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DPh0ekLEznk/)

Moderator:

So essentially if you think about a company, a company would have its board of directors, council is essentially the university's board of directors. And so by law we have to have at least one student representative on council and we've got some incredible candidates here who have bravely put their hands up. So can we all give them a big round of applause for putting their hands up to us? So every year, well every two years, which is how often the elections are, voter turnout for this election is very, very low. Most of the time it's below 10%, which is pretty unfortunate because council, again, makes some of the biggest decisions that impact day-to-day student lives. So what we wanted to do this year was to do a debate so you guys have a chance to meet the candidates, hear from the candidates directly, and know who to vote for at the highest decision making. So I'll just quickly run through some house rules. So obviously the university has a zero tolerance policy for bullying, harassment, and discrimination. If anyone engages in any disrespectful discourse, including candidates and audience members, we'll respectfully ask you to leave, please. Apart from that, we will have five sections today in today's debate. The first section I'll ask all the candidates to introduce themselves. Then we'll have a couple of topics and then pop quiz and then we'll go on to audience questions. So if you go to our Instagram at ausa.yourway, you'll be able to access our slide on link. So at any point during the debates, you can pop through a question. Our team will go through them and then we'll ask the candidates those questions. All sound good? Yeah, great. Amazing. So first off, I'll get all of the candidates to introduce themselves. Everyone has one minute to speak. I have a bell and I will stop you off at exactly one minute. So in one minute, please tell us, who are you? What do you study? What do you bring to the table that makes you a good student representative? And what are your priorities if you were to be successful? So we'll start off with Fa.

Fa:

Kia ora koutou katoa. My name is Fa. I'm your current student representative on the University Council and I'm standing for re-election now. I'm a law and commerce student, an undergrad, and hopefully doing postgrad in the near future. I stand for accountability and transparency. And I have tried to do that everywhere I can in the last year. You will find that I have an experience, varying experience, whether through the charitable government sector and in the union table as well. I have been advocating for you students in the most, I would say, one of the most toxic environments, loan to man, the boardroom. And it's really important that you get out and vote. And I thank you for coming out here and casting your vote. or constraint passing the vote. Again, I stand for accountability and transparency, as well as making a student-centric Waipa Potomacara University of Oakland. Hopefully you can see that I add value, and in time, I'll distribute these slides and ask you to pass your vote on the next day. Thank you very much. Yifak.

Shae:

Kia ora everyone, my name is Shae. I'm a second year law and marine science student here at the University of Auckland. I'm currently standing for student election for your representative because I believe that I'm capable of representing you guys at the highest board of authority. I have quite a lot of experience in education. I've worked with the student disability services for the past about year or so, working on advocating for our disabled students in the capacity of our different environments, as well as the work environment here at the University of Auckland. I'm also a resident advisor here, so I have kind of an experience on both the staff and student side of what the university looks like. as well as experience in advocating for both staff and students when it comes to disabilities, accountability, and ensuring that people are honest and true with what they say they're going to do. One of my main goals here is, much like far, accountability and transparency. I think it's incredibly important that you understand what goes on in the boardrooms. But, yeah.

Jackie:

Good, everyone. My name is Jackie Chan. My name is Tomah Ophel Jackie. I'm currently studying international business. And so I'm currently running for the student representative. It's because I believe that every one of you voices needs to be heard at the university because it matters for every inch of the university. So before I come to Auckland, I am a representative, a student representative at the University of Manchester. So I know what it means to listen to every single one of you. So I want to keep it simple. You, me, to university, the highest decision maker. Okay, we make that simple. So I want to deliver all your messages towards the top level and make sure everyone is heard. As simple as that. You, all of you, through me, university. Tell me what you want them to listen. That's all. That's all I'm going to say. Thank you.

Aditya:

Hi everyone. I am Aditya, a sailor turned student. I'm a post-graduate student doing masters of business analytics. So what makes me different is I have led teams across oceans, not just classrooms, where every decision had consequences. I have worked with people from over 30+ countries and that has given me global exposure with how to deal with different nationalities and how to make everyone feel welcome. The things I'm going to focus on are real practical learning, stronger community and belonging, transparent communication with students, mental well-being and inclusion, and as well as safety of all the students. Thank you.

Shakeel:

Hi, my father, my name is Shakeel, I am a Laku whakatata. I am currently studying at the College of Commons and Laws here at the University. Look, we've got too many advocates here at the university. That's what we need less of. We need organisers at the university who can actually mobilise students to ensure that their voices are being heard at the highest level of governance that we have. I've got a long history of holding the university to account, and that's not going to stop there if I get a little bit as well. What we need is people at the top in that student representative role. one person gets to represent 40,000 students, that voice needs to count. What we need is not CV building, we need a people builder, and that's me. Come on.

Sunisha Dugar:

Kia ora, namaste. Hello — I'm Sunisha Dugar. I'm currently doing a Bachelor of Arts and Global Studies conjoint in my third year. I moved to New Zealand in 2023, and it's been quite a rollercoaster of a ride: uprooting myself, restarting, rebuilding and forming new relationships and connections. That's really tapped into the people‑centric side of me, and that's exactly why I'm running for this position. This role connects multiple pools of students across faculties. I'm majoring in education and psychology, so my study crosses arts and science. That lived experience of moving here informs my perspective and why I want to represent students.

Gevargis Thomas:

Good everyone. My name is Gevargis Thomas — I'm from the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department and I'm doing my PhD. I'm the current student rep for the PhD students. One thing I've seen is that if we raise our voice, we can get things done. There were a number of infrastructure issues this past year; I pushed the university to get those resolved through surveys and student backing, and we got results. I want to represent the wider student body to improve student living, course availability and campus safety. Thank you.

Moderator:

Thank you, candidates. Now, just a reminder to everyone that the elections are open until Tuesday next week. You may see 70 people up here, but there are actually 19 students running for this position. So it's a very, very contested role. And unfortunately, some of the candidates weren't able to join us today. So please go to the University of Auckland website to read the bios of all the student candidates. But let's focus back on the candidates who are here today. If you have a question for any one of them, please put them through on the slider. The slider link is available on our Instagram. And if you want to direct a question to a candidate, please make it clear. So we'll move on to the very first category, which is about the CSSF. Who can tell me what the CSSF stands for? Quickly, shout it out. It's not free student service to speak. Perfect. Most of you got that. So for those who don't know, the CSSF is an annual fee that the student pays. In 2026, it'll be $9.56 for every point that you're enrolled in. This is up from $9.24 from this year. This funds all of the non-academic student-facing services the university provides, and part of it goes to AUSA funding your students' association as well. The university consults on the CSSF through the survey, but unfortunately every year it has very, very low engagement. This year only 4% of students filled in that survey. So, by a show of hands from the candidates, do you think the CSSF has been well spent? Put your hands up if you think so. No, no one thinks so. If not, we'll invite two or three speakers to let us know why you think it's not been spent well and how. Oh, we'll do all of them. We have time. We'll start from that end with one minute.

Speaker 8:

So one of the things that I've seen is that they are cutting budget for the media representation. So there's only one way the students are getting to know everything that's going on. Most of the time I've seen that the university doesn't send out emails or any notifications to the students when things are going on, when they're making big decisions, when certain things are changing. So the AUSA and other sort of crack from the magazine, these are the ways that students get to know what's happening around the university. Because all students are not going to be sitting and going through every single website and figuring out what's going on. So we need to know what is going on. We are paying the fee, we need to know where everything is allocated and all that. So if they are cutting the budget for the media, that means they are trying to silence us, which I don't think is correct.

Speaker 7:

I think the first and foremost aspect when we look at the CSF budget in itself, It's quite complex, firstly, but I think it's presented in a very simplified manner. For example, oh, X amount is being given for a USA event. There's actually no representation of the breakdown in itself, and I think first and foremost would be to increase that transparency of how the funding itself is being allocated a lot more effectively, especially for students that are constantly involved, whether that's students in clubs, whether that's students in, you know, are genuinely interested can actually get access to those documents. Second thing, looking at campus safety in itself, yes, campus security is quite, you know, present and they have quite a few services, but I think in terms of things like, you know, nighttime transportation, which are things that are present across multiple universities, or even looking at things like

Shakeel:

22% that is how much Kraken got cut by in the 2020 season. That's a big blow for Kraken. Kraken was one of the most institutional media-run, student-run media networks that New Zealand ever had. And so that's really sad. Some of the best journalists in New Zealand have come from Kraken. And so when we're seeing that consistently being cut, that pulls at my heartstrings, My heart screams because I used to work in the media and I used to be a news writer for 95BFM as well. And so when I see less and less students uptaking those radio networks, print media, that just targets me. One thing that I agree with is transparency and ensuring that people actually know that cracking exists, that 95BFM exists. Those are the most important things and that's what the student network should do.

Aditya:

I think the things need to be done with CFF is it has equality issues. Like there are many students who live far off from the university and who cannot come to university every single day. They may have some part time job or they may have transportation problem coming. So I want to introduce a new thing with the CSSF if I get selected. that there should be an opt out system or some concession for students who live far off if they give a proof of residence that they live far from the university. Another thing, I want to make it affordable to students so that they can, the one thing is students have to pay everything in one stretch. So I want to introduce a thing where students can pay 10 parts or maybe some concession for them And of course, there has to be some transparency and accountability where every dollar spent should be shown to students how the money is being spent and what exact things the money is being spent. Thank you.

Jackie:

Hi everyone, I'm Jackie. I just want to keep it simple as well. So I don't, do you know the fact that 2024 forecast is going to 50 million on student service? And 35 of them come from each and one of you, of your pockets? Hell, I want to know if I'm going to spend like 10 bucks on my coffee today. I want to know if it's going to spend like every day the same road I come to the campus, there are dirt on it. Like, ruin my shoes or going to be like, hey, I spend every week for how many, how much, hundreds of dollars for my rents? Let alone talk about $35 million. So I want transparency. I want to tell you guys exactly where it's going to spend time. And this should be transparent. Everyone, tell me what you need. Is it your accommodation problem? Is it going to be somewhere to be fixed in your office? Do you need a new coffee machine or something? Where is it spent well? What's the definition of spending well? That's it. Thank you.

Shae:

All right, much like I said by previous candidates, I think for me the CSSF is the cutting budget for media is a bit of an odd thing for me because realistically we only know about what's going on around the university because of the media. We only know about the decisions that are being made because of the emails, because of the cracking, because of the fact that we get that kind of notice and that kind of transparency from the university. But cutting that budget is cutting your accessibility to knowing what's going on around our campus and most importantly knowing what's going on behind the closed doors of boardrooms and decision-making areas. And I think that it's incredibly important that the media is supported, that despite the fact that the university might not necessarily agree with what they're saying, that they still platform the ability for students to voice how they are feeling about things and most importantly what that's going to look like in the long run. But yeah, I mean, mainly for me, it's much like everyone else, transparency and accountability, making sure the university is clear with this thing.

Fa:

Hallelujah, everyone, Fa Fia, incumbent. Again, great work by identifying from other candidates around what's the CSSF and what they want to do. I have actually practically voted down the CSSF proposal because it lacks all the things that they've talked about. It's really important that students understand that there's actually 11 categories in which that money can be spent on. And that's set by the Tertiary Education Commission. Now, in terms of reform that I've proposed as one of my hallmark policies, it's around changing the student consultant in a group. This office should be the chair of that group because that's all the presidents of the Students Association and that's the statutory group that actually gives feedback apart from the survey process. So my view is that you should go to the Student Union because they are elected to do operational methods. This is strategic and government's methods. So that's really important. If you really don't want the student services, you can actually complain to the Treasury Education Commission. I would not necessarily encourage you, but you could do that. So I'd encourage you to do that. Thank you, candidates.

Moderator:

All right. You've heard that from Fargo complaints, the TEC, about the CSSF. Great. So we'll move on to our very next topic, which is about the Waipapa Tomataro course, WTR. So the WTR course is still a mandatory compulsory first-year course for all first-year students as an introduction to this university, Waipapa Tomataro. Recently, the Vice-Chancellor recommended to Senate, who endorsed that recommendation, that WTR will no longer be compulsory in 2026. They cited student and staff feedback for this change. This follows five years of work designing and implementing WTR to be compulsory students for all university students, and it has now been essentially abandoned after one year. So the question to candidates is, do you think that they've reached the right decision in WTR? Do you think it should be compulsory or not? And what would you have done differently to reach a conclusion that everyone is happy with? So we'll start with...

Shae:

Awesome. All right. I've been put in the hot seat. I personally don't have any strong opinions on WTR. I think as a proposal, the course was a really good idea. I think it was implemented not necessarily in the best way because there wasn't much notice or much communication about it becoming a compulsory course. it just kind of was one all of a sudden. And for some students that felt a bit like, well, that kind of came out of nowhere. And I think for me, I would definitely be approaching the course with a bit more communication, a bit more transparency. I would want to make sure that students kind of understood why the course was important, but most importantly, what was in the course and kind of what was so important and why it was deemed to be compulsory across all the degrees. Because the thing with the WTR courses is that it's not degree specific. So no matter who you are, no matter where you're from, no matter what kind of course you're doing or what degree you're doing, it is compulsory for you to do this paper. And I think that that's a little bit of an odd decision because that kind of doesn't exist much place to ask. So I think for me, I would just make sure that it was really clear, really transparent, and that people were, you know, being honest about what was in.

Jackie:

Hi, it's Jackie. So I'm only here for a month, so I really don't really understand the courses. But however, I know that if there's no courses, I should be compulsory. Like you need to have, you can decide whether or not you take the courses. But from my understanding is that the university should have more courses, but not something like this. It should be, everyone knows the university is only preparing for your job in the future. Just giving you a fundamental understanding of the job or the areas that you're working with. It's not really truly that you will give you information when you're working. You can learn so much more when you're out of school. So we need something more than just a fundamental courses that are forcing you to take. So I believe that we need a newer courses that encourage people to join, to learn something that's outside of university so that you can adapt easier when you graduate it. So you're not afraid of embracing the world.

Aditya:

Yeah, I'm Aditya. I'm also new to this university. just one month for me and I mostly agree with what Jackie has said. I think no course should be compulsory but at the same time it could have been implemented in a better way. I suggest it could have been a voluntary thing and they would have taken suggestions from students, what could have been improved and then they could have made it compulsory with over time so that it doesn't feel like any pressure to any student. So I think the only problem was implementation and that's all I can say. Thank you.

Shakeel:

Well I think with WTR what happened there was they chucked it in the deep end and it drowned. They didn't have enough time to actually implement it. It actually hurts my heart to say that a lot of students are, "No, no, it's a bad course, this and that." I had the privilege of being in a business school, where I see the people who are behind that course. You know, there's jobs behind that course, there's people behind that course. Making that optional means those people lose that job, those people lose their TA positions, their GTA positions. That's something that I do not want to see. WTA is an amazing course, and I know for the business school, it has Maturanga Māori integrated in it. When indigenous people thrive, we all thrive. There is nothing to be scared about when it comes to te ao Māori. Everyone should be embracing te ao Māori, particularly for the business school. They've got integration of maturanga Māori in a business concept. Engineering, they have the same. That should be embraced. That should not be shunned away.

Speaker 7:

I think the WTR course is something that... It exists because of the idea of cultural immersion. It's the idea of understanding New Zealand history. A significant population of our student pool are international students. As an international student, if I had to sign up for this course without having any context, I wouldn't understand why. So I think, and a big part of immersing in Pacific, in New Zealand, in Maori culture is about immersing yourself. It's about people. It's about connecting. It's about the culture in itself. And I think it's really important that we focus on that immersion rather than just the idea of, oh, this is what we're learning and these are the assessments we're doing and moving on from there. Because all of that information and all of that knowledge that you're going to get for that one semester is going to be out of your brain right after. So I think looking at the course from a more experiential learning perspective is really a lot more important.

Speaker 8:

Good afternoon everyone. I'm not particularly opposing the WTR because we do have compulsory courses like the academic integrity module which everybody is required to take. If we take it from a perspective like that, it could be nice because there are a lot of international students like my fellow candidates who have no idea what the culture is here, what is acceptable, what is fresh and what is valued. So it's nice to go through a course like that to understand what New Zealand is about, what the culture here is, how we should integrate into that. So in that sense, yes. But then implementation could have been better. I think it was rushed. So if we did a little bit more of planning, because I was involved in course designing and I was back in India. So it's not easy, like Sheikh said, it's not easy to design a course. There's a lot of man hours. there's a lot of resources that's required to design a course. So it's sad to see all that go to waste, but yeah, it could have been implemented better the way they roll it out. They should have tested it out a little bit better and then made a quick decision. Thank you.

Fa:

Kia ora, FaAfuhia Fia, your incumbent university councillor.In terms of the first thing I'll say is to qualify everything I say because this is an agenda item for council. So I qualify everything that I say to it. I might have to change my mind subject to the legal duties. As a council member, I am my part. My perspective is this. First is I believe in a te Awaali-centric course and we should be implementing that. Waipa Puta Matara provides that integral part. And as a council member, I'm obligated to uphold te te te te o waipa. That's found in the education and training. So I think it's really important that we have a course like this. As Shakeel said, if Indigenous people thrive, we all thrive. But the key thing is around making sure that the criticisms that we've actually had about the course are actually taken seriously and then critique and then reassess again in terms of its compulsory nature. So again, I'm not going to tell you how I'm going to vote because I can't tell you my legal duties. So that's my attention for my attention.

Moderator:

Thank you, candidates. We've gotten some really excellent and amazing questions on Slido. If you're unable to find it, it's available on our Instagram at ausa.yourway. Keep sending them through. They're really excellent. And again, if you want to direct a question to a candidate, please make it specific and clear. So we'll move on to our next big topic before we move on to our pop quiz. The next one is about the vice chancellor recruitment. So we all, I'm sure most of us know that our vice chancellor Dawn Freshwater will be resigning next year in the middle of next year, and the process to find her replacement has already begun. So we've got a couple of questions about the vice chancellor recruitment process here for you guys. The first one is, do you think, well actually with a raise of hands, do you think Dawn Freshwater has been a good vice chancellor? What do you mean by good? Well, it's subjective. Do you think she's been a good vice-chancellor for you? I think she's given it her all.

Moderator:

So if you didn't hear that, she's given it her all. Anyone here who thinks she's done a good job? Just to get a feel. Not a lot of people. Not sure. Don't know. Who's met Dawn Freshwater? Not many as well. Interesting. So the question for the candidates today is what skills and attributes do you think the next vice chancellor needs to have? And if the next vice chancellor doesn't have those skills and attributes, how will you work with them? You're going to have to work with them if you're right, right? So we'll start off with Jackie. Again, one minute.

Jackie:

Sure. So, obviously, earlier the show of hands shows that not a lot of people know about the chemisture. So I'm just trying to say that the next one should be more engaging to each individual student. And everyone's, like I said, the voices should be heard. You guys, everything should be delivered to his or her ears before they can make any decision of the we can be more united because we're going to spend years in this university and then every single changes will matter. Everything that the university will spend on will matter for your future, equipment-wise or your future career-wise. Everything should be surrounding the students instead of just a top-up. So I am your bridge, I am your voice, so you can go through me and talk to him or her directly in the future so there will be more transparency. Thank you.

Aditya:

Kia Ora, I am Aditya. I think voice transparency is just like captain of the ship. He or she should be the leader where they have honesty, they have their hard working, they understand and they listen to people, they think everyone is a team and they should integrate everyone in their decisions. The Vice Chancellor should be transparent and these are the qualities I think the Vice should have but if the vice chancellor does not have these qualities I think I will work with that person the same way I used to work on board ships as I have sailed with a lot of nationalities with different cultures with different set of values I think if I can sail across the world sailing a 1300 feet long ship in storms I can definitely handle a vice chancellor Thank you.

Shakeel:

Speaker 7:

I think it's really important to acknowledge that being in a position of a Vice Chancellor is quite complex. The decisions being made are not just about what's happening today and tomorrow, it's about what's happening in a couple of years down the line as well. So the question of has she been good is it depends. But I think in terms of the future Vice Chancellor, I think it's really important for someone who has a strong understanding of indigenous culture, indigenous perspectives, someone who is empathetic, open-minded, and someone who has the ability to listen and effectively make decisions that genuinely weigh out the pros and cons in consultation with feedback. At the end of the day, students are the centre of any learning institution. As a university, it's really important for the vice-chancellor to be involved and have that sense of awareness on what the students need and what the students actually want to effectively be able to do justice to her role. And that's the same with faculty. Thank you.

Speaker 8:

Sure, everyone. So from the question, I understand how a vice-anchola should be is I would like to compare her to the one that I've seen in Houston. So when I was in the University of Houston, the president of the university used to casually walk around in the campus and she was approachable by every single student. We could just go chat with her, ask her what we, or, you know, just share our concerns and things like that. So I would think a vice chancellor, similarly, should be a people-centric or student-centric person who's ready to get down from that pop power, walk around the students, walk around the campus to see what is actually going on. Only then you'll be able to frame your policies and make decisions that is actually beneficial to the students as well as the staff community. I know that the vice chancellor has an all-staff forum. It would be nice if we have something similar for the students, not all the students, but at least the ASD representatives or something like that, who can have frequent these forums with the vice chancellor to convey the concerns and help them frame their decisions.

Fa:

Giorno, again, Fa Fia, your current senior representative on the council. The first thing is that being vice chancellor is such a hard job. It's so easy to say things like, "Ooh, I don't like Dawn, I don't like what she's done." But the university environment and tertiary sector is complex. The things that we need in the Vice-Chancellor is someone who can actually be a good stakeholder and manage stakeholders. So for instance, students are one stakeholder, but there's other stakeholders who influence the university and its policy. Government funding and the like is one of those things. So it's really important that you understand that a counsellor has to hold a management to a counsellor, manage their performance. I have done that as best as I can constructively on behalf of students. It's really important and I've already made that clear that a student experience needs to be a top agenda for this university. So that's really important again. I qualify everything again by saying that I'm subject to all the duties as a counsellor.

Shae:

Awesome. I think that a lot of my fellow candidates have pretty much encompassed what we're looking for in a Vice Chancellor really, really well. But I think for me, the main qualities that I would be expecting would be solid transparency, accountability, but also communication with students. I think that it's a bit shocking that so many people haven't been able to meet the Vice Chancellor, but also that a lot of people didn't necessarily know who she was or what she was able to do as a vice chancellor.

Shae:

And I think that that should change. I think that it should be clear kind of who's in charge, how to communicate with them, and what kind of steps we have to have a direct line of contact with our vice chancellors. Having said that though, I do understand much as Fa has said, it's a very complicated role. And it's a very complicated role that comes with a lot of moving parts. And I think it's incredibly important that students also understand that there are only a certain amount of things that a vice chancellor can do. It's a very limited position. It's not as big as a lot of people think it is, and it doesn't encompass everything that people think it does. And much has been said, stakeholders are important. But I think for me, yeah, just like that.

Moderator:

All right, that concludes the major section of our, well, major topics. Before we move on to our pop quiz, I'm sure everyone is here because you guys all love Stream Voice and you have issues that you want to yell out. Well, if you have those issues, well, then fill out the survey for the student's manifesto. The student's manifesto will be a collection of all the issues that we've talked about today, things like cost of living, job insecurity, all that kind of horrible, horrible stuff that we face as students. If you fill in the survey, you're in the draw to win some Sony headphones, some Stanley Cups, a bunch of gift vouchers and stuff like that. So definitely have your voice heard by filling in the survey all until the end of next week. Great, so we're moving into a pop quiz section now. I'll just quickly explain what the rules are. So we want to know if our candidates here actually have a good knowledge and a good understanding of our university and of council. So the way this will work is I'll ask questions and I'll ask Nimish, who is our next year's AUSA president, to judge who put their hand up first and they'll have an opportunity to answer that question. Is that clear to everyone? Yeah, great, so first hand up in the mesh. I'll get you to choose, so that's okay. If you get that wrong, then we'll choose the next person. So the first question, and sorry, Father, you're not allowed to answer this, is how many members of council are there? 14 is correct, but there are actually only 12 members of council sitting on council, but there are 14 positions available. So that's correct. Next question is, which is the largest faculty by student enrollment? Science is correct. Next question is, largest faculty by staff numbers? FMHS is correct. Wow, you guys are on fire. Wow. Okay, next question is a bit tricky. How many committees report directly to council? She says three is... 13 is correct. Wow, that's impressive. Bonus points to anyone who can name at least five. Do you want to use the mic? Use the mic. Sorry.

Shae:

The Animal Rights Committee, Disciplinary Committee, the Appeals Committee, the Finance Committee, oh god. And, oh I don't remember what that was. That's a good point, it's very impressive.

Moderator:

Oh yeah, does anyone else know another committee that reports? Oh, surely you know. Yeah, you know all of it? No, what, sorry? The Honors Committee is another one, correct. Okay. So what is the name of the university's main academic advisory board or body? The Senate is correct. And Senate, remember, is only an advisory board to counsel. There's no real decision-making powers. How many students are enrolled at the University of Auckland based on 2024 numbers? 43,000. 43,000 is incorrect. It is actually 45,700. So between 45 and 46. Which New Zealand's Students Association receives proportionally the lowest funding from its university? Yell it all out. AUSA. AUSA, that's correct. Okay, so we'll move on to the Slido questions, and we've received some really good ones. Let me just put in my password, sorry. Okay, oh, there's a lot. Let's see, let's see. So, this is a general question, and it's been upvoted the most. The student rep position lacks a lot of power, as you're only one person of a council of 14 or 12. What strategies do you have to increase the power that students have, considering we have 47,000 students and only one seat on council? So, who wants to answer that? Michelle, let you choose a couple.

Aditya:

I want to propose a new rule where we can introduce two student councils. So that one should be an international student, so that that person understands the problems that international students face. and another person should be one who knows the culture of New Zealand so that he or she can help the local students better. And I think two persons can obviously perform better and can give more output than one person. That is going to be my strategy.

Jackie:

Alright, we'll give 30 seconds for each answer. I believe it's way more than two. University of Auckland is the largest school in New Zealand. We need students for each faculty. For example, engineering, we need one. And then we can communicate in groups. And then we will be able to gain more ability to reach every single student. One is not enough. We need more from each department so that we can talk in groups, of gathering information, gathered data from each department so that we can have a better understanding of the whole school.

Shae:

I just wanna say firstly, I think it's important to be realistic. Representation on the council is already a challenge. Again, as it's been said, the student representative position has incredibly little power. And I would honestly be proposing much as what I believe I is also proposing and also some of the other council members as a second student representative. But again, that's not gonna be an easy process and it would need a lot of student backing to kind of get through the door of the feedback you're going to get from the council going, what is another one going to do? It's just another vote. But yeah, I think it's incredibly important to have more representation, but to a realistic standard.

Fa:

Kia ora, Fa Fia, your incumbent, University of Student Rep. I've already advocated for two student reps on council, so that's already the case at Victoria University, University of Wellington. It's really important that I haven't been able to get a motion voted on because I don't have a seconder. I don't have a pocket seconder in terms of another student. I would think it should be sort of like ex officio of the AUSA president or another elected student leader. Because, again, it would be a two-year term. So, again, we need that rotation and experience around governments.

Shakeel:

That's what it used to be. There used to be two student representatives on the council up until recently. I think it comes down to organising. We need to mobilise the student voice. If one person is going to represent 40,000-odd students, what we need most is to actually ensure that the students are backing that student representative, that they're actually there during those council meetings to show that the mandate of the students lies with the student representative. That is not the need.

Speaker 7:

I think a part of, a big part of power comes great responsibility as a wise person once said, and I think a part of doing that is doing your homework, which is actually reading through the council documents, reading through the policies, reading through what our rights as students are, and actually presenting that to the council, if we have actual evidence, actual facts, to say this is something we can do, I think it's a lot more effective. And the second thing would be, again, connecting back to my people-centric side, actually communicating with these people outside of council meetings in itself. Thank you.

Speaker 8:

So I've already read what Fa was saying, and yes, we're pushing for the second person, second voice will definitely help. That will be something that we should realistically approach. It is not easy yet, even in staff service committees, I've seen when a rep of Christus talk, they will say, yeah, we will take it into account, but nothing happens after that. So it's not easy to get those things ball rolling, but yeah, we should try to get more representation on the council.

Moderator:

Great, next question, and this is a quick yes or no answer. So put your hands up for yes, put your hands down for no. Would you vote yes to a fees increase? Wow, okay, there we go. No fees increase, yay. Next question. Yes or no, should the council representative have a strong relationship with AUSA? Good. We've got a question for Shaquille, and this has quite a few upvotes as well. It says, quote, "I like your point about organizing versus advocacy. Are you able to elaborate on why you think advocacy isn't enough or why it hasn't worked well? I'll give you 30 seconds and anyone else who wants to answer, I'll give you maybe two other people who want to answer. Yeah.

Shakeel:

Hello? I mean, we can do open letters, we can do this and that as much as we want. We can scream and shout as much as we want. But we actually need to organise. We need to mobilise the student voice to ensure that they're there at those council meetings. That the people are there showing that it comes down to the student representative has that mandate. You can advocate that organising is the most important thing. The students need to be present. Council needs to see that, okay, this person that's been elected in actually has the mandate of the students. That's what we need. We need an organiser. Thank you. Fa, 30 seconds.

Fa:

I think it's really important that what Shak was pointing out is actually a really naive. I don't say that out of disrespect, but rather the legal reality is that your university council studio has collective responsibilities to the council itself and to the minister for tertiary education. So you can promise, I'm going to go organise this protest. You're going to get disciplined by your board chair. That's the first thing that will happen. And then if it's serious enough, you can get removed from other members of council. So it's really important that you know the system to actually get the change, and I've actually got the results to show that.

Shae:

I agree with what both candidates have said, but I think that when it comes to mobilising students, as much as, yes, you are accountable to the council, and, yes, you have a set of expectations and rules that you have to follow, I think it's also important to remember that mobilising students doesn't always have to be protests or physical movements. It can also be social media posts, it can be engagement, it can be surveys, it can be a lot of things that are not direct, disciplinary, wanting, rewarding things. Right? So you can advocate, you can mobilise with more than that.

Moderator:

Excellent. Thank you so much. So in the interest of time, we'll move on to one final question and it's a yay or a nay. Yay, Renee, Taylor Swift's new album. Yay? Yay? Oh, wow. I think the internet might disagree with you right there. But with that, we'll wrap up today's debate. Thank you so much for coming, all the candidates. Thank you. We'll give them a huge round of applause. Again, it takes a lot of guts to put your hand up to be in this position. Wish you all the best. And again, there are 19 candidates running for this position. If you're not happy with any of these candidates, go check out the other candidates online on the university website.