Exec Meeting 1

I chaired my first exec meeting as President this evening. It was fun, in a fucked up sort of way.

Agenda items of interest:

• There was significant discussion about weather we should be funding NZUSA to include the EFTS (Effective Full Time Student) from the former Wellington College of Education. This is how it works: NZUSA is funded by member associations on a per EFTS basis. Last year it was $4.50 per ETFS, this year it may be different. Because up to the minute EFTS figures are hard to come by from the Ministry or institutions, NZUSA work on the previous years figures. This creates a small situation with SAWCE winding up at the end of the year, yet not being part of VUWSA in 2004, not counted in 2005. NZUSA therefore requested that we "voluntarily" pay for the extra 1,200 students that we took on. This passed, with Hannah Collings abstaining.
• There was a debate about weather it was right to increase Orientation tickets by $1 as a fundraiser for tsunami victims. Some exec members said that some students might not like automatically contributing to a charity. If you are one of these students, I'm keen to hear from you, and find out what makes you tick (if, indeed, you do tick). Please call me on 04 463 6986, and I'll buy you a cup of coffee or a litre of blood (whatever floats your boat). I personally think that this is the most worth while "charity" VUWSA has supported in recent history - certainly much more valid than the 2004 NORML J-Day debacle...

Fun times. It was a reasonably short meeting at just 1 hour, 15 minutes.