I won! Thank you guys and gals

Hey all

At the election results last night I won re-election in the VUWSA general election. My margin was 1285 votes which was more than the entire turnout last year.

Congratulations to everyone elected, Joel is the new president, and no A-Team candidates won election. But I must say they put up a fight and good on them for trying.

I will post some more later on.

Regards
Alexander


Full election results - Peter McCaffrey's Blog
Salient TV Videos from last night

Elect Me!! - VUWSA 2008

Hey All

I am running for 2008 VUWSA Treasurer in the VUWSA election that will be held from the 21st to 27th September. I would like to call for all people who read this blog to please look at my record on VUWSA this year and consider voting for me if you are able. Also if you know anyone who is studying at Victoria can you please ask them to vote (because decisions are made by those who turn up) and especially vote for me.

What have I done this year:

• Kept VUWSA to budget
• Managed transition from deficit budgets to surplus budget
• Chaired the Publications committee
• Sat on VUWSA trust while discussions over Campus Hub Project held
• Sat on Sports and Cultural Clubs Councils ensuring that club sponsorship get distributed fairly
  
• Renewed policies around expence approval and payments to allow greater management of student funds

This list is just a small part of the VUWSA Treasurers job that I have done this year.

More information can be obtained by continuing to watch this page or by emailing me at alexander@neilson.net.nz or ringing / txting me on 021 329 681.

Regards
Alexander

John Key Song Contest

John Key asked on his website johnkey.co.nz for people to select the song for the National party conference. This blatant ripoff of Hilary Clinton asking her supporters to select her campaign song seemed to be off to a good start attracting a lot of good suggestions but now it seems to have been taken offline with most suggestions deleted and every suggestion moderated before posting.

So to keep it running I invite people to submit their suggestions here and we will send your suggestions to John.

Get singing, get suggesting.

Regards
Alexander

Conscientious Objection - VUWSA VSM Option

A note to all the VSM supporters around Victoria: VUWSA provides a way for you to avoid being a member of it if you are opposed to the idea of compulsory membership. For people who have an objection to compulsory membership of students associations.

This is allowed under VUWSA's policy on membership that was approved in 2000.

The policy states that people may be granted exemption under the following grounds:
2. Any student may apply in writing to the President for exemption from membership on the following grounds:
2.1 Financial Hardship
2.2 Conscientious Objection
2.3 Short term enrolment of three months or less for the purposes of completing a post-graduate thesis

and when deciding on an application for exemption under 2.2:
6. In the case of application on the grounds of conscientious objection the application must state clearly the grounds on which the student has a conscientious objection and the application will need to demonstrate a deeply held philosophical conviction that compulsory association infringes the applicants rights in ways and for purposes that are demonstrably offensive to the applicant.
7. In line with past precedents set by the University when dealing with conscientious objection, the President shall work with a definition of “conscientious” which shall include moral, philosophical and religious grounds, but not dissatisfaction with policies (that can be affected democratically) nor dissatisfaction with VUWSA services.

But before any students think this is a great way to save on paying the $120 levy the policy says that anyone granted the exemption must:
8. Any student granted exemption on the grounds of conscientious objection shall be required to pay a sum equivalent to a charity which has been endorsed by the Executive. In addition to the charities approved in Appendix 1 of this policy, the President shall refer any other charities requested to the Executive for approval.

The approved charities are:
1. Rape Crisis
2. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA)
3. Women’s Refuge
4. The VUWSA Foodbank
5. Wellington City Mission
6. Wellington Life-Flight Charitable Trust
7. Wellington People’s Centre

This would seem to be the perfect option for those Student Choice and Act On Campus members who are so opposed to CSM.

Regards
Alexander

VUWSA Elections 2007

Firstly congratulations to Geoff Hayward who has been elected 2007 VUWSA President and commiserations to Nick Kelly who lost out. The president is a hard gig and Kelly has taken the rap well as the man at the top.

Geoff will be a great president who knows what needs to get done and who has the skills so that things can be delegated to ensure that VUWSA runs with great efficiency.

Peter McCaffrey has the full results on his Blog.

Jeremy Greenbrook-Held has some good background on Geoff and the campaign on his Blog.

I was elected to the position of Treasurer and the 2007 budget is already underway. This is possibly one of the important issues that VUWSA will deal with this year. Having raised the student levy VUWSA must use this to place us back onto a sound financial footing otherwise students are not being well served by their students association.

Nicola Kean has covered this in a "Newsflash" on the Salient Blog.

-Neilson

Welcome

This blog will feature my rants^H^H^H^H^H^H stories about my work as a photographer, my refereeing, my other work, and VUWSA. This first week will have comment moderation turned on because of the VUWSA election being held, after that comments will automaticaly be accepted and will appear on the site. While the vote is being held I will approve all comments except those promoting a candidate.

Please could every Victoria University student who reads this take the time to vote in the elections. More information to be found at http://www.vuwsa.org.nz

More posts to come.