Always Read the Fine Print! Thanks to Vic’s Mistake, Distance at Massey Celebrates its 60th Birthday

Massey at Distance celebrates its 60th birthday this month, but no celebrations would be in order if it weren’t for the accident of Vic Uni that started it all.

While it’s quite a complicated story, here is a sum up: Vic ding dong didn’t read fine print = Massey gets Vic’s distance and science classes MwHAhAHa.

Massey at Distance Co-President Jax Watt spent three weeks researching the story of how Massey at Distance came to be by reading a book which can only be described as awful, called The EXMSS Files: A People’s History of the Massey University Extramural Students’ Society. But alas, she got her story.

In the 1950s, Massey was solely an Agricultural College with a tiny campus in Palmerston North. Before Massey, Victoria University taught distance classes, or what was called extramural classes. However, Watt said Vic wasn’t “keen on being the extramural university because it was kind of that time where society was like ‘what’s extramural, it clogs up the system with part timers, it’s not a real way to get a degree’”.

Vic wanted to teach more science classes but had no space to teach them at its Wellington campus. So, Vic opened a Palmerston North campus but it “had nowhere to put students so they had this agreement with Massey College to have Massey house and feed any students that came to Victoria University for contact and summer school courses,” said Watt.

Because Vic wanted to teach “hot topics” like nuclear science, it wanted to palm off unwanted classes, such as the arts, to Massey Agricultural College. At the time, the New Zealand Senate made uni decisions and set rules. Watt said, “If you didn’t read the rules properly then that was on you, so that was essentially the mistake that Vic made.”

Watt explained, “Vic transferred extramural classes over to make room for science offerings, however, somewhere in the New Zealand Senate, it said that if science offerings were going to be offered in Palmerston North, then they had to go to the agricultural college because the veterinary programme was so good and they could do with the boost of science offerings.”

“This was all laid out in the Senate but no one from Vic read the Senate minutes, where the fine print was, so they made room and gave away these extramural classes to Massey Agricultural College to make room for science classes, not realising that the science classes automatically had to go to Massey Agricultural College.” What a happy accident (for us, not them).

Not only did this begin Massey at Distance but, with broadening subjects, it was “how Massey University essentially starting becoming a university”. All because “someone didn’t read the minutes of the 1957 Senate”, said Watt. “Look at Massey now, it’s just so crazy.”

In 1964, what was then called the Extramural Massey Student Society was made an autonomous body to advocate for distance students who now represent more than half of Massey’s student population. After sixty years, a lot is happening to celebrate the birthday of Massey at Distance. A 60th birthday party was meant to take place but has been put on hold because of, you guessed it, Covid-19. But being an online association, it knows how to celebrate around this. Massey at Distance is doing 60 days of giveaways starting March. To kick off the giveaway month, a $500 tattoo will be given to an Auckland distance student. Watt said, “Auckland’s been having a really rough time so we thought we give them some TLC.” Specially designed merch will be given away including embossed diaries, water bottles and wellness packs. The 60 days of giveaways will finish off with a spa treatment at the location of the winning distance student. The giveaways will be on the Massey at Distance Facebook group and on stream.