ASA By-Election Heats Up
Massey University’s Auckland campus is currently in the process of electing a new students’ association committee for 2022 (ASA). The role of a students’ association is to ensure that all students have a voice, important issues across campus are addressed and academic standards maintained.
Candidate nominations for the by-election closed on 11 March, leaving just 10 days of campaigning before voting takes place from 21 to 23 March. The new elected committee will then take office on 29 March.
“We are planning on doing a meet the candidates thing,” said current Co-President Ben Austin. Students across the Albany campus will get to hear candidates speak and have an opportunity to ask any questions before voting begins.
The senior roles up for election are President, Cultural Officer, Education Officer and Engagement Officer. Significant honorariums are offered for each of these positions, with the President role being offered up to $20,400 gross annum.
All students currently enrolled at Massey Albany are able to vote in the upcoming election but must sign up as an ASA member first. Voting will take place online through the ASA website.
“We are still in the process of finalizing the eligibility of all the candidates, so that could mean that there will be no campaigning for some of the roles. We are not too sure how it will look just now,” said Ben.
Last year’s students’ association addressed many key issues within the university that will be “carrying over” to the new committee. Ben said, “When I came into the role at the beginning of last year, the previous exec had done a lot of work and still had a lot more to go. It’s not like a one and done year-long project, everything is really continuous.”
Regarding key issues that the 2021 committee has addressed, the Co-President said, “I guess the biggest one internally within the Association would be the MUSAF merger. That is combining all of the associations into one big one where there’s a lot of parity between the associations. This ensures students have equal and equitable experiences across any uni campus that they’re on.
“We’ve also done quite a lot of work with Massey regarding [Covid-19]. Putting support structures in place within the associations and within Massey University as a whole to ensure that students are getting the help that they need during these unprecedented times. Massey has been very responsive and has taken a lot of our advice on board.
“From technology access through to mental health support, to making sure students in halls actually have food and opportunities to leave halls last year during [Covid-19]. There is just a lot of really cool things happening that students don’t really think about.”
For students interested in becoming a future Massey representative but are not quite sure about upholding one of the senior positions, Ben said “there are a bunch of different roles with a bunch of different hours and workloads. Definitely see where you can fit in, whether that’s volunteering or being on the executive committee or even just sitting on a board. It’s definitely a worthwhile experience … Literally anyone can do it, as long as you’re a student when you put your nomination forward.”
For Ben, the best part of being in a student association is “the sense of helping the community. Knowing you’re a part of something bigger than just yourself, and that even if I changed one student’s life for the better, I have succeeded.”