Misinformation and flaky promises from Massey’s student association

Te Tira Ahu Pae were ready to take accountability for their lack of communication about staff and course cuts at their Wellington forum on May 2nd. But students left with misinformation and no clear promises about how the association will improve.  

When asked how information was being made accessible for students by the association, student rep Micah Geiringer plainly said, “We’re not”.  

Hennessey Wilson, general president said, “We can do a lot better, and we need to do a lot better.” 

Neither Wilson or Geiringer made commitments to how this would be done. 

Wilson spent most of the forum speaking about suspected but unconfirmed cuts to the College of Creative Arts (CoCA).  

“College of Creative Arts hasn’t had their proposal for change yet, that's happening this year,” he said.  

To a room mostly full of CoCA students, Wilson said, “You’re all up shits creek.” 

CoCA pro vice-chancellor Margaret Maile said that the college is not advancing a proposal for change at this time.  

She said the university is endeavoring to deliver on its Financial Recovery Plan.  

Wilson said, “We should have a vice chancellor as well, that is there lobbing the government.” 

Vice chancellor Jan Thomas told Massive in March that she had lobbied for more funding. She meets periodically with the government to discuss matters impacting the tertiary education sector, including the financial challenges universities are facing.

However, Wilson said, “She’s actually in a very powerful position. She’s the chair of the vice chancellors committee. But instead of lobbing the government to get more funding, she looks first to what she can cut.” 

While Thomas used to be the chair of the vice chancellors committee, she is not currently.  

Wilson said Massey’s intention is for Singapore to have the “largest campus out of all of Massey’s campuses”.  

He said the university aims for the campus to have 5000 students, more than any of the other internal campuses in NZ, “They’re chasing that international student money.”  

However, this is incorrect, as the university’s aim is to have 5000 students globally by 2026. 

Student rep Micah said 37 staff members from College of Humanities and Social Sciences were cut last year.  

However, the college’s pro vice-chancellor Cynthia White said this was incorrect, the correct figure sitting at about 20 job cuts.  

On the 21st of March, all four association presidents told Massive that moving forward they planned to close the feedback loop and ensure that students were updated with information as it comes from the university. 

A concrete plan to how they will do this is still yet to be seen.