Otago Students use shit-posting democracy to fuck with student exec

Facebook group “Sign-Up Club” have forced the Otago University Student Association (OUSA) to hold a second Student General Meeting (SGM) with motions to be voted on including an annual couch burning day and that the liquor ban over the University be removed.  

Sign-Up Club has over 6,000 members after starting this year, the majority Otago students. The concept of the group is to “sign up three friends” for general meme-ness, with the club occasionally hosting wild BYOs. Other motions that the group has submitted to be voted on include: hosting another Hyde party, that the Sign-Up Club receive $1,000 a month to spend as they please, and that every official OUSA email must include, in the signature, “Sign Up and Tag 3 Friends!” Quite frankly, it’s fucking hilarious.  

The chain of events all started with an editorial by Erin Gourley, sexy editor of rival student magazine, Critic Te Arohi, who wrote, “Sign Up Club Should Absolutely Not Take Over OUSA’s Meeting...It would be VERY BAD if Sign Up Club sent say a hundred members of their pyramid scheme, and their members voted as a bloc making up over 50% of the students at the meeting and gained the ability to pass whatever motions they wanted. The Sign Up Club should most certainly NOT become aware of their constitutional rights as students at an SGM.” 

Shockingly, students DID become aware of their constitutional rights, and called for an SGM.  

Erin says, “Sign-Up Club might be a shit post but it’s actually made something real happen.” As to the outcome of the second SGM, only time will tell, but Erin remains optimistic. “It just goes to show that if you have a group of students and they act collectively, that means everything in student politics. Even if the only result is that some entertaining resolutions get passed, it will be more fun than student politics has been for ages.”  

The thing is, Massey students, you can do this too. And you don’t even need that many people.  

An SGM can be called at any time by the student body, as long as you have enough people. As reported, five students have already called an SGM for Massey’s Distance Exec, calling for a presidential code of conduct to be implemented. For MUSA, you need 30 students to call an SGM. For MAWSA and ASA, it’s 20. Distance, only five! Five fucking people!  

You just need your names, student IDs and your proposed motions. So, if you’re part of a club, or just have a big group of friends, it is shockingly easy to hold an SGM and pass motions as a majority bloc. Years ago, the Rowing Club at Otago brought all their members along to an SGM and made OUSA fund a $1.39 million Aquatic Centre. That’s the power of student engagement, baby!  

Update: Sign Up Club only passed one motion (to increase the pay for ex-officio members of the OUSA Exec) as, unfortunately, they worded their motions wrong and therefore they were dismissed as unconstitutional by the chair. They did, however, have strong support from the crowd, particularly for their motion to hold a second Hyde street party.