Eight staff quit from student association — election gets postponed

Since semester one, eight staff members of Te Tira Ahu Pae have resigned amongst allegations of a toxic culture. Now the student elections have been postponed until early next year.  

Last month, Massive reported news of turmoil within the association, including the general manager being suspended, the Māori president resigning, and the Pasifika co-president being kicked off the board.  

General manager Wendy Carr has now quit after being suspended in August for unknown serious complaints. We approached her for comment, but she did not provide one.  

Wendy Carr, former general manager of Te Tira Ahu Pae. Photo / Women & Business

In an email to association staff, the temporary manager confirmed eight staff members have resigned since semester one.  

Four of these staff members were in senior positions, and four were general staff.  

Prior to resignations, the association had around 21 staff members not including student representatives.  

All resigned staff were contacted for comment. Only Lucas Iles, the former Wellington clubs coordinator provided one.  

Iles said he experienced ‘negative behaviour’ working for the association.  

“My intention was always to leave and travel at the time that I did and this decision was made prior to being subject to some negative behaviour.” 

The Student Action Collective (SAC), a student watchdog group said after working with the association to organise different protests, “we became aware of a toxic, undemocratic, and stagnant culture that seemed to exist within the management”.  

A protest last year against the course and staff cuts, organised by SAC. Photo / Massive 

“This was despite a great community of on-the-ground student reps who were doing all they could in difficult situations and some leadership that were publicly vocal, engaged, and willing to use their positions to call out Massey for its faults — as well as calling out TTAP for the way their own positions came to be.”  

The collective was saddened by the election postponement, however, hoped the association would become more democratic and accountable.  

“We ultimately hope it is because those willing to put their positions of power to good use are doing so in order to reform the association into something more democratic, engaged, and accountable to students.”  

The association announced on all social media platforms last week that the student election would be postponed until next year. The social media posts led to a longer statement on the association's website.  

The board’s statement said the structure of the association is “not fit for purpose” and it cannot in good conscience appoint or elect new representatives.  

“This year has brought several challenges to light, revealing deeper structural issues that must be resolved before we can effectively move forward.”  

“Regrettably we have struggled to keep the student body informed as we have navigated the issues of this year, choosing rather to update the students only when we had come to conclusions or ensured all of our ‘ducks were in a row’.” 

The board said it was committed to keeping the student body updated. 

“In student politics things are rarely, if ever, linear and clear cut. We hope this message will signal a change in this approach to communications”.  

A committee will be created to review the representation structure and explore changes.  

The board promised “At no point will the committee seek to impose structural changes on any cohort without their full consent.”  

The committee will be made up of any elected or appointed student representatives, and will work with all student cohorts to find solutions. 

A statement from Te Tira Ahu Pae to Massive spoke to the challenges of amalgamating 10 associations into one since 2023.  

Te Tira Ahu Pae is the amalgamation of 10 associations to one. Photo / Archives

“We will be using this time to reflect and revise, with the shared goal of becoming a stronger association that fosters a positive environment for staff and representatives and empowers the voices of our student body.”  

They encouraged students to get involved by chatting with student reps, attending general meetings and consultations, and running for election.  

A Massey University spokesperson told Massive that the university is still concerned about the state of the association.  

“The university remains concerned about the governance of Te Tira Ahu Pae and has shared concerns with the current student representatives about the effectiveness of the model that is in place to represent the students of Massey University.” 

When asked if the university agreed that a new committee should review the association structure, the spokesperson said, “We are not aware of the details surrounding the proposed review committee but we believe it is important that any process is transparent and that the wider student body is provided a range of opportunities to shape any changes that may be made.”  

“Our focus remains on fostering and supporting student voice while also fulfilling our obligation to ensure funding (provided by students for students) that goes towards student representation and student governed student services delivers on key outcomes for the wider student body.”