You’ve Heard What Massive Thinks. Now Here’s What Your Presidents Want You to Know About the Merge.

Words by M@D, ASA, MAWSA and MUSA 

Disclaimer: Massive was not paid for this piece. We wish we had been. 

As you might’ve heard, your student associations might be merging. 

This is dependent on you. 

MUSA, MAWSA, M@D and ASA have been having these conversations all year, and Manawatahi, Kōkiri Ngātahi, and Te Waka o Ngā Akonga Māori have also had key roles in discussions. 

We truly think merging is the best option for our associations, and in turn our students. Here’s why. 

United student voice 

You might not think about it in your daily life, but Massey has three different campuses, and four student cohorts. One in Albany, one in Manawatū, one in Wellington, and a distance cohort that’s larger than the other three cohorts combined. 

It’s one big hive, which can be a really great thing. But having four separate student associations, who only have a mandate to represent their own cohorts, can be difficult and disempowering. 

Particularly at times when we want to lobby the university. Whether we’re pushing for policy change, taking up the only student seat on a board, or taking a stance on a university-wide issue, our four siloed voices can create huge barriers to advocating for our students well. 

That’s not to say that having local representatives isn’t essential. It is! The strength and presence of local identity, representation and autonomy is incredibly valuable. We recognise and celebrate the difference between our campuses and cohorts. But on a higher level, we want student voice to be impossible to ignore at our institution; that’s how it should be. One united voice is the only way we can make ourselves truly heard. 

Honouring Te Tiriti 

Another core motivation for this change is that we have an opportunity to honour our obligations to Te Tiriti; something we don’t believe any institution or student association is truly doing or has done. That’s because in order to honor Te Tiriti, co-governance with Tangata Whenua and Tangata Tiriti is essential. It’s basic equity, and it’s what we should be seeing everywhere, yet it’s the first thing to be brushed aside. 

It’s evident that our Māori student associations aren’t treated or resourced equitably, and we don’t have faith that our university will make this change anytime soon. What we hope to create is a co-governed association that puts the needs of our Māori tauira at the forefront of every decision. Because that is our obligation in Aotearoa, and because if Māori are winning, we are all winning. 

We also hope to include other important groups that are often marginalised; Pasifika voice, Rainbow voice, Disability voice, and others. These communities are some of the strongest among us. They’re constantly wrestling just to have a seat at the table, and it’s about time their needs are prioritised. 

Why is this conversation happening now? 

If you aren’t an avid reader of Massive, you might not know what sparked these conversations. Here’s some context: 

General student associations are funded through an SLA (Service Levy Agreement), which is a contract held with the university. The four general associations at Massey have always had separate contracts, but this year, we’ve been required by the university to combine these to form one SLA. This has been a conversation over multiple years, and this year is the final deadline to achieve this. 

We’re nearly at the position, and the ball will be in our court. Our associations have previously been funded in inequitable ways, with no clarity of who was receiving what. Now, we’ll have transparency, and our associations will make our own resourcing decisions. 

But if four separate governing bodies have responsibility to oversee one funding contract, things could be extremely difficult. Aligning our governance will allow for strong, coherent oversight direction of our SLA, which will in turn strengthen our services. 

Join the conversation 

We are consulting on proposed governance structures, and we will keep conversations going because your voices matter. As students, you own and govern us. We are only here because of you. To create equity we need your voice. Join in the conversation so we can have an outcome that truly works for tauira at Massey. 

Check our joint president’s column at the back of the mag to see our commitments to students in the creation and consultation of this potential new association.