She is really rather good at what she does (New Zealand – specifically West Coast – country swing), and her voice is velvety and smiley (read: she sings nicely, like a Christian*… COUGHBrookeFraserCOUGH), her demeanor classically kiwi – humble, and sort of embarrassed at her own audacity to be talented.

I like New Zealand music. I really do. Like most New Zealanders, I feel the cultural cringe, but I push through it. I loved Anika Moa’s In Swings The Tide and for a while now have really been enjoying the dalliance New Zealand music has been making into folky country and swing (perhaps because we have been gagging for something, ANYTHING that isn’t dub for about 20 years now), seen in the music of Moa, as well as Jess Chambers, Age Pryor and other Woolshed Session stablemates. It’s been great, guys, but Mel Parsons at BATS proved to me that there can definitely be too much of a good thing.

The set, rugs on the floor and projections of Mel’s video clips, reminiscent of Super 8 holiday reels, was quaint. The atmosphere was genial and the music, well, good – but I just wanted something more. I’ll be honest – I was bored. Give us something new! Mel Parsons is a relatively new artist, having just released her debut album, Over My Shoulder. I know you want it to play on the radio, but goshdarn, surely not just for the people who wanted The Woolshed Sessions: Take Two, right? Surely not.

Perhaps this is all rubbish really, because BATS was brimming with punters, and everyone seemed to be having a great time. Sure, my foot was tapping a bit, and I really enjoyed the lyric: “Aaaah… LET’S GET DRUNK” (I could relate to it: it would have livened things up for me, probably).

The musicians really were outstanding, and very enjoyable to watch – especially the guy with the harmonica, who is no doubt some heavyweight influential/respected figure in the New Zealand music industry, hence I, the heretic, blaspheme unto all that is holy and signed to a record deal in this country: he reminded me of that drunk dad from the It’s Not The Drinking, It’s How We’re Drinking ALAC ads.

Anyway, everyone there seemed to be loving it sick, which is exactly why Mel Parsons and her band were playing that bland brand of music. People love what they already know. But I need more if I am to have any faith in New Zealand music anymore. If only New Zealand music was daring enough to be different, to not stagnate and try something new and brave. C’mon guys, prove you can do it.

I’d rather see Newtown Street Justice or Palace This! At BATS. At least these bands, while not signed, are challenging and playful. Even Stephen Jackson would have been more bearable. At least he gets his kit off and wears sequins from time to time.

If you like Anika Moa, Brooke Fraser, The Woolshed Sessions, Jess Chambers, etc., then don’t hesitate to go to her shows in the future. She’s good, and you’ll get what you want: same-same NZ singer-songwriter blah blahs, which is cool, if that’s what you’re into. I just think she’s boring, and she can do better.

At the very least, the lighting at Mel Parsons was great.

*Myself, I sing like the ‘militant atheist’ I am: laced with homosexual sex, heroin and provocative blasphemy.

MEL PARSONS AND GUESTS LIVE AT BATS THEATRE
BATS Theatre, Wellington
27. 28, 29 May 2010

The Kiwi tradition of allowing over-20s open entry to university, regardless of their high school marks (or lack thereof) is set to change following a review announced by Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce last week.

The New Zealand Qualifications Authority is currently reviewing the policy that allows all New Zealand citizens over the age of 20 open entry to university.

Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce told the Sunday Star Times that Kiwis have been “fooling themselves” under the current policy.

“The question is—is everybody who has that automatic entrance academically suited, and are they able to succeed?

“If not, are we fooling ourselves as a country in encouraging that?”

Victoria University Vice-Chancellor Pat Walsh supports the review.

Walsh told the Sunday Star Times that the open entry policy worked when universities received funding for all students.

“Now that we only have a certain number of places, we clearly can’t have a situation where a qualified student can’t gain entry because of an unqualified over-20 is in there ahead of them.”

In an interview with Radio New Zealand, Massey University Vice-Chancellor Steve Maharey said he wants universities to be consulted about the issue.

Maharey said that if the system is to be changed, it should be undertaken with caution, and that measures should be put in place to ensure no groups are prevented from attending university.

NZUSA Co-Presidents Pene Delaney and David Do are concerned the move will unfairly impact on those wanting to study.

“We are concerned that moves to restrict entry for over-20s will limit access to those who missed their first opportunities for tertiary education. This would disproportionately affect Maori, Pasifika, and second chance learners,” says Delaney.

“Open access is a cornerstone of our tertiary education system. Any moves away from this will threaten participation by most of the population into tertiary education. This is the wrong message to send when we are trying to improve New Zealanders’ skills in the current difficult economic environment,” says Do.

Joyce told the Sunday Star Times that it the move was not intended to exclude people from education, but to match people with the right institutions.

The review of open entry comes after many New Zealand universities, such as Victoria and Massey, move to follow in the footsteps of Auckland University to limit entry to under-20s, based on an academic prerequisite.

Victoria University plans to commence managed enrolment from 2011. Salient will have more information about Victoria’s plans for managed enrolments in a later issue.

I must declare: I am indeed the same Freya as was Freya the Vice President of VUWSA in 2009. So I think it’s important to declare my situated perspective in this way. However, this is not an opinion piece, and in no way am I saying ‘yay’ or ‘neigh’ (whinny) to the VSM bill, or the concept of VSM. But y’know, just so we all know where we’re at.

The Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill was drawn from the ballot on 20 August 2009. It passed its first reading on 23 September. It has now been referred to the Education and Science Select Committee, for which submissions close on the 31 March. So not far away!

Yeah. But. Why. Do. We. Care?

Orright, we care because this bill would change the way we subscribe to our students’ associations.

The bill would stop the tertiary educations at which we are enrolled (in this case, Victoria University) from automatically deducting our students’ association (again, VUWSA, in this case) levy from our fees. We would no longer be members of VUWSA just by virtue of being enrolled at Vic. We would have to ‘opt-in’ (that means, sign up and pay up-front) to VUWSA at the beginning of every year.

Currently, the system we have is ‘opt-out’. It’s called Universal Student Membership (USM) or Compulsory Student Membership (CSM).

Should you not be so cool with being a member of VUWSA—well, in the words of El Presidente, Max Hardy:

“To opt-out, students just need to write the president (in this case, me) an email or letter explaining that they wish to be exempt for reasons of conscientious objection and explaining, briefly, why they conscientiously object to membership of VUWSA. They should then stipulate a reputable charity that they wish their money to be paid to. Quite a simple process.

To opt-out on the grounds of financial hardship they need to explain, briefly, their financial situation and explain, briefly, why they are in a situation of hardship (e.g. high rent etc).

It used to be that an external party (VUW Council) decided applications for exemption, and VUWSA would be more than happy to return to this process if students wanted that.”

So, we are automatically members, but we can opt out on an individual basis by means of conscientious objection or financial hardship.

We can also change our system to become ‘opt-in’, as a collective—that is, all students at Victoria University. For this to occur, there needs to be a petition, signed by 10 per cent of the enrolled students at Victoria (we have about 22,000 students, so that would mean 2200 of us), which calls for a referendum. If, in that case, it is voted that Victoria students would prefer to ‘opt-in’ to VUWSA, then—wowser—VUWSA would have ‘opt-in’ membership. This is the case at Auckland University Students’ Association (AUSA).

This opt-in/opt-out business is all relatively new. In 1999, parliament passed an amendment to the Education Act to allow this element of choice. Previously every enrolled student at a tertiary education was a member of their students’ association, and this bill allowed for people to opt-out.

If the Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill gets through the third reading and becomes law, it would mean that every students’ association in New Zealand would be ‘opt-in’.

This is an important thing. It’s a big deal. It will affect how your studies go. It is up to you whether you want this or not. There are two very vocal sides to the debate about whether this is a good thing or not. So—hear what other people have to say. Go to the anti-USM/pro-VSM website (www.act.org.nz/vsm and Facebook: Free Me). Go to the pro-USM/anti-VSM site, ‘Save Our Services’ (saveourservices.org.nz and Facebook: Save Our Services).

Go on. Read the bill for yourself—just google the title, “Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill”, and it should come up, along with a whole lot more information on it. Have your say, make a submission to the Select Committee.

This bill matters, so make sure you are involved in the debate.

Roger Douglas’s bill proposing an end to wage parity for youth employees will soon be under debate in parliament, after being pulled from the ballot last week.

The ACT MP’s members bill, Minimum Wage (Mitigation of Youth Unemployment) Amendment Bill would amend the current Minimum Wage Act 1983 to end minimum wage parity and allow the government to set a separate minimum wage for youth (defined in the Bill as 15–17-year-olds) employees.

Youth rates were abolished after former Green Party MP Sue Bradford’s Minimum Wage (Abolition of Age Discrimination/New Entrants) Amendment Bill was enacted in 2007, following strong support from the Youth Union Movement­—part of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions.

The bill has caused some controversy over whether New Zealand should return to the former, pre-2007 minimum wage model.

Young Labour President Patrick Leyland says the bill is not focusing on the right issues.

“What young Kiwis need is a solid plan to grow the economy and more to opportunities to up-skill, not a far-right bill that aims to see young people doing work of the same value, but getting paid less purely because of their age.”

Victoria’s ACT on Campus Vice President Peter “Milkshakes” McCaffrey supports the bill.

“ACT on Campus think that it is disgusting that politicians tell young people that they may not choose to work for less than the minimum wage should they wish to.”

Young National President Daniel Parkinson did not reply to an invitation for comment.

So, btw, wtf, lol, you may have noticed that your BFFs here at Salient spur off a number of acronyms in the news section. After hanging around tertiary education for a while, you get pretty used to these. But for newbies, as I’m sure a lot of you are, it’s not quite so obvious. Let us help you out, ftw. 

VUWSA: Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association

You hear about these cats quite a lot. You are auto-magically subscribed to VUWSA at the beginning of every year you enrol at Vic. VUWSA is governed by a student representative body, called the executive. The president this year is Max Hardy. He had a lot of not-so-subtle erection jokes in his presidential campaign in 2009 that most people felt a disconcerting mix of amusement and disgust towards.

A levy of $131.90 was paid to VUWSA through your fees. Some of this money goes towards making Salient (though the magazine has editorial independence, so we can keep the executive in check); some goes to free BBQs in the quad; some goes to the Food Bank, which offers you a food parcel in your time of need; some of it goes towards coordinating the class representative system. There’s heaps of other stuff they do too, but it takes too long to write about all that.

You can find VUWSA on the Ground Floor of the Student Union Building on Kelburn Campus, where they can tell you all about themselves. Go ahead, they’ll love it. Oh, and there’s the VUWSA website (www.vuwsa.org.nz), which is totes helpful too.

NZUSA: New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations

So, now you know what VUWSA is, you can understand what NZUSA is. NZUSA is at the top of the students’ association organisational food chain, and member associations, like VUWSA, and a lot of other students’ associations around the country, pay a levy to NZUSA for all that, y’know, collective strength and organisin’ an’ resource poolin’ stuff. They’re there to represent students at a national level, so they’re our voice. NZUSA headed the campaign for interest-free student loans, which shows that they can achieve some pretty cool stuff for students. NZUSA has two co-presidents this year, David Do and Pene Delaney. You’ll see them quoted in most articles that relate to tertiary education.

TMA: Te Mana Akonga

TMA is like NZUSA, but looks out specifically for the rights and welfare of Maori tertiary education students. The president is called a Tumuaki, and this year Jacqueline Poutu fills that role.
 

TEU: Tertiary Education Union

These peeps be representin’ your lecturers, the admin staff at Vic and—actually, well, everyone who works at Victoria University, and other tertiary education institutions across the country. They are pretty tight with NZUSA, and often work together on similar campaigns for the interests of students and tertiary education employees. www.teu.ac.nz.

TIA: Tertiary Incentive Allowance

The TIA was formerly available to undergraduate students on the DPB, Widow’s Benefit and Emergency Maintenance Allowance. This was removed in the National Government’s 2009 Budget, which sucks since it means that vulnerable groups such as low-income women and disabled students have diminished access to tertiary education. Watch out for it in Salient this year.

USM/CSM: Universal Student Membership/Compulsory Student Membership

The current state of affairs where membership of a students’ association is universal: the levy to VUWSA—or whichever students’ association, depending on which tertiary institution you attend—comes automatically from your fees payment to the university. Students can ‘opt-out’ either individually (by means of conscientious objection, so the money does not go to the students’ association) or as a group (by way of a petition of 10% of the student population at any one institution).

VSM: Voluntary Student Membership

The situation where students must ‘opt in’ to students’ associations. The levy is not taken automatically so students must sign up to their students’ association with $130-odd bucks. This is what happens in Australia, where students’ associations receive much less in levies and must fundraise and rely on their institutions for support to keep running.

ASPA: Aotearoa Student Press Association

This is pretty much a collective of all the student mags in the country. We like to help each other out and share stories, features, spit and advice. Salient is part of ASPA. There’s a sweet awards ceremony every year. And we’re all committed to covering news and events that matter to students.
 

VBC: Victoria Broadcasting Club

Like Salient, but radio, basically. There appears to be something of a jovial rivalry between Salient and the Veebs, the cheeky scoundrels. They’re across the foyer from VUWSA, so if you fancy yourself as a bit of a Mikey Havoc or something equally lame (just kidding, but not about Mikey Havoc being lame, though), get yourself down there and volunteer. It’s pretty rad, in all honesty. Oh, and you can listen to it at 88.3FM. You can stream it from www.vbc.org.nz too, which is pretty cool.

LDN

A 2006 hit single that got old really quickly, just like the lame mockney accent used by the person who sings it. Ooooh, look, I’m so working class. Woo. Get back down into the mine where you came from then. I mean, she went to a private school. Wanker.
 
I hope this helps. If you read anything else and don’t get it, feel free to ask us. We’ve got nothing better to do.

Recently I was put on the Managed Enrolment Working Party (MEWP) as the student representative. The MEWP was established by the University to assess issues that would arise if limited entry to 100 level papers was introduced, and provide solutions to many of these issues.

These include the proposition of a process and methodology by which the University will be able to enact selective entry on a “clear and equitable” basis from 2011 (or 2010, though unlikely) onwards. The Managed Enrolment Policy (which allowed this process to begin) was passed in June 2008 at University Council, nevertheless both student representatives on Council; including 2008 President Joel Cosgrove and your trusty little student magazine Salient seemed to let it slide without much controversy.

Students needed to know that this was on the agenda and now looks to be implemented in the near future. Limited entry may sound like a good thing to some people, and granted, I can see the wider economic and political context in which we (and the University) find itself in. However, in saying that, the supposed ‘solution’ to the University’s financial woes in ‘managed enrolment’ severely cripples accessibility to tertiary education.

Sure, there are measures being proposed, similar to that of Auckland University (who recently introduced limited entry), to increase equity for ‘under-represented’ groups—namely prospective Māori and Pasifika students. Don’t get me wrong, I wholeheartedly support this, and believe there should be further support for such students. However, I find it quite a tokenistic approach that appears to allow the University to feel less guilty about what they are doing (in terms of equity, at least).

That is a crime. It’s quite tragic. There’s no reason why every person in New Zealand shouldn’t have the opportunity to study at Victoria University of Wellington. Education is a right, not a privilege. Education fuels our society, it makes it stronger in every way, and since everyone seems to listen to anything that has to do with money, I’ll remind you that it’s good for the economy, too. New Zealand certainly needs to improve its career services for young people, so they are set on the right track post-secondary education. The system as it stands is not perfect, but limited entry will only make it worse—for everyone except the privileged.

Let it be noted, too, that this is a problem not so much with Victoria University, but with the Government, and their priorities (or lack thereof). Thanks, Tolley.

If you want more information contact the VUWSA Education Team at evp@vuwsa.org.nz . Also, if you are interested in this issue, see this recent article from the NZ Herald.

Freya Eng

Vice President (Education)

04 463 6988 • evp@vuwsa.org.nz
www.vuwsa.org.nz

Kia ora, kia ora. The time has come once again to volunteer to be a Class Representative. Hopefully, all Class Representatives were elected last week, but if one of your courses is one of the stragglers, get on to it! Being a Class Rep is like, oh-em-gee, way awesome.

If you are elected as a Class Representative, you get free training from VUWSA (and maybe free stuff too… I say maybe but only because I’m being coy. There is actually free stuff.) As well as that, you get a classy certificate once you’ve served your term, and you can say that you were a Class Rep on your CV, which is kinda cool. It makes you look responsible and empathetic and all that, which is great, huh?

Being a Class Rep isn’t a huge job. Basically it’s providing a contact point between students, the University (lecturers, etc.) and VUWSA. It makes life on campus a little bit easier for everyone when you know you’ve got someone who is there to help you. Because Class Reps are trained, they will know what to do when a situation arises.

If your lecturer or school has been a bit slack or whatever, and you don’t have your Class Rep Registration Form or the Class Representative Handbook 2009, go on the VUWSA website, (which has been updated recently—‘jazzed’ up, some would say—geddit?) to pick one up. You can also find the training powerpoint there, if you wanna do a little extra study (totally optional, of course—but you never know. Some people are way keen, which is fantastic.)

Now for convenience’s sake, here are the training times for Class Representatives elected in Trimester 2. Make sure you come along—it’s only short, but it’s fun, too.

If you have any further questions, contact us at the VUWSA Education Team. Over and out.

Freya Eng, Vice President (Educashun)

Thursday 23rd July, 2pm: Kelburn
Meeting Room 2, Level 2, Student Union Building

Wednesday 22nd July, 2pm: Te Aro
VS 318, Te Aro

Last week, a petition was handed to me from Executive member Robert Latimer, with the signatures of ten students, calling for the resignation of VUWSA President Jasmine Freemantle.

Now, for the sake of context: some may argue this, but I’m not some big VUWSA hack. 14 months ago I didn’t even know what VUWSA was. I got involved in student politics when my Film major was threatened last year. I was then exposed to a students’ association that was run by this bearded guy who did next to no work (though to be fair, he had good intentions, and is essentially a nice man—he just should have never been president).

I realized that my money was going towards this, and believed that I could help fix it (after all, after last year, Executive members that were at least half way literate was a huge improvement). What people don’t seem to realize is that it’s not logical to run for the students’ association executive for fame and power. Hah! People automatically hate you, are cynical about your motives, jump to assumptions about your beliefs and call you names—which is fine, it comes with the territory. This is something you must accept when you are elected.

Jasmine Freemantle is just the same as me. She is just a student who saw a bunch of muppets running VUWSA and volunteered herself, someone halfway decent, to replace them. That’s what she, and we as the President and Vice Presidents, are trying to do. We are trying to fix VUWSA up. We’re playing by the book. All we want to do is put our heads down and get on with it. These petty politics may be fun to read about I guess, but what I’m sure students really want is a really efficient students’ association that doesn’t waste their money each year, that takes their responsibilities as representatives seriously, and, most of all, does the job they are elected to do.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that, without tooting our own horn too much, we are comparatively one of the most committed, hardworking and competent executives VUWSA has had in a very long time. A lot of that has to do with the leadership of Jasmine Freemantle. In effect, it would be a waste of your money to roll her. It’s a waste of time and money as it is. But as it stands, your students’ association is the healthiest it has ever been, under the guidance of Jasmine Freemantle.

It’s pathetic, childish games like this rolling business that has plagued student politics and made it a joke in former years. Let us get on with our work, what we’re meant to be doing—serving students. Come along to the Special General Meeting (stay tuned—the date isn’t set yet) and vote against this ridiculous motion.

If you wish Women’s Week was every week, don’t forget there is a Women’s Group (that recently became a representative group) that you can go along to. For more information on that, contact Kassie at wro@vuwsa.org.nz. This year is a very exciting year for the Women’s Group, and it is really great to see the group organising and growing more and more. I hear rumblings around the VUWSA offices of some of the awesome things that have been lined up for the Women’s Group, so if you’re interested—don’t be shy! There’s no harm in trying, huh?

For all of you out there who are little sceptical about Women’s Week, and the whole ‘feminazi’ thing, please try to lay any possible preconceptions aside. Remember, like many “-isms”, there are many forms of it. So if you’re not cool with the bra-burning, man-hating, S.C.U.M. manifesto feminism you may have been exposed to, or whatever, remember that there are many forms one’s personal feminism can take, and there may be one for you. Oh what a post-modern world we live in, isn’t it delicious?! If you’re into beating women and think sexism is a really good idea, then perhaps feminism’s not for you. All I’m saying is give it a go if you want. It’s not as scary as it seems.

Equally—if you’re wondering why there’s no men’s rep group, it’s because there is no men’s club (which is what a rep group generally starts out as, until it grows to a size large enough to justify it being a rep group—some other criteria apply, too). So disregarding issues of what you think about sexism and oppression (and who is oppressed, if anyone, and why they need representation and support), there’s your reason.

Lastly, I want to apologise if anyone was offended by my ‘blasphemy’ in my last column. I did not intend to offend or hurt anyone by doing this, and my intention with the column was merely to point out the hurtfulness of using the word ‘gay’ as a negative adjective. Which is kinda ironic, I realise—so—sorry.

So anyway, here’s a picture of a really awesome lady. There’s lots of them.

Freya Eng, Education Vice-President
evp@vuwsa.org.nz

I got the inspiration for this column whilst on a bus between the Pipitea and Kelburn Campuses. I was sitting there, minding my own business, when I heard someone behind me say to their friend, “Yeah, I’m gonna quit my job soon. The hours are so stupid and it’s… just so gay.”

I’m sorry. I must be missing something here. This girl’s job has a sexual orientation? Well that’s new.

In all seriousness however, it really does irk me when people say “That’s gay,” or “That’s retarded,” It’s just so not cool. I know that many people believe that they are not actively homophobic in saying this, and I do realise it is just a habit you pick up at school, or whatever, and that when you use it in that context – as in, a synonym for ‘stupid’ or ‘lame’, you don’t mean to say that being gay is necessarily a bad thing. However, you must consider the social impacts of the things you say.

There’s no denying that when you say that something is gay, it implies that those two words are synonymous with something that is bad, wrong, silly—you know all the negative adjectives. While you may not mean it, in saying such phrases you are actually actively contributing to homophobia, discrimination and prejudice against gay people. The subtext of what you are saying is that it is bad or wrong to be gay. For most of you, I’m sure you don’t want to be saying this at all. But you are.

The use of the phrase in primary schools affects our queer youth – it’s undeniable. I attribute much of my personal internalised homophobia (that’s basically where you’re really homophobic because you are gay, and terrified of it) to the influence of my peers during my early development. “Yeah, but we’re at university, not primary school, Freya. People know the difference.” Sure, that is partly true. But at the same time, in continuing to say that something is gay you are perpetuating its acceptance in everyone’s common day to day conversation, which as I’m sure you can work out, inevitably trickles down to every faction of society.

It’s just something to think about.

It is everyone’s responsibility to make this campus a safe and happy campus (zomg where is my pun about ‘happy campers’ now?). We all contribute to the atmosphere between students. It’s a pretty simple concept of what goes around comes around. You may not be actively homophobic, transphobic, moustache-on-a-lady-phobic, racist,classist or sexist, but please, recognise the impact that what you say and do has on other people—bigotry is just not sexy.

Gee willikers, Christopher Robin. Don’t even get me started on “That’s retarded.”