Exam stresses are set to rise to an even greater level for students currently living in Victoria University’s Halls of Residence, as they need to ensure their departure by the final day of exams.

All residents of Vic’s halls must leave by Saturday 13 November.

The strict move-out date is necessary, Victoria Student Accommodation Manager Nick Merrett says.

“In most cases students attending trimester three courses move in to the halls on the Sunday which is why
residents need to vacate on Saturday 13 November.

“In the case of University Hall, refurbishment work is beginning at 8am Sunday morning so rooms need to be
cleaned and cleared ahead of that work beginning.”

Students spoken to by Salient still feel that the refurbishments are at a bad time, for the academically-focused University Hall.

“I understand that the renovations are important but couldn’t they have started a week later?” says one
University Hall resident.

“It seems stupid that Uni Hall, as an academic hall first and foremost, are making us clean up and move out
during a week when most of us still have exams.”

The inflexible date of University Hall’s renovations is an adequate reasoning for some students.

“It’s annoying but I can see why they are doing it.

“It’s a one-off because of the renovations so we just had to deal with it and start to clean up now, I guess.”

The clean up date for University Hall has been set at November 10, adding even more pressure to stressed
students.

Merrett says that students have had warning and there have been arrangements in some halls to let
students with Saturday exams leave a day later.

“Residents were initially advised they may have to vacate their room before midnight on Saturday 13
November.

“Following an approach from students with Saturday exams, arrangements have been made for these students to vacate their rooms on Sunday morning.”

Many of the halls cannot allow students to stay later which is why the move out date is so strict.

“Most catered halls have strict move-out dates because that is when catering services finish and there
are no cooking facilities for residents to self-cater,” says Merrett.

“Other halls usually have flexibility, and students can stay for a longer period of time.”

Due to Campus Hub construction, there is currently no wheelchair access to parts of the Student Union Building.

Soon the VUWSA office will join Salient’s office in being out of reach for disabled students.

VUWSA President Max Hardy says that it is an inconvenient situation.

“We are working with Disability Support Services currently to ensure our office and services are accessible as
possible.

“We are very concerned that the office will not be accessible for any period of time, although we have limited this time to only a part of the third trimester.”

The time period over which the offices will be unavailable to disabled students was carefully planned, says Director of Campus Services Jenny Bentley.

“There will be no wheelchair access to VUWSA and Salient’s offices, now on Level 2, between mid-October and when construction is completed in mid February 2011.

“The work was planned for this period to minimise impact on students and we worked with the university’s Access Committee to find a solution for access.”

Bentley says that although inconvenient, the blocking off of significant parts of the Student Union Building was unavoidable, due to Wellington City Council requirements.

The university is planning on installing a phone that disabled students can use.

Bentley says that this is planned to enable full access to the services of Salient and VUWSA for disabled students.

“To ensure that all students continue to have access to VUWSA and Salient’s services, the university is putting a phone in the atrium for students to call VUWSA or Salient and arrange to meet in a suitable location,” says Bentley.

The phone will be in place by mid-October when wheelchair access to VUWSA is cut off. Disabled students can then call VUWSA with the phone number detailed on signs at the Student Union Building entrances.

A problem still clearly remains for Victoria students who are both in a wheelchair and are deaf and/or mute.

Bentley says that they have forewarned students and staff about the upcoming access problems.

“Disability Services has emailed registered students and briefed key contacts around the campus about the changes.”

Victoria’s Disability Services Manager Rachel Anderson-Smith says that although the blockages are problematic, the construction will help in the long run.

“When this project is finished, all students, including those with impairments, will have a much more accessible Counselling Service and Student Health Service.”

“While not perfect in the short term, the project is a significant leap forward in creating a fully accessible Victoria campus.”

English and French are two different languages. That’s an obvious point. But the ‘French night’ combined these in such a way that both English- and French-speaking audience members generally got the gist of what was going on. It was engaging and enjoyable evening compiled of singing, dancing and acting.

Big ups to the MC character of Mademoiselle Toilette (Claire O’Loughlin) who moved the showcase pieces through with wit, humour and a big red wig. The precursors to the play C’est une femme du monde included the truly beautiful singing of Rose Duxfield and the contemporary ‘Flashbaque’ of the Weir House Dance Crew.

Another ‘lol’ moment was Philippe Martin-Lau’s reading of the French poem ‘Le Harang Saur.’ The showcase was a combination of humour and sincerity, dance and music, moved through at an energizing pace which kept it lively and entertaining for the audience.

The main event of the night was the play C’est une femme du monde which was entirely spoken in French. Despite the fact I don’t speak one iota of the language, it was still relatively obvious what was going on for the majority of the show. Robert Parker, playing Alfred, deserves particular mention for his ability to convey exactly what his character was thinking in a comical manner for those of us non-Frenchies. He also did a pole dance against a chair at one point, which was enjoyable.

It was obvious that the actors had a good time, which made the audience in turn do the same. And, ultimately, it made people laugh, which is always good for a comedy.

Meeting ends with a convenient quorum count of 99

The advertised sausage sizzle and ‘giant’ sandwich certainly lured people into VUWSA’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) held last Wednesday in the Memorial Theatre, but once the free food went, so did the students.

Quorum was met with two minutes to spare at 1.28pm with over 100 students in the room.

As per Section 2(1) of Part II of the VUWSA Constitution, general meetings must have quorum of 100 people within 30 minutes of starting in order for the meeting to be held.

Quorum was later lost when the infamous AGM-attendee and Act On Campus President Peter McCaffrey called for a quorum count approximately half an hour later, resulting in the discovery that there were only 99 students left in the room. VUWSA President Max Hardy then immediately ended the meeting.

Many students spoken to by Salient were disappointed with this outcome.

“It’s so annoying, this kind of thing seems to happen every time,” one student said.

Despite its relatively early closure, Hardy was pleased with the meeting.

“The Annual General Meeting was a success.”

VUWSA was able to run through the majority of items on the agenda before the meeting was disbanded, albeit with brief interruptions. At one point, a motion was passed for McCaffrey to not be heard as a result of these interruptions.

The carried motions included the approval of the Half Year Report and Financials, the appointment of VUWSA’s Solicitor and Auditor, and the recognition of the VUW Science Society as a representative group.

The Science Club’s President William Guzzo was excited about the prospect.

“It will help Science students get a life.”

Hardy was also pleased with this outcome.

“The highlight [of the AGM] was certainly the formation of the VUW Science Society as VUWSA’s newest Rep Group. We hope that they will be a major success in the years to come.”
Another motion passed was for VUWSA to investigate the food options on campus, particularly specialty dietary requirements provided for students during the Campus Hub renovations. Hardy said that this was already VUWSA’s agreed role within the Campus Hub contract.

“VUWSA will be on every panel regarding food and beverage decisions, so essentially I agree with this motion.”

More light-hearted motions were passed, namely formal congratulations to the VUW Medieval and Renaissance Society Association for having more members than Vic Labour.

The final motion was for VUWSA to support the Green Party’s Warm Healthy Rentals Bill, which aims to ensure there are mandatory heating requirements in flats.

A quorum count called for by McCaffrey just before this motion was voted on resulted in a total of 99 students, after which Hardy announced that the meeting was over.

When questioned about the convenience of the timing and result of this quorum count, McCaffrey told Salient that he believed it was intentional.

“VUWSA don’t want political statements being made while the VSM bill is going through.

“But I’m not surprised. The quorum count always just happens to be whatever is the most convenient at the time.”

Salient can confirm that McCaffrey was not paid or bribed by VUWSA to call for a quorum count at that time.

“I was really just trying to save the VUWSA lawyer from any extra work having to invalidate the AGM because of a motion being passed supporting a bill at parliament.”

Students Kade Sheely and Tenzin Heatherbell were unimpressed with the meeting.

“There’s a wide belief that VUWSA is a joke, so we came along to see if this was true,” says Sheely, “and apparently it is.”

“It seems to be all the weirdos from every corner of the university in one room,” added Heatherbell.

VUWSA had intended to pass a motion to include the option of ‘No Confidence’ to the positions of University Council Representative and Publications Committee Representatives, effectively changing the constitution so that individuals could not be elected with only one vote.

Due to a failure to propose the motions on the VUWSA noticeboard 14 days before the AGM, this was not allowed.

Hardy had stated this intention at a meeting with Salient recently and it was included in Welfare Vice-President Seamus Brady’s column in last week’s issue.
Hardy says that this issue may be addressed next year.

“I am aware that there are some members that wish to propose amendments at the IGM next year which will provide for no confidence option for the Uni Council Rep and Pub Comms representatives elections.”

‘Wasted trash’ no longer only refers to drunken students stumbling through town, heels in hand, on a Saturday night.

According to recent findings, Victoria University’s recycling minimisation strategy is failing, as the amount of waste continues to rise despite plans to reduce it.

Section 4.2.2 of the Victoria Facilities Management Policy Group’s Environmental Policy describes their aim to “manage the University’s natural and physical resources in an environmentally responsible and sustainable manner”.

Aspects of this policy, which was introduced in 2006, include the recycling of 38 per cent of Victoria’s waste, energy saving, double-sided printing and the permanent position of an Environmental Manager.

Jenny Bentley, Director Campus Services, says that these changes have been overseen by the Environmental Committee and continue to be worked on.

“Victoria is currently working on a draft waste minimisation strategy, which will be complete by the end of this year.”

On top of this, Bentley says the Environmental Committee and student environmental group Gecko have attempted to engage with students and staff to ensure there is less waste around campus.

“Staff are encouraged to distribute resources electronically on Blackboard as much as possible to avoid distributing material to students who will not use it and to allow students to print assignments double-sided.”

VUWSA’s Environmental Officer Zachary Dorner says that this ‘strategy’ has not yet been effective.

“There is huge scope for reduction in this area, beyond what has already been done. It’s disappointing to see Vic’s waste rising last year, though the aim was to reduce it.”

The statistics show that there was almost a seven per cent increase from 2009 in Victoria’s waste, despite the plan to decrease it by seven per cent.

Many students spoken to by Salient were unaware of the waste problems around Victoria campuses.

“The only recycling bins I have seen are in the common room at Law School, it would be good to see more of that around all campuses,”one student says.

“I haven’t seen any recycling bins in the University library,” agrees another student, “which seems stupid because that’s where a lot of students clearly have recyclable rubbish”.

Dorner says that recycling is one of the key ways in which students can help minimise Victoria’s waste.

“Use the recycling bins, bring your own lunch in re-usable containers and avoid buying things with too much packaging.

“Get a keep cup for coffee, ask your lecturers not to print things you don’t need printed, and send an email to Pat Walsh asking him to implement a proper Waste Minimisation Strategy.”

Local student hangout Offbeat Originals has abruptly ‘closed until further notice’ according to a sign put up in the window late last month.

Situated just off Cuba Mall, Offbeat has been open for the past three years, so the sudden closure is concerning for students spoken to by Salient.

“I remember going there on Tuesday, then walking past on Thursday and it was closed,” one student says.

“I love Offbeat, they’re awesome! It really sucks.”

The telephone number and Offbeat email address remained unanswered when Salient went to print on Thursday.

One student who lives above the popular student café says that Offbeat is seemingly always open.

“I’ve never seen Offbeat shut before—there is always someone downstairs from like ten in the morning ‘til ten at night.”

She says that the closure may have been caused by building leakages. Water has apparently been seeping through the deck above the café, resulting in a health and safety issue.

“The landlord came to see us the other day to tell us it was leaking into Offbeat and needed fixing so only one person was allowed on there at a time.

“We haven’t heard from them since so we are unsure what is happening.”

Only time will tell how long students will be cut off from Offbeat.

If Hogwarts had a ‘magical’ StudyLink, the postal owls would be overworked, according to recent student complaints.

Victoria University students spoken to by Salient say that the amount of mail received from StudyLink is overwhelming and often unnecessary.

“I realise that we need to know about our loans,” says one student, “but I always get sent the same letters repeatedly and it gets quite annoying.”

In a media release StudyLink also acknowledged the overwhelming amount of mail sent out to students across New Zealand, however they state that it is necessary.

“Yes, we know, we do send a lot of letters! It’s important that we keep you informed about what’s happening with your student finances.”

VUWSA’s Environmental Officer Zachary Dorner agrees that it is essential for students to be kept updated in regards to their loans, but he criticises the excess paper wastage by StudyLink.

“It’s important to keep students up to date with important information regarding their loans, but government departments often seem a bit slow with keeping up with modern technology.” Dorner says.

“Saving on paper not only helps the environment, but reduces costs to StudyLink, and ultimately on students.”

Students have noticed that they receive StudyLink mail much more frequently than mail from other companies, such as banks.

“It seems like they send out mail at least twice for each dealing I have had with them.”

StudyLink does offer an alternative option for students, who can opt to receive letters online. This was introduced at the beginning of November 2009 in an initiative to help students reduce their carbon footprint.

As of 21 September this year, StudyLink records that there are over 127,000 students who have registered to receive their mail online. StudyLink hopes to see an increase when the remaining forms of correspondence, such as the loan contract, become available online from late October.

StudyLink’s Acting General Manager Rachel Bruce describes the reasoning behind the change as largely environmental.

“One of the key reasons for introducing the online mail service is to reduce the amount of paper we use.

“We are conscious of the environmental impact of paper-based communication.”

Dorner says this is the best way to go environmentally.

“The online letters option is definitely the best—that’s how I get mine. All students should opt for this option from StudyLink, their banks and so on where possible.”

Despite being introduced in November 2009, students are often unaware of the online letter option.

“StudyLink may do better by advertising this option more prominently,” says Dorner.

Bruce says that StudyLink has advertised this option widely.

“This new service…has been actively promoted on our website and in material sent to students since.”

Bruce says that ultimately it is up to the students to be proactive.

“We want students themselves to play their part too. If a student has access to the internet and wants to assist us with this initiative, we encourage them to register for Mail Online.”

Victoria University Netball wins Club of the Year

The quote “Victoria University Netball Club is ‘CLUB OF THE YEAR’…Can I get a WOOT WOOT!!!!!!!!!” from TeamVic’s Facebook page sums up the euphoria felt by the club’s members after winning ‘Club of the Year’ at Wellington Netball Prizegiving.

TeamVic came up against all other clubs from within the Wellington draw, but placed first largely as a result of the effort put in by TeamVic’s Committee during the 2010 season.

President Fiona Johnson-Bell says that this win is just the beginning of the committee’s plans for the club.

She aims to bring in dress uniforms, tracksuits and an upgrade of the facilities at the Salamanca courts.

“I not only want this club to be a force on the netball court but also one that the members care about the club as it looks after them.”

Students belonging to the club say that they are proud to be a part of TeamVic.

“The club has really improved over the last year,” one member says. “I was stoked with Vic’s winning team of the year because it means we will now be taken more seriously by other clubs in Wellington.”

Increasing the number of teams from seven to 15 at the beginning of the season also had an impact on the club’s success.

Johnson-Bell puts this down to a “massive recruiting campaign” commencing at the end of 2009.

TeamVic’s Overall Sportsperson of the Year, second-year student Stacey Sharp, says that the massive increase of teams certainly began the season on a new note.

“Going from seven to 15 teams was an awesome way to kick off a new year.”

Despite the hard work put in over the year, the Committee and the members of TeamVic were surprised by their win of ‘Club of the Year’.

“We were completely caught off-guard at the Wellington prize-giving,” says Johnson-Bell, “It was such an incredible feeling that all our hard work, long hours and effort put into managing and organising everyone had paid off.”

Stacey Sharp agrees that the win was unexpected but well deserved.

“TeamVic is best netball club I have ever belonged to,” says Sharp, “it is like the definition of Uni, I think, a mixture of a lot of hard work on-court and a hell of a lot of good times off the court!”

For those of us lucky enough to have any money, banks are an essential part of life. However, problems have arisen between banks and students regarding the transition between student and graduate account packages.

Every year, many New Zealand banks change students automatically onto a graduate account, regardless of whether they have received information from the student.

BNZ Customer Solutions Advisor Robert Judd says that this is merely procedure.

“The way it is works is on an annual basis,” says Judd.

“Until we are notified that you are still studying it will be transferred to a graduate account.

“This is basically because the majority of students study for three years, during which many often have a break and go into the workforce and we just need to be informed.”

The automatic transfer to a graduate account was an inconvenience for a BNZ student customer.

“It’s really annoying because I had no notification, so I only found out when I needed to go the bank itself and they brought it up.

“Now I have to go in at the start of every year to check.”

A former student spoken to by Salient had the opposite problem with Westpac, being unable to change over to a graduate account, despite having finished at Victoria.

The former student said difficulties arose in the transition period between the end of the university year and graduation in May.

“Because I was at the end of a tertiary account, and had not yet acquired a grad account, I had been hoping to get an overdraft but they said this was unable to be done under the tertiary account because it was so close to expiring. I was in bank account limbo.”

A National Bank student customer says that while he was not automatically transferred, certain aspects of the student account package were revoked after the first year.

“I found out to my own expense that they remove my $2000 overdraft limit after a year, which was lame.”

Student accounts are beneficial for students on the whole. Most New Zealand banks, including Westpac, ASB, ANZ, BNZ and National Bank, have similar student account deals. These include no monthly base or transaction fees, an interest-free overdraft and a free to low-fee credit, Visa or debit plus card.

“It is true that although there are hassles,” one student concludes, “we are much better off having student packs than none at all.”

Students pitching-in want university to do the same

The 7.1 magnitude earthquake that hit Christchurch last Saturday has left students in shock as a result of both the destruction and Canterbury University’s cancellation of their study week.

The Facebook group “Bring back study week!”, which already has over 2000 members, calls for students to email their respective lecturers in order to gain a class-free final week of term.

“It’s really unfair for us, especially with full year papers,” says a third-year Law student. “I don’t understand how they expect us to perform to the best of our ability without study week.”

Some lecturers, such as Commercial Law lecturer Sacha Mueller, have already cancelled their lectures during the last week for students.

The power of Facebook was also proven by a group of Christchurch students who have put together a “Student Volunteer base for Earthquake clean up” public event. The site lists where the clean-ups are occurring around Christchurch, provides details and maps, and transportation possibilities.

It also provides an opportunity for members of the community to pitch in, demonstrated through the offers of baking, snacks, equipment, and overwhelming numbers of volunteers evident on the page.

The response to cries for help in Christchurch has been phenomenal, particularly in the aftermath of such a shocking event, says one Canterbury student.

“It was bizarre, the reaction was jubilation that none of us were hurt, shortly followed by guilt because people lost so much. But I feel that, because of the help, there is at least some positive effect.”

This is particularly important with the new estimate of the cost of the earthquake damage coming to $4 billion.

There is still a possibility that more damage will result from the aftershocks, despite the fact they are slowing down.

Victoria University’s Dr John Townend says that these aftershocks are to be expected given the severity of the earthquake.

“This is what big earthquakes do. They cause aftershocks and they do rattle on for some time so nerves will be frayed.”

He says that the smaller shocks will probably go on for weeks, although they will become less forceful over time.