The State of the (Student) Union

By Emma Maguire (they/them)

You might know the Student Union Building from its greatest hits; excellent pizza from the Hunter Lounge, a Biodiversity Deck that could do with a little more biodiversity, or from being the home of VUWSA – your students’ association, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. 

It’s a black and glass monolith that hangs over the city in one corner of the Kelburn campus, and it is also the source of one of the most forlorn management disputes in the entire university.  

Opened in 1961 via funding from the university, VUWSA, and other various community contributions; the Student Union Building has gone through a lot over the years. Well before the time of anyone reading this, it used to house Vic Books (rest in peace), a cafe, a student lounge, and various other occupants.  

The Union Hall (now renamed The Hunter Lounge) was one of the few places in Wellington in the 60s-80s where young people could go and listen to live music. Alongside Wellington bands, they often featured classic Kiwi acts like Split Enz and Dragon – and yeah, the place looked basically the same back then too.  

Since the Student Union Building’s opening, poor record keeping, and a lack of formal agreements have led to disputes over its ownership and management. The 1990s brought on further tensions with the university, which threatened student association funding; VUWSA had been the least funded student association in New Zealand for quite some time now, and as such, any threat to funding became quite serious.  

In 2006, a Deed of Strategic Partnership was signed, creating shared governance between the university and VUWSA, which aimed to resolve disputes and ensure student representation, with the hope of cooling tensions to support student success.  

Now that you’ve got some context for the existence of this building – here's why you should care about who manages it.  

The building houses vital student services, social spaces, and clubs. Mauri Ora, the rainbow support team, the Bubble, the music school, Salient, and more are important groups that need a home, and whoever manages the Student Union Building affects how these spaces operate and whether or not student needs are prioritised.  

It’s 2025. The rising cost of living, student engagement challenges, and space being at a premium means that control over university spaces matters more than ever.  

This year, VUWSA will be reactivating conversations with the university around the Student Union Building, as well as reawakening JSUB – the governance board for the building –with the aim of resolving a contentious historical disagreement.  

These conversations come alongside one of VUWSA’s current goals: returning control of clubs and societies to VUWSA from the university, to ensure a more centralised and streamlined process for the creation, existence, and further running of these groups.  

Current VUWSA president, Liban Ali, says of the Student Union Building governance struggles – “at the end of the day VUWSA wants the spaces given back to the students – as a students’ association, we are run for students by students, and the ownership and management of the Student Union Building in which we reside should reflect its occupancy.”  

VUWSA hopes to find a resolution for this long-held occupancy struggle within the coming months.