National Executive

The President of NZUSA (Alick Shaw) in his report to Council stated that he was disappointed with the way the National Executive had operated. (National Executive is a body consisting of all the presidents and members of the National Office which meets about 6nce a month to continue the work set down by Council and to deal with administrative and financial matters) He said that one of the defects of the present National Exec was that all the Presidents were responsible to their respective campuses and not to NZUSA as a whole He felt that this led to obstructive behaviour when policy they opposed was passed by Council and was then actioned by National Exec. He put forward the view that National Exec, should be elected either on campus level or at Council and that they should be responsible to Council and not to individual constituents.

While there was some support for this idea especially from Lincoln, I felt that this new National Exec would have more defects than the present one. For a start it would lengthen the chain of communication between NZUSA and the constituents, it would have members who could only be held responsible twice a year. It would also further increase the distance between NZUSA and the constituents without bringing a greater degree of democratic control It was moved that a working party be set up to investigate a possible reconstitution of National Exec but this was lost