Democracy alive and well at Victoria University; students celebrate council changes

Students at Victoria University of Wellington are celebrating the decision of University Council to maintain two democratically elected student positions.

Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association (VUWSA) President Rick Zwaan is proud to be a part of a university that listens to and values the student voice.

“It’s a great day at Victoria when we can confidently say that the university has participated in a process of legitimate consultation and heard what students have been calling for.”

“These changes will make Victoria the university with the highest proportion of democratically elected staff and students to other members in the country.”

With the new structure, Victoria is also the only university to entrench gender equity and have two mandated positions for Māori on their council.

Victoria has demonstrated leadership both in the retention of these seats, and in their willingness to adapt their decision making by engaging with students and incorporating their input.

“In the past couple of months across New Zealand we’ve seen universities undervaluing meaningful representation of students at a governance level, and we’ve seen students fearful over the repercussions of these changes.”

“I’m really proud to be a part of a university that listens to and values the student voice. This is something that makes Victoria truly distinctive."

The decision has followed an initial proposal which proposed to remove elections and have every member of council selected by an appointments panel. VUWSA protested the proposal and a large number of staff and students submitted against it.

“VUWSA has been working for a number of years on the issue, luckily the university listened to and has adopted a pretty good council structure.”

“We hope that this is a sign of things to come. The university must ensure that students are valued and meaningfully engaged in decision making all the way from the lecture theatre to the top of the ivory towers” concludes Zwaan.

ENDS

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