By Zanny Begg
PALMERSTON NORTH, NZ — The New Zealand government recently passed legislation forcing all student unions to hold referendums on voluntary membership before May 1, 1999.
In 1995, right-wing students at Waikato University formed a group called Student Choice, which began agitating for voluntary student union membership (VSM). In 1996 and '97, Student Choice controlled the student union executive and at the end of last year held a referendum on VSM which passed narrowly.
The result has been a massive decrease in student union membership (to around 700, according to education activists) and a virtual collapse of the union.
As a result, the union has withdrawn from the National Student Association of NZ (NZUSA), costing that organisation around $37,000 in affiliation fees.
On Waikato, $100,000 was cut from spending on student media, and the student newspaper survived only by attracting paid advertising. The student radio station folded, and plans to launch a student TV station were abandoned.
More serious is the collapse of funding for the university's Education Action Group. The current student union considers protests "outdated and irrelevant".
NZUSA president Patrick Rooney argues that it is the Waikato student union that has become irrelevant: "The union holds no representative structure; it has been excluded from university committees; it has no external representation because it's not a member of NZUSA; membership is so low there are not sufficient funds to run an advocacy service. It barely exists."
Rooney says the union is a perfect example of why VSM doesn't work. From the government's point of view, however, this is why VSM will be pushed through nationally. The challenge for the student movement is to reverse the referendum decision at Waikato and win the referendums next year at the six other universities in NZ.