By Ally Mullord
Otago University Students Association president Logan Edgar is spending two nights in a cage in protest against ACT’s Education Amendment Bill, which would end compulsory membership of student associations.
New Zealand Union of Students' Associations co-president David Do says the bill is “destructive and unnecessary”, and the National Party should remove its support.
Mr Do told Firstline this morning that if the bill passes, students will lose access to important services, compromising student welfare and education.
“The prison that [Mr Edwards] is in symbolises what students will be under if this bill is passed,” he says.
“Students will be locked out of the student services, representation, sports clubs - all the new experiences that they can get through their association.”
Student associations are an important part of the community, Mr Do says – similar to a local council where “everyone pays rates… so the council can provide things that benefit everyone”.
He says ACT’s bill is “a bit like saying ‘I don’t want to pay rates because I haven’t been to the library or the park recently’”, and the party is ignoring students’ opinions.
Mr Do says that over 5000 submissions were made on the bill last year, and 98 percent of those opposed it.
“Students do not want this bill, it’s a destructive and unnecessary bill, and actually their parents, universities, polytechnics, the community, Maori… the list goes on in terms of who opposes this bill.”
If the bill is passed, Mr Do says student associations will lose membership and no longer be able to provide services and representation.
The predicted loss in membership if the bill passes is “not a comment on the value of services and representation that we provide,” he says, but the inevitable product of cash-strapped tertiary students.
“Students are quite financially hard up at the start of the year, and… expecting students to sign up at the start of their studies, when they’re quite short on cash and they don’t necessarily know everything that is on offer, means that it will be very hard to find members.”
Mr Edgar’s protest is “highlighting… that National needs to listen to students, it needs to see sense, drop its support for the bill and stop rewarding ACT for its bad behaviour”, he says.
“We would urge National to drop its support for this bill, kill the bill before the election.”
Watch the video for the full interview
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