Massey University's Palmerston North campus. Photo: 123RF
Massey University will stop funding its Students' Association from next year, a move that the student body says will set an alarming precedent for the future of independent student unionism in New Zealand.
It said it meant they would be silenced from speaking out against Massey University.
Te Tira Ahu Pae - Massey University's Students' Association - currently provides independent representation, advocacy, clubs and events, however Massey University said it would continue to provide these services itself.
In a statement to RNZ, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of students and global engagement Dr Tere McGonagle-Daly said the university had not "axed funding" to the student association, and instead had "taken the decision to not contract them for services and representation at this time".
He said Massey University, and others, including current and past Te Tira Ahu Pae Board members, had raised concerns with Te Tira Ahu Pae regarding the governance of the students' association since mid 2024.
"In September, and in response to previous meetings, a letter was sent to all current student representatives outlining these concerns and suggesting the Te Tira Ahu Pae Board should consider standing down to path the way for a new board to resolve the ongoing issues.
"We also suggested an interim emergency governance committee be established to help the association navigate through this challenging period, which would be student-led.
"While acknowledging that changes needed to be made, the written response from the current board rejected the suggestion of an interim emergency board and failed to provide any details on how change or significant improvements would occur."
Tere McGonagle-Daly said the university was "very keen" to continue funding student representation once their issues with the representation model and governance practices were resolved.
"We have not made this decision lightly but felt compelled to act given the significant investment made by students for representation and support services.
"Massey strongly supports the need for effective, independent student representation which works for the wider student body, and this is our desired outcome.
"We acknowledge some may consider this decision to be an over-reach of our role, but central to the funding is that the services provided are student governed. When this governance is not effective, it has implications for the operability and support available to services.
"Therefore, this is only an interim solution until a student representation model can be implemented that can provide appropriate governance."
Earlier, Micah Geiringer from the Students' Association Federation told Midday Report although services will continue through Massey, it does not offer any certainty to staff who provide them.
Massey Uni to stop funding Students Association
"They're claiming they'll be able to take on these services but they're not providing any job security for our staff who currently provide them. So it's looking like they're claiming they'll be able to do it and claiming there won't be a change in how students access new services but they just don't have any of the staff or the structures to actually adequately give them out," Geiringer said.
Geiringer said it looked like it was the first time a student union has been defunded in New Zealand history.
He was unsure what the university's plan was, but said it could potentially look to create a restructure proposal and ask the students' association to adopt it.
"It's looking like MUSA or Te Tira Ahu Pae will be continuing as the board and as the association have taken a stance against Massey's decision and it's not looking like we'll be cooperating with them if they're looking to restructure our association against our will," Geiringer said.
MUSA has put out a call to the Vice Chancellor and the senior leadership team asking that they reverse the decision.
He was also hoping other student unions across the country would join in their calls and advocate against the decision.
He said he could not speak on behalf of the other associations but it appeared they were in agreement with MUSA's decision to advocate against the university's decision.
McGonagle-Daly said Massey staff had been engaging with many of the current student representatives to develop an approach for the creation of a future representation model, which may be a refinement of Te Tira Ahu Pae, or an entirely different approach.
"The presentation and ideas proposed for feedback are available on our public website. These presentations were followed up with an email to all current student representatives on 31 October."
Consultation with the wider student body on representation model options is proposed to take place in early Semester 1 2025 and the final decision on what model suits them best will be made by students, McGonagle-Daly said.