Compulsory WINTEC student assn bites the dust

Compulsory WINTEC student assn bites the dust

News that the compulsory students association at the Waikato Institute of Technology (WINTEC) has been struck off by the registrar of incorporated societies raises some serious questions says Student Choice.

Last week the Waikato Times reported that Students at Waikato Institute of Technology (SAWIT) has been struck off for failing to lodge financial accounts for the past three years. This raises some important questions:

Why has SAWIT not lodged any financial accounts with the registrar since 1999? - Have SAWIT's auditors refused to sign off any of the association's accounts in recent years. If so, why? - What will happen to the assets, including cash in bank accounts, which SAWIT has accumulated under compulsory membership? - Now that SAWIT has been dissolved will the president still sit on the WINTEC council? – Does WINTEC still regard SAWIT as the legitimate representative of all students at the institution? - If the failure to lodge the accounts is merely an oversight, as suggested by WINTEC's student services officer, why didn't the association file the accounts as soon as it realised it was at risk of deregistration? - If SAWIT is "independent" from WINTEC and "responsible for themselves" as claimed by WINTEC's student services officer, why does WINTEC collect fees on behalf of SAWIT?

SAWIT has been shown to be incompetently managed yet students will probably be forced to fund whatever organisation arises to replace it.

The WINTEC council can no longer sit back and watch while students are forced to fund compulsory student groups that can't even comply with the basic rules for incorporated societies.

These problems will continue until compulsory membership of student groups is abolished. Students shouldn't be forced to pay fees to these incompetent outfits.

© Scoop Media