"A step to the right" : the restructuring of the New Zealand University Students Association in 1986

Abstract

A 12 000 word study, based on primary research, of the restructuring of the New Zealand University Students Association (NZUSA) in 1986. NZUSA dramatically changed its focus and structure from being a multi issue pressure group with strong sectional interests and a large national office, to being a single issue organisation dealing with students education and welfare issues, with only a handful of staff at a national level. This restructuring represented a shift away from the left wing causes with which NZUSA had been associated since the 1960s.

The essay is divided into five chapters. The first looks at what NZUSA is by analysing its organisation, role and structure up until 1985. The second chapter discusses the development of the multi issue approach, and some justification for it. The third chapter discusses opposition to this multi issue approach and particularly how it developed in the 1980s. The fourth chapter follows the process of restructuring during 1985 and 1986 which was precipitated by the threatened withdrawal of the largest campus, Auckland. An independent working party was set up and its recommendations were accepted. Chapter Five analyses the reasons for the restructuring taking place, and shows them to be representative of a shift to the right in the political orientation of NZUSA.

The chief reasons for the restructuring occurring are seen to be the structural inadequacies of NZUSA, including the lack of organisational history and political experience of student politicians at a campus level, and a lack of trust in the work of the national officers. The relative experience of those who wished to shift the Association away from its left wing perspective was also significant in the restructuring occurring. The restructuring process shows the vulnerability of the organisation to those with an agenda for change.