the Rachel Report...March

And the Oscar goes to…

Students in all variations of stress and dress are getting a bit of public hammering about rubbishy surrounds and glass on the ground. Councillors are talking big but thinking small. There is varying support from the public, and interestingly; the tertiary institutions themselves are keen to make a good go of organising things to encourage a cleaner North Dunedin.

The term “student” is usually associated to the 18-25 male cohort, however, I have been emphasising the diversity of age and places of residence of Polytechnic students. This does not make the trashy issue go away. And how can we achieve harmony? An ‘interesting’ response was in the ODT on March 7 – the DCC cleans up and bills the students’ associations respectively. The theory was that ‘when OPSA gets the bill the OPSA will tell you off’. Why do I get a feeling that this would be as tasteful as sardine & pickle ice-cream?

So what can we do to clear the pong of this issue? OPSA already has $1 rubbish bags (10 @ $9); we could stock blue bins and string for cardboard. We could investigate huge rubbish levies (or just throw that idea straight in the bin with Oscar) or we could use advice from you, the student. For example which days are best for rubbish collection? Let me know…

As I write I find it extremely disturbing that there is such a huge emphasis on zero rubbish tolerance when we still live in a world/city where there is no zero tolerance for rape, violence and discrimination. Will we ever see a DCC working party addressing NO Drink Spiking, NO Date Rape or NO Sexual Discrimination in Dunedin?


…team OPSA needs drivers…

Remember, the OPSA A.G.M is in the Bayrooms on the 23rd March. There is a free finger food lunch. OPSA needs students to run the student executive. WE NEED YOU!! Come along and hear what OPSA was doing in 2004 and tell us how to make this year successful for you. What kind of election campaigns do you want to be involved in? Join the Graduation Ball committee, organise ‘mature’ students meetings (you can define mature…) hey, whatever, whoever – come along and be part of team OPSA.


So if you want to yell… come yell at me first!!

Rachel