THE MAORI STUDENT FEDERATION

Te Ao Hou, December 1960, Page 50

THE MAORI STUDENT FEDERATION BY A. ARMSTRONG AND L. STEWART Alan Armstrong is a Vice-President of this newly formed organisation, and played a considerable part in its foundation. Lionel Stewart represents the Federation in the University of Canterbury Maori Club, of which he is also Secretary. As organisations within a movement multiply, sooner or later the need is felt for co-ordination on a national scale. Groups working independently of one another, even though it be for a common purpose, often reach a stage where ineffective communication and differences of policy become a handicap. When this happens some sort of unifying body is imperative. By the time the third Conference of Maori Students was held in 1957, an increasing need for better communications between the various University and Teachers' College Maori Clubs was becoming evident. Once in a year we would get some idea of what others were doing, but not really enough to be beneficial. All of us, and particularly the smaller and more isolated Clubs, needed more interchange of ideas and information. The organisation of Conference could profit from a pooling of resources. Too often in the past, when everything had been left to the host Club for the year, visitors would bring along useful ideas only to find no room for them on the agenda. Furthermore, a Federation could give us authoritative spokesmanship on matters of national concern, with the benefits of a unified policy on everything affecting Maori students. The 1957 Conference did not treat the idea kindly, regarding our hasty last-minute proposal put before it as premature. During the months that followed, a handful of students in Wellington privately chewed over the idea, and slowly a convincing case for such a body grew into a remit for the next Conference. After lively discussion it was approved in principle, and a committee was set up to plan the structure of Federation and bring it into existence. One of the authors of this article sat on that committee, which being scattered all over the country had to do most of its work by correspondence–and often informal correspondence at that. It took two years to find a scheme acceptable to everyone. Many details had to be ironed out to make the scheme workable. We finally decided to have an Executive resident in Wellington, consisiting of eight elected officers and one person representing each Club. The elected officers were to have the job of managing the affairs of Federation, but had no say in policy. The Club representatives were given one vote per 25 members of their Club, which made sure that policy would in fact be determined by the Clubs and really would represent the majority opinion of members, while the implementation of that policy would still be in the hands of those most capable of handling it. At Club level, Federation is represented in each Club by one member on the Committee specially assigned to the job of maintaining active communication. The formation committee submitted a constitution to the 1960 Conference, which ratified it and established the New Zealand Federation of Maori Students by electing its officers for the first year. The dream of three years ago had become a reality. A word or two about the inaugural Executive. Miss Whetu Tirikatene, the President, needs no introduction to readers. Of the three Vice-presidents, Whatarangi Winiata will also be known to many. Whatarangi is a past-president of the Victoria University of Wellington Maori Club, and is at present doing post-graduate study at the University of Michigan. Pat Hohepa, also a Vice-President, is an Anthropology graduate and a lecturer at the University of Auckland, and has long been prominent in Maori student activities. The other Vice-President, Alan Armstrong, is co-author of this article and is a research chemist with the Health Department in Christchurch. The Secretary, Pamela Ormsby, is on the Ministerial staff of private secretaries. Ari Paul, the Treasurer, is

an accountancy student. Janet Winter, the Records Officer, is a teacher, and has been active in the Victoria University Maori Club since its inception (as the Wellington Maori Students' Association) in 1955. Steve O'Regan is Public Relations Officer, and is a law student, active also in the Students' Association of Victoria University. Federation will function to co-ordinate the activities of the ten existing University and Teachers' College Maori Clubs, and promote the formation of others. A quarterly Newsletter will keep members in touch with new developments, and eventually we intend to distribute this more widely to other interested organisations. But it will also consolidate the basic aims of the Clubs incorporated in it, which are broadly to make Maori students into better Maoris, better students, and better citizens in later life. The Maori student often has real difficulty finding his feet at University, and his own community may make matters worse by taking a negative attitude. This often induces him to give up study and take on a job well below his capabilities, or if he does remain he may abandon his Maoritanga in the mistaken belief that it is incompatible with his professional career. Either consequence leaves him a mediocre person for the rest of his life, disgruntled, and never putting his inborn talents to much effective use. We can ill afford to waste talent in this way. This is where the University Maori Clubs come in. They give the new student a group to belong to. They help him settle into University life and work, and assist with accommodation and information on financial aid. If he has problems, he is always assured of sympathetic counsel, and if he finds study difficult, some Club member can usually give additional tuition. The social and cultural functions of the Club are more obvious to the rest of the world, providing a wholesome environment for social needs, and keeping Maori language and culture alive through regular Club evenings, and occasional fund-raising concerts. In this mileu we have noticed a sharp reduction in the students who leave before completing their degrees, as compared with pre-Club days. There is a very real need today for more Maoris in the professions. The Maori Clubs in our Universities and Teachers' Colleges have an important function in attracting students who might otherwise drift into employment where their best capabilities are never developed. By helping to make these facts more widely appreciated amongst the Maori people generally, Federation will be able to contribute its share to the recruitment and training of the young leaders of tomorrow. The Maori Students' Federation Executive. L. to R. Mr Patrick Hohepa, B.A., vicepresident, Auckland; Mr Whatarangi Winiata, B.Com., Vice-President, Wellington: Miss Janet Winter, records officer, Wellington; Mr Steve O'Regan, P.R.O., Wellington; Mr Alan Armstrong, B.Sc., Vice-President, Christchurch.