Good Week for:

Craccum: Our new website should be up and running by the time this is in your hot little hands. You should visit, buy products from our advertisers and follow us on every social networking platform you can think of. Bebo coming soon.

New Zealand Cricket: We won something. Not only something, but against Australia. Now if we could only win in a format of cricket that doesn’t involve pyjamas or sound like a minor character from those shitty Garfield comics.

Civil Defence: Tsunami warning system worked miles better than it did last year, with saturation coverage on every major media outlet. Although Auckland was unharmed, YouTube footage showed the impact even small waves can have when one rolled into Christchurch’s Avon Estuary. Job well done.

Bad Week for:

New Zealand: With the tsunami warnings resulting in mild to non-existent waves, the idiots who thought it was a good idea to go down to the beach and watch will live to see another day.

Mobile Users: The XT network goes down so often that we’re out of XT jokes, and sending a message on the Vodafone network at uni this week was like walking outside in a storm, lying on the ground and pissing directly upwards into the rain.

Destiny Church: Insert Amex, receive salvation.

After last week’s important decisions surrounding the budget, this week’s Exec meeting was a bit tamer. Again, the initial agenda was bereft of detail, but the late papers showed a flurry of activity was on the cards.

EVP Alex Nelder discussed Craccum contributor Sir Roger Douglas’ Freedom of Association Bill, and the select committee submission processes that he was advising people on. Due to the overwhelming interest (at least overwhelming for the EVP), he suggested some sort of weekend submission bootcamp. So while you were…doing whatever it is people do with weekends, your Exec members were hard at work making sure students’ voices were heard. Much respect.

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O-WEEK 2010: STUDENTS KEEN BUT QUIET

Student involvement in Orientation has been the highest in recent years.

Sign-ups to AUSA alone were around 7,000 by March 1, double that of the previous year at the same time. Clubs have also seen an increase, with well over 100 clubs now on campus and large numbers of sign-ups.

“This has been the biggest University of Auckland Orientation by far,” says AUSA President Elliott Blade.

He puts that success down to an increased effort by the University in running Orientation and the eagerness of first year students to get involved.

The University ran an alcohol-free event restricted to first years only on February 26, where the bands Ivy Lies and The Midnight Youth played.

Craccum managed to get a pass into the event, only to find discover crowd numbers were underwhelming. Because we could, we talked to some of the bands. Despite an increase in tertiary enrolments and sign-ups to the students’ association, first years seemed “a bit scared and shy”, in the words of Ivy Lies bassist Lisa Blatchford.

“The University were filling their obligations in running an alcohol-free event for first years straight out of home,” says Blade. “AUSA cater to the more rowdy events (because there is alcohol).”

Ivy Lies, who had played a show for Unitec’s Orientation the day before, noted that Unitec students were “all on fucking drugs” and that Auckland University students needed to up their game. They suggested that the lacklustre mood may have been due to the lack of beer. They thanked the University for the beers they were provided with backstage.

Former Auckland University student and lead singer of the Midnight Youth Jeremy Redmore, implored Auckland’s first year students to get involved. He put special emphasis on Shadows.

“The first years need to take all that energy [that they didn't show this week] to Shadows, because the energy has gone out of it,” he said. “Shadows has a lot of tradition…and it’s a shame that they aren’t packing it out so much any more. The lines used to be out into Princes Street.”

First years will have a chance to prove themselves on March 11, when The Midnight Youth return to play at Shadows.

UNDER 20s FACE ZERO-TOLERANCE DRINK-DRIVE LAW

John Key has announced changes to driving legislation which will effect students and young people across New Zealand.

Working with Steven Joyce, in his role as Transport Minister, Key has put forward a policy which includes raising the driving age to 16, having a zero-alcohol policy for drivers under 20 years old and tougher licencing tests.

Reactions have been mixed, as expected.

Farmers have complained about the inconvenience of having to wait another year for their children to drive, while students have complained about the inconvenience of a zero-alcohol policy.

“This is the end of casual drinking! This is the end of life as I know it,” says the typical first year drunkard found out the back of Shadows. “I feel like Steven Joyce hates me. I’m a drunken failure and I can’t help that fact.”

The changes to legislation come as part of the Government road safety strategy, aimed at reducing road deaths and increasing road safety.

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YOUNG PEOPLE TAKE IT TWO WAYS FROM JOYCE:

FAILING STUDENTS TO MISS OUT ON LOANS

Students who fail more than half of their courses could potentially lose their student loans under new plans being put forward by Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce.

Joyce says that the system is being abused by some people and that by restricting access to student loans, money would be freed up to invest in expanding tertiary courses. Joyce also wants funds to be spent as well as they can be. His proposal, however, focuses on increasing the number of available places at tertiary institutions.

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