No elephants (or public)

A culture of secrecy is, apparently, still very much alive on the old Wintec campus in central Hamilton if a gathering of the chiefs of New Zealand’s newly merged mega-polytechnic is any indication.

The Te Pu¯ kenga council meeting yesterday morning appeared eager to deny the very existence of elephants, let alone the elephant in the room that was the ongoing financial crisis that has struck the organisation before it has even begun properly operating.

It was supposed to formally get under way at 9am, however when Stuff arrived to cover the public meeting it was evident that it had already begun: The doors were closed, the council members were already in attendance and some kind of earnest discussion was taking place behind the glass window panes in what is known as the

Long Room. Whether they were discussing a damning memo sent from Tertiary Education Commission deputy chief executive Gillian Dudgeon to Education Minister Chris Hipkins that painted a bleak picture of Te Pu¯ kenga’s fortunes remains unknown.

Maybe they were talking about the projected $110 million full-year deficit, which was $53.5m worse than budget. Then again, maybe they were all talking about what they got up to over the weekend.

Then the doors opened, and we were allowed entrance to what very quickly became a non-event.

Within about 10 minutes it was all over – for us at least. The council moved into the public-excluded part of the agenda and the media were ushered from the room.

Under the leadership of new interim chief executive Peter Winder – following the stillunexplained departure of chief executive Stephen Town – and chaired by deputy chairwoman Kim Nga¯ rimu, the meeting moved speedily and efficiently through