Support for campus marae
THE University of Otago’s Maori students’ association is trying to gather support for a marae on campus, which it hopes would foster a community spirit between students.
The university is the only one in the country which does not have a marae, and Te Roopu Maori tumuaki or president Tiana Mihaere said there was support for the idea among the group’s members.
‘‘The marae is something that has a significance to Maori, but was traditionally less relevant South Island Maori just because they were a people who travelled,’’ she said.
‘‘A lot of our students are from up north. They feel like there’s culturally something lacking about the campus.’’
She estimated there were about 2000 members of Te Roopu this year. Every Maori student enrolled automatically received membership.
Te Roopu did a lot to engage with students, holding intershield challenges and social and sporting events, and they tried to build whakawh anau na tang a, or relation ships between students.
North Island students saw the marae as the birthplace for building those connections, Ms Mihaere said.
The next step would be to gauge the level of support in the wider student population, via an Otago University Students’ Association referendum in May.
After discussions with OUSA, Te Roopu needed to seek approval from local iwi, and if that was successful, it would need to obtain approval from the university itself.
OUSA president Caitlin BarlowGroome said the association supported Te Roopu’s aims.
‘‘Since Otago is the only university that doesn’t have a marae, OUSA thinks it’s incredibly important to work alongside Te Roopu Maori to get a marae on campus.’’
OUSA is also seeking to have another seat on the university council, which would ideally be reserved for the president of Te Roopu.
Currently only the president can sit on the council, but OUSA voted at its last meeting to make a submission to the Education Amendment Bill 2018 saying more than one seat was needed to accurately represent student views.