r/VUW

A (now) former friend of mine has just been convicted in court. He is a current student at vic and I am worried about the safety risk he poses to female students. Should I report this to Tauria?

I know this isn't really relevant but I tried posting it on the Wellington sub and wasn't allowed. I am in year 13 in Auckland going to Victoria next year. One of my favourite things to do is go to the movies. In particular I love the imax on queen street and the academy cinemas. However after a quick google search it seems like there are no 'artsy' cinemas in Wellington. All the cineams just showed the current movies such as project hail mary and devil wears prada 2. There were no cinemas showing historical movies but there are many Auckland cinemas that show historical movies like academy and hollywood avondale and capitol cinema. But seemingly no equivalent in Wellington. There is an imax but it's not a proper imax and it's in lower hutt??? So just wondering where do film buffs go to see movies?? Are there 'arthouse' cinemas that show historical movies??

My graduation ceremony is on Tuesday, the 2nd ceremony. I haven't gotten a response back from the graduation office or the general enquiries despite emailing them repeatedly, and I can't get through on the phones either, so I'm hoping someone will know and can help.

Where on earth is the parade, where does it start, where does it go, and when is it? Because all I know is that there is a parade, which I'm assuming is separate to the ceremony at the MFC.

That information will give me most of what I need to know regarding accessibility, but I also need to know what accessibility is like at the MFC, as my Oma will be coming, and she can't stand or walk for long periods of time, and can't go up loads of stairs.

Please help!!!!

Hello everyone!! Just wondering if anyone had any insight about transferring from Auckland to Wellington, starting in semester 2. Also if there were any scholarship options available as well, I know there’s a late coming one which is dedicated to students who have studied at a secondary school in Wellington, but can’t seem to find anything else.

I’ve lived in Auckland my whole life, but being in uni has had a really terrible impact on my mental health and wellbeing, which is why I’m asking for help with a transfer. If anyone had any insight I would be eternally grateful. Thank you so much!!

I didn’t really mean to start a post. This was supposed to be a private notes thing, like something I’d write once and forget about, but apparently I have opinions and they don’t really stay contained if I don’t put them somewhere. So now this exists.

Also I should probably say this is not a formal breakdown or anything. It’s just me reacting to things I’ve seen, been in the room for, overheard, read, or had people repeatedly complain about in group chats that somehow always end up being more accurate than they should be. I’m not claiming perfect knowledge of anything. I’m just noticing patterns and then getting annoyed that the patterns keep repeating.

Anyway.

Aidan Donoghue’s article in Salient (2026) is probably what pushed me into writing this properly, because it’s one of the first times I’ve seen something written in an official-ish student publication that directly points at the gap between campaign promises and what actually happens after elections.

And I know that sounds obvious. Students have been saying this for ages. It’s not new information. But there’s something about seeing it written down in a structured, published way that makes it feel less like “people complaining” and more like “okay, this is now documented reality.”

What I keep coming back to though is that even when it’s documented, it doesn’t seem to change much. It just becomes part of the background noise of student governance. Like, yes, that’s happening, yes, that’s been noted, and then everything continues anyway.

It’s weird how quickly critique becomes something that just exists alongside the system instead of something that actually interrupts it.

There was also the situation in 2025 involving Aspen Jackman and a post that circulated on Instagram and was later deleted. I wasn’t directly involved in anything that happened around it, but I remember it clearly because it was one of those things that moved through student spaces very quickly.

Another student posted allegations at the time that the content included racist language and slurs, and that post was widely discussed in group chats, conversations, and general campus talk. It wasn’t one of those niche rumours that disappears after a day. It stuck around long enough that most people at least knew of it, even if they didn’t engage with it directly.

What’s interesting, or maybe frustrating, is how it turned into one of those things that is technically “not active” anymore because the original post is gone, but still very much present in memory and discussion.

And I think that gap between “no longer visible” and “not actually resolved” is something I keep noticing in general, not just in that situation.

Things don’t really disappear. They just change format. And this format, for this executive results in something quietly impossible to manage—how can we bestow the responsibility of welfare on a student who doesn't treat all humans equally?

On a completely different note, Pypes Alex Addams is someone I’ve had enough interaction with to notice a pattern, but not enough to pretend I understand the entire system around them.

From my personal experience, raising issues tends to result in responses that acknowledge what’s been said, but don’t always lead to anything that feels like a concrete resolution. It’s not like there’s no reply or engagement. There usually is. It just often doesn’t connect back to a visible outcome in a way that changes the situation.

And I think that’s what makes it frustrating in a very slow way rather than an immediate one. Because it’s not obvious dismissal. It’s more like things getting stuck in a middle stage where they are neither ignored nor resolved.

After a while, people adjust to that. You start expecting acknowledgment instead of change, and then eventually you stop expecting either unless you really push for it.

Which is probably not a great equilibrium for anything that’s supposed to represent student concerns. I would call everything they have done a complete failure, including being close friends with a known racist.

Ethan Rogacion is someone I’ve seen described quite consistently in student discussions as being closely aligned with Aidan Donoghue’s positions in exec spaces, and has stated he is a close person friend of the president. Their views barely ever diverge, and when they do, Ethan will take Aidan's side over standing up for anyone else on the executive.

I don’t have access to internal conversations, so I can’t say what level of disagreement or discussion actually happens behind closed doors. What I can observe is that publicly visible positions tend to appear very consistent, and there isn’t much visible divergence in how decisions are presented once they’re made.

That might just be how governance works. Or it might be that the parts where disagreement happens are not visible to students at all, which makes it hard to tell whether decisions are being actively challenged or just moving forward with minimal friction.

And I think that distinction matters more than it looks like it does on the surface. Because from the outside, a lack of visible disagreement doesn’t read as “efficient decision-making.” It often reads as “no one is really questioning anything.”

Casmine Dickson and Charlotte Lawrence are both people I’ve seen referenced in relation to campaign promises and club support discussions, particularly around Save Our Clubs and general student-facing updates.

What I can see from the outside is that communication continues regularly. Updates are posted, messaging is maintained, and there is a steady stream of information about progress and ongoing work.

What students often struggle with is connecting those updates to specific, visible changes in day-to-day club experiences. And I think that gap is where most of the frustration sits. Not in the absence of communication, but in the difficulty of translating communication into outcomes that can be clearly identified without interpretation.

It creates this strange situation where everything sounds like progress, but it’s hard to point at what has actually changed.

Charlotte has done a terrible job of SAH just like Casmine has done a terrible job with transparency, consistency, and fulfilling his requirements about the clubs proposal. It seems that despite their promises, neither want student feedback in any way that is meaningful.

George Baker is someone I’ve had enough direct interaction with to feel confident saying that straightforward processes often become more complicated than expected.

It’s not one specific incident I can point to. It’s more the accumulation of small interactions where something simple takes more steps than it feels like it should, or where follow-up is required more than once to get to a clear answer.

Sophie Guerin is someone I’ve heard described in a range of collaborative contexts, particularly around communication and group coordination. I don’t have a complete picture of all the environments she operates in, so I don’t want to overstate anything here.

What I can say is that in student-facing collaborative spaces, communication consistency matters a lot more than people think. It affects whether projects feel coordinated or fragmented, whether people feel informed or slightly out of sync with what’s going on.

And I’ve noticed enough situations where that alignment feels uneven that it stands out over time, even when individual interactions seem fine in isolation. I've also noticed that VUWSA has stopped doing much climate action since she came into the role. Where are her focuses if not on sustainability and climate? Why is VUWSA no longer a political and climate conscious organisation?

There’s also been ongoing discussion around Lewis Collins in relation to SAH hui participation and the distinction between internal involvement and public-facing event roles.

What I’ve noticed being talked about repeatedly is that visibility during events doesn’t always match visibility during the planning or decision-making stages. And alongside that, there are broader conversations about representation in those visible roles, particularly around who ends up being placed in front-facing positions versus who is doing more behind-the-scenes organisational work, with Aria Lal and Sanjukta Day often mentioned in those conversations. It seems as though VUWSA only wants to highlight the white voices and prevent the behind-the-scenes SAH organisers from getting any recognition. As someone that has heard about and attended many SAH meetings, both Lewis and Sophie are absent in those, and are still somehow the people taking charge of the conversations in front-facing roles. This isn't a structural issue, it is a political one.

I don’t think it’s always a simple intentional imbalance. A lot of it probably comes down to how roles naturally get divided. But the effect is still something people notice, because visibility tends to shape perception of contribution whether or not that perception is fully accurate.

Aria Lal is in the education officer representative role, which obviously has a defined scope, but it makes no sense that all of her work would be focused there.

What I’ve seen discussed is less about that defined scope and more about whether impact is visible outside of it. Some students feel that despite her promises to make improvements for international students, those promises only have impacts that only exist in the educational space and absolutely no where else. It is disappointing to see she's still working with a known racist like Aspen Jackman, who is consistently working against international and migrant students.

I don’t have a strong conclusion on that, because it’s the kind of thing that depends heavily on what you’re looking at and what you consider “impact” in the first place. It’s more something I’ve seen repeatedly mentioned than something I feel confident fully judging yet.

I think the reason I ended up writing all of this in the first place is because none of these things feel like isolated issues when you’re actually watching them happen week to week.

They feel like a pattern that keeps reappearing in slightly different forms.

And I don’t know yet if that means anything bigger, or if I’m just at the stage where I’ve started noticing structure in things that are actually just messy and unconnected.

But either way, it’s hard to un-notice once you’ve seen it.

Anyway, this was supposed to be a throwaway first post.

It definitely isn’t anymore.

I’ll probably regret posting this later.

So I work as a casual person at a call center, Its currently winter in New Zealand and I get sick ALOT.

So end up having to message that im sick occasionally.

I feel really bad about this, but I cannot help getting sick. I know it makes me unreliable.

I have to message that I'm sick right now. What can I say in order to let them know I have a bad immune system so I get sick alot.

Hi there, Im currently sick and also burnt out, with a assigment due tommrow evening. Any tips to lessen the burnout?

Hey, looking to start study at VUW majoring in communications.

I want to go further into journalism/television presenting sort of vibe. Would it be better to major in Media studies or Literary/Creative Communication?

Literary sounds so much more interesting and more of my vibe, just wondering if the major is what will send me into the pathway or the overall degree? Also unsure if Vic lets you major in one but take classes in another so wanted to check here.

Weird that vic uni does not offer honours in Economics (and also masters) anymore. I tried applying for hons in economics (commerce) not there. Queried with my adviser, was told theres no one to head? Which is weird. Tried applying under bachelor of arts in economics (hons), someone from admissions called me and told me to look elsewhere - Auckland.

This is so bleak, my partner told me vuw used to be one of the top econ schools in the world, and they built pipitea campus for that.

Hello! I’m a first-year student at Vic and my COMS 101 case study is due on Wednesday. I’m only starting now.. because I’ve found the course a bit hard to follow and I’m also juggling another degree.

I’m not asking for anyone to do the work for me or copy from anyone as I already have my idea and plan. I’m just really unsure about the layout and structure because we haven’t been given clear examples, and I’ve never written a case study before.

Hopefully someone sees this before its due but If any past COMS 101 students would be willing to share an example of how they structured theirs, or even just give me advice on what sections to include, I’d really appreciate it. Thanks so much!!!! I just don't wanna do it wrong lol

Hi there! I am currently on a gap year and hoping to study management and economics next year at VIC, however i took 2 non uni approved subjects last year at college and as such despite relatively decent grades my rank score isn’t exactly great (around 150 or so.) Should i be doing bridging work this year before applying or is that not necessary?