Rules a focus at branch presidents’ hui.

Te Hautū Kahurangi | Tertiary Education Union’s annual branch presidents’ hui was successfully held at Wellington’s Brentwood Hotel on Monday and Tuesday. TEU Branch Presidents from almost all of Aotearoa’s public tertiary education providers gathered to review 2022, talk strategy for current campaigns and plan for even more mahi on behalf of our members and our sector in 2023.

A major focus was our union’s transformative rules review, which sees TEU continue its ongoing journey towards becoming a Te Tiriti-led union by embedding Te Tiriti in everything we do while ensuring our constitution continues to serve and fit all of our members and objectives well into the future.

Branch Presidents present spent several hours discussing and workshopping ideas for new rules encompassing ‘why we exist’, ‘who can belong’, ‘local structures’, ‘national structures’, and ‘decision making in a Te Tiriti-led organisation’.

For Noel Zeng, co-branch president at Waipapa Taumata Rau | University of Auckland, the rules review is simply “the right thing to do.”

“I am particularly excited to see to see proposals for a co-governance structure, initiated by Dr Moana Jackson and others in 2015, start to take shape. It makes me proud to belong to a union that’s leading the world in this space, and as a first-generation Chinese New Zealander I recognise the responsibilities we all have to honour Te Tiriti in Aotearoa.”

“I'm still learning about Te Ao Māori and the history of Te Tiriti, and I find it can sometimes be awkward or even uncomfortable to learn about the history and take part in discussions, but it's worth it. It's OK to have questions or get things wrong sometimes, what matters is we put in the work and approach with respect and curiosity.”

“I encourage everyone to join me in growing your knowledge of Te Tiriti, and take part in upcoming conversations, that's how we can improve the proposals and become a stronger and better union.”