Rosa Hibbert-Schooner says she was being paid less than her non-Māori counterparts
The president of a Māori student group has resigned from her position on the University of Canterbury students' association over pay inequality and systemic bias.
Rosa Hibbert-Schooner, head of Te Akatoki Māori students' association, held an executive position on the student group's governance body as a representative for Māori students.
As an ex-officio member of the group, Hibbert-Schooner was being paid $1600 a year compared to the $5200 other executive level members received.
“Our value as Māori is constantly tokenised,” says Hibbert-Schooner.
According to the University of Canterbury students’ association (UCSA), the reason for the difference was that Te Akatoki representatives had previously been able to commit to only two hours of meetings per week.
While her predecessors may have only been able to attend those two hours, Hibbert-Schooner says a lot of work goes unseen and unacknowledged. This year for instance, Te Akatoki began running its own academic support programme after becoming frustrated with the lack of support.
“We were getting fed up with being told that we would be prioritised and things would change,” she says.
Te Akatoki says it will not be refilling the role until it's satisfied its work is being properly valued. The UCSA is constitutionally required to have a Te Akatoki representative on its governance group.
In response to the resignation, the student’s association has agreed to increase the pay for future Te Akatoki representatives and to back-pay Hibbert-Schooner the difference.
It has also committed to discussions with Te Akatoki over how the role’s responsibilities will change and intend to help the group in negotiating for more funding from the university.
"This is a national issue"
- Rosa Hibbert-Schooner, Te Akatoki.
Hibbert-Schooner is happy with the progress so far, but says the discussions need to be led by both their representatives and Māori staff from the university who have experience in bi-cultural partnership.
“We want this to be a genuine change,” she says. “Not just because I resigned.”
Student’s association president Kim Fowler says she doesn’t stand by the historical decision on paying the Te Akatoki representative for only two hours a week, as it didn’t ensure proper Māori representation.
“It’s something we’ve always been planning to do in the upcoming levy negotiations which happen in June, and my understanding is that it should progress through these well,” she says.
For Hibbert-Schooner, the money is one symptom of the larger issue of systemic bias against Māori students in universities and their students’ associations.
“This is a national issue,” she says.
“We are paid differently to our Pākehā counterparts, we are excluded from many conversations, we are under-resourced and we are the ones constantly having to work harder to make it better.”
These are issues common to other universities and students’ associations, according to Andrew Lessells, president of the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations.
“The problem is two-fold: Universities don’t respect Māori voices and general students’ associations haven’t been the best at representing them,” he says. “Māori students’ associations are not being properly supported.”
Hibbert-Schooner says Māori students’ groups are often the cultural face of the university, providing important services that go unpaid.
“We are the ones called on in times of cultural need,” she says. “We are the ones asked to correct cultural practices and asked for last-minute ‘cultural performances’.”
The work is undervalued because much of it goes unseen by non-Māori staff and students, according to Hibbert-Schooner. She encourages people to attend the regular events put on by Māori students to see for themselves.
“Come to the events Māori students have to run for ourselves weekly. Come to all the different kaupapa we support and see the catering, the organising, the speaking, the performing and the manaaki we provide.”
She points to Te Akatoki’s whare at the University of Canterbury campus, with its leaky roof and broken security door, as clear evidence that Māori students are not being valued.
“If you want Māori to ‘prove’ the mahi that they do, walk down the road from your state of the art building to our modest whare, and see the support we provide on the daily,” she says.
The University of Canterbury says it is working with both the student’s association and Te Akatoki to find an equitable solution.
In the meantime, Hibbert-Schooner wants her resignation to be a wero (challenge) to student associations and unions around the country.
“Not one more minute will we be undervalued,” she says.
