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Everything you need to know about Massey’s Graduation

Elise Cacace (she/her)

For many students, the highlight of the entire university experience is that final, freeing moment when you get to don the cap and gown, parade down the street then make an Instagram post captioned something like ‘me and my expensive piece of paper #graduation2022,’ or ‘Cs really do get degrees, lol'.

For Massey students studying in Wellington and Palmerston North, this iconic occasion was unfortunately postponed at the beginning of the year. The Wellington ceremonies are now being held on 11 and 12 October, and Palmerston North from 22 to 25 November.

11 October will see the College of Creative Arts graduating at 9:30am, followed by PACE, College of Health, College of Social Science and Massey Business School at 2:30pm. Both of these ceremonies will take place on Wakefield Street at the Michael Fowler Centre.

All graduands and their guests must be seated in the Michael Fowler Centre 30 minutes before the start of the ceremony.

The Pacific Ceremony will be held on the same day at 6pm in the Tea Gardens, Museum Building. The Māori Ceremony will then take place on 12 October at 10am in the Te Rau Karamu Marae.

The Palmerston North campus is hosting 10 different graduation ceremonies across the three days in November. All ceremonies will be held at Regent on Broadway, 53 Broadway Avenue in Palmerston North. To find out which ceremony you will be taking part in, head to the Massey website or check your student portal.

Guest tickets are also accessible through the student portal, and guests will be able to sit in any area that has not been reserved. Guests that wish to avoid stairs or require an aisle seat are advised to arrive early for the ceremony.

For those that need to hire regalia, Massey’s supplier is Academic Dress Hire and can be accessed at masseygowns.org.nz. This is the only cost involved in graduation, and the standard price of regalia hire is $80. All regalia that was hired with Academic Dress Hire at the beginning of the year has automatically been transferred to the new graduation dates.

Massey Communications Advisor, Dale Wicken, says, “We know celebrating and capturing the moment of graduating is a highlight, and we look forward to seeing students walk across the stage and celebrate with whānau and friends in October and November.”

For those students still slightly confused about their graduation ceremony, head to massey.ac.nz or email wgtnevents@massey.ac.nzwith any questions.

Racism in film: where does NZ stand?

Sammy Carter (she/her)

Adaptions of classics lead to outrage from racists, but long-awaited representation for people of colour.

Last month, The Lord of the Rings new series Rings of Power as well as the live action adaptation of The Little Mermaid received thousands of angry comments over the diverse casting.

But the New Zealand Film Commission is encouraging diversity. They tell Massive, “When we champion representation on screen and in our storytellers, underrepresented communities will see and hear their voice on screen and feel seen, heard and valued.”

The Lord of the Rings’ Twitter account stood against the hate saying, “We, the cast of Rings of Power, stand together in absolute solidarity and against the relentless racism, threats, harassment and abuse some of our castmates of colour are being subjected to on a daily basis. We refuse to ignore it or tolerate it.” The tweet continued by saying, “Our world has never been all white, fantasy has never been all white.”

Just days after the Lord of the Rings’ Twitter shut down racist comments, people ran to the first look of Black singer Halle Bailey in The Little Mermaid live action. The YouTube sneak peek has over two million dislikes. Twitter went in with hashtags such as ‘#notmyariel’. Trolls even went so far as to say Ariel couldn’t scientifically be Black because she lives deep in the sea. Bruh, mermaids aren’t real.

The New Zealand Film Commission launched its Diversity and Inclusion Strategy in June to “increase understanding of diversity, improve access to systems and create equitable pathways for better representation on screen and behind the camera”.

They said, “Screen stories serve as a powerful medium to encourage diversity. They affect how people view themselves, how they see others, and can help break down stereotypes that are detrimental to individuals and limiting to society.”

After The Little Mermaid trailer was released, a trend of young Black girls reacting to the trailer started on TikTok. The girls could be seen jaw dropped, screaming and jumping up and down at Halle Bailey’s Part of Your World.

The New Zealand Film Commission said, “Empowered inclusion of diverse storytellers creates more possibilities for authentic stories to be told … New audiences are reached through inclusive screen stories.”

“There has been a shift in focus globally for diversity in screen stories. Distributors and streaming services are recognising they can reach more audience demographics by incorporating diverse casts and creators.”

The Commission not only wants to focus on diversity on screen, but also accessibility, training, skills development and developing cultural safety policies to create an inclusive environment for the Aotearoa screen sector.

Where are the student elections at?

Sammy Carter (she/her)

Massey’s student elections would usually be well under way by now, but with a new student representation plan on the way they will have to wait till next year.

In September, it was announced that all 10 student associations plan to combine into one association. This hopes to fix confusion over who represents students and create a united voice across campuses. But while the change is complicated now, it will be for the better.

Khushboo Singh, vice president of the Massey at Wellington Student’s Association (MAWSA) and president of the Massey Association of Pasifika Students said, “Obviously it is a little scary, this is a new process and it is different to what we know. But I don’t think it means that students aren’t getting a say in whose representing them.”

Speaking on behalf of Massey University Students’ Association Federation (MUSAF), Singh explained that if we were to elect student representatives now it would be under the current system which is set to change. However, elections will happen in March next year when students are back on campus.

There are currently 12 student presidents, but the new association will have three student presidents - A Māori, Pasifika and General/Distance president. While presidents are usually voted on by students, the three presidents will be appointed by the MUSAF board. Singh said, “It’s one voice, even though we’ve cut down on numbers collectively we’ve become stronger.” Currently there are 58 student reps, more than any other NZ uni, but the new plan allows for 23 student reps. 16 of these will be elected by students and seven will be appointed by the board.

In a survey, 44% of students said they would like a mix of appointed and elected roles. Singh said, “the feedback that we got from students is that we should have a mix of appointed and elected roles. From that feedback that’s what we’ve decided to do.”

The student presidents will go through a recruitment process where a panel will interview and appoint them. Singh said, “A lot of us in these roles find that we’re thrown in the deep end, like you don’t fully understand what these roles are until you're in it. So, I guess this appointment process will help build that understanding before someone goes into the role. Like what it really means to be representing students.” “Being part of a structure where we’ve had so many people, it’s hard to imagine what it would be like without having all these people. But I think it isn’t impossible to do. I think in terms of strength as a whole over Massey it will strengthen our voice so that students on.”

Students will have the opportunity to approve the new representation plan in the special general meeting on the 19th of October. After this, the board can begin appointing student presidents. Singh said an election after the meeting would be too late as students would be on study break.

“Once the structure is put in place next year, it will be a bit of a trial-anderror because it is something that hasn’t been done before. So, there is room for change within this new structure.”