Rosie Cruickshank’s OUSA campaign puts student power on the agenda

OUSA presidential candidate Rosie Cruickshank is calling for a mass student movement built through rallies, direct action and solidarity with workers. She says the presidency would give student campaigns a stronger voice, while their power would come from organising together.

Cruickshank plans to use OUSA’s platform to strengthen campaigns over student fees and university decisions while building ties with workers and other communities.

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Image: OUSA presidential candidate Rosie Cruickshank says she wants the association to help build a stronger student movement. (Supplied / Luca Schulz)

“I just really want to use OUSA resources to continue to build a fighting student movement,” Cruickshank told thisquality in a written response.

The presidential candidate is clear about the limits of the office. “I don’t think I will necessarily be able to make the changes we need to see in this role as the organisation has been so depoliticised and hollowed out,” she said.

What the position could offer, she believes, is a stronger platform to reach students, speak to the media and grow campaigns already under way.

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A mass movement, in her view, starts by bringing more people in and it means larger rallies and closer ties between students, workers and others campaigning for change, “so that when we take action together it is unignorable,” Cruickshank said.

“It’s also about taking direct action that is smart and allows us to have leverage to make change.”

The student occupations of the 1990s and university encampments for Gaza in the United States offer examples of the collective action Cruickshank has in mind. She also wants more students to gain the skills to organise for themselves, from talking with their peers and making speeches to planning actions.

“I intend to use OUSA’s platform and resources to really encourage and support this work that is already happening on campus,” she said.

Image: Mike “Chewie” Bennett standing inside the Dunedin event, where he said he had been quietly taking notes on his phone before later questioning Paul Henry during the Q&A session. (Supplied / BHN / Mike "Chewie" Bennett)

Why her group protested Paul Henry

That organising was visible outside ACT candidate Paul Henry’s recent event at Dunedin’s Glenroy Auditorium.

Education Action Group ’26 chose ACT as a protest target because of its role in introducing voluntary student membership and its positions on workers and young people. The group wants voluntary student membership legislation repealed so unions can collect dues independently of university management.

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“One of our demands is independent student unions,” Cruickshank said.

Whether students can organise effectively against decisions made by their institutions, is a question that requires answers. A union dependent on the university it may need to challenge is in a weaker position to fight for its members.

Protesters also wanted to challenge Henry’s political message in Dunedin.

Inside the venue, podcaster Mike “Chewie” Bennett questioned Henry during a Q&A before he was removed.

Image: Outside the Glenroy Auditorium, Mike “Chewie” Bennett was detained by police after refusing to provide his details for a trespass notice, before being taken to Dunedin Central Police Station and later released. (Supplied / BHN / Mike "Chewie" Bennett)

Bennett was then arrested by police outside the venue after he initially refused to provide details for a trespass notice.

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Henry has disputed Bennett’s account of the exchange, saying Bennett yelled interjections and accused him of lying.

From outside the venue, Cruickshank said she saw Bennett through the glass doors before police led him towards a unit. Some protesters followed while others stayed and chanted. She recalled one call and response: “What does democracy look like?” “This is what democracy looks like!”

Image: Rosie Cruickshank addresses a student strike in Dunedin. She says growing attendance at organising meetings points to renewed momentum for the fees-free campaign. (Supplied / Mark McQuire / markmcguire.net)

Cruickshank’s group had not organised protesters to enter the event, she said, making the support from others especially encouraging.

“It was cool to see so many people coming out and joining us in support,” she said.

Also claimed people were turned away at the door, including a young person whom Henry later suggested should have gone inside to hear him.

The attention around Henry’s event may draw more people to the group’s campaign.

Cruickshank sees signs of a wider appetite for student action on campus.

“We have had a quiet few decades now, but the fees-free campaign has felt like a real resurgence,” she said.

“When flyering on campus, the response has been really favourable, and many new people have been coming to organising meetings and advocating for more militancy.”

Video: BHN Podcaster Mike “Chewie” Bennett was removed from Paul Henry’s Dunedin event by private security before being arrested by police outside the Glenroy Auditorium and taken to Dunedin Central Police Station. (Supplied / BHN / Mike “Chewie” Bennett)

The politics behind the campaign

The fight over fees sits alongside Protect Otago, Palestine solidarity and climate action groups. Asked what connects those campaigns, Cruickshank gave a direct answer: “To be completely frank, I see the connection as being capitalism.”

Addressing those issues one by one will not be enough. Cruickshank’s aim is “to build a movement that understands that all of these issues are connected and that what can overcome it is workers’ power and people power”.

It is an openly socialist pitch to an association whose members hold a range of political views.

Image: Students march for free education. Rosie Cruickshank says joining a rally or union can show people what collective action can achieve. (Supplied / Mark McQuire / markmcguire.net)

Some students avoid politics because the scale of the problems leaves them feeling that nothing can change.

“What we need to offer people is a coherent political alternative; a mechanism for change that is big enough and strong enough to address the sheer weight of all of these issues,” Cruickshank said.

“I believe that mechanism is revolutionary socialism. I know that at the moment that isn’t exactly a popular idea.”

The first step, as Cruickshank sees it, can be as immediate as attending a rally or joining a union. She wants students to experience what they can achieve together before deciding what larger change is possible.

“These kinds of actions encourage people to see that collective power can begin to change things,” she said. “When you see that, you can begin to get some of that hope back.”

An OUSA presidency would give Cruickshank a larger platform. Her campaign is asking students to build the power behind it.

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