The Spinoff

2023 - 3 - 1

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A new normal beds in for universities (The Spinoff)

Students aren't returning to lectures on campus, enrolments continue to decline, employment in the sector remains precarious and the financials are grim.

[Shanti Mathias has covered for The Spinoff recently](https://thespinoff.co.nz/internet/08-02-2023/how-worried-are-universities-about-chatgpt). [March madness](https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/traffic-updates/131359394/march-madness-traffic-worse-than-in-2019-and-it-could-last-until-april)” on the roads, a phenomenon partially attributed to the return of students to the city’s tertiary education campuses, RNZ’s [John Gerritsen reports](https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/484976/universities-want-more-students-back-in-lectures-as-attendance-remains-low) that students aren’t actually returning to lecture halls on campus. Former minister of education Steve Maharey is pretty blunt in [a recent assessment of the future of universities](https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/300755020/the-university-challenge--how-our-tertiary-institutions-need-to-adapt-or-wither), with a particular focus on financial sustainability. Auckland University of Technology [recently ditched its plans for redundancies](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/aut-drops-redundancy-plan-staff-to-keep-jobs-for-at-least-six-months/7KBFSXG46RF3BEXTC5QMW3WTGY/) after losing a legal challenge and jobs for affected staff have been guaranteed for at least six months. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, Students aren’t returning to lectures on campus, enrolments continue to decline, employment in the sector remains precarious and the financials are grim.

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The dangers of clout-chasing company directors radicalised on ... (The Spinoff)

Rob Campbell shows how highly-paid governance experts are a demographic as vulnerable to social media slip-ups as anyone else, writes Duncan Greive.

While many might look at Campbell’s fate and think someone of his wealth and decades in corporate life should have known better, we should respond with empathy for a demographic which is at a singular stage of their lives. Like many of those in positions of enormous power, Campbell is used to people agreeing with his statements, and the rules being what he says they are. While many company directors have decades of experience in governance, they are at a vulnerable stage of their lives, and might not understand how social networks operate, or what excessive use can do to a still-developing mind. (What greater example of the circular economy is there than creating problem gamblers with one job, and dealing with the consequences in another!) It’s sad to see him lose the huge income associated with one of his many part-time jobs. Campbell seems to have thought he was simply sharing a news story about a new National policy, and offering his opinion as a private citizen that it was a “thin disguise for a dog whistle on co-governance” and casually referring to its “stupidity on climate change”. These directors are in some ways radicalised by this environment, and might start posting pictures of themselves on motorcycles, as Campbell has done, or valuing comments and reactions from their online friends even more than the mundane day-to-day constraints of their job.

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The footpath forcing a community to its knees (The Spinoff)

Minor repairs have become a major issue in the West Auckland suburb of Te Atatū Peninsula.

“The northwest is growing,” confirms AT. The bad news? The good news? There is a well documented bus driver shortage, and the project appears to be tied to similar bus interchanges on Lincoln Road and Westgate, which aren’t due to be finished until 2025. The irony, lost on almost no one forced to sit through this mess every morning and evening, is that every commuter makes their way past Te Atatū’s new bus interchange, one so brand spanking it still twinkles brightly in the sun. With a smile on her face, she describes those working on the upgrades as “poopy heads”. At the local barber, my hairdresser says the traffic has been making her late for work, and forcing customers to cancel appointments because they’re running late, and cars are often backed up in front of the shop. is not the best plan.” To do this, they’re digging out the old footpath and replacing it with a new one on both sides. Auckland Council is upgrading about 300 metres of footpath on either side of Te Atatū Road, from a Z petrol station to a roundabout. It’s the traffic. When one local suggests they start building their own bridge to the city, another responds: “Guarantee we would get it done quicker than these braindead monkeys”.

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Managed retreat is no one-size fits all solution (The Spinoff)

Climate change adaptation and managed retreat are terms we've been hearing a lot of but they're also quite bureaucratic, politicised and complicated ideas, and ...

“When the government says “managed retreat?” I say, “managed by who?” Managed for who? But it is absolutely the wrong lesson to draw from that disaster.” But how would the market signal of increased premiums work in communities like Wairoa, where the majority of residents are low income and without insurance anyway?” The priority will be the flash-as whare that are falling down the cliff,” says Manuel. [ released the Terms of Reference](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/cyclone-gabrielle-task-force-to-tackle-managed-retreat-flood-risk-and-insurance-issues-in-storm-aftermath/C6YVF7SQNJDGLGYC6UZ5FGB3AE/) for the Cyclone Gabrielle Recovery Task force. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday,

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