Week 8: Rent strike, unpaid musos, and the state of online comment sections.
Welcome to Student Rags week 8, published April 22, 2024. Enjoy, share the newsletter around, and get in touch if you’d like to know anything more.
This week, AUT students plan to stop paying rent, Dunedin musos aren’t getting paid, Massey gets agrarian, and Salient is dedicated to trans rights.
Chur (formally),
Fox Meyer
THE STORIES:
AUT students angling for a rent strike
In protest of rising fees, students at AUT will stop paying rents on May 1st. Matthew Lee is the chair of Students for Fair Rent, leading the effort. Time will tell how many first-years get on board, but the numbers are fairly incredible. For a five-bed flat, the residents would pay $1,650 per week. For $150/week less, the same group could rent an Epsom flat that’s four times the size with an extra bathroom, or a Mount Eden flat that’s four times the size with an extra kitchen. Some of these flats are actually former AUT-owned student accommodation. While costs for accom have risen, pay for the Residential Assistants has been cut, provoking the ire of many. Oliver Cocker reports, page 8.
Is an LA-based event company ripping off Kiwi bands?
Critic reports this week that American company Breaking Sound has been leaving some bands in the lurch. The company tasks promoters with finding four to five bands to play per night, to a crowd of at least 30 people (to ensure they profit from ticket sales). A low bar, but with declining gig attendance, it’s higher than you’d think. Nonetheless, multiple Dunedin bands have reached this lofty threshold and still have not been paid out. Jordan Irvine reports.
Albany nursing students fear a forced move.
Reporting for Massive, Yesenia Pineda explains how some Auckland-based students may be next in line for an unwanted move. Last August, Massey announced cuts to the Albany campus, including degrees such as Engineering, Food Technology, Natural Sciences and Advanced Technology. The Bachelor of Nursing will close as well, while the Wellington and Manawatū courses remain. International students, especially, worry that they’ll be forced to move to Wellington or (gasp) Palmy in order to continue in-person learning.
THE DEEPER DIVE:
The Information Wars: What I’ve learned in the frontlines of comment sections.
Onjei Bond has a habit of feeding the trolls. In this piece for Salient (page 12), he offers a bit of insight into the current state of social media comment sections, which we all know are a disaster. It goes beyond the surface, though, talking about how recent cuts to media outlets will make the situation even worse, and he fears that even well-meaning outlets will be unable to moderate the public comment sections, or even respond to sounded alarms.
In a recent post by RE:News, Onjei noticed that the comments section was blowing up, almost entirely by people taking issue with the fact that the article was about Queer patients’ experiences at the GP. The specifics of those comments are perhaps best left unread, but the wider discussion is very—excuse the pun—salient.
“Any engagement is good engagement”, he reminds us, and it’s true. At least, it’s true for the algorithms. But even RE:, perhaps the most social media-savvy outlet of all, can’t profit off this engagement the way that media typically would. With advertising revenue going straight to Meta, the thought that “any engagement is good for business” no longer holds water.
The interesting thing here is that this is also true on the other side of the spectrum from RE:. Building a “media” empire on the premise that stoking the flames and pedalling rage-bait will drive revenue has been a widely-derided strategy, but it’s worked. Until now? This piece will be an interesting one to look back on in a year, assuming something changes.
SNIPPETS:
Bots have invaded Castle Street’s Facebook, offering Hyde Street tickets. Dead internet, etc, etc.
Tough times for Māori sweetcorn farmers, reports Massive.
There’s a lot of good stuff in Salient this week, but I couldn’t link individual pieces, so you’ll have to flip through. Highlights include: Queer abundance in the Anglican church, Indigenous queer identity, and how to change your name.
Critic gets an initial vibe check on “Daddy Grant”, a nickname I sincerely hope they keep using.
What do vet students do, really, and how much ket is involved?
Speaking of drugs: a >70% spike in MDMA detected in Dunedin wastewater in Feb.
A BIT OF FUN:
Farmgirl fit-check (better with photos).
NSWFOTW:
Salient takes it for the title alone: Did you know there’s girldick in the Louvre?
For what it’s worth, Google really does not want to show you that angle, and only gives you the “safe” side in their results.
(That’s Not-Safe-For-Work-Of-The-Week, for anyone over 25)
COVER OF THE WEEK:
Dedication to the bit from Massive (a matching centrefold, to boot!).
READ MORE FROM ALL THE MAGS:
Canta: Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha, University of Canterbury. Weekly.
Craccum: Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland. Weekly.
Critic Te Ārohi: Te Whare Wānanga o Ōtākou, University of Otago. Weekly.
Debate: Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makau Rau, Auckland University of Technology. Bi-weekly.
Massive: Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa, Massey University. Weekly.
Nexus: Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato, University of Waikato. Bi-weekly.
Salient: Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University of Wellington. Weekly.
Note: Each magazine is published by their relevant student association, which is independent from their host university. But since you probably associate them with the uni, that’s how they’re listed here.
 | A guest post by
|