Kia ora,

Thought I'd share this little update which I received by way of an OIA request I'd put into Hon Chris Hipkins' office about the correspondence he'd received from Victoria University of Wellington about the name change proposal.

In those was a text message sent in September from Vice Chancellor Grant Guilford where he said that "we understand and respect your right to make the final call" before having a crack at those of us who have vocally opposed the name change. You can see the full text message below.

It's truly disappointing that having said that they respected Minister Hipkins' right to make the final call on the name change, the Vice Chancellor and University Council are now insinuating that they may still try and ram through the name change using a dubious legal argument.

This type of throwing the toys from the cot attitude completely undermines any claim made by university management to have conducted their consultation on the name change in good faith.

All of this reinforces why your ongoing support is so vital. We need to keep the pressure on so that Victoria University of Wellington's name stays as it is.

Please, share this petition with your friends, your family, your colleagues, your professional networks. Email it, post it to your social media pages, keep asking people to sign their name in support.

Ngā mihi,

Gwynn Compton