University of Waikato

The calls come amid allegations of casual and structural racism against Māori staff members at the Hamilton insitution.

On Tuesday Te Mana Ākonga, the Māori Tertiary Students Association, claimed universities were failling to protect Māori students and uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

In a statement, the Pacific students and staff within the Te Pua Wānanga ki te ao - the Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Studies, said they supported their Māori mentors, colleagues and aiga.

Professor Fui Le'apai Tu'ua 'Īlaoa Asofou So’o is Vice-Chancellor and President of the National University of Samoa.

He graduated from the University of Waikato in 1982 with a Bachelor of Education and a Bachelor of Arts and returned to Waikato in the late 1980s to study for a Master of Arts, graduating in 1989. He completed his PhD at the Australian National University in 1996.

Professor So’o hails from the village of Savaia Lefaga.

From 2001 to 2008 he was Director of the Institute of Samoan Studies, which later became the Centre for Samoan Studies.

While Samoan was her strongest subject at school, Foa was surprised to hear the news.

“I speak fluent Samoan and have always enjoyed the subject, but I had to study hard for this exam and found it quite difficult,” Foa says. “I was so happy to find out I’d done well.”

Foa was born in Samoa and moved to New Zealand when she was two. She’s one of six children and grew up in South Auckland.

The workshop at the University of Waikato in April will look at how non Pasifika groups are using kava as an alcohol substitute, stress reliever or sleep aid.

The University's Apo Aporosa said kava use is growing in New Zealand, with more than 20,000 people estimated to be consuming it each weekend.

He said it is a good time to bring people together to discuss the local kava culture.

Over the next three months, the Cook Islands will be receiving tenders from interested parties seeking to undertake exploratory surveying in the Exclusive Economic Zone.

Finance Minister Mark Brown said estimates placed the value of the seabed minerals in the range of billions of dollars.

Professor Jonathan Gardener from Victoria University Wellington said the big concern with this sort of mining is that no-one knows much about the biological community, or perhaps communities, living in this environment.