FOR Mahia Fuimaono, joining Whitireia Independent Students Association executive might have seemed too good to be true.

She was using the association’s T-stick to download music and movies for her music studies.

She was receiving “allowances” – and thought, “Well, if I’m getting this kind of money, I must be good at what I do.”

But as a newcomer, Ms Fuimaono soon felt uncomfortable with a lack of process on the student body. She asked for this to be fixed, with no result.

Ms Fuimaono, who joined the executive in November, 2009, says she felt out of the loop.

“I started with the association with the intention to be a good welfare officer. I was so new to it, I didn’t know,” she says.

A month ago, she was asked by then-president Loretta Ryder to stand down for “trying to mobilise a Maori student association”. Ms Fuimaono challenged the dismissal as unconstitutional.

Ms Fuimaono is the only one on the current executive who was a member during the audit period between January and December 2009, when mis-spending is alleged and under investigation by police.

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