Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei welcomes new Vice-Chancellor

In a significant first step in his relationship with the University’s iwi manaaki, Vice-Chancellor Professor Nic Smith was welcomed onto Ōrākei Marae on 11 August by Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, mana whenua of central Tāmaki Makaurau.

Received onto the marae by Matua Taiaha Hawke and Heawahine Marama Royal, who gifted the University its name Waipapa Taumata Rau, Professor Smith spoke of his commitment to strengthening the relationship between the University and Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, and to honouring the history and responsibilities that come with it.

“For our University, one of the most important relationships we have is with Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei.

“It is a relationship with deep foundations and whose construction began long before even the University itself.”

That history, he said, was inseparable from the whenua on which the University stands.

“It carries with it the history of this whenua, and the extraordinary act of tuku whenua through which Ngāti Whātua made land available for the establishment and growth of Auckland.

“Our University exists, in the heart of Tāmaki Makaurau, because of that history.”

A former Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Design, and University alumnus, Professor Smith also reflected on the people who have helped shape the institution’s understanding of what a university can be.

Among them was Sir Hugh Kāwharu, of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei.

“He was both a distinguished scholar of our University and a rangatira,” Smith said. “He understood, perhaps better than most, that these identities did not need to exist in separate worlds, and that mātauranga and scholarship could strengthen one another.

“He understood that a university could be enriched by a deeper relationship with mana whenua.”

The partnership established in 2003 between Sir Hugh Kāwharu and then vice-chancellor John Hood was an important expression of that understanding.

Smith also acknowledged the legacy of Emeritus Professor Ranginui Walker, the University’s first pro vice-chancellor Māori, whose work challenged the University and wider society to confront Aotearoa’s history and recognise Māori as tangata whenua.

“Ranginui Walker spent much of his life challenging universities – and our society more broadly – to understand the history of this country more honestly and to recognise Māori as tangata whenua.”

Smith said Walker had a particular ability to encourage critical thinking.

“He taught us that our responsibility was not only to preserve knowledge, but to ask difficult questions about ourselves, to listen to voices we have not always heard and be willing to change.”

That sense of responsibility sits at the heart of the University’s relationship with Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei today.

In 2022, the University and Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei formalised their relationship through Kōtuitanga, a relationship agreement that provides a framework for strengthening their partnership and journeying together.

It also recognises Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei as the University’s iwi manaaki, and the importance of receiving and respecting the iwi’s mātauranga, tikanga and kawa in relation to the University and its place on the whenua.

“It’s a partnership that gives us structure, to support one another’s aspirations, and to accept shared responsibility,” Smith said.

“For the University, it also makes something very clear: on matters of mātauranga, tikanga and kawa, we seek and value the guidance of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei.”

For the new Vice-Chancellor, strengthening the relationship also means looking to the future and considering what the University will leave for those who come after.

Reflecting on his aspirations in the role, he said he wants to listen, learn and create the conditions in which talented people could do remarkable things.

“My hope is that, many years from now, those who inherit this relationship from us will be able to look back and say that we honoured what was entrusted to us.

“Together, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei and Waipapa Taumata Rau will help our people soar to greater heights.”

The pōwhiri brought together members of the University’s senior leadership, including Chancellor Cecilia Tarrant, Pro Vice-Chancellor Māori, Professor Te Kawehau Hoskins, Kaiarataki Michael Steedman, Te Tari o te Ihonuku Māori and Pro Vice-Chancellor Pacific, Professor Jemaima Tiatia-Sau.

Kaiarataki Michael Steedman, who is also Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, in his mihi paid tribute to the vice-chancellors who came before Smith, acknowledging them and the contribution they made to the University’s journey.

“Every vice-chancellor has the chance to build upon the work of their predecessor. . Nic now takes up the mantel with the support of his team and brings his vision and expertise to the position. This includes carrying the Kōtuitanga forward alongside Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei. The relationship we have today has been shaped over many years.

“As someone of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, and as Kaiarataki of Waipapa Taumata Rau, I feel that responsibility deeply. Our relationship is fundamental to understanding where we are, how we got here and how we move forward.

“Today is about welcoming Nic into that journey. It is about building on the work of those who have gone before us, strengthening the relationship we have with Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, and ensuring that what we build together is something future generations can inherit with pride.”

It was the Vice-Chancellor's second formal pōwhiri in a week, after the event at Waipapa Marae on 3 August with staff, students, colleagues, family and whānau.