The National Union of Greek Australian Students (NUGAS) appears to be in turmoil as a leaked document received by Neos Kosmos English Edition (NKEE) exposes issues of competency and direction.

A NUGAS media report dated May 17 was sent by the NUGAS National Media Officer, James Calligeros, to the rest of the National Committee members. In it Mr Calligeros accuses the entire committee of not effectively performing it’s duties.

Amongst other things Mr Calligeros accuses the committee of being “dysfunctional.”

In his report Mr Calligeros damns members of the committee for ineptitude, saying that, “No one appears to have the ability to complete their roles… we have a president who cannot lead, a secretary who can’t manage to email the minutes from a meeting to the committee, a liaison officer who can’t liaise with her own state, a treasurer who cannot fill a treasury, a convention officer who did not organize a convention, both a media and deputy-media officer, who together have been unable to produce a magazine, a webmaster who has barely updated the website, a policy officer whose greatest work for the year was a policy on tsiftetelia, an education officer who is likely unaware of the UNSW Greek department situation, and to my knowledge has taken no action regarding it, etc…”

When NKEE contacted the NUGAS President, Elinah Ioannides, she refused to make any comment, other than to stress that “the matter has been resolved.”

Mr Calligeros also declined NKEE’s request for a comment, insisting that his comments “should not be taken out of context.”

The Chairperson of the Youth Committee of the Greek Orthodox Community of Sydney and NSW, Makis Danalis, defended NUGAS’s role on the issue of the Greek Department of the University of NSW.

He clarified that he had contacted the NUGAS National President, Ms Ioannides, who was supportive and agreed to inform NUGAS’s members about the issue and to take action on the matter.

NUGAS members who talked to NKEE on the condition of anonymity revealed that a power struggle within the organisation is at play with certain members wanting to shift the focus of NUGAS “from tsiftetelia and booze cruises to more meaningful contributions.”

However, it is unclear if Mr Calligeros represents this group, or is driven by other motivations.

NKEE offered the opportunity to Ms Ioannides to provide us with information on NUGAS’ actions and activities for the past year and plans for the future, but no response has been received.