Incoming NUS officer team vows to spend upcoming academic year ‘openly and honestly’ addressing student concerns

Letter comes as NUS faces one of the toughest challenges in its 94-year history with students’ unions campaigning for disaffiliation

Aftab Ali
Student Editor
Tuesday 17 May 2016 16:26 BST
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Outgoing NUS president, Megan Dunn, pictured, has given her support to the letter after a controversial National Conference in Brighton last month
Outgoing NUS president, Megan Dunn, pictured, has given her support to the letter after a controversial National Conference in Brighton last month

The incoming officer team for the National Union of Students (NUS) has promised to spend the upcoming academic year “openly and honestly” addressing concerns put forward by students in an open letter.

The letter has come as the national student campaigner faces one of the toughest challenges in its 94-year history as students’ unions (SU) from across the UK campaign for disaffiliation.

So far, the SUs at Lincoln and Newcastle have voted to officially break away from the NUS following a controversial National Conference last month which saw the election of Malia Bouattia as head of the NUS.

Ms Bouatta has faced allegations of anti-Semitism, however, the incoming National President has strongly denied the claims.

In the open letter, though - which has also been signed by outgoing National President, Megan Dunn - the team has emphasised how it is proud of its long history which has seen improvements to both students’ lives and wider society.

Placing emphasis on why SUs must show unity in a tough climate, the signatories have said: “This Westminster government does not understand, nor care, about the issues of students. Their actions on maintenance grants cuts, FE area reviews, the Prevent strategy, NHS bursaries, and the HE Bill shows this all too clearly.

“The only way we can lobby and campaign effectively on behalf of students is if we do so together, as we have done so successfully in the past.”

Highlighting three key promises, the full-time officers insist they will “work together” to find and create joint priorities over the coming months for the benefit of all, adding: “We will spend our year openly and honestly addressing the concerns that students have put to us.

“At National Conference 2017, we will bring a new proposal for NUS’s democracy to be more transparent and representative, as well as a new model of affiliation fees for SUs.”

The SU at Exeter University is, so far, the only one to announce it is to remain affiliated with the NUS after a tight referendum result swung into the Stay camp by just 144 votes.

From the 5,334 votes cast - around 30.8 per cent of the university’s population - a total of 2,546 students voted to leave the NUS, while 2,690 voted to remain affiliated, with the turnout at the SU - known as the Guild - becoming one of the highest-ever in a single stand-alone vote at any SU, as well as the highest at the Guild itself.

Guild president and leader of the Stay campaign, Laura-Jane Tiley, said: “Like the Leave campaign, we do believe the NUS needs to change, but that the best way of doing this is to remain a part of the organisation.”

Malia Bouattia interview

In contrast, though, Lincoln’s SU president, Hayley Jayne Wilkinson, described how, as a group of elected officers, they “no longer felt confident” the NUS represented the views of Lincoln students.

Similarly, Newcastle’s SU president, Dominic Fearon, said: “The current discontent amongst students, nationally, can be measured in the number of unions considering holding referenda on their membership.”

As well as the SUs at Oxford and Cambridge, others that are campaigning to break away from the NUS reportedly include Durham, Edinburgh, York, Westminster, Aberystwyth, London South Bank, Manchester, Hull, the London School of Economics, and King’s College London.

The open letter in full, courtesy of NUS Connect:

We each come from very different institutions and have different backgrounds; from both further and higher education. We each got involved in being a student representative in different ways; from joining sports teams to running political campaigns. We often agree and sometimes disagree on issues, as all elected representatives do, and we recognise that democratic debate is what moves our union forward.

One thing we do all agree on is that a strong, national student voice is imperative to ensuring we defend and extend the rights of students. We know the impact of being able to effectively organise has had a huge impact across all four nations.

We are proud to be part of a 94 year-old organisation that has a long and proud history of improving both students’ lives and wider society. Saving students thousands of pounds, exempting them from council tax, raising the national apprentice minimum wage, protecting education budgets, campaigning against apartheid and defending our unions – we can see that NUS has had a massive positive impact on past, present and future students across the UK.

We can also see that there are a number of legitimate concerns about NUS. Indeed for many of us, we got involved in student representation to help fix those problems. Not enough of our membership understands the work we do, or is engaged in our union as much as we desire. We are committed to addressing those concerns over the coming year and being the national voice that you deserve and need.

This has never been more important. This Westminster government does not understand nor care about the issues of students. Their actions on maintenance grants cuts, FE area reviews, the Prevent strategy, NHS bursaries and the HE Bill shows this all too clearly. The student movement in Northern Ireland continues to champion a vision of society based on equality and community cohesion the Welsh assembly is negotiating who will lead with UKIP holding the balance of power, while in Scotland we are still fighting for a fair and equitable deal for FE students.

The only way we can lobby and campaign effectively on behalf of students is if we do so together, as we have done so successfully in the past.

So this is our promise;

We as a team will work together to find and create joint priorities over the coming months for the benefit of members, students’ unions, and through them, students.

We will spend our year openly and honestly addressing the concerns that students have put to us, explaining what we do, learning what you want from your national union and exploring how we can best achieve that.

At National conference 2017, we will bring a new proposal for NUS’ democracy to be more transparent and representative, as well as a new model of affiliation fees for students’ unions – to ensure the very best deal for students’ unions.

Signed,

Megan Dunn, National President 2015/16

Malia Bouattia, National President-elect 2016/17

Shakira Martin, Vice President (Further Education) 2015/2017

Sorana Vieru, Vice President (Higher Education) 2015/2017

Piers Telemacque, Vice President (Society & Citizenship) 2014/2016

Robbiie Young, VP (Society & Citizenship)-elect 2016/2017

Richard Brooks, Vice President (Union Development) 2015/2017

Shelly Asquith, Vice President (Welfare) 2015/2017

Vonnie Sandlan, NUS Scotland President 2015/2017

Rob Henthorn, NUS Scotland Vice President (Education) 2015/2017

Emily Beever, NUS Scotland Women’s Officer 2015/2016

Angela Alexander, NUS Scotland Women’s Officer-elect 2016/2017

Beth Button, NUS Wales President 2014/2016

Fllur Elin, NUS Wales President-elect 2016/2017

Ebbi Ferguson, NUS Wales Deputy President 2014/2016

Carmen Smith, NUS Wales Deputy President-elect 2016/2017

Rosie Inman, NUS Wales Women’s Officer 2014/2016

Ellen Jones, NUS Wales Women’s Officer-elect 2016/2017

Fergal McFerren, NUS-USI President 2015-2017

Maddy Kirkman, Disabled Students’ Officer 2014-2016

James Elliot, Disabled Students’ Officer-elect 2016-2017

Mostafa Rajaai, International Students’ Officer 2015-2017

Fran Cowling, LGBT+ Officer (Women's Place) 2016-2017

Melantha Chittenden, LGBT+ Officer (Women's Place)-elect 2016-2017

Noorulann Shahid, LGBT+ (Open Place)-elect 2016-2017

Susuana Amoah, Women’s Officer 2014-2016

Hareem Ghani, Women’s Officer-elect 2016-2017

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