Letter: Misconceptions about students' unions

Sir: John Patten today announced an end to 'the closed shop of the National Union of Students', which he implied all students are forced to join. However, the NUS is a federal organisation of individual students' unions, under which each individual students' union may or may not choose to join. I find it hard to believe that even a minister in the present Cabinet can be so misinformed.

The University of Warwick Students' Union is primarily an organisation that provides services, such as welfare and catering. These are used by nearly all of our students, and are also under their control through democratic structures. There would be no incentive for people not to join their union unless students had to pay to join. This is the Government's real intention; they want to stop educational institutions that choose to fund students' unions from doing so. Students will have to foot the bill, which will almost inevitably mean higher prices for services on campus.

Students' unions, contrary to popular belief, are legally barred from political campaigning. We seek only to represent our members and control our own commercial environment. The Government seems determined to break us. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that we protest about its refusal to end student debt, to restore benefit entitlement to a decent level, and to fund properly the increasing number of students in higher education.

Yours sincerely,

A. LEMON

General Secretary

University of Warwick

Students' Union

Coventry

7 October