What’s the Issue?

Following the most recent NUS National Conceference in April Malia Bouattia was elected to be NUS President. What dominated the headlines however were a number of student union delegates suggesting disaffiliation from the NUS completely.

Initially this was associated with Bouattia’s election and her association with Antisemetic views/ groups. Most notably Bouattia labelled Birmingham University a “Zionist Outpost” in an article in 2011. Furthermore, many took offense as Bouattia voted against a motion to condemn ISIS. This led to accusations of her being a supporter of the group.

The NUS President elect refutes these claims. She said in a  column for The Guardian, that her delay of the National Executive Council motion was “because of the wording, not because of its intent”.

She went on to suggest “The NUS must be about opening minds, educating people, and building human connection through intelligent discussion instead of angry rhetoric”.

While criticism of Bouattia seems unsure, what has become apparent is an issue with how representative the NUS can be. The main point of contention is based upon the rejection of the one member one vote motion at the conference. This compounds many student’s complaints that the 731 delegates that represented unions at the conference is too small a number to accurately convey the views of 7 million students.

Newcastle, Oxford, Cambridge and York university delegates amongst a number of others were particularly vocal in their calls to disaffiliate as they appeared across national press as well as on the likes of Newsnight immediately following the conference. While more recently Exeter and Lincoln unions have held referenda.

What’s happening at Newcastle University?

The NUS delegates from Newcastle University came away with differing opinions of the outcome and the NUS in general. Most notable is perhaps NUS delegate and NUSU President Dom Fearon’s response. Fearon was quoted in The Telegraph as suggesting the NUS “have very little interest in representing the majority of students” before continuing “they do very little to impact the lives of our students in Newcastle which is a great shame”.

Cynthia Adiele similarly questions the NUS’s ability to represent students. She was unsure of how student’s views could be upheld without bias, “the infusion of politics and political banter into the conference was too much and not appropriate”. Nevertheless Adiele believes that “entirely pulling out of the Union might not be the best solution”.

Adiele also said the delegates “made history” by electing the first female black President of the NUS. This sentiment was echoed by Luke Allison who called the appointment “a huge landmark”. Indeed Allison seemed to have a more positive outlook on the future of the NUS stating “the student movement is going to have a louder and firmer response” to changes being carried out in the following year.

Yet, Matt Wilson-Boddy is the delegate who has had the most visible response. Having noted that he saw the one member one vote motion as the “last hope for the organisation to save its credibility as the “voice of seven million students” he emphasised the union lacked “real action”.

These issues led Wilson- Boddy to establish a petition for Newcastle University Student’s Union (NUSU) to hold a referendum on the topic. In less than 24 hours the petition exceed the 300 signatures required to force the referendum.

Now two campaigns have being established: The Yes to NUS: Newcastle let’s fight together; and No to NUS: Newcastle respectively. Both are set to be active as voting for the referendum occurs alongside NUSU part-time officer elections between May 9th and 12th.