Should Warwick say no to the NUS?

It’s been a few weeks since Malia Bouattia was elected as NUS president and opposition to the NUS appears to have drastically increased across universities in Britain.

Warwick is no exception. Two weeks ago people didn’t seem to know what the NUS actually did but suddenly everyone is feeling opinionated about it all.

Warwick has joined the likes of several other universities in the UK such as Durham with their ‘A better Durham’ Facebook page and York’s open letter to their SU attempting to cut ties with the union.

‘Warwick says NO’ is a Facebook page intent on calling a vote on whether our student union would be entirely independent of the NUS.

Now for those of you who like me didn’t know anything about the NUS, apart from that a NUS card gets you cheaper stagecoach tickets and discounts at Topshop, the NUS is body of volunteers who claim to “promote, defend and extend student rights”.

In the past they’ve lobbied to end the ban on gay or bisexual men being able to give blood and supported a woman’s pro-choice campaigns. Basically they’ve been pretty influential regarding mental health issues, racial and gender equality and a whole bunch of other really great things.

However, the situation isn’t perfect. Their limitations of freedom of speech could be seen as a violation of human rights and generally quite oppressive. Moreover, the accusations of anti-semitism surrounding president Malia Bouattia are clearly a significant issue. Plus there’s a problem when an organisation claims to represents students yet the vast majority of them feel entirely disengaged.

Sam Fry, the leader of the ‘Warwick says NO’ movement has told the Boar newspaper that “Warwick deserves better” and that “the NUS does an extremely poor job at engaging with its members”. This is a thought echoed by the 150 people who have liked the page on Facebook.

He’s currently promoting a petition to be signed by 500 students so that an all student vote on the matter is required.

Notably, Warwick SU president Isaac Leigh disagrees with the movement arguing Warwick SU ‘would be far weaker and more isolated’ outside of the NUS and there are unknown consequences of isolating our SU entirely.  

Ultimately it’s a debate that needs to be had and students need to become aware of whether leaving or staying in the NUS would benefit them, especially if Sam achieved the 500 signatures he requires to cause an all student vote.

If that were to happen, the outcome regardless of what it was, would shape Warwick SU’s future dramatically.