York students have voted to remain in the NUS

Voter turnout was over twice as much as the last vote


The University of York will vote to remain in the NUS, after results of the referendum were released today.

2741 students (15.7 per cent of the total number of students) voted in the referendum, with 1461 voting to remain and 1233 voting to leave.

This number was over twice that of the 1259 (7.6 per cent) of students who had voted regarding the University’s NUS membership in 2014.

There were 46 abstentions and one spoiled ballot.

Oh boy I sure do miss Vanbrugh Paradise

In a Facebook post, YUSU President Ben Leatham commended the “commitment, dedication and hard work that both the Yes and No campaigns have put into delivering engaging and dynamic campaigns”, especially “amid exams and end of term commitments.”

Chris Wall, leader of the “Remain” campaign and YUSU’s Student Activities Officer, expressed his delight at his side’s victory on Facebook, while noting that the outcome of the vote “is not a vote that says the NUS should continue in the same manner it has.”

Tap or click to interact with the map. A green blip indicates an SU that is going to remain affiliated with the NUS, while red is indicative of disaffiliation. Yellow shows that a campaign for disaffiliation has started and blue shows an independent Union.

Alex Lusty of the No2NUS campaign was disappointed but also hopeful: “It is gut wrenchingly disappointing to see York students vote to stay in the NUS.

“However, this is not a victory for the organisation; this is no vote of confidence. When almost half of voters saw the organisation as too broken to fix and the loudest voices of the Yes campaign actually largely agreed, this referendum has been hugely damaging for the NUS.

However, as much as reform was cowed, nothing will change. As occurs every time, the calls for reform will be silenced after interest has moved on and we will be back in exactly the same place three years down the line.

“It is only hoped that by then students will stand up and say that enough is enough.”

The result of the referendum will stand for the next three years before it will be up for debate again.