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NUS affiliation: the pros and cons

Eleanor Sharman, Believe in Oxford’s campaign manager, argues that NUS disaffiliation is the only way to go.

The NUS has many good qualities. It provides support for student unions, employment for students themselves and a platform for many of the politically-inclined. It is capable of co-ordinating students on a large scale, and its role is recognised beyond university circles. 

If the issue stopped there, this piece would be redundant. The issue does not, however, stop there. Nor does it stop anywhere near there. In fact, the issue stops about fifty miles and a plane ride away, because – put simply – the NUS isn’t working.

The body’s role is to listen to students and represent them accordingly, to liaise with other SUs and organisations on students’ behalf, to enhance student welfare, and to represent minority groups. It is difficult, however, to imagine any body failing so dramatically to deliver.

Five issues have been raised already. For brevity, this piece focuses on the initial three: listening, representation and mass co-ordination. Regarding the first: I have been a member of the NUS for a while. Never have I had so much as an online poll about my views. Getting to do the National Student Survey in third year is positively exciting.

So is the NUS annual conference, perhaps. Elected delegates from across the country come together to determine policy. Sure, there are only 700 to represent two and a half million, and sure, the most first preferences that any Oxford NUS delegate received in Michaelmas was 253 of a possible 22,000 – but perhaps we could let that slide, if delegates represented our views accurately.

Alas, it is not so. The majority of Oxford NUS delegates have neither the means nor the time to establish an accurate picture of student opinion. In most cases, delegates are duty-bound to ‘represent us’ at Conference without any idea of what we think. Ask yourself about the last time that you knew the contents of a motion at an NUS conference. Or, if your immediate friends aren’t involved, about the last time you were even aware that it was happening.

Finally, co-ordination: the NUS has a role in uniting students and giving them a voice with the powers that be. It is easy to claim that only the NUS is capable of this large-scale work. But it’s not true.

‘Believe in Oxford’ is so named for a reason: in 2002, when tuition fees were introduced by the Labour government, the NUS stood paralysed by internal politics and in-fighting. It was Oxford’s own white paper that became the model for SUs across the country and around which every protest rallied.
Oxford has a strong, clear voice of its own. By remaining part of the NUS in its current state, we are ceding that in exchange for – what? The ability to pay £12 for a discount card? The embarrassment of being ‘represented’ by people who refuse their political opponents a platform? The loss of £25,000 per year?
This year’s affiliation fee is enough to fund OUSU’s Mind Your Head campaign 50 times over (or their Environment & Ethics campaign, or their Campaign for Racial Awareness and Equality, or their LGBTQ support). It is also enough to buy every student at the University a gin and tonic. Twice.

The NUS and Oxford could one day have a strong, beautiful relationship. For decades, however, our marriage has been uncommunicative and bitter. Relationship therapy (“change from within”) has been tried for so long by some of the most passionate and devoted individuals imaginable. It has achieved nothing.

Divorce is a final and unwelcome resort. But it is the only way forward for us both.

Tom Rutland, Yes to NUS campaign leader, says we’d be far worse off without NUS affiliation.

Representation and activism is how you improve students’ lives, whether at a college, university or national level. Oxford students come together in their common rooms to win low rent rises and proper welfare provision within their colleges. We work together as OUSU to win the right to resit Prelims and ensure that you don’t lose access to the counselling service and libraries if you have to drop out for a year. We fight with students across the country to successfully oppose cuts to vital access funds. If we didn’t work together, we’d be far worse off than we are right now.

Just this year, NUS lobbying has saved hundreds of millions of pounds in undergraduate access funds from cuts (the Student Opportunity Fund and the National Scholarship Programme). They have secured £45 million of funding for a postgraduate student support scheme. And they’ve stopped the practice of universities being able to prevent you from graduating if you’ve got a £2 library fine leftover from your time here.

There are more struggles ahead though: for example, the government is planning to cut the Disabled Students’ Allowance, a lifeline for disabled students that has been shown to improve degree outcomes. We’ve got to be a part of these campaigns to make sure all students — including those here in Oxford — have the opportunity to thrive at university.

Don’t be fooled by the numbers. The ‘No’ campaign are talking about NUS membership costing £25,000, but this is a misleading figure. NUS Extra Card sales make us back just under twelve thousand pounds, a number that is growing by thousands of pounds each year. We also received two grants this year of £1,000 to run the Student-Led Teaching Awards and to do green work with the University – reducing the net cost of our affiliation to just over £10,000.

When you consider the achievements of the NUS in the last year, including the support and training they provide to ensure your sabbatical officers are equipped to do the best job they can and the money individual students save through their NUS Extra Cards, it’s clearly money well spent.

Over 2,200 Oxford students currently take advantage of the NUS Extra Card, granting them a massive array of discounts they wouldn’t otherwise be able to enjoy. Whether it’s online shopping, 10% off all food and drink at the Co-op, or the free cheeseburger at McDonalds, OUSU’s affiliation to NUS puts money back in the pocket of individual students. What’s more, you’re now able to have an NUS Extra Card for the first year after you graduate – meaning whether you’re taking a break between university and work, or moving into your first job, you can still save a ton of money by holding on to your discount for another year.

Disaffiliating from NUS would cost Oxford students money, isolate us from the national student movement, and weaken both unions. We have a national movement of students making national decisions affecting us all. Oxford students have a right to be involved and have their voice heard in elections and policy decisions. My year as OUSU President has shown me the value of NUS – and when Louis Trup and I agree, hopefully we’re onto something good.

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