Time for Change

It’s Time NUS goes for change.

Yes as you can guess this blog is about the governance. And it is time for NUS to change.

NUS for the past decade has been meandering towards failure, through out dated democratic structures and the ability of certain groups to shout out their concerns above the average student. The governance review is about that, putting students first and not allowing groups to shout loudly and drown out the average student. The reason why ‘The Hard Left’the left believe they represent the average student is because they are shouting too loudly to hear what the average student actually thinks!

I want to point several things out about this year’s NEC, firstly we are the most politically diverse NEC that has been for in years, and to most normal students that means Tories and Lib Dems, not just the factions to the far left such as Alliance for Workers Liberty (or Education Not for Sale, depending on who you talk to), and Student Respect who just want to keep to status quo to preserve their positions.

The main aims of the governance review is to put the student at the heart of the decision making bodies with in NUS, to make the elected officers more accountable to students and to make NUS a more effective organisation so we can achieve in stopping the lifting of the cap in 2009. This year’s NEC has got more ordinary students than ever before; I myself have never been a sabbatical officer only ever holding part time positions. I was elected as a full time MA student. I may be labelled as ‘the harbinger of the right’ but I believe that students should come first in their own National Union! rather than being able to shout loudly. The white paper is not a factional stitch up - it’s backed by the vast majority of the NEC from all political persuasions be it Labour Students, Lib Dems Youth and Students or Conservative Future! The white paper takes the power out of the national executive committee and back into the hands of the student, which for too long has been ignored by the hard left.

I am also fed up with the personal attacks and the mis-information that the left Hard Left are dishing out to people on the ground,. Oover the past few weeks I have been to many student unions and all of them have said they are beingfeeling attacked by the hard left who are telling them that they are ‘ending democracy’ just because they believe that the students should come first. The senate will be the NEC of the future and not the board, and to address one point in the video that has been produced (with a script that was completely fictional and comes from Student Respect), at the moment legal and financial liability the legality of the National Union comes down to one person, the Nnational President!

It is time for NUS to change and change for the better. As a member of a political party with the word democrat in it I would not support a governance review if I believed it was undemocratic. This is the change we need and a change ordinary students want to happen. Choose change!,

Tom Stubbs

Tom.stubbs@nus.org.uk

NUS Governance

Firstly well done to all the unions who are calling for change. Together we shall do this.

Secondly, as you might guess, I feel that it's time for NUS to Change and change for the better.

Over the past couple of weeks I have spoken to many student officers who have contacted me with their concerns and thoughts on the governance review. These were decent concerns based upon their working knowledge of the National Union. I shared many of these concerns when we had the first NEC meeting on governance in October. But I can safely say I am 100% behind what we are planning to do, and hopefully what you, the membership want us to do as well.

NUS has for far to long been an organisation where if you shout loudly and invade the platform you get what you want. Motions would be chopped and changed in compositing, and students have never felt like the NUS did anything for them.

What this review aims to do, is to put the student and student ownership of our National Union into the very center of what we aim to do. The zone conferences will make your representatives more accountable, the senate will make things happen and the board will make sure the NUS can survive in the modern world.

The Revolutionary Left dislike this review. Why? Because their little shouty club wont work any more. Power will be taken away from the NEC and given to more people, making members of the senate more accountable and allowing things to actually happen. Students and student officers will be able to make the issues relevant to students. We've been calling for change for years, lets make it happen in 2007!