THE UNIVERSITY of Reading’s student union (RUSU) is set to consult students about whether they wish to remain a part of the National Union of Students.
A referendum vote is being held in November to decide whether RUSU will continue its membership.
At a Student Voice meeting back in May, a motion was passed which proposed the referendum, after trustees raised questions about the value for money they were getting from the NUS.
A statement on the RUSU website says that in recent years, the union has not had “any significant evidence to demonstrate how being a member of NUS has benefitted our members.”
RUSU president Sheldon Allen said “as an organisation, the problem we’ve got with the NUS at the moment is that we’re not seeing any engagement at national level.
“Over the last few years, and successive officer teams, we haven’t been seeing that value anymore.”
The University of Reading has been involved with the NUS since its inception in 1922, with representatives present at the signing of the NUS declaration in London.
RUSU has now laid out a number of reasons it is dissatisfied with the NUS.
It cites a “failure of the NUS to actively engage with RUSU and students at Reading as a whole,” and failure to be an “effective voice for students” in dialogue with the government, citing the removal of the NUS from key discussions such as Department for Education consultations.
This came as the result of the ongoing accusations of anti-semitism, which RUSU has also cited as one of the contributing factors of its decision.
As well as this, RUSU has said that it did not feel that the 2022 Liberation and National conferences were not safe spaces for attendees to hold productive discussion, and says that the NUS has moved “too far away from its core objectives.”
Currently, RUSU is paying £30,000 annually towards its membership.
Due to the nature of the process of leaving the NUS, RUSU has already moved to leave by submitting a letter of withdrawal.
This will not take effect until Saturday, December 31, 2022.If the student referendum moves to remain part of the NUS, the withdrawal procedure will be rescinded.
Mr Allen said: “Whatever your your party politics are– and not everyone will agree with the way that this government operates– but equally, you need to be able to engage with the government at some level.
“Our students put themselves forward and are elected by the student body to then go and represent Reading at conferences, and if they’re not feeling like they’re getting any anything out of it, then we need to make a decision.”
He said also that it hinders student representatives from carrying out their own duties: “RUSU reps need to be in that position to be able to do their jobs as well, so that they can serve the students that they’re representing.”
While the motion currently proposes to leave the representative arm, Mr Allen said that other support provided by the NUS will still be available.
“We’re leaving merely the political arm of the NUS, but the NUS provides a little bit of support to students unions in terms of training, which still remains.”
With RUSU standing to save £30,000 per year if it leaves the NUS, Mr Allen said that the money could represent a big investment back into student union services.
“We can reinvest that money into students, and it’s quite early days yet, but it makes sense to get students actually involved in that decision making about where that money goes.
“We can invest it in projects that we’ve got going on here already, or we could make it available as a grant opportunity.
“There’s lots of ideas floating around, but it opens up so much in terms of resources.”
Students returning in September will be given the opportunity to vote in the referendum currently scheduled to take place from Monday to Friday, November 14-18.
A minimum of 1,000 students participating is required in order for the vote to be valid, with RUSU encouraging as many students as possible to take part.
Reading Today has reached out for comment from the National Union of Students, but at time of print has not received a response.
For more information about Reading University Student’s Union’s proposal can be viewed at www.rusu.co.uk
