NUS disaffiliation campaigning season officially starts today

Today marks the start of a three and a half long campaigning season over the University of Bristol’s membership of the NUS.

The referendum, which will see voting take place between 17^th – 20^th October, was triggered at the end of the summer term when over 500 people signed an SU petition to give Bristol students a choice.

Newcastle, Hull, Loughborough and Lincoln universities all had similar referendums at the end of the last academic year and voted to disaffiliate.

The mass wave of disaffiliation referendums throughout the country was triggered by the election of radical student leader Malia Bouattia whose controversial and anti-Semitic statements have alienated much of the UK’s student population.

This election ignited previously held worries over the NUS’s highly undemocratic structure, lack of influence on the national stage, and a high annual membership fee of £51,000 from each university’s SU.

Controversial NUS President Malia Bouattia

The Bristol Out of NUS or BONUS campaign have already launched their Facebook page which can be found here.

They released this statement shortly after the campaign’s launch:

“The NUS is, quite simply, no longer fit for purpose. Year after year it has disgraced itself, through its persistent failures to adopt ‘one student, one vote’, tackle anti-Semitism allegations or engage properly with its paying members. Reformists have been unable to change it in the past; they will fail again in the future. In a survey this May, 62% of students wanted Bristol to disaffiliate from the NUS. On 17th October, you will have the chance to vote for this. It’s time for change. It’s time for BONUS.”

Bristol student James Heale has been named as one of the leaders of the campaign. The names of the other BONUS leaders are still a mystery.

The status of the campaign to remain in the NUS is as yet unknown and no social media activity has  been detected.