‘Kill joy’ DSU bans campaign satirical video

In a bizarre twist, the DSU have been accused of being “kill joys” on the last day of the NUS referendum. After an investigation, the DSU requested a satirical video to be taken down.

The video was a satirical take on Yes2NUS campaign, with vocal “Remainer”, Harry Cross, apparently saying he supports leaving the NUS. The ‘No’ campaign lodged an official complaint about the video. Despite many of the ‘No’ camp posting their appreciation of the video on Facebook, the complaint was upheld by the DSU. It said the video: “Dishonestly made a false representation with the intent to make a gain for itself or another, or to cause loss to another or to expose another to a risk of loss. As a result the edited video meets the criteria for a breach of intellectual property law.”

Zealous DSU officials are clearly nervous about a break from the National Union of Students, which has recently elected a national spokesperson on the behalf of all students. That spokesperson has since become embroiled in accusations of shocking anti-Semitism, and three universities has disaffiliated.

The jittery email ordered the satirical video to be removed: “A Better Durham must remove the offending video and publish both an apology and the original Yes2NUS video on its Facebook page.

“Further if the post was sponsored, A Better Durham must provide the Deputy Returning Officer with evidence of the budget spent on the original A Better Durham Facebook post, as well as the insights for the post including reach and engagement. Any budget must then be matched and the retraction post and correct video promoted to the same audience until that budget is used or the voting period ends.”This shocking crackdown on satire stands at odds with the completely wrong, and later disowned, NUS campaign revealed exclusively by The Tab. We showed that the NUS had wrongly used the NUS Extra mailing list to lobby for a ‘No’ vote.

When the DSU distanced themselves from this huge breach of the rules, the returning officer did not stipulate ways in which amends must be made. Clearly, the case was different for the good-humoured ‘Yes’ campaign.

The Yes campaign told The Tab: “A Better Durham is deeply and profoundly sorry that it published a light hearted video yesterday. Apparently it breached the ‘intellectual property rights’ of the NO campaign. For this we apologise.

“We hope that you enjoy reading this apology as much as we enjoyed being made to write it.

We also hope that the NO campaign doesn’t feel the need to complain to the DSU in the future. It is the view of “A Better Durham” that further fun-sponging worsens engagement with already unpopular institutions.Now that both sides have been found to have acted improperly, the NUS awaits a result from the Durham student body after the 5 PM vote cut-off point tonight.

Voting for the referendum is online and the options are No (to remain part of the NUS) and Yes (to leave the NUS).