The NUS is a democratic union: If it doesn’t represent you, change it

The NUS: an embarrassing, self-righteous, radical organisation obsessed with censoring public figures and marginalising white cisgender men.

This seems to be trending view of the NUS, with news alleging the organisation declared gay men aren’t oppressed and need to step down from their rep positions, and wants to silence the prominent LGBT+ activist Peter Tatchell.

Regardless of how the reality of the situation has been distorted by the media beyond recognition, if the NUS seems to have gone astray from what the majority of students believe, it’s through no fault of its own.

The NUS is structured completely democratically and transparently, and no – nobody is forced to be part of it. Individual student unions of further and higher education institutions across the country choose to be a member of NUS, and are entitled to send elected representatives to conferences to put forward, debate, and vote on motions.

This means that if your student union is part of the NUS, you can vote on who goes to every conference and put forward motions that your representatives have to present and defend. On top of that, if you hate every single person running for conferences, you can run yourself, or nominate someone you feel will do the job better.

Every single individual involved in the NUS, whether it’s a full-time officer, the president, a member of some committee, or a delegate at conferences, has gotten involved because they were elected by the students at their university.

The NUS isn’t some exclusive club that only the politically radical are allowed to take part in – it’s an organisation that has democracy at the core of its structure. The problem with its policies not reflecting the majority of students’ opinions it isn’t the NUS itself – it’s the majority of students’ complete apathy and disengagement that creates that gap. The chances are that you didn’t even know what conference delegates were, or that literally anyone at your uni or college could run to be one.

Be there or be square

Leaving the NUS, which would require lobbying your entire student union, isn’t the answer – as it wouldn’t change a thing. It’s only natural that students who are passionate about political issues would get actively involved with an organisation like this, and they’re not going to stop fighting for what they believe in because you had a bit of a strop.

There’s no denying that because students are repeatedly shafted by the government through crippling debt and housing policies, we’re in desperate need for a national union to stand up for us. I had the pleasure of being part of the #CutTheCosts campaign, where the NUS and representatives from student unions were invited to lobby their local MPs to vote against cuts to grants and student nurse bursaries. Among campaigns like this, there are countless things the NUS does for us that are vital for our rights.

If the majority of students really don’t agree with NUS values, then it shouldn’t be difficult to gain an overall majority in votes for policies that reform the NUS – this only requires students to actually care what’s going on and bother voting. If you truly want it to represent you – you need to work for it, and instead of encouraging further disenchantment, encourage students to push for what they believe in.

As is the case with all social institutions – if you don’t do politics, politics will do you.