Oxford votes to leave NUS

‘NO’ campaign has reportedly triumphed in the NUS referendum


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Reports have broken this evening that the ‘no’ campaign has triumphed in the NUS referendum.

 3464 students voted- bringing turn out to 15% of the total eligible student population.

It is understood that the ‘no’ campaign won with a slim margin of 1780 against 1652.

0.9% of votes cast were abstentions.

Jack Matthews, NUS officer and leader of the No campaign, was pleased with the result.

He told the Tab, “We’ve sent a really strong message to the NUS this week that there is the need for some real change in the NUS, and I really do hope they listen to us, deliver that change, speak to us, and hopefully one day we will have an NUS that Oxford will be more than happy to join once again.”

Tom Rutland, leader of the ‘Yes’ campaign and current OUSU President, commented, “I’m obviously very disappointed with the result, and concerned about the impact it will have on OUSU and Oxford students. My time at OUSU has shown me that NUS membership is a real lifeline both for our elected officers and our student body. Students are stronger when they work together – be it at a common room, university or national level – so I hope that OUSU will reaffiliate to NUS in the near future.”

The announcement was made on Wednesday evening at the King Arms pub.

The decision was made in Hilary term to hold a referendum on Oxford’s connections to the NUS. Weeks of campaigning from both sides took place in the build up to the online vote which was held from Monday morning until Wednesday afternoon.