SOUTHAMPTON SAYS NO To the NUS

Last night was the results night for the NUS referendum, marking the end of a cold week of campaigning. There were 3,444 votes, marking only 14% of the student population, with 67% voting NO, and 33% voting YES.

This is about half the number of votes that SUSU’s Sabbatical elections received last year, where 7156 people voted.

In a bitter remark, Jim Dickinson, The Director of Campaigns and Strategy at the NUS, yesterday commented, “thank god that you will still be able to buy obscure brands of pens in SUSU shops”.

The NO team can attribute their success largely due to the fact that they convinced students that SUSU would lose £50k per year from being part of the NUS. One student who was unhappy with the result, tweeted “the NO campaign spun a misleading figure brillantly”.

Actually, SUSU would likely make a healthy profit from being in the NUS, due to savings from bulk buying, and the sale of NUS Extra Cards.

Aaron Bali, the leader of the successful NO team said yesterday, “regardless of politics, this has been a fantastic success for our students. A great turnout, and rising levels of involvement.”

The reaction to the result was generally positive, with most students very happy about the turnout:

“What I will remember is the No and Yes teams together on the dancefloor, showing how united our Union is. Be proud Soton students”

“Sometime democracy DOES work!”.

Are you happy with the result of the NUS referendum? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.