No to NUS Doomed from the Start?

With the NUS referendum still two months away, it appears that the two campaigns are distinctly mismatched. 

The main contact for the “Yes to NUS” campaign is Jamie Barker, also on the team are four sabbatical officers including Shane Murphy, VP Student Engagement, Sasha Watson VP Academic Affairs, Chloe Green VP Welfare and Communities and finally the mighty Sam Ling, Union President.  This comes as no surprise as during the last academic year all the re-running sabbaticals (Shane, Sasha and Sam) made it very clear that they were keen for a referendum on NUS membership despite not one of them putting that into their manifestos.

Shane, Liam and Sasha

Eyebrows have been raised on campus before due to Shane and Sasha’s friendship with NUS president Liam Burns affecting their impartiality.

The Yes to NUS team already has a facebook group which you can join here. It’s worth noting that group is not breaking any NUS campaign rules and since its creation a No to NUS group has been set up and can be found here.David Gilani, VP Communications and the deputy returning officer for the NUS Referendum, has stated that the groups will be advertised on the SUSU website from Monday

A screenshot from the yes to NUS page

A leading member of the No campaign has expressed his concern about the number of current sabbaticals backing the Yes campaign.

I’m disappointed that four sabbatical officers are going to be actively involved in the Yes campaign. I feel like they are misrepresenting the students and given their positions I think the No team will have a job on their hands being louder than the yes team. I am also disappointed that none of them have made it clear their intentions before the elections…. there are many people out there who believe something more sinister is going on. They are angry.

Currently I am undecided whether to vote Yes or No as I believe I need more information on both arguments. The fact that most of the sabbaticals are backing the Yes campaign makes me want to back to No out of sheer anger about the unfairness of it all. Objectively it seems to me that the question that needs to be asked of the current sabbaticals is what has actually changed in the last two years that means we should join?

The Soton Tab will remain neutral throughout the NUS debate publishing articles that favour both Yes and No.