Bangor University votes on Student Union breakaway
Bangor University is to vote next week on whether to break away from the National Union of Students.
A campaign is underway to pull out of the NUS after local students claimed that its leadership was ignoring ordinary members.
Leave supporters said that the money saved from affiliation would be better spent on campus and its 11,000-plus students.
Matt Day, the university’s societies and community officer, accused those at the top of chasing their own agendas.
He said: “For those of us who are campaigning to break ties with the NUS, we feel that it is neither an effective nor representative institution for addressing the needs of Britain’s, or Bangor’s students.
“As of January 2017, it is estimated that our Student’s Union had spent £35000 (£27000 membership, £8000 on conferences) towards the NUS. This is outrageous, considering we have spent a meagre £2000 on mental health services.
“Our benefits of membership in no way balance out this burden. We have received £1000 in fiscal aid from the NUS, as well as funding to plant a series of trees on one of our hall’s sites.
“In fact, we don’t even have to align ourselves with motions and policies put forward by the NUS (including abolishing the Monarchy, and the prison system), would it not be better to save upwards of £35000, and align ourselves with causes which we do deem worthwhile, such as quality of student housing and addressing sexual assault in Universities.
“The NUS membership card is also currently becoming more and more obsolete every day, as there’s many more ways of getting student discounts, without having to pay £12. We hope that on May 3rd, Bangor students decide to stand up against the career bureaucrats in the NUS.”
Mr Day, who is studying electronics engineering, said that too often the jobs were being seen as a stepping stone to bigger political careers.
It is not the first time that the university has attempted to breakaway from the union they last tried two years ago.
Students will get to vote on the motion in a two-day online referendum. The results should be known on Thursday.
It will be the first big test for new NUS president Shakira Martin, 28, who ousted the controversial former leader Malia Bouattia earlier this week.
Speaking to the BBC following her election she said: “I take this as a vote of trust that our members believe I can lead our national movement to be the fighting and campaigning organisation we need it to be, representing the breadth of our diverse membership.
“Further education made me who I am today and I look forward to sharing stories of just how powerful all forms of education can be when we’re all given access to it.
“During my term in office I want to spend my time listening, learning and leading.”
The NUS did not respond when asked for a comment.
