The National Union of Students (UK)
Created | Updated Apr 13, 2002
The National Union of Students, or NUS, was, in decades past, one of the most active radical forums in the country and a force for change. Past alumni include ex president Jack Straw, currently the Home Office cabinet minister and one of the most ruthless politicians around. However, The NUS would do well not to hark back to its golden era of radical activity, as today it is little more than a front for the more effective ways of raising money for the Union PLC. The very notion of having a 'union' of students is ridiculous. Unions normally exist to protect the rights of workers against their capitalist employers. The National Union of Students currently engages in collecting large amounts of money from its members to invest in share portfolios (revolving portfolios which seldom have ethical policys, and consiquently invest sometimes in companies like GEC Marconi and British Aerospace, arms dealers to the UK and other governments). The main source of income in many Student's Union is the bar. Money from this venture is supposedly destined for use in the University, to improve the services of that university. What, in fact, happens is that money is given out to sports clubs and societys that the elected Finance Officer is a member of/has friends who are members of. Recently the Finance officer of The University of East Anglia (Norwich) agreed to write off a debt owed to the union by the rugby club, to the tune of £3000. This money was originally given to the club to provide new kit and equipment for the team, but the exective board of the team thought it more appropriate to spend the money on a massive party for its members. In short, they p**sed three grand up a wall. The Union of Students for Norwich also recently thought it unfeasable to fund the production of a magazine written by the students of that university, cost £750. They also declined to pay for a student journalist to go on a fishing trawler on the North Sea, for purposes of writing an article, cost £60. The Elected Union exectutives are voted for on the basis of a campaign where they lay out their aims for the student body. Sucessful candidates for sabbatical posts recieve a salary of £10,000 for the next year. There is no system to ensure that these people even attempt to achieve their aims, and absolutely no comeback if they don't. Consequently, the vast proportion of students don't vote as it is utterly pointless. The successful candidates are invariably the ones who have the largest group of 'friends' that they have aquired through leeching around common areas of the university. This makes them thouroughly unpleasant characters, and ironically those best suited for the political jobs that they covet. Rising from the generally apathetic student body is not a hard task, not based on intelligence or integrity. In general it would be better to consider as sage wisdom the words 'those who desire to be president are the very people that should not be alowed to rule'.
