Loughborough Students’ Union latest to disaffiliate from NUS in surprising decision

NUS 'looks forward' to understanding how LSU reached its decision seeing as referendum was 'a long way' from being quorate

A controversial National Conference 2016 has seen students' unions from across the UK campaign to leave NUS (NUS)

The students’ union (SU) at one of Britain’s rising universities has become the latest to announce it is to end all ties with the NUS following the controversial election of National President, Malia Bouattia.

Loughborough Students’ Union (LSU) announced its decision in a short statement, and said: “Loughborough Students’ Union will end their affiliation with the NUS.

“The board of trustees have decided to support the student vote in the recent referendum.”

The decision has come as a surprise considering quorum - enough students voting for the decision to be valid - was not met.

From the total 2,162 students who cast their vote in the institution-wide referendum, 1,175 voted to leave, with 893 voting to stay affiliated.

LSU had originally said the quorum figure was 4,000 and that, since this was not reached, the decision on whether Loughborough would remain affiliated would be referred to the board of trustees.

Speaking to the Independent, an LSU spokesperson said the SU will spend the next few months “planning for the academic year ahead.”

The spokesperson added: “The priority for the current executive team and elect will be to ensure we can deliver for our students in light of the disaffiliation; giving them the best offers, support for all of our students, and continuing to be one of the best SUs in the country.

“The result of the referendum is binding for one year of it being passed, meaning the earliest a student could call for another referendum on this issue would be this time next academic year.”

An NUS spokesperson said the student campaigner was “of course disappointed” to learn of the LSU trustees’ decision.

The spokesperson added: “Given the referendum was a long way from being quorate, we look forward to understanding how the trustees reached their decision.”

LSU now joins the SUs at Lincoln, Newcastle, and Hull to prepare to break away from NUS, while Exeter, Warwick, Surrey, Essex, and the two Oxbridge universities voted affiliation. York will be announcing its referendum result on Thursday where, so far, over 2,500 students have cast their votes.

Between Lincoln, Newcastle, and Hull, according to figures for the 2014/15 year provided by NUS, the student campaigner is set to lose around £123,000 in affiliation costs. LSU said it was paying around £45,000 a year for affiliation, but that students and LSU benefitted from the NUS Extra card which brought £15,000 in commission.

NUS did not, however, provide the Independent with individual SU affiliation costings, or how much the NUS made in fees over the past year. Instead, a spokesperson did say the campaigner caps all affiliation monies earned at £4 million with any remaining income going towards abatements.

Some media reports have suggested, though, that NUS has an annual income of almost £20 million, around half of which is made up of affiliation fees.

The call for SUs from across the nation to break away from the national student campaigner has been increasing in recent weeks after a controversial NUS National Conference in Brighton in April.

The election of Ms Bouattia, 28, as president sparked outrage after her campaign was hit with allegations of anti-Semitism in the days running up to her being chosen as leader.

In a 2011 article she co-authored, Ms Bouattia referred to Birmingham University as being “something of a Zionist outpost in British higher education.”

Ms Bouattia, though, has strongly denied all allegations. She told Channel 4 News: “It’s no surprise a Muslim woman elected into a national position will receive such extensive national attention, and quite racialised and sexist abuse over social media.”

Politicians also heavily criticised NUS delegates for presenting arguments against commemorating the Holocaust during a debate at the conference. Labour MP for Bassetlaw, John Mann, described how some comments - and their reception - were “inappropriate, offensive, and point to a disturbing wider ignorance about anti-Semitism” within the NUS.

The referendum campaigns at several SUs have been hit with allegations of “electoral malpractice” in recent weeks. On this, an NUS spokesperson told the Independent: “We have been working with each union on the role NUS officers can play in each campaign as they are a valuable part of the debate.

“We will continue to work with the students’ unions to address any specific concerns that are raised.”