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Trevor Philips in NUS top 10

Mar 11 2002 20:42

Charlie Brown

Former ICU (and RCSU…) President hailed by the Guardian as one of the “movers and shakers” in the student movement.

RCS alumnus, and former President of many student unions... Trevor Phillips.

The National Union of Students celebrates its 80th anniversary this year. Imperial College was one of the founder members in 1922, but soon left. A full history of Imperial’s participation is available online, for the extremely keen.

In the 20 or so (cumulative) years that Imperial was a member of the NUS, only one IC student has become President of the national union. That person was the broadcaster Trevor Phillips, who is now the Deputy Chair of the Greater London Assembly.

In marking this anniversary, the Guardian has proposed the “top 10 most influential NUS leaders in terms of what they achieved for students and the impact they had after leaving”. The survey puts Trevor Phillips (who became NUS President after completing successful terms with the Royal College of Science Union, Imperial College Union,… and the University of London Union), at number 7. In first place was Jack Straw (a former Leeds SU President) who is now Foreign Secretary in the Labour government.

Imperial College Union is not currently a member of the NUS. A referendum on affiliation will be held on Thursday 14 / Friday 15 March.

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Discussion about “Trevor Philips in NUS top 10”

The comments below are unmoderated submissions by Live! readers. The Editor accepts no liability for their content, nor for any offence caused by them. Any complaints should be directed to the Editor.

1. Rob Park

Mar 11 2002 22:20

TP was never RCSU president, iirc. I think he was Chemistry dep rep... I stand to be corrected. He is currently Vice President of the RCS Association, though. Dispite his NUS and political links, he is a good after dinner speaker, particularly when running for the post of Deputy Mayor of London :)

2. Charlie Brown

Mar 11 2002 22:21

Well the "50 years of Felix" special edition that came out in 2000, claimed he was RCSU President.

3. Adrian

Mar 12 2002 01:22

I suggest that someone checks the pot.

4. Stuart Davis

Mar 12 2002 01:36

I've checked the pot. Trevor Phillips isn't on it. But then, neither am I ...

However, I will be at the end of the year, so I can only assume that TP was never RCSU President. Can someone please check the Felix archive, as there's lots of stuff about when he was ICU President. Hopefully that should clear the matter up.

But it does go to show that the NUS is generally geared for launching people's political careers rather than representing students. There's a good reason why ICU hasn't been part of the NUS since his time. It's because we don't need it.

5. Bob

Mar 12 2002 09:01

I agree. IC has no need for NUS

6. Londonstatto

Mar 12 2002 17:00

Didn't Phillips take ICU in, promptly become NUS President, with ICU then leaving again at the earliest possible opportunity?

7. Stuart Davis

Mar 12 2002 17:06

It's true. The cynical amongst us might suggest a connection with ICU's re-affilliation and TP's subsequent careers.

8. Rob Park

Mar 12 2002 20:25

To quote from Beavis & Butthead: "Give me TP for my bunghole"