Southampton, a leading UK university, has decided to join the small group of universities in England which are not affiliated to the National Union of Students. A member of the Imperial “No to NUS” campaign received a phone call this afternoon from a rather excited Southampton Union President, who explained the result of their AGM held today.
The quorate AGM at Southampton successfully passed the disaffiliation motion, and they will be leaving the NUS at the end of this calendar year. Stephen Edwards, Southampton Union President, told Live!: “Disaffiliating from the NUS gives us £69,000 more to spend on training, clubs and societies and our own campaigns. This way we avoid wasting money with pointless conferences, and NUS bureaucracy.”
When Live! contacted NUS headquarters in London this afternoon, they discovered that they were unaware of the vote at the AGM. One office spokeswoman replied: “What happened at Southampton? Is it significant?”
In a stark contrast to IC, the Education and Welfare Sabbatical led the disaffiliation campaign at Southampton. This already seems likely to be fueling rumours of a no-confidence motion being tabled against Mr Francis at June's meeting of ICU Council.
Two months ago Imperial College Union decided to remain disaffiliated from the NUS, after a long campaign that saw prestigious figures like Owain James, the current NUS President hassling IC students to vote “Yes” to join. No doubt the news that another leading university has left the NUS may encourage other student unions across the country to consider going down the same path.
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