9th July 2001

The crisis over the decision by the National Executive of NUS to cut £300,000 from what are seen by many as core services shows no sign of a quick solution as the national executive have refused to give any ground to protesters. Despite a well publicised campaign and an occupation of NUS HQ in protest over the cuts NUS has got heavy on 'fringe' NEC members who joined with protesting students in their occupation. Executive members Lee Sergeant, Vicki Austin, Kat Fletcher and Carli Harper-Penman were originally banned from the NUS building, though this has now been recinded. All have been threatened that if they attend any 'non-prescribed' meetings at this weeks NUS Convention they will be expelled. Austin, LGB officer has also been barred from giving her training session on LGB campaigns.

Robin Sivlapan who was at last weeks occupation said;
"I guess now we try to make sure that Unions across the country understand what is going on. The contemptible but expected lies that the NUS are sending round the country cannot be allowed to cloud the very clear issuesbehind the occupation. Nor can the occupation be seen to be the end of the protest. It was the start; we need to try and get as many people down for the NEC meeting protest on Monday and as many unions to pass the motion calling for an emergency conference. The broad and non-usual suspect type support that this campaign has rallied needs emphasising as we know that this is going to be plugged as 'factionalism' by NUS leadership. Ringing around yesterday, it was felt that the majority of unions are in agreement that the books need to be open to enable a fair appraisal of possible cuts- whatever their politcal beliefs."

Currently, half of the unions necessary have passed the motion for an emergency national conference. Campaigners hope to get more this week at convention.

You can pass the motion below into your union's policy through an executive meeting, general meeting or union council. Only 25 are needed to call an extraordinary national conference, but they need to be exactly the same as this one.

This Union believes
1. At the Emergency NUS NEC meeting on Monday 11th June 2001, the NEC voted to make £300,000 worth of cuts in NUS Budgets
2. These cuts included the following:
· stop sending mailings to 'less active' affiliated students unions
· scrapping of the women's unit
· compulsory staff redundancies
· increasing the cost of NUS training to constituent members
· the threat not to provide accommodation or food at national conference
· refusing to allocate dedicated staff support to the LGB campaign as passed by annual conference 2001

This Union Further Believes
1. The 30 page document proposing these cuts was only circulated an hour before the NEC meeting, no alternative proposals could be submitted, and some members of the NEC elect including the national women's officer and open place LGB officer were not invited to the meeting.
2. These cuts have been brought in despite NUS owning three buildings and shares worth up to £2 million pounds.
3. Neither the Liberation Campaigns nor Students Unions have had any input into this process.
4. Many of the cuts break either NUS Annual or Liberation Conference's policy and the entire procedure has left NUS open to legal challenge.
5. These cuts will fundamentally weaken our union, accelerate disaffiliations and plunge us into financial crisis and a spiral of decline.

This Union Resolves
1. To mandate the principal elected officer of this union to make a request in writing for an Extraordinary National Conference of the National Union of Students, to discuss the topic of the decisions of Emergency NEC meeting on the 11th June 2001.

Guidance notes: This motions must be passed by the governing body of the Students' Union completely unchanged and following a procedure approved by that governing body. Deleting even a word may invalidate that constituent members request. The principal officer of the students union (usually the president) should then sign the request, and attach the minutes of the meeting where it was passed and this motion. The request must state the topic which is to be discussed at the emergency conference (as proposed in the motion above) as well as the name of the constituent member (student union) on whose behalf it is proposed. The signed request, minutes and motions should then be sent to: Kat Fletcher, 192 Hewitt Ave, Wood Green, London, N226QG who will collate the 25 requests required for the conference.

To join the Save our Union mailing group, contact Sacha Ismail
Times Higher Education Supplement
Guardian (2nd Artcile)
Original Story
NUS blast 'lie ridden' educationet
Occupation report
Current state of affairs
Student 123
Guardian (1st Article)
Message Board Discussion