Thursday 12-01-2017 - 16:23

After NUS National Conference 2016, following pledges of many of the elected full time officers to reform the democracy of the National Union of Students, Conference outlined twelve principles of better democracy. These were based around Inclusiveness, Transparency, Considered Judgement and Popular Control.

A Task and Finish group has been set up by NUS to work with the Centre for the Study of Democracy to create a set of proposals to reform the democracy of NUS, these can be found here. The proposal is currently in consultation stage, where union’s have the opportunity to input their ideas. These will then be taken on board, and the Task and Finish group will submit a final set of recommendations to be voted on at NUS National Conference 2017.

At Durham Students’ Union, we recognise that whilst 1299 voted to remain affiliated to NUS in June 2016, 830 students voted to disaffiliate. This gave us a mandate to work on ensuring that NUS projects, in particular those such as the democracy review, are in the interests of all Durham Students.

As President of Durham SU, I believe that proposal to replace NUS Zone meetings with regional meetings will be beneficial for northern students’ unions, because often the core work of NUS relates to issues in London. These meetings will also support the ability for students’ unions to discuss and solve issues that really matter on their campuses.

Students often criticise the difficulty for the average student to be involved in holding NUS officers to account. Currently this happens through a body called the NEC (National Executive Council) who is also elected at National Conference (where only delegates vote). Therefore, the proposal to host monthly online accountability forums will make it easier for any student to hold their representative to account.

I am disappointed by the proposal to make NUS full time officers into two year terms. It seems to go against the ethos of making NUS even more inclusive, as it will prohibit some students from running for leadership positions.  I also have concerns about the proposal to remove Women’s Officers in Scotland and Wales but I believe that NUS Scotland and NUS Wales should be consulted directly on the implications that this may have on them.

The consultation ends on Friday 20 January so you have any comments, please contact our Campaigns Coordinator at dsu.engagement@durham.ac.uk.