While it’s patronising and insulting to refer to anyone as an “ordinary student”, we hear the term so often from disaffected circles nowadays. The truth though is that there simply is no such thing – and to imply otherwise demonstrates a blinkered or even wilfully reductive view of the student population’s sheer diversity.
Warwick SU represents over 25,000 students from a wide range of age groups, nationalities, social demographics and academic disciplines. Clearly, no two people are the same. Everyone’s needs are different – as are everyone’s hopes and expectations for what their SU can do for them.
Some need the SU to provide the marginalised with a voice or help them to discover that voice in the first instance. Some need the SU to stick up for them against what can sometimes seem like overwhelming odds – whether that’s on their course or in their personal life. While some need the SU to help fix a one-off problem, others need it to help effect change on a local or national scale. Some need the SU to enable them to meet like-minded people, explore existing interests or pursue their dreams. Some just want the SU to provide a cheap pint, tasty meal or a great night out once in a while. Some may never interact with the SU at all – and that’s absolutely fine. But the point remains that the SU (and all of its advice, societies and officers) is here when you need it – and for whatever you need it for.
If by “ordinary students” these commentators mean those who may consider themselves ideologically ‘neutral’, non-party political or even ‘unpoliticised’, this is also disingenuous. Your ability to have a voice on your course is political. The abolishment of maintenance grants is political. Paying tuition fees is political, as is the price of your accommodation and living costs. Visa restrictions and working conditions for international students are political. The marketisation of Higher Education is political. Your ability to get a job after university is political.
The NUS is not perfect. However, leaving it is not the answer – this would be a destructive, rather than constructive act. It will not make the SU a stronger organisation – in fact, it will severely compromise its ability to campaign, represent and offer services to the Warwick community.
Some people will say that this is a good thing – that SUs should essentially operate as glamourised service providers. They are wrong. Just as it is important to acknowledge the plurality of political views within the student body, it is equally crucial to acknowledge that oftentimes those who speak up loudest or choose to get most involved are those whose views may initially have been sidelined in the broader conversation. For example, Liberation Officers and campaigning societies represent the interests of women, international students, BME students, LGBTUA+ students, students with disabilities and part-time/mature students – who, together, represent a significant proportion of the student community at Warwick.
In actuality, then, these so-called “ordinary students” may potentially even be in the minority – and yet, disaffiliating from the NUS will undoubtedly harm their interests too.
It goes without saying that opting to disaffiliate from the NUS would carry significant financial repercussions for the SU, the implications of which would go far beyond ideological posturing. The knock-on effect of this could be equally significant, since the SU’s annual turnover enables it to reinvest all the proceeds from commercial services into non-profit activities which directly benefit what is an extremely diverse membership body. More broadly, however, the support and resources that NUS membership grants SU staff and Officers access to is absolutely invaluable.
The SU is a collective organisation – that is what a union is. As a member of the NUS, Warwick is in a much stronger position to fulfil our primary charitable purpose: to try and improve the lives of all students during their time here at university – in whatever way that may be. You may not agree with every decision made by the SU – though sometimes, it’s worth being humble enough to acknowledge that this may be because they don’t really affect or even apply to you! But it is impossible to overstate just how critical the Students’ Union is to life here at Warwick. Imagine what our campus would be like without Pop! and Skool Dayz, without the Grad Ball, Sports Ball, Societies Awards and Freshers Fortnight; without The Dirty Duck, Curiositea, Xananas and The Terrace Bar; without Housing Day and the Advice Centre; without academic and personal representation; and without the hundreds of clubs and societies which so define and enrich many people’s time here. The SU doesn’t just change lives – it sometimes even helps to save them.
Clearly, the SU represents different things to so many different people – and it is vital that we do not compromise this plurality by exposing our SU to a decision which could end up severely limiting it in the long run. One person’s small or niche society might be another’s entire world. One person’s dismissive cry of “Why should I care about that particular service?” could mean the difference between staying at university or dropping out to another student. No-one has the right to decide which of these viewpoints becomes the ‘standard’ or norm – and yet, that is what the repercussions of disaffiliating from the NUS might force the SU to ultimately do.
We are only one voice, but when we combine it with others, this quickly becomes a groundswell. The NUS fought for – and won – student exemption from Council Tax. Their list of achievements in the last year alone speaks itself. It is a vital resource for the entire Staff and Officer team who work tirelessly day-in, day-out, to support students in the wealth of challenges which accompany life at university. And, perhaps most crucially, they – together with student activist groups and a handful of MPs – are the only body sticking up for students on a national level.
None of us is an ‘ordinary student’. In fact, every single one of us is extraordinary, and the SU will only be able to continue to support us in a wide range of activities if it remains a member of NUS. I sincerely hope students will do the right thing for their SU and the student population at large by continuing our affiliation with the NUS.
You can vote on the issue until Friday here: http://www.warwicksu.com/democracy/all-student-meeting/vote/
Keep up to date with the Yes to NUS campaign on their official Facebook page