The National Union of Students (NUS) has officially called for a second Extraordinary Conference on the 20th of January to ratify the controversial Governance Review. The required twenty-five Unions have come forward and requested that the new constitution be approved now rather than later in the year at the Annual Conference. After the last Extraordinary Conference voted to adopt the new constitution, all it requires now is the final document to be ratified a second time for it to replace the old constitution. All Student Unions have been asked to send delegates and vote on the future of the NUS. If you wish to attend, please see below.
USSU has remained strongly opposed to the proposed reforms on the grounds that they will make the NUS more undemocratic and strangle grass-roots activism, only increasing student apathy and weakening any attempts to campaign. The 2007 AGM voted unanimously to vote down the last governance review, with USSU Council recently voting to reject the newer proposals. The whole process of the review to date has been frequently condemned as undemocratic bordering on a sham, with previous submissions by USSU having been ignored, the insistence of forcing through the reforms through Extraordinary Conferences and even democratic amendments made to the last Extraordinary Conference were altered without warning by the Steering Committee. USSU will be voting down the new constitution and if approved, will lead to a referendum being called on whether to stay affiliated to NUS.
USSU has seven delegate places to attend the Extraordinary Conference and needs students to represent Sussex. Nominations are open until the 15th of January. The conference takes place in Wolverhampton on Tuesday the 20th of January. USSU will arrange all the necessary transport and accommodation and will cover all the costs incurred. If you wish to attend please email finance@ussu.sussex.ac.uk with your name and email. If more than seven delegates wish to attend, then USSU Council will vote on which delegates to send.
To read more about the NUS and the history of the Governance Review click here to see more.
