Letter from sabbaticals to NEC: Middle East

Posted on December 15, 2006
Filed Under Inside NUS

This letter was sent out to the NUS executive following discussions on the Middle East, and more generally on the Lebanon war. Sofie Buckland’s response is available here.

Dear Gemma,

Firstly we would like to congratulate you on an excellent campaigns launch and those of us who attended were extremely pleased with the direction and focus of the National Union for the coming year. We are writing this letter not to demand or admonish but to let you know our beliefs as student leaders within our organisation.

At the last NEC meeting a motion was submitted about Israel and the UN. At the one before that a motion was submitted about the war in Lebanon. Motions about the Middle East crop up time and again at NEC meetings and within our national union. This is a clearly a hot topic for us as students and as citizens of a global community, but we believe that NEC meetings are not the appropriate place for these types of motions, because they are issues that we, as the student movement, are not united on. As such, they are a waste of your time and end up dominating the table for weeks later, while all the good policy passed is forgotten. It is precisely because these issues are divisive that they cause so much debate. Debate is good. Having our National Executive make policy on an issue that no-one agrees on is not.

It's important to note that this is not an attempt at censorship or stifling of debate in our student movement. Students and student officers should be free to discuss and debate and unite on any issue they wish, including international issues that may or may not affect them directly. They should be encouraged to join organisations that work to affect change in our world. Indeed, there have been many cases in history e.g. defeating Apartheid, in which students have played a significant part and we are proud of this heritage.

But our point is this: We can fight together on things that unite us: on fees, on education, on housing, on welfare, on equality, on diversity, on anti-racism and anti-fascism but there are some fights, particularly ones relating to the Middle East and international issues, on which the student movement is definitely not united. When we voted for you, we voted on the platforms and manifestos on which you ran, not on your opinions on the Middle East.

We pay tens of thousands of pounds to our National Union every year and believe that when the NEC comes together it should do so to discuss issues that affect our students. NEC meetings should not be wasted, dominated by or include issues that cannot possibly be decided upon by 27 people in a room for the 5.3 million students outside. There are enough problems facing the student movement that we can unite on and that we can have an impact on. These are the issues which the NEC and the NUS should focus on.

So here is our request: This is not a motion outlining which issues we think the NEC should or shouldn't discuss. This is not a mandate that says if you continue to discuss these issues we will call for your removal. This is simply a group of student officers saying we think it's time to change. We ask and implore you as leaders of our movement to stop submitting and discussing motions relating to issues on which there is no student consensus and to encourage those members with a particular view, to pursue their efforts for change in a relevant external organisation.

We must all use our time productively in this movement to achieve change on the issues that unite us rather than achieve nothing on the issues that divide us.

In unity,

Ben Ullmann, President, University of Bristol Union

Nick Barnett, Vice-President Welfare, University of Bristol Union

Matthew Seow, Treasurer, University of Bristol Union

Jo Weston, Communications & Campaigns Officer, University of Bristol Union

David Speirs, SCA-Coordinator, University of Bristol Union

Tom Noble, AU Chair, University of Bristol Union

Jon Medcraft, RAG Chair, University of Bristol Union

David White, President, University of Sheffield Union of Students

Mark Ansell, Education Officer, University of Sheffield Union of Students

Luke Graham, Finance Officer, University of Sheffield Union of Students

Will Hunting, Sports Officer, University of Sheffield Union of Students

Vicki Slater, President, University of London Union

Daryn McCombe, President, KCLSU

Jo Williams, VP Representation, KCLSU

Adam Farley, VP Participation and Development, KCLSU

Ed Drummond, VP Communications, KCLSU

Seph Gillin, Student Trustee, KCLSU

Ed Marsh, President, Queen Mary's Students' Union

Rob Coveney, President, Royal Holloway Students' Union

Gordon Socket, VP Education & Welfare, Royal Holloway Students' Union

Harry Bryant, VP Communications & Services, Royal Holloway Students' Union

Caro St. John, VP Student Activities, Royal Holloway Students' Union

Edward Bray, Co-President Education & Welfare, UCL Union

Peter Mason, Education Officer, BUGS

Alan Strickland, President, Oxford University Students' Union

Mark Ferguson, President, Cambridge University Students' Union

Sam Rose, Welfare & Graduates Officer, Cambridge University Students' Union

Tim Goodwin, President, Edinburgh University Students' Association

Daryl Taylor, President, Chester Students' Union

Paul Jaggers, President, Bath University Students' Union

Joe Al-Khayat, President, Cardiff University Students' Union

Colin Hindson, Societies & Communications, York University Students' Union

Tim Field, President, Oxford Brookes Students' Union

Olly Reed, VP Academic Affairs, Oxford Brookes Students' Union

Graham Hope, VP Activities & Development, Oxford Brookes Students' Union

Jason Manning, VP Commercial Dev. & Comms, Oxford Brookes Students' Union

Jon Lucas, VP Welfare & Equal Opportunities, Oxford Brookes Students' Union