NUS shrinks election democracy

Nominations open on 14 November for National Union of Students (NUS) full-time officer roles, earlier than usual. They close on 30 January, and voting will be 8-11 April, so the whole election process takes place outside NUS conference (17-18 April).

There will be no hustings at conference, no other NUS-organised in-person hustings. The changes are said to be broadly in line with the antidemocratic measures introduced in 2019 .

The longer process of nomination is claimed to be necessary for in-depth background checks to be carried out on candidates.

All this will mean that candidates can do less, or even no, in-person campaigning, unless they are able to travel to local in-person hustings. NUS conference is already a hollow body stripped of almost all power, and such changes are being cascaded throughout the democratic structures of the organisation.

Another reason cited for the changes to elections cited is that conference needs all its time for “important business”. We say make conference longer, not shorter, with more time for debate and discussion and with real democratic votes. Scrap this system of online elections.

Higher education and further education are in crisis. NUS needs to take up a serious fight for students, but lack of participation is a real and serious problem. These changes will further disenfranchise students.