Referendum held to decide future of Imperial College Union - <em>News</em>

Tuesday 14 November 2006
By Naomi Weston

Will Imperial College Union reaffiliate with the National Union of Students or remain independent? A petition has been signed and a referendum called. The campaigning is on with strong arguments from both the Yes and the No parties.

This week from Tuesday 14 November to Thursday 16 November the students will be voting on this issue and the result will be announced at 19.00 on Friday 17 November. This debate has been around since 1922 when the College became one of the founder members of the NUS. Imperial withdrew after only a year and has had an on-off relationship with the Union ever since.

The College’s centenary year in 2007 will see Imperial withdraw from the University of London, which also means withdrawing from the University of London Union. Will the College Union go it alone or join forces with one of the largest student organisations in the world?

The voting will be online and in the weeks running up to the referendum there will be teams of Pro and Anti NUS campaigners on campus. The question on the electronic ballot paper will be, ‘Should Imperial College affiliate to the National Union of Students?’

In 2002, there was a referendum on the same subject in which the students decided to remain disaffiliated.

The debate is now in full swing. The Pro side argues that the NUS is a large body which claims to represent all students in the UK making it a powerful campaigning force. In 1991 for example, the NUS successfully persuaded the government to exclude all students from paying council tax.

Leader of the joiN US campaign and physics postgraduate, Alex Guite, explains: "The breadth of support we’ve had from students across College since we started our campaign has been great. They believe Imperial should join the NUS because with withdrawal from the University of London Union we’ll be at our most isolated for over 50 years.

Alex argues the NUS offers a much wider range of discounts than is accessible with an Imperial card. He adds: “We believe Imperial should join the NUS because NUS lobbying succeeds for students: for instance our Union on its own could never have negotiated the Council Tax exemption. The truth is that the interests of the NUS are aligned with our interests; we're all students fighting for a better deal for students."

In comparison the Anti side says that joining the NUS will cost in the region of £50,000, that the priorities are different to those of the College Union and that while Labour has been in power the NUS has only achieved small victories.

James Fok, leader of the No campaign, argues: “The majority of NUS members are in further education colleges and less research-focused universities. Imperial College is a highly specialised, technical university with strong research interests. The majority in the NUS do not and will not understand the needs of Imperial College students and therefore cannot represent us. Imperial wants better funding and education standards in a sustainable manner, with discrimination based solely on ability and not on financial background.”

“We do not want equal funding across universities, we want fair funding based on the economic cost of teaching our expensive, world-class lab-based courses. The NUS does not share this view - they still believe in the 50% target for higher education, which we do not believe is sustainable,” adds James.

John Collins, President of the College Union explains: “The students of Imperial College Union are about to vote on one of the most important decisions we have ever taken in our 99 year history. When we leave the University of London Union next year, should we join our national body instead or should we go it alone?”

He adds: “This huge decision will impact the way ICU works and interacts with the rest of the student movement for many years to come. This is why it is right that our all of our students are getting the chance to have their say in this online referendum. Whichever way the vote goes, I am very excited at the prospect of recording the highest voter turnout our Union has ever seen.”