“Oxford University” by babasteve is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.

Monday 27th February saw voting open for the Oxford University Student Union’s (OUSU) referendum on its affiliation to the National Union of Students (NUS).

The NUS is a confederate association of around 400 student unions across the United Kingdom and, according to its website, around 95% of all UK student unions are affiliated with it. The NUS is perhaps best known for offering TOTUM cards which provide student discounts at a wide variety of shops and restaurants. It purports to represent the interests of seven million students, but the SU’s referendum represents growing doubt over this claim. 

The referendum question is ‘Oxford SU is currently affiliated to the National Union of Students (United Kingdom). Should it continue to be affiliated: yes or no?’ All University of Oxford students are entitled to vote in this referendum, with the options ‘Yes’, ‘No’, and ‘Abstain’. The OUSU’s referendum page states that the result of the referendum will be binding if the turnout threshold of more than 4% of student members is reached. Polling opened on Monday 27th February at 8:00 and will close on Wednesday 1st March at 18:00. The results of the referendum are expected to be announced on Wednesday 1st March at 19:30.

The referendum page makes clear that the OUSU expects all students to follow the referendum rules. Particularly, it notes that ‘it is forbidden to campaign using pre-existing mailing lists or social media groups unless the mailing list is maintained by an organisation that has chosen to endorse one of the campaigns.’

The OUSU website details both the ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ cases for continuing to affiliate with the NUS. The ‘Yes’ side argues that the NUS is a ‘powerful voice for students across the UK’ and that through the NUS the OUSU can ‘campaign for the issues we care about’ beyond just a university level. They also state that affiliation with the NUS provides ‘resources, training, support and opportunities to collaborate with other student unions’ that the OUSU could not find elsewhere. The ‘Yes’ campaign additionally notes the NUS’ ‘long history of leading the way on social change’, listing their recent work on forcing a U-turn on A-level grades in 2020, securing £15 million for university student hardship funds, and freezing the student loans threshold among others. The campaign concludes by stating that they are aware the NUS ‘has its challenges and limitations’ but disaffiliation would mean the OUSU will ‘isolate ourselves from the rest of the student community.’

On the other hand, the ‘No’ side puts forth an argument that the ‘endemic problems’ within the NUS mean that it is simply ‘not working.’ It notes that in November 2022 the NUS President was dismissed over allegations of antisemitism after an independent enquiry. In May of the same year, the UK government announced it would be cutting all ties with the NUS over reports of alleged antisemitism. Nadhim Zahawi, Education Secretary at the time, said he was ‘seriously concerned’ about the number of reports about antisemitic incidents related to the NUS. The ‘No’ campaign argues that these failings mean that ‘the NUS cannot act as an advocate for Oxford students in the national discourse.’

The campaign continues by stating that membership of the NUS comes at a cost of ‘over £20,000 a year in dues’ from the OUSU. They suggest that disaffiliation would allow the OUSU to use the money saved to ‘bring back much needed resources to support student welfare and education’ at the University of Oxford. They further note that other universities including the University of Southampton, Queen Mary University of London and the University of Warwick have disaffiliated in recent years. Finally, they state that joining these universities in leaving the NUS would allow the OUSU to embrace a ‘positive vision for representative, compassionate, and effective student activism.’

The OUSU website lists the ‘Yes’ campaign leader in the referendum as Anas Dayeh of St John’s College, and the ‘No’ campaign leaders as Ciaron Tobin of Magdalen College and Caleb van Ryneveld of Christ Church.