On 9 Oct 2006 16:07:48 -0700, "Mizter T" wrote:

Tim Roll-Pickering wrote:

Mizter T wrote:
Incidentally are there any student
unions in London unaffiliated to the NUS?

Yes - Imperial has a long history of being out (they were a founder member
in 1922, left in 1923 and only came back for brief periods in the 1930s and
1970s - the last was when their President was Trevor Philips). Currently
with the college pulling out of the University of London, some in the SU are
looking towards NUS affiliation as a replacement for the loss of ULU. Were I
a betting man I would not bet on them succeeding.

I didn't know about either Imperial's non-affiliation to the NUS, nor
it's imminent departure from the UoL. That seems like a big step, but
of course I know nothing of the background - apart from quickly reading
just now that it has gained degree awarding powers. One of my
neighbours is a Prof at Imperial, he's a quiet guy but I'll accost him
some day and ask him about it.

I understand it's a done deal as of last week.

My ill-informed logic suggests that a London SU would do well to have
an affiliation with some umbrella entity. I guess the choice isn't that
great - ULU or NUS (or both). That said AFAICS it's even less of a
choice outside London - NUS or not NUS. Despite all it's faults I can't
help but feel that the benefits of affiliating with the NUS outweigh
the cons - esp. if the SU is out of London, as there's nowhere else to
turn. But I confess I know little about all these machinations.

There have been movements to create an alternative to NUS. NUS tends
to be unpopular because of a perceived closeness to the Labour Party
(backing tuition fees in 1997 really damaged its reputation) and that
it seems to care more about furthering the individual political
careers than about helping the students it is supposed to represent.

The fact that it employs a significant number of staff who can go on
to a university campus during a referendum campaign and spread
barefaced lies to further the cause of affiliation to NUS also doesn't
help.

By the by I've just been most amused by reading the Wikipedia page on
ULU [1] - in particular the semi-coherent section on the handover
party, and what appears to be an arcane yet absurd dispute on when
exactly this should occur. Some of the stereotypes about student
politics are not that far off the mark!

It generally results from which sabbs get their parties organised
first...