Members of Labour Club, the York Tories, the UoY Lib Dems, York UKIP, York Greens, PalSoc, York Liberty and York Union are joining forces to write a motion demanding YUSU leave the NUS.
York Vision understands the group wants to force a referendum as early as next week. They will propose the motion at the YUSU annual general meeting on Monday, and hope students will go to the polls before Friday.
A leaked provisional copy of the motion calls the NUS a "fundementally undemocratic" organisation that "focuses most of its energies on futile causes."
The students say the NUS "will never be representative" in its current format, and its "leadership is wildly out of step with the collective mood of students across the country."
It is not yet clear whether members from all eight political groups involved were also involved in drafting this version of the motion. Only individual Labour Club members endorse the motion, but York UKIP is officially backing it.
The largely unprecedented demands come amid mounting student anger at decisions made at the NUS national conference, which is ongoing in Brighton.
The conference has so far voted through a motion urging “restrictions” on YikYak during student elections. YUSU president Ben Leatham said he voted for the motion, though he admitted it was "vague and unclear."
"People were targeted" during the YUSU elections, Leatham said. "It was out and out harrassment and it was not acceptable."
The motion said the NUS should "open a dialog with Facebook, Twitter and YikYak to introduce restrictions on 'anonymous' or troll accounts during election periods."
This morning delegates applauded a speaker who suggested the NUS should not commemorate the Holocaust. “I am against the NUS ignoring and forgetting other mass genocides and prioritising others,” the student, from Chester University, said.
Southampton University voted to leave the NUS in 2002, and voted not to join it again in both 2010 and 2012.
Sad. When did policy become “jump ship” over “strive to improve”?
Maybe it was when the NUS started passing arbitrary motions, debating whether the Holocaust should be commemorated or not (applauding those who spoke against commemoration) and started electing people who are dodgy at best, anti-semitic at worst? We need an organisation that actually represents students, not a far-left fringe of students that think everyone agrees with them.
YUSU currently has a mandate to stay in the NUS. The democratic time to renew that mandate is next year. An attempt to rush it through now by the Lib Dems because they got trounced in a democratic election is frankly just a bit childish.
If we have an election forced through now with a few weeks notice in the exam period that impacts a third of the electorate for a solid one and a half weeks of their union membership, YUSU is officially an antidemocratic authoritarian joke. This referendum cannot happen now. Let’s think about it properly next year.
We have “strived to improve” in the past, we’ve sought to for example democratise the system multiple times, yet each time such attempts have been clogged under a deluge of procedural motions and other delaying tactics from those who seek to preserve their cliquey mates’ club. The only way now we can send a clear and resounding message is to disaffiliate.
well I’m not a student but I have heard some very worrying stories about a certain section of students whom bully others who don’t agree with them and yes they are far left for instance the banning of political groups such as ukip I was under the impression that university was about ideas and debate but more importantly education instead its turning into a dictatorship am I wrong ? I hope I am
It’s not just the Lib Dems, and many people feel the need to call for one now as they won’t be able to contribute to the campaign next year. Besides I think there is a mandate to leave the NUS given that there has been a dramatic change in direction with the election of Malia etc. etc.
I would remind “rgetwrg” that disaffiliation would not necessarily be permanent. If York was able to disaffiliate but then, God willing, the NUS booted out Miss Bouattia and introduced genuinely democratic reforms, then I am sure there would be openness to re-joining.