YUSU has chosen not to support tomorrow’s National Student Demo after a vote at Community Assembly last week.
The proposal to provide “financial and ideological support and promotion” for the demo was almost unanimously voted down at the first meeting of the Community Assembly on Monday, with concerns that the march could end in violence.
Unlike the infamous student protests that saw violence at the Conservative Party headquarters at Millbank, the November 9th march is not organised by the NUS, although they have provided their support for it.
A number of other unions have withdrawn their support in recent months, citing concerns with the number of marshals, poor disabled access, and poor route organisation.
A number of college chairs were concerned that providing coaches for the event would be a waste of money, and could be a failure with which they wouldn’t want YUSU to be associated. Providing transport to London for 57 students to attend the event would have cost YUSU approximately £800.
There were also fears, expressed by a number of parties, that the protest could end in violence similar to last year’s student protest and March’s TUC ‘March for the Alternative’.
Goodricke Chair Nacho Hernando told Vision: “Our decision not to support this demonstration was, from my point of view, a result of a disagreement with the operational issues rather than the sentiment behind the demonstration.
“Moreover, the (non-student) representative of this demonstration contacted YUSU and the college chairs only ten days before the demonstration was to take place, leaving us no chance to consult this issue with our JCRCs and fellow students.”
The protest has been organised by a private group, the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC), rather than the NUS.
YUSU President Tim Ellis said that the Community Assembly agreed that supporting the protest “would not be a valuable use of Union resources.
“The demonstration is only being actively supported by a handful of other unions across the country, and it was felt that the cost of sending down a coach could not be justified by the amount of people that had been shown to have an interest in attending.”
For those who still wish to attend, York Stop the Cuts are providing coach transport for £15 per person.