The National Union of Students (NUS) and UoNSU have withdrawn support for the Free Education Demonstration scheduled to take place on 19th November.
The funding they had given for a coach to take students to the demo has now been withdrawn. The SU decided to withdraw their support following a statement from NUS president, Toni Pearce, who withdrew support for the demonstration due to health and safety concerns.
The SU’s withdrawal of support for the demo does not indicate their stance on free education as a whole
The NUS statement raises concerns over accessibility, mitigation of risk and public liability insurance. A statement from UoNSU said they were withdrawing support for the demonstration as members’ safety was not guaranteed.
The NUS’ withdrawal of support comes despite previously endorsing the demo at a meeting on 16th September.
The SU have reiterated that their withdrawal of their support for the demo does not indicate that they are taking a stance on free education. The SU’s stance is going out on a referendum to students on 17th November 2014.
“It was a strange decision by the President of the NUS to withdraw the support that the NUS NEC agreed upon several weeks ago.”
Scott Jennings, a member of the Environmental and Social Justice Committee and helped organise the coach told Impact, “I firmly believe the NUS leadership could have intervened if there were problems and sorted any issues out with NCAFC (National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts) to make the demo work; there was still two weeks until the demonstration to sort issues out.”
Calum Rutter, a third year Viking Studies student who planned to go to the demo with UoNSU told Impact: “Of course it’s disappointing that the SU has pulled their funding, as this will probably affect our numbers quite seriously. It was a strange decision by the President of the NUS to withdraw the support that the NUS NEC agreed upon several weeks ago.”
He added, “I will still be going, but I fear that many others will now have decided not to.”
“It would have been a significant event to bring about awareness of the feelings of students on education fees.”
A first year Sociology student told Impact, “It is a disappointment that the NUS have pulled their support for the demonstration. It would have been a significant event to bring about awareness of the feelings of students on education fees. However, I feel that the fact they are continuing to support lobbying and action for free education is important.”
Jonathan McAllister
Image: NCAFC
