Monday 15-04-2019 - 11:58

I have just returned from my second National Union of Students’ National Conference where I represented Salford Students in Glasgow! It has been a fantastic three days, and this is a breakdown of what happened.  

National Conference is a chance to vote on policy within NUS and to look at who are our national representatives. Here is a breakdown of how I voted! (This is a long one, and I will speak about specifics of why I voted the way I did further on on certain motions.) 

Emergency Motions 

Motion 402 Institutionalised Islamophobia -For Passed 

Emergency Motion of Antisemitism- For Passed 

AGM 

Accept new NUS Members- For Passed 

Adopt the minutes of last conference- For Passed 

NUS Financial Situation: Against Fell 

Removal of Gender Quotas: Was not discussed 

One Student One Vote: Against Fell 

Accountability Reports 

President’s accountability- Against Passed 

VPFE accountability- For Passed 

VPHE accountability- Was not on conference floor Passed 

VPUD accountability- For Passed 

VPW accountability-For Passed 

VPSC accountability- For Passed 

Elections 

President- Zamzam Ibrahim Zamzam Ibrahim 

VPHE- Claire Solenski-Smith Claire Solenski-Smith 

VPUD- Ahmed Mahbub Erica Ramos 

Welfare- Eva Crossan-Jory Eva Crossan-Jory 

Accountability Reports and Financial Reports 

NEC Accountability- For Passed 

Reference back to challenge the defunding of the trans campaign- For Passed 

UK Board- Against Fell 

DPC- For Passed 

Challenge to budget 3- Refund Postgrad- For Passed 

Challenge to budget 4- Refund Trans- For Passed 

Accounts and Estimates- For Passed 

CRO Report-For Passed 

NUS Reform 

Motion 002: For 

Amendment 1: For (governance) 

Amendment 2: For (apprentices) 

Amendment 3: For (Delegate entitlements) 

Amendment 4: For (to elect delegates) 

Amendment 5: For (gender balanced delegations) 

Amendment 6: For (rule and power of conference) 

Amendment 7: For (No Platform) 

Amendment 8: For (Keep NEC) 

Amendment 9: For (Scrutiny Council) 

Amendment 10: For (Liberation Campaigns Committee) 

Amendment 11: For (Sections Caucuses) 

Amendment 12: For (Officer numbers and roles) 

Amendment 13: Was not discussed 

Amendment 14: For (Trans Campaign) 

Amendment 15: For (Member Directors) 

Amendment 16: For (Executive) 

All passed except Amendment 8 

Priority Zone 

Motion 101 Education on the brink- For 

Amendment 1- For 

Both Passed 

Welfare Zone 

Motion 201 NHS- For 

Amendment 1-For 

Amendment 2-For 

Amendment 3- For 

Amendment 4- For 

Amendment 5-For 

Amendment 6-For 

Motion 202  Reproductive Justice- For 

Motion 203 Mental Health Charter-For 

Motion 204 She’s fine, it’s not a hate crime- For 

Motion 205 Culturally Competent Care- For 

Motion 206 Fight for Funds- For 

Motion 207 Rent Strikes- For 

Motion 208 Bursaries pls and thanks- For 

Motion 209 Rogue Landlords- For 

Amendment 1- For 

Motion 210 Restrict the Rents- For 

Amendment 1- For 

Motion 211 Student Railcard- For  

Motion 212 Make Xenophobia a hate crime- For 

Motion 213 Support for Autistic Students- For 

Motion 214 Trans Healthcare- For 

Motion 215 What the F- Was not discussed 

Motion 216: Part-time students need special support- For 

Motion 217 My Money, My Choice- For 

Motion 218 Equal Access to Faith and Wellbeing Resources for students from non-Abrahamic Faiths and Traditions- For 

Motion 219 Protecting students at white t-shirt parties- For 

Motion 220 Reform to Disciplinaries for Oppressive Practices- Was not discussed and referred to NEC 

All passed 

Education Zone 

Motion 301 FE Proposal- For 

Motion 302 HE Proposal- For 

Motion 303 International Student Fees Cap- For 

Motion 304 Graduate Levy- For 

Amendment 1-Against 

Motion 305 Publish programme costs- For 

Amendment 1- For 

Motion 306 Quality of Education- Against 

Motion 307 Fair Pay for students on placement- For 

Amendment 1- For 

The rest of the motions in this zone were not discussed due to time, but will be discussed at NEC 

All passed except Amendment 304a and Motion 306 

Society and Citizenship Zone 

Motion 401 Environmental Justice- For 

Amendment 1-For 

Motion 403 Brexit- For 

Amendment 1-Against 

Motion 404 Tackling Knife Crime- For 

Motion 405 Living Wage-For 

Amendment 1-For 

Motion 406 Students Rights in the Workplace-For 

Motion 407 Support the Love Equality Coalition- For 

Motion 413 Integrated Education for a shared future- For 

The rest of the motions were not discussed but will be discussed at NEC 

All passed 

Union Development Zone 

Motion 501- Unions as unions- For 

Motion 502 The Election Commission-For 

Amendment 1-For 

Amendment 2-Against 

The rest of the motions were not discussed but will be discussed at NEC 

All passed 

Elections 

Block of 15- Charlie Hind, Nabeela Mowlana, Larissa Kennedy, Abdullah Okud, Mona Mounir, Cosob Awil, Amna Atteeq 

Student Director- Laura Douds, Ross Loveiit 

DPC- Zainab Khan, Azza Abdullah, Phil Dowler 

Results are yet to be announced 

If you have been following the NUS, you will know that reform was an important part of this year’s conference. I decided to vote for all the amendments to ensure that marginalised students are still protected within the NUS structures and that liberation groups have their own autonomous campaigns. I also voted to protect NUS from becoming over-run by bureaucracy to ensure that students still get the chance to have a say in their national union, as well as Sabbatical Officers. I can send you the amendments in full if you wish to read through them and I am more than happy to chat to you about why I feel this is important in more detail! In these votes, we re-funded the Trans campaign, the post-graduate campaign, ensured that delegates continued to be elected and gave liberation campaigns their autonomy back. However, I am very disappointed surrounding the decision to remove the National Executive Council- this was one of the only forums for students to have their voice in the NUS, and I will continue to be vocal about the importance of the NEC. 

You will also know that this year Salford submitted some motions, two of these motions were ones that I submitted (The Student Railcard and Conference Timing). The Student Railcard was passed, and is now NUS policy, however due to timing constraints, Conference Timing was not discussed at conference, but the NUS NEC will be discussing this policy at their next meeting.  

This year at conference the best moment for me was the elections of full-time officers. I was on the campaign teams for Zamzam, Claire, Juliana, Eva and Ahmed, and I am happy to say that all 4 out of 5 of these candidates got elected. A particular congratulations must go to Zamzam Ibrahim, our former SU President and now our National President. It’s been a very worthy few months of campaigning and preparing for this election, but it was extremely worth it to know that our National Union has an incredible President elect! 

There were two very powerful moments that I need to address in this report. One candidate for Block of 15 and Student Director had made some comments regarding the Palestine-Israel violence. While taking my own politics out of this, the comments were offensive to both Jewish students (as these comments were speaking for Jewish students without their consent) and Palestinian students that were at conference. During his election speeches, many delegates including myself decided to stand up and turn our backs on this candidate to show that we won’t stand for this behaviour at conference, which is meant to be somewhere that all students feel safe. I am proud to have stood up against racism that occured at National Conference and to have stood in solidarity with Palestinian, Muslim and Jewish students. 

Another event that must be addressed is the pro-life rally that happened outside of the conference venue. This was protesting our solidarity and support with the Northern Irish and Irish fight for bodily autonomy. In response, delegates expressed further support for NUS-USI and USI (The Irish Student Unions) in their fight for reproductive justice.  

For me Salford, this is the last National Conference that I will be representing you at and I want to thank you for electing me to represent you for the past two years. NUS National Conference is a fantastic experience and I would encourage all students in running to be a delegate! This year I felt particularly supported by FOSIS in my time at conference, and not only have we made fantastic policy, but I have made friends for life! If you do have any questions please email me at h.e.ruddick@edu.salford.ac.uk 

In rage and solidarity,  

Hatty Ruddick