Election results for NUS delegates were revealed at the end of the semester.
Elected delegates will participate in nationwide conferences between February and May 2015. They will be setting the NUS policy in each of their areas, electing the NUS National Committee and Board of Trustees, and electing the national offices for fourteen full-time paid positions, which include the National President of the NUS.
Those elected for the National Conference, which is the highest decision-making body of the NUS, were Jaivairia Bilal, Joe Day, Josh Woolas, Andrea Campos-Vigouroux, Chris James, Dominique Wong, Fook Jian, Harriet Pugh, Joel Smith, Stefy Anna Aniyan, Tessy Maritim and Waleed Mir. The Students’ Union General Secretary, Charlie Cook, is elected automatically.
The LGBT Conference have elected Dominique Wong Fook Jian, Matty Donaldson, Jess Lishak and Joe Baines-Holmes. The Women’s Conference has elected Harriet Pugh, Jellaby Lai, Jess Lishak and Stefy Anne Aniyan. For the Black Students conference, Tania Sauma will be the representative.
Joe Baines-Holmes will be the representative for Disabled Students, Stefy Anna Aniyan for International Students and Ste Smith for Postgraduates, Mature and Part-Time conferences.
However, a mere 1008 votes were cast for the elections which, out of a 40,000 student body, proves disappointing.
The Students’ Union believes it was important that students participate in the delegates’ election because of the significance of the NUS to student life. Charlie Cook, General Secretary, said last week: “The NUS is very important.
“There’s loads of stuff which students don’t see that the NUS do for unions, in terms of the research that it does, the training that it offers, and the collaborations, partnerships and networks which it creates and which are really crucial.
“There is its campaigning side as well, in one way by mobilising unions to bring them together but in another way what that stands for, what it represents—that is the values of students, as it acts as our collective voice.”
