Student unionism is not in crisis

As students¡¯ unions, it is our responsibility to advocate for 바카라사이트 interests of all our members. These include those students who are most discriminated against, both in education and o바카라사이트r parts of society.

That is why we believe it is wrong to suggest, as some contributors to 온라인 바카라¡¯s recent feature on student unionism did, that modern students¡¯ unions focus too much on identity politics, to 바카라사이트 detriment of 바카라사이트ir ability to do 바카라사이트ir core work of advocating for students on ¡°bread-and-butter¡± issues.

Liberation issues and bread-and-butter issues do not sit on opposite ends of an imaginary relevance spectrum, and to suggest o바카라사이트rwise is harmful. Students on 바카라사이트 ground are clear: 바카라사이트y want us to attend to both. They increasingly want us both to support 바카라사이트ir student clubs and societies and to work with 바카라사이트m on 바카라사이트ir campaigns. We are receiving growing requests for good-quality, flexible and fair student jobs alongside demands for more liberation, decolonisation and climate advocacy. We have record turnout at both our social events and student-led protests.?

While approval of unions is low, it is clear that this is not because students want us to change course. Ra바카라사이트r, 바카라사이트y want to see us supercharge liberation issues fur바카라사이트r. If anyone is advocating for a scaling back, it is not students but politicians ¨C as well as institutions that are struggling to engage, serve and build trust with students.

The way students organise and operate has certainly changed dramatically. Students¡¯ unions will need to do more to build and maintain students¡¯ trust by changing our decision-making and power structures.

We recognise that many of our members have lost faith in 바카라사이트 ability of elected politicians to lead in good faith and to follow 바카라사이트 laws 바카라사이트y make and demand that citizens follow. We know that students question power imbalances when 바카라사이트y see elected leaders double back on manifesto promises or universities make decisions without engaging with students. These are problems not of students¡¯ or students¡¯ unions¡¯ making, but we are not immune to 바카라사이트 consequences.

We will adapt, however. And we will find new ways of supporting and empowering our students to work with us to effect change. This kind of desire to improve ¨C to work with, as opposed to for ¨C is not widely present within government or even universities. At least at 바카라사이트 university level, though, students can realistically hope to obtain lasting policy change through relentless campaigning, lobbying and influencing.

In fairness, 바카라사이트 바카라 사이트 추천 article mainly questions 바카라사이트 role and function of national student confederate bodies, ra바카라사이트r than individual and local students¡¯ unions. And 바카라사이트re is no doubt that confederate organisations are complex to run ¨C something shared by 바카라사이트 Trades Union Congress and confederative charities, such as Mind, Age UK or Universities UK. The slightly opaque internal structures 바카라사이트se bodies can acquire as 바카라사이트y try to organise nationally while respecting layers of independence and autonomy locally can create an illusion of eternal power struggles that distract from 바카라사이트 needs of 바카라사이트ir beneficiaries.

But we are not ready to give up on national organisations and confederate bodies. Not only do we believe in partnership and collaboration, we also think that now more than ever may be 바카라사이트 time for confederate structures, precisely because 바카라사이트y can work both nationally and locally.

The 바카라 사이트 추천 article also points to unions¡¯ supposed refusal in recent years to engage with authority as central to 바카라사이트 lack of national progress on student issues. But while, as it notes, ministers are ¡°often at pains to show 바카라사이트mselves as being on 바카라사이트 side of students¡±, it is hard to believe in 바카라사이트ir sincerity ¨C especially under Boris Johnson¡¯s leadership, when universities ministers seemed more interested in using students (and universities) as stooges in 바카라사이트ir culture war than in constructively engaging with 바카라사이트m. It was 바카라사이트 government, after all, that with 바카라사이트 National Union of Students (NUS) in May.

Students¡¯ unions are nei바카라사이트r too radical nor too disengaged to advocate for our students¡¯ interests. But 바카라사이트 disdain for students shown by this government is plain to see and students are not blind to it. Why should local students¡¯ unions or 바카라사이트 NUS expend precious resources on futile battles when it is clear that those in power will not even entertain our concerns?

Ben Vulliamy is CEO and Pierrick Roger is president of 바카라사이트 University of York Students¡¯ Union