This response is pitiful. It betrays a lack of conviction on the part of our student leaders and a contempt for the democratic process that they were elected by. Reminders that NUSU is “YOUR VOICE” are splashed across campus and their website. NUSU President Katie Smyth claims in her bio that her job is to “represent the student voice”. And yet, confronted by a situation which immediately and concretely impacts every student on campus, NUSU is providing no representation whatsoever.
Katie’s defence of this neutrality in November’s Council was that the Sabbatical Officers “didn’t want to annoy” students who felt differently to them. Sorry, that’s not good enough. Sabbatical officers are elected by the student body to represent the student body. Their election is authority enough to act in what they believe to be our best interest.
Also, deferring to the “diverse student body” in this case is an exception. The NUSU Sabbs regularly take political stances that members of the student body disagree with. The idea of campus as a “safe space” isn’t universally agreed upon, yet it is one of Katie Smyth’s key objectives for the year. She and the Sabbs aren’t neutral on this, or on the myriad campaigns they run. Nor should they be.They were elected to office on the basis of their political platform. But on a fundamental challenge to our education, our elected representatives are sitting on their hands. Why is this situation different?
There is hypocrisy in this neutrality too. NUSU’s website claims that “Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) is a key priority”. If this is the case, then surely support for striking teachers, who are discriminated against on the basis of gender, ethnicity and disability is a given. But no. Apparently what is more important is that the Sabbs “don’t annoy” any students.
I would argue that by not taking a side, NUSU have ensured that no student will disagree with them. That is because NUSU are not representing any of us in their neutrality. The Sabbs appear to be more interested in being liked than being our Voice. NUSU’s neutrality fails to represent a single student on campus. Stepping away from this debate is a clear abrogation of NUSU’s responsibility to us as students.