BENJAMIN GRAY

PRINCIPLES

1. No Foreign Policy
2. Keep the Cap
3. Active, Realistic Campaigning
4. Genuine Pluralism and Safe
Space: No to Factional Bullying
5. Looking Further
6. Transparency and Accountability

Students First
Students First: No Foreign Policy
The continual foreign policy debates the NUS has at its conferences are disillusioning and point-
less. They are ill-informed, unrealistic and distracting. They polarise the student body unneces-
sarily. At best they make a minimal impact. It is immoral for a National Union of Students to be
discussing foreign affairs when we have barely enough time and resources to discuss and campaign
on the pressing issues affecting our members daily. Squeezed between the pincers of recession
and a government keen to raise the cap on fees, it is no longer acceptable to divert our efforts and
distract our membership from this vital fight.

If elected to the Block, I will oppose any NUS involvement in foreign affairs other than where it has
a direct relevance to our students.

Keep the Cap

Regardless of our attitudes to fees, raising the cap will unfairly hit poor students and applicants.
Doing so during a recession will only compound the deterrent effect. It will reduce social mobility
and deny access to education to those who deserve it.

Although free education may be an ideal, it is an entirely unrealistic goal. The government are
not going to release extra funds at a time when it will be looking to save money, and adopting
such an unrealistic position would unnecessarily freeze us out of the discussion. The NUS needs to
fight on the issues we can win. We can win a freeze on the cap, we can’t win free education.

The NUS must oppose the lifting of the cap on fees, but it must be realistic as to what it can
achieve.

Active Campaigning
The concerns about grassroots activism are legitimate. The NUS suffers from a top-down mentality
that is increasingly being challenged by new technologies and attitudes. The rise of social

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networking sites and campaigning tools allows for rapid, flexible campaigning on issues as they
arise. We have not done enough to take advantage of the opportunities this provides. At its heart
the NUS is there to facilitate campaigning. Sites like officeronline could be harnessed to enable
campaigning on student issues at all levels, from the grassroots to the top. Organisation, action
and reaction could be . Discussion could be ongoing, rather than confined to a few expensive con-
ferences. Students would be able to see that the NUS is an organisation that fights for them,
rather than a distant abstraction.

If elected, I will work to get the NUS to adapt to modern, empowering campaigning techniques
that engages as many activists and students as possible.

Genuine Pluralism and Safe Space: No to Bullying

At several conferences we have witnessed the failings of the NUS in adequately dealing with ra-
cism, bullying and intimidation at its events. Conferences have been disrupted, delegates intimi-
dated and students disgusted. Several have said that they never want to go to an NUS conference
again. The NUS has suffered multiple blows to its reputation as an organisation that stands up to
bigotry and intimidation.

If elected, I will work to ensure that “Safe Space” is enforced, not just a platitude.

Looking Further
The NUS suffers from a narrowness of focus. It focuses on a relationship between government,
students and universities without wider considerations of the society in which they exist. It acts as
if all problems in education policy and social mobility are the responsibility of Higher Education.
We have to look further. We have to work not just with the government and our activists, but the
wider institutions of civil society, not just in campaigning, but in support for students. We cannot
rely on government grants any more: we have to work to exhort and establish charitable support.
We must be willing to look at issues beyond a direct Higher and Further Education focus. The
problems in the education system do not start at these institutions. Often they stretch further
back. The NUS has a responsibility to talk about them.

Transparency and Accountability

The NUS is an arcane institution. The first conference a delegate attends is one that he or she will
be unable to fully contribute to, having to get their head around various procedural matters and
factional politics. The introductory sessions for first-time delegates barely scratch the surface.
Conferences are barely accessible, with access breaks abused. Many officers pay only lip-service
to their commitments, unable to fulfil even the most basic obligation of blogging once a month.

If elected, I will work to ensure that new delegates are properly informed. I will work to put to-
gether a guide to attending conferences, and help make sure that delegates fully understand pro-
ceedings. I will make sure that my time on Block is accountable, blogging regularly and meaning-
fully. I will make sure that all are held to account.

If you require this manifesto in an alternative format, please contact

ben@benjamin4block.com

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Contact me at ben@benjamin4block.com

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