I will be standing for the full-time position of Vice President Higher Education, in National Union of Students (NUS) elections next month. In that election I will be the only distinctly socialist left candidate, with a clear commitment to support the UCU dispute and to take a clear political stand against marketisation as well as push for piecemeal student demands.
Most (but not all) of the candidates across three full-time officer positions are generally leftist, with good commitments, to, for example, restoring free education, closing the BAME attainment gap, improving mental health services and tackling sexual violence.
However, the emphasis is on professional expertise rather than an activist orientation.
Larissa Kennedy, standing for President, is an leftist activist candidate, but she gives no commitment to reversing wide-ranging anti-democratic reforms in NUS which have left the organisation with just three full-time officer positions and a toothless National Scrutiny Council.
