Loading ...NUS officers censured after stage storm
Two NUS officers have been censured for storming the stage at the NUS extraordinary conference in January.
Rob Owen and Hind Hassan were part of a group which took to the stage to protest President Wes Streeting’s refusal to take a hard stance against Israeli occupation of Gaza.
During this the protest, members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) were prevented from leaving the stage and reaching a safe area. This included Disabled Students’ Officer James Hyland, who is in a wheelchair.
The decision to censure Owen and Hassan was taken at last week’s NUS annual conference. Members of the Disabled Students Campaign criticised the pair for behaviour in a manner which created an inaccessible environment and caused discrimination.
Benjamin Gray, a delegate from Kings, commended the censure, saying: “While the group said they had the right to protest, it wasn’t appropriate… They created an unpleasant and intimidating environment.”
He added: “When they refused to apologise to the Disabled Students’ Officer, the decision was made to take the issue to Annual conference. If they group had apologised from the outset, it’s likely they wouldn’t have been censured”
However, other students say that the censure was unwarranted.
Mas Naina, SOAS LGBT officer, said: “While other delegates were making noise, only Owen and Hassan were censured. Those individuals have been targeted because they dared to speak out. It is politically motivated.”
The vote to censure Owen and Hassan passed but the conference ran out of time to vote on removing responsibilities from them.
Gray said: “It was seen that, as they only have a few months left in their jobs, it was not worth the time or money calling another conference for the purpose of voting on it.”
Owen said: “In practise the censuring means very little. There’s a danger however that the NUS will use it as a precedent to censure people who speak out of line against them.
“The NUS needs to remain a plural space which allows for different voices.”
The NUS said: “A censure administered through NUS democratic bodies is a public indication that the specific body is not satisfied with the behaviour, action or work of specified officers.
“In this particular case, Annual Conference 2009 decided that it was not happy with the behaviour displayed by Rob Owen and Hind Hassan with regards to some of their actions at a meeting of an Extra-ordinary Conference in January.”
