By Josh Jackman
1 min read
Lincoln University students union has overturned its decision to leave the National Union of Students by a huge margin.
After a narrow victory for the disaffiliation campaign in May, a re-run resulted in 1302 students voting to remain part of the NUS, with just 437 backing disaffiliation.
The first referendum saw disaffiliation narrowly favoured by 881 to 804 votes, which made it the first of four unions to vote to leave the national body since Malia Bouattia became NUS president in April.
Ms Bouattia attracted controversy after it emerged she called Birmingham University - which has one of the largest Jewish societies in the country - a “Zionist outpost,” and has also referred to the “Zionist-led media”.
She was also found guilty of misconduct by the NUS last year over alleged antisemitism, it was revealed in May by student newspaper The Tab.
Lincoln SU had planned to make its exit from the NUS formal in December, but decided to hold a second referendum after “a number of approaches” from students who opposed the first vote.
A Union of Jewish Students spokeswoman said: "NUS must not think that Lincoln Students’ Union’s decision to re-affiliate to NUS means they can ignore Jewish students’ concerns.
"NUS’s attitudes towards Jewish students and tackling antisemitism have been at the forefront of many disaffiliation campaigns and even though Lincoln Students’ Union has chosen to re-affiliate to NUS, the concerns surrounding Jewish students and tackling antisemitism still demand attention."
Sammi Storey, president of the SU, said a majority of members voted to remain “because they believed that being part of a wider movement of students’ unions is vital to lobby the government on academic issues that affect our members and ensure Lincoln has a national voice.”
However, he said despite the result, students were “clear that NUS needs to change to listen to students and work with students’ unions to become more relevant and to focus on issues that are important to our members.”
