Nouse Web Archives Running against the odds Page 1 of 7 News Comment MUSE. Politics Business Science Sport Roses Freshers Running against the odds Camilla Apcar meets first-year Thomas Byrne: this year’s surprise candidate for the NUS Presidency​ Tuesday 8 March 2011 Photo: Peter Iveson Thomas Byrne is a politically aware first-year University of York student, the co-founder of ‘Students for Tuition Fees Reform’ group – and one of four candidates running for this year’s National Union of Students (NUS) Presidency. He might be the only candidate who is not currently on the NUS Executive Council, but Byrne thinks he has “a better chance of implementing my politices than previous Presidents. “I have more chances to get things done rather than whinging from the sidelines. I’m confident that I’d be able to provide a decent figure head for students.” The first-year Politics student describes himself as having become interested in politics in the past four years, which has spurred him to run for the position. Despite being overlooked as a candidate by some media outlets so far, Byrne is certainly taking his candidacy seriously. Byrne speaks harshly of the “failings of the NUS”, in stark disagreement with claims that the education system is ‘broken’ because of the national banking crisis we are encountering today. He believes awareness needs to be raised about students in difficulty, especially because “at the moment the NUS care more about students in protest than the numbers in a given campus they can make happy.” The University of York’s own NUS Delegates will be unable to vote for Byrne, because of his endorsement of the rise in tuition fees which York’s Delegates have been mandated not to support. “In effect, the Student Loan system is graduate tax. I’d prefer to go to university under the new system than the current.” Although Byrne claims not to be aligned with any political party, he is a York Tories society committee http://nouse.co.uk/2011/03/08/running-against-the-odds Archived 11 Dec 2018 01:36:39 Nouse Web Archives Running against the odds Page 2 of 7 member. However, after recent controversy surrounding posters (concerning education and tuition fee rises) made by the society, Byrne believes “we have to be sensitive with language used in talking about education. You can’t joke but it adds fire to the fees debate.” Politics is something which Byrne believes the NUS needs to distance itself from, if only to improve its representative voice. “The NUS likes getting involved with politics. We should be selective about who we align ourselves with. I’d be concerned with students getting radicalised.” Byrne is the only candidate running for the Presidency who is currently in Higher Education, and is the only one of the four who is not involved with the NUS in a professional capacity. In fact, he believes this may work to his advantage in the election process. “None of the other candidates can really claim to represent the majority of the student body,” he explains. “Some of them have been running political campaigns since they were born.” Ex-President’s CV AARON PORTER 2010 – 2011 CV: 2008 -2010 NUS Higher Education Vice-President WES STREETING 2008 – 2010 CV: NUS Executive Committee 2005 – 2008 GEMMA TUMELTY 2006 – 2008 CV: NUS Executive Committee 2003 – 2006 KAT FLETCHER 2004 – 2006 CV: NUS Women’s Officer; NUS Executive Committee MANDY TELFORD 2002 – 2004 CV: Women’s Officer, NUS Scotland 2000 – 2001 Candidates CV SHANE CHOWEN CV: NUS Vice-President Further Education 2009 – 2011 MARK BERGFELD CV: NUS Executive Council member LIAM BURNS CV: NUS Scotland President 2009 – http://nouse.co.uk/2011/03/08/running-against-the-odds Archived 11 Dec 2018 01:36:39 Nouse Web Archives Running against the odds Page 3 of 7 present TOM BYRNE CV: University of York first-year Politics student Byrne raises this issue of narrow appeal amongst the other candidates, and complains about the fact that ordinary students are unable to vote for the NUS President. The candidate describes this as “the NUS talking to itself”. Byrne says the other candidates are unsuitable because “their lens is the sense of how to work with the government to get best deals for students.” Amongst the other candidates, Liam Burns is Byrne’s personal favourite: he “has worked hard for people in Scotland. But again, offers the same failed NUS positions. “Being NUS President isn’t about a charismatic beauty contest. Look at Aaron Porter – he’s one of the most hated NUS Presidents.” Of the other two, Byrne says “Mark [Bergfeld] would rather bring the NUS down. And given the state that Further Education is in, [Shane Chowen] doesn’t has that much to offer.” Burns has commented on Byrne’s unusual candidacy: “Undoubtedly it’s incredibly difficult because you wouldn’t know the voters on Conference floor, but if you have a clear vision that’s distinct from the other candidates, it’s absolutely possible to have a successful term.” “Despite potentially disagreeing with my policies, I don’t think people would have the same agitation about me being a hypocritical President”, says Byrne, citing current NUS President Aaron Porter. “I think I can give Cameron and Clegg a run for their money.” If Byrne won the Presidency, he would have to either ask the University for a leave of absence, or drop out and return to study under the new tuition fees system. If he succeeds, Byrne will be thrown into a paid position of national importance as a figurehead representative for students. “It’ll be difficult to win. With the NUS in its current form, I’m going to do it to win. If I manage to influence some ideas, that’s a victory.” “Over the past few years, the NUS has been run either by ideologically driven left- wi​ng radicals, or wannabe politicians striving for a position in the Labour Party. This has to stop. ” NUS Presidential candidate, Liam Burns: “Although I deeply disagree with Thomas’ stance on education funding, it take some guts to run and I’ve a lot of respect for him in that regard – fair play to the guy.” York NUS Delegate, Alexandra Peck: “Whilst I think some of his policies are positive, I can’t support favouring tuition fee increases and the division of the NUS by alienating the anti-cuts movement.” York NUS Delegate, Luke Sandford: It’s great someone from York is running, though he has his work cut out against established NUS figures. York delegates should be supporting the candidate who best fits YUSU policy, and sadly Tom’s manifesto occasionally conflicts with that. http://nouse.co.uk/2011/03/08/running-against-the-odds Archived 11 Dec 2018 01:36:39 Nouse Web Archives Running against the odds Page 4 of 7 York NUS Delegate, Ben Humphrys: “On a personal level, I wish Tom the best of luck…however, we are mandated to campaign against him. I would be surprised if he gets more than half a dozen votes since most Unions oppose the rising tuition fees.” 8 comments No-use 8 Mar ’11 at 8:36 pm If the York NUS Delegates can be mandated to vote against Tom, then can’t we mandate them to support him? Also, it seems to make little sense – it is already certain that fees are going to be increased in the face of cuts to the public services, so it is counter productive to vote for a candidate who says they are against this because there is nothing that they can do about this move anyway. Surely, the best way to go about this would be to look at other policies in conjunction with moves being made by our Government rather than to vote for a candidate who is going to protest the Government? Furthermore, if you are going to mention Tom’s involvement in the York Tories then it would be fair to elaborate on his beliefs, as within the Tories there is a huge number of different, and at times competing, opinions – not just the ones that the average reader will assume from this article dropping the ‘T’ word. PS… At least Tom doesn’t believe in slashing the help giving to students from poorer households… Report Champagne Conservative 9 Mar ’11 at 1:25 pm Much as it horrifies me to say this, Byrne’s really the candidate most in line with the views of the country’s students. Tory scum he may be, but just feast your eyes on the sort of fellow he’s up against. http://www.nusconnect.org.uk/news/article/33929/1498/ One of Marc Bergfeld’s key manifesto pledges? “International solidarity – support the Arab revolutions”. What does that have to do with meeting the needs of students in the UK? The people he’s being elected (albeit from some distance, via a ludicrously unrepresentative mechanism) to represent? The NUS’ concern lies solely with its members’ interests- it has no business taking a stand on issues like that. As much as its current state might suggest otherwise, it’s not the NUS’ role to act as a megaphone for certain naive left-wingers’ views. Granted, Bergfeld’s the worst of the lot by some way- but do the majority of students in the country really want the NUS to reduce itself to an organised nuisance? The Fees Rise is a lost cause- the Union’d best serve the interests of its members by negotiating the best deal that’s *practically* possible.