Issue 837 University of Surrey Students' Union 24th February 1995 Students 'beaten up by Bouncers' at Bojangles Two students found themselves in the Accident & Emergency department of the Royal Surrey aftealterr thetìieyy were assaulted at Boj angles Nightclub, apparently by members of diier Security staff. President forced home he two seperate incidents occured on Wednesday 9th The Home Office have forcibly returned the president of Brìghton February. Tliis was during abusy University back to his native Zimbabwe, after they refused to Tstudent night at the club, when extend his student visa. Pancho Ndebele was not granted leave to many of the University's students would have been in the club. appeal, and has been refused entry back into this country after he went abroad at Christmas. One of the students claims he was plucked mmigration offìcials cl^ that Pancho's student visa is no Icwiger valid, and that from the danceiloor, taken out of the he needs a work permit to continue acting as President of Brighton University. A building and then assaulted in a side alley. Henne Office officiai said: "Ali students are expected to go at the end of their As a result he suffered cuts and bruising Icourse, unless there are strong compassionate reasons for their remaining." NUS to the fàce. He is at present dealing with are arguing ihat there is an exemption, granted by a Home Office minister for the Police on this m^ter. immigration in 1974, whereby overseas students elected as sabbaticals may stay. Tbe Home Office, however, are claiming that there were no exemptions written into the immigration rules. ^Tbe Management of Bojanglez were at first unaware of the incident They said NUS have launched a campaign on Pancho's behalf, as they see that this decision may th^ the doorman had been dismiss^, and adversely affect other overseas students that may wish to take pan in student union that they were looking into the incident to activities. Their activities at present are: ensure that a similar event never hap- pened again. They were keen to stress that the doorman had acted of his own accord 1) Liasing closely with Brighton University Students Union on each aspectof the case and thiU it was not Bojanglez' policy to and campaign; treat their custcHners in this way. 2) Submitting an appeal to the Home office against the refusai of Pancho's leave to remain in the country and his request to re-enter as a student As far as we are aware, this is the first incident of this nature for a very long time. Students are reminded of the 3) Raising the issue with other national cM-ganisations to ensure maximum awareness. Minibus service the Union runs back from ITie NUS is meeting the Educational Minister for the first time in fifteen years, and the nightclubs to campus, and are encour- the NUS President has tabied the case for discussion; aged to use it 4) Co-ordinating press coverage so that the details and complications of this issue are h^dled sensitively. If anyone has any information on the in- cidents, they should get in touch with the NUS are hoping that this campaign can be used to highlight the appalling treatment President or Guildford Police station Pancho, and other overseas students, are receiving with regard to their visa st^us. Although an ai^)eal has been launched to allow Pancho to appeal against the ruling, Jonathan Bennett tìie speed at which these things occur may mean that Pancho's term of office will be Communicatons Officer over by the time anything is agreed. Henzy S. Katt 2 Bare Facts Discontented Students Vote for Referendum t the Tuesday General Meeting, a mandiUe calling for a One of the most ccmtentious issues is the issue of NUS block Feferendum on the subject of disaffiliation from the purchasing agreements with national breweries. The NUS rep- NUS was passed. Students and Sabtodcals voted for the resentative insisted that the USSU could not possibly get a Areferendum after hearing various speakers slate the NUS better deal for students (Hi its own rather than with which for their inability to influence government policy. The general buys 130,000 barrels of beer per year. Other speakers argued opinicxi of most speakers was t^ the executive members of the that the present NUS agrement prev^ts the union from l^e- NUS were attempting to advance their own political careers fiting from promotional offers such as free kegs of beer, or rather than campaign on behalf of students. fM'omotional prizes. The Treasurer of the NUS, Steve Hale was at the GM to defend the NUS. He asserted that the NUS do want students to discuss Whatever your opinion is, you will have the chance to express disaffiliation, but that this should be done with students being it in term three when the referendum will be held in conjunction made aware of all the facts. On the subject of NUS repre- with the by-election. Another motion that called for twice- sentations to the government, Steve Hale mentioned the weekly yearly referenda on NUS affiliation was also passed. It seems lobbies of pailiament on issues such as further education, that mther than being setüed, the issue will now become a major disabilities and student hardship. He said "Isolation is not the part of the union agenda for a long time to come. It is the job of way forward" and wanted a united front for all students rather the NUS to provide a better service for students so they can than fragmenting student representation into the individual justify the affiliation fee of £27,000 - as someone said, we could unions of each university. buy a whole navy for the sub-aqua club with that money. g Richard Belr What does the More about the NUS mean to NUS be main question people are asking themselves at the you? moment (Well the ones who are interested in the future discount card for the cinema? Cheap (?) drinks in the of their union,) is should the University of Surrey Union? A bunch of people fighting the Government on T disaffiliate from the National Union of Students? (NUS). everything they do but getting nowhere, holding demos that nobody takes any notice of, saying lots but I went to the GM on Tuesday, with a fairly open mind, to listen A to the arguments put for and against disaniliation. I was pleased changing nothing? We know the NUS needs change, the question is how do we to see thm NUS had taken our thre^ seriously and had sent a go about it? representative to speak to us. I had heard from one of the regional conference delegates that NUS hadn't seemed bothered when People say there are a lot of political wranglings at the top. The they were told at the regional ccmference last week. NUS needs change from the top down - THIS IS WHERE YOU COME IN. For many years I had always thought NUS and students go hand i NUS National Conference is where all the important decision inhand. V^en you had one, you had the other. Solwasshocked making takes place. It decides NUS policy, it i^jproves the to hear suggestions of disaiffiliation. But after today I can see yearly accounts, it holds last year's office accountable for the why this course of acticm has to be considered. work they have or haven't done. But most importantly of all it is when the new National Executive Committee are elected. These are the people who really run the NUS. They decide what I felt sorry for the representative frOTi NUS. It seemed to me that issues to lobby parliament on, what to campaign for, what to he had deliboately been chosen to speak to us because he shared tell the press. a lot of our opinions to do with NUS being too political and not communicative enough. I felt the only reasons he could raise If you think the NUS leaders should stop fighting each other for us not to disaffiliate were to do with beer subsidies. I am and start fighting for us, this is where to start. afraid not being a beer drinker this carried no weight with me. USSU's NUS Conference delegation has two spare places. I am already going, and so is Heather Stych (delegation leader) I think possibly within our union there are different motivations and Jono Bennett The conference is in Blackpool, fr(»n 27th for dis^filiatmg from NUS. I felt some people wanted to take a - 30th March, that's the second week of the Easter holidays, stand over the issue that NUS fails to appropri^ly represent and we will pay all your fees and travel costs. students, by voting with their feet, ie. "If you don't change your policies we'll disaffiliate". Whereas others are just simply look- If you want to stand for election as a delegate and change the ing for ways to improve the situation for students here at Surrey, way NUS is run, go and see Manoj (the President) fcR* an ie. we have better ways to spend 27 thousand pounds. application fonn, which needs to be returned to Manoj by Monday. You will need 5 people to propose and guarantee you, and you will need to make a s^rt speech at the Hustings, which Whatever your reason for disaffiliation 1 feel it is very important will be at next week's GM. that you take part in the referendum. Its Uie only way the union knows if it is respcHiding to the m^ority opinion.