Week Thirteen: Ask Questions

Sunday, March 29th, 2009

One of the wisest pieces of advice I have heard handed out to students comes from Patrick Coyle, the Vice-President of the Young America’s Foundation. Pat reminds student activists that while it is all well and good having views as to who should be the Republican Party’s nominee or what the basic rate of income tax should be, a true activist should be focussing his or her efforts on how deliver the conservative message effectively at the level where they can truly have an impact. More often than not that is at the campus level – and it is too often overlooked by young conservatives in Britain too.

Yes you may have strong views whether the top rate of tax should be 45% or not , or whether Britain should be inside the EU – but can you really, hand on heart, say that what you think really matters?

Just as Tony McNulty and Jacqui Smith are symptoms of a greater problem of increasing sleaze in British politics, so it will be that your students’ union will also be a snapshot of taxpayer-funded waste, sleaze and incompetent administration as well. Not every students’ union necessarily – but a significant number of students’ union will be poorly governed, sleaze-ridden and wasteful.

Conservatives need, if possible, to engage in their students’ unions, take control, reform structures, cut wasteful expenditure and give students and taxpayers real value for money. In that sense, students’ unions are a useful training laboratory for those who are considering running for office in the future. Well-run conservative-controlled students’ unions are also a great way to show fellow students that conservative-run organisations do not see the routine slaughter of the first born or the clock being turned back to Dickensian England.

So what questions might you want to ask?

Start with the National Union of Students. Ask how much your students’ union has paid to the NUS in the past decade, on what dates and when each year’s decision to pay that money was made and by whom.

Then look at Clubs & Societies, particularly political and cultural societies. Ask how much has been given in the way of grants to all political and cultural societies in the past decade. For example, has the local Hayek Society been unfairly treated in comparison to the campus Green Society even though the Hayek Society has 50 members and the Greens only a dozen? Does the Islamic Society get more or less than the Christian Union? Or the Palestinian Society more than the Israel Society?

Then move onto Sports Clubs, key allies of conservative activists on campus across the country and whose budgets are often cut in favour of left-wing hobby horses and pet projects. In the past decade have grants to the men’s and women’s rugby, cricket, hockey or football clubs been cut? Pledging to increase their funding is usually a sure fire way of ensuring their support in students’ union elections but as fiscal conservatives remember that you will need to make savings elsewhere in the budget.

Look at the Staff of your students’ union, some of whom will revel in Whitehall-style titles such as Permanent Secretary. They are normally your employees, not those of the university. They are accountable to you. If they fail to perform their tasks properly then, subject to the country’s onerous employment laws, they can be sacked. How much are they paid? What other perks – such as pensions, private healthcare, car and other expenses – do they get? Has the budget for their pay and perks increased in the past decade?

Another area that is full of waste is the Conferences budget. It’s the same in local government too. How many of your fellow students have attended external conferences such as the NUS Conference in the past decade? Who went and why? How much did it cost to send them to those conferences – including registration fees, travel, accommodation and subsistence?

Students’ unions currently fall outside the scope of the Freedom of Information Act, despite being wholly funded by taxpayers – a state of affairs that an incoming Conservative government will need to change. However you, as a student at your university and a member of your students’ union, are entitled to this information as of right. Prepare for stonewalling and delaying tactics from sabbatical officers and permanent staff. They will doubtless demand to know why you want this information – tell them it is none of their business. You are entitled to it – full stop. And then, when you have the results, send the information to the Young Britons’ Foundation so that we can expose quite how wasteful your students’ union has become.

At a time of recession, when millions are worried about losing their jobs and homes, conservatives everywhere need to follow the lead of the TaxPayers’ Alliance in exposing waste. With your help, the Young Britons’ Foundation can do this on your campus. Now get asking!

Recent posts in the Every Monday Matters series include:

• Week Twelve – Don’t Kick Yourself
• Week Eleven – Know Your Enemy
• Week Ten – Use The Law
• Week Nine – Are You Having Enough Fun?
• Week Eight – Get Writing
• Week Seven – Don’t Be Shy
  
• Week Six – Invite A Speaker To Speak
  
• Week Five – Apply for the YBF US Summer Conference Programme
  
• Week Four – Apply for CPAC
  
• Week Three – Apply for An Internship
  
• Week Two – Hold Your Students’ Union To Account
  
• Week One – Get Involved