Wednesday 13-12-2023 - 14:47

Dear University of Law Students, 

In this letter, we want to be candid with you; honesty with the student body is of the utmost importance for the Students’ Union, today is no exception. We want to talk to you about how your University has let you down and has silenced your voice.

For many years our Students’ Union has been striving to eliminate democratic deficits and restructure to become an independent charity, which is a structure used by over 95% of Students’ Unions in the country. For our SU staff to be able to fulfil their duties, they should not fall under the employment of the university where their salary, job security and pension is dependent on the institution that they must sometimes stand up against. 

Students’ Unions are built on the grounds of representing the Student Voice and staff simply cannot be good representatives when there are student concerns that go against the interests of the University, such as concerns regarding high tuition fees, the way the University handles deposit refunds and the lack of communication to students when concession forms are submitted. 

The discussion of independence is based on years of research and feedback from our students. Most recently, the October 2023 elections and Independence Referendum marked the highest turnout of any elections we have ever held, with almost triple the number of voters compared to our second highest turnout. Turnout for the referendum was 13%, and surpassed the minimum turnout for valid referendums for UK Students’ Unions. Over 90% of the students that voted in the independence section of that election, voted for Independence. However, when we presented this clear indication that students want their SU to be independent to the University Executive Board, they responded saying: "Students don't understand what they're voting for - they'd vote for anything". This dismissal unveils a stark truth—the University only cares when your voice aligns with its agenda.

Never has there been a clearer indication that the University simply doesn’t care about the voice of its students when it does not match their interests, and this is the type of response you can expect when it comes to any other SU initiative that doesn’t fit the University plan. This is what it means to be a Students’ Union under the structure of a for-profit university. Your voice is not heard by the University and the interests of your SU would have to be considered against the interests of all the other University departments, the University Executive Board and the University Governing Board. Your SU wants to be your advocate, not a pawn in the University's game.

Your SU presidents for the past four academic years were, and still are, in favour of independence for these very reasons. We want your voice to be heard. Every day in their roles they have considered how best your issues can be resolved and all of them realised that an independent structure would be the best way for the SU to represent you. 

Unfortunately, we now stand at a juncture where the University wields the power to veto governance decisions for the Students’ Union, by dismissing them as "too big of a corporate restructure". 

The challenges students face due to dependence on the University are very real. For example when I (Pedram) was first elected  as your President as an international student, I had to use my own visa to fulfil this role rather than the “sabbatical officer visa” offered by the government to every SU in the country because the University couldn’t be bothered to apply for this visa for me! I fought tooth and nail for this issue and we still cannot offer visas to international students who win the role of the presidency, which provides a significant obstacle for a third of our students to represent the voice of their peers as President! The university has full control of your Union and this is how much they care about you!

Lastly, we wanted to discuss with you our concern with funding. We are the lowest funded Students’ Union in the UK. No other Students’ Union in the country gets as little as us per student. Research by the National Union of Students (NUS) in 2023 shows that the average funding provided to SUs is £57 per student. In 2023-24, ULaw SU receives £22.88 per student on average. This is again because the University of Law has decided not to prioritise your interests, despite making a post-tax profit of £33.7 million in 2022. This University provides less funding to be used for each of you than any other University in the country! We wanted to repeat this once again because it is a crucial point. This university cares less about you than any other University in the whole of the United Kingdom! When we brought this to the University Executive Board and told them about the need for Independence they told us that Independence is "too expensive". Our meagre funding reflects a callous disregard for your welfare. Our funding request for independence would bring us up to around £31.43 per student - still significantly less than the sector average. Let the truth fuel your indignation, for this is how much your university cares about you and the opportunities you have available.

You might be wondering how to help your Students’ Union, the Co-Presidents have some suggestions for you:

●    You can voice your concerns by directly emailing the Vice Chancellor at andrea.nollent@law.ac.uk
●    You can share and fill out the form to voice your concerns at https://forms.office.com/e/0zkqbrmyCx 
●    Sharing this letter and this form on social media could bring this issue to wider attention. Please tag the Students’ Union (@ulawstudents) and we will reshare!
●    You can raise your voice in Student-Staff Liaison Committee (SSLC) meetings and any University meetings that you attend.

Pedram Bani Asadi
SU Co-President (Union Development) 2022-2024

Huma Hasan 
SU Co-President (Academic Affairs) 2023-2024