On Friday NUS announced that a second 'Extraordinary Conference' will be held on January 20th 2009, to vote on the proposed new Constitution. If the new Constitution is approved by this Conference, it will be implemented almost immediately. This is the last chance to defend black representation in NUS. All black students must act now to ensure they come to the Conference and vote down the proposals.

The NUS Black Students' Campaign is strongly opposed to the Constitution, which would remove the Black Students' Officer from NUS' most powerful decision-making body, and dramatically undermine black students' representation and participation in NUS. We are opposed to the attempt to push these crucial decisions through at small, undemocratic and unrepresentative Extraordinary Conferences.

NUS has treated black students' concerns at the new Constitution with absolute contempt. It failed to conduct an Equality Impact Assessment to identify the impact of the new Constitution on black students until this was demanded by delegates at the recent Extraordinary Conference.

The National President has announced that the findings of the Equality Impact Assessment will not be available until March or April, but he is still proposing that a decision to implement the new Constitution is taken in January. If the new Constitution is approved in January, it will be impossible to amend or overturn the decision in light of the Equality Impact Assessment's findings. It is also extremely worrying that neither myself or the Black Students' Committee have been involved yet despite a clear mandate that we should be centrally involved in this process.

The decision to hold a second Extraordinary Conference suggests that the NUS leadership simply wish to rush through approval of the new Constitution before Annual Conference. Last year's Annual Conference – a far larger and more representative event than Extraordinary Conference – rejected the proposed Constitution.

Crucial decisions about NUS' future will be rushed throughout without proper debate. The process is so rushed that many parts of the new Constitution, including those relating to the Black Students Campaign, will not even have been written in time to be discussed at the Extraordinary Conference. Students will be expected to vote on an incomplete proposal, with no opportunity to overturn the decision if they are opposed to sections of the Constitution that are presented after January.

The timing of the Extraordinary Conference also raises concerns. Many students sit exams in January and will be unable to attend. Students' unions have very little time to democratically elect delegations as most universities and colleges will be on vacation for several weeks before the Conference.

All black students must come to the Extraordinary Conference to vote to defend black representation in NUS and ensure that crucial decisions about NUS' future are not rushed through without proper consideration. Find out today how you can attend the Extraordinary Conference as a delegate of your students' union. For further information or assistance, please contact me 07950 614 989.

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