Introduction

I am proud to have led the NUS Black Students’ Campaign this year and proud of all that we have achieved, and the difference we have made.

African, Asian, Arab and Caribbean students are facing enormous challenges on campus and in the community. Rising racism continues to threaten the lives of young Black students. Teenagers Christopher Alaneme and Anthony Walker were both murdered in racist attacks. At the same time, the fascist BNP, who want an “all-white Britain”, have been gaining momentum: winning seats, votes and increased media coverage.

Over the past year mainstream politicians have also been questioning the very essence of our multicultural society – our right to live our lives as we choose, and our right to demand that institutionalised racism is rooted out of education and beyond.

Increasingly attempts are being made to blame our communities for the racism and inequality that we face. We have been accused of segregating from society despite the Government’s own research showing this is not true. While Black culture has been blamed for everything from gun crime to the discrimination we face in the workplace. Muslims in particular have been singled out in a climate that threatens all Black people. Even the right of Muslim women to dress as they choose has been subjected to a hysterical public debate.

Against this difficult backdrop I have sought to build a national NUS Black Students’ Campaign that empowers all Black students to stand up and make a difference. I have worked with powerful and influential allies within the Black community and beyond to create a strong voice for Black students in NUS and wider society. I have worked to build a campaign that defends our communities against rising racism, and have made a great leap forward in improving the experience of Black students in our unions.

The priority campaigns agreed by the National Committee for 2006–2007 have been:

• Increasing Black Representation
• Rise Against Racism
• Equality in Education
• International Justice

As always, the fantastic work of the NUS Black Students’ Campaign this year has been carried out with limited resources and without dedicated staff support. This year – with your support – we succeeded in winning the commitment from NUS Annual Conference to provide staff support for our Campaign. I will work to ensure that this is delivered quickly and that we build further on our successes in the year ahead.

This report is by no means an exhaustive account. It is intended to provide a brief overview of the projects I have worked on. You will have an opportunity to ask me questions at the accountability session on Saturday, or by writing to me after Conference.

And finally, I want to take the opportunity to thank all of you who have played an active role in our Campaign this year. Black students’ strength is in the unity and involvement of each of you, so I hope that you find our Conference inspiring and empowering, and that you continue to be active in our work.

Yours in unity,

Ruqayyah Collector,

NUS Black Students Officer

E: ruqs@nus.org.uk

M: 07966 627 291

Increasing Black Representation

Despite being 20 per cent of NUS’ membership, Black students are seriously under-represented through-out the movement, from local campuses to the national NUS. This mirrors an under-representation of Black people in positions of power across wider society.

The NUS Black Students’ Campaign is committed to winning fair representation to empower Black students in confronting the racism and inequality we face. The right of the Black community to self-organise is fundamental and must be constantly re-asserted within students unions, NUS and wider society.

At November’s Winter Conference – the biggest one ever – we launched our Charter for Black representation calling for: dedicated Black students’ representation; proper support for Black students in their students’ unions; staff support for the NUS Black Students’ Campaign; better support for Black clubs and societies, and all colleges and universities to fully implement the Race Relations Amendment Act.

This Charter was overwhelmingly endorsed by NUS’ Annual Conference in March and included a proposal to dedicate staff support to our Campaign. This is a crucial victory for us which must now be implemented by NUS. The Charter also formed the basis of a positive campaign on college and university campuses across Britain that led to an increased numbers of Black Students’ Officers and representatives. The campaign for a ‘Black Students’ Officer in Every Union’ was greatly strengthened by the guide I produced with other Liberation officers on how to establish the liberation posts.

I have produced regular email updates, newsletters, blogs and distributed a variety of materials through the NUS mailing and our much improved web site. I have also established the NUS Black Students’ Campaign on MySpace and Facebook to reach out to new groups of students.

An integral part of my year has been spent providing one to one support, advice and representation to students on a range of issues. I have visited and spoken at many students’ union meetings and supported Black students standing for election. In the second term I organised a series of successful regional networking events.

I have prepared and facilitated workshops at a number of NUS conferences. I have organised and found sponsorship for the NUS Black Students’ Achievers Awards 2007 to ensure we recognise the outstanding work of our fantastic Black students on campus. I have received messages of support for our Campaign work from Black leaders that include: Nelson Mandela, Shami Chakrabarti, Doreen Lawrence, Gloria Mills, Diane Abbott MP and Lord Herman Ousley.

I have produced a new, expanded NUS Black Students’ Handbook, and raised large sums of sponsorship money which I have used to subsidise the participation of Black further education college students, which is where most Black students study, but their colleges are often massively under-resourced and less active.

I have worked with major employers to provide Black Clubs and Societies Training events and job opportunities. Meanwhile, I partnered Operation Black Vote to deliver the Who runs your city? Initiative to inform Black communities about how to access decision-makers in their community, and promoted a major voter registration campaign.

I have ensured that our Campaign is open to all Black students by working with the women’s, LGBT and disabled students’ representatives to challenge all discrimination. I have also given my full support to the campaign to make the NUS International Students’ Officer a full-time officer post with proper resources.

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