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31-446: The group is made up of candidates for National Executive Committee posts, all standing on an "independent" label, and their supporters. As such, the OIs have been defined as an interest group as opposed to a faction ; this originates from the idea that they are apolitical or moderate , either simply as a group of sabbatical officers seeking to support one another, or as proponents of

62-449: A membership -focused national ideology. Commentator Rachel Brooks writes that the OIs also have a "shared concern to minimise the influence of 'the left'," which she defines as centring around the factions AWL , Liberation Left , and NCAFC . While individual OIs have a broad range of political views and positions, from soft left to one-nation conservatism , the group as a whole holds a membership -focused ideology. The group advocates

93-534: A candidate to defend the presidency of the NUS, a position which they had previously held for eighteen years, but instead backed Owain James as an independent, who won the post and held it for the two years allowed under the constitution. Former NUS LGB officer Carli Harper-Pennan wrote that at this time, the OIs were "aligned with Labour Students", "organised with them", and had "the same agenda". The 2002 NUS elections saw

124-583: A centre left pressure group. Gemma Tumelty started work in the International Department of the TUC in 2009 and then worked in the Campaigns and Communications Department, organising domestic, mostly public sector, anti-cuts campaigns and TUC annual congress. In 2011 Tumelty became a trustee of Kick 4 Life, a charity which uses the power of football and sport to transform the lives of some of

155-492: A collision course for the presidency, once again potentially fracturing relations between the OIs and the Labour Students. Brown subsequently decided not to run and there was an appearance of the 'Dirty Games' deal, the OIs were reported to have used Brown's withdrawal to secure the vice-president higher education position for Aaron Porter , in exchange for backing the later Labour MP Wes Streeting for president. In

186-534: A member of the Education Not for Sale campaign, candidates from Conservative Future and Liberal Democrat Youth and Students , and two more independents/labour party independents. In 2006, Tumelty led the NUS in signing an accord with the Trades Union Congress (TUC). Motivated by the increasing number of students who are taking-up employment to fund their education, the agreement will see

217-596: A significant decline in resources. After five hours of debate, 700 delegates voted in favour of the package. OI candidate for VP Union Development Erica Ramos was elected to deliver reform; however, Liberation Left were successful in the remaining three elections, including national president. This came despite a breakdown in left-wing factional support, with the Student Left Network actively fielding candidates against LibLeft incumbents and campaigning for two left-leaning OI candidates. In 2018, in response to

248-544: A single parent family, she was educated in Cheddar . The family moved to Hertfordshire during her later teens, but returned to Somerset once Gemma and her older sister went to university. Tumelty graduated in psychology from Liverpool John Moores University in 2005. Tumelty was previously Women's Officer and then Vice President Welfare in Liverpool Students' Union . She was elected as National Secretary of

279-722: Is known for being a British Labour Party and Trades Union activist, who was President of the National Union of Students (NUS) from 2006 to 2008. She was the NUS National Secretary from 2005 to 2006, and a member of its National Executive Committee for two years before that. Tumelty is now Global Director (Advocacy and Communications) at The LEGO Foundation . Tumelty was born in Weston-super-Mare , and grew up in Burnham-on-Sea . Raised in

310-437: The 2017 National Conference . In 2013, however, Raechel Mattey and Colum McGuire were elected as VP Union Development and VP Welfare, respectively; they continued to campaign informally around moderate candidates and issues. Both were re-elected to serve a second term in 2014. Mattey grew unpopular, however; at the 2013 Union Development zone conference, she had refused to allow a NCAFC member of her zone committee to enter

341-607: The University of Manchester Students' Union . She wrote a weekly blog for the Education section of The Guardian . In 2006 she became the first NUS president to address the TUC Conference. Upon leaving NUS, Tumelty joined Million+ , a university think tank representing former polytechnic universities as Press and Public Affairs Manager. She also served as a co-opted member of the management committee of Compass –

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372-404: The "Owainites" (after Owain James , NUS President 2000–2002), the "Independent Faction" before the term "Organised Independents" took hold. The phrase "independent student officers" was also prominent on many manifestos. Increasingly members of the grouping no longer dispute their existence and the label. However, there is still much dispute over whether or not individual independents are aligned to

403-408: The "significant ideological shift from the hard left to more moderate candidates, sector bodies and universities will prepare themselves for a rethink in how to approach NUS going forward". However, Liberation Left candidate for VP Union Development Ali Milani would prove critical in blocking the reforms. All incumbent OI candidates were re-elected in 2018; Martin was re-elected with 51% of the vote in

434-514: The 2008 elections, Porter was elected, while Ama Uzowuru was re-elected as vice-president (Welfare), and Ben Whittaker and Elizabeth Sommerville were elected onto the Block of 12. The Organised Independents were also in power in NUS Scotland, with Gurjit Singh holding Presidency in 2008. He was defeated in the following presidential election by Labour party member Liam Burns. In 2009, Whittaker

465-480: The NUS and TUC working together to encourage students to join a trade union. Tumelty was re-elected on 28 March 2007 and served a full term until July 2008 when she was succeeded by Labour Students's Wes Streeting . Her opponents in 2007 were Sofie Buckland, a member of Education Not for Sale and an officer on the NUS National Executive, and Rob Owen, a member of RESPECT and General Secretary of

496-469: The NUS being more directly representative of its member SUs, often invoking the motto that 'they work for us'. As a result, OI policy positions are often more socially left-wing than factions such as the Labour Students or Union of Jewish Students , but tend to avoid non-education policy areas prioritised by SLN or Liberation Left such as economic or foreign policy . An exception to this

527-805: The NUS in April 2005 at the NUS Conference in Blackpool . Tumelty was first elected NUS President in March 2006, being the first NUS president from a post-1992 university . Although she was a member of the Labour Party she was not a candidate of its student wing, Labour Students , and ran for president with the description independent . She is part of the Organised Independents faction. There were six other candidates, including

558-589: The NUS. Lincoln, Newcastle, Hull and Loughborough all disaffiliated. After this widespread discontentment with NUS' direction, the 2017 National Conference saw a slate of OI-backed candidates win five of the six full-time officer positions elected at NUS National Conference. In addition to this, several moderate motions passed, including democratic reforms designed to better engage students and students' unions, which were described as "the most comprehensive and wide-ranging structural reforms in NUS history". HE policy commentator Nona Buckley-Irvine wrote that with

589-583: The National Union of Students (United Kingdom)#National Executive Committee Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.237 via cp1104 cp1104, Varnish XID 209292653 Upstream caches: cp1104 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 07:47:15 GMT Gemma Tumelty Gemma Tumelty (born 20 October 1980)

620-426: The OIs and Labour Students fall out and run opposing candidates. In general the OIs defeated the Labour Students in all elections bar the presidency, which was won by Mandy Telford . Subsequently, the OIs and Labour Students fluctuated between co-operation at times, but fierce opposition at others. It was in this 2004-6 period that the later-Mayor of Islington Kat Fletcher of CFE/ AWL was elected president; Fletcher

651-555: The OIs or not. The OIs emerged as a group of independent candidates and NEC members who gave support to the Labour Students -dominated NUS leadership of the 1990s. Several admitted to being "members of the Labour Party but not Labour Students," a distinction that some found difficult to understand. Further confusion reigned as some OIs appeared to be members of Labour Students at the ordinary level. The group became increasingly prominent in 2000 when Labour Students declined to put up

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682-416: The accountability session, and gained a reputation for being unaccountable and afraid of challenge. In 2015, following Mattey, Richard Brooks was elected vice president (union development). Vonnie Sandlan and Fergal McFerran were also elected Presidents of NUS Scotland and NUS-USI , respectively. In January 2017, Al Jazeera broadcast footage purporting to show that Brooks was involved in attempts to block

713-434: The election of (and, later, discredit and remove) controversial President Malia Bouattia over allegations of antisemitism . In response to Bouattia's election, students at Durham , Loughborough , Hull , Aberystwyth , Oxford , Cambridge , Manchester , Essex , York , King's College London , Nottingham , UWE , Leicester , Queen Mary University of London and Reading University had campaigned to disaffiliate from

744-438: The first round of voting, along with deputy Amatey Doku, who received 68% after calling for nationwide student-led mobilisation to demand a 'people's vote' on the final Brexit deal. At the 2019 national conference, the OIs focused campaigning efforts on again passing a programme of reforms - this time to prevent financial bankruptcy. The 2017 reforms had not been delivered, and several years of financial mismanagement had created

775-551: The most disadvantaged boys and girls in the world. In 2012 Tumelty was shortlisted to become the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the Bristol West constituency, but lost to Thangam Debbonaire despite high-profile backing from senior politicians such as Jon Cruddas and Emily Thornberry . In July 2013 Tumelty left her position as Campaigns and Events Officer at the TUC to join

806-478: The ongoing political instability around Brexit , the group launched FFS , a cross-party youth campaign for a second referendum . Key OI figures steered policy through the 2018 National Conference to ensure that NUS became one of the earliest organisations to declare support for the position. The campaign subsequently organised an open letter undersigned by 120 student leaders, and numerous demonstrations, which attracted over 160,000 attendees. Governance of

837-476: The position was clear, and the independents who described themselves within NUS formally as OIs were Gemma Tumelty (National President), Stephen Brown (National Secretary), Ama Uzowuru (Vice-president Welfare), Adam McNicholas (Block of 12). Tumelty and Brown both left their respective posts in June 2008. The Organised Independents continued to be popular within the national movement. 2008 saw Brown and Streeting on

868-639: Was also re-elected President of NUS Wales. In 2011, Peter Mercer was elected Vice-president Welfare following Ben Whittaker's two terms. Matthew East, two-term Anglia Ruskin Students' Union President, was elected onto the Block of 15. George-Konstantinos Charonis was elected as the NUS Postgraduate Taught Representative at the Postgraduate Conference. The OIs were temporarily disbanded after this, until

899-450: Was elected as vice president welfare and Liz Williams (Liverpool Guild of Students) and Alice Bouquet (University of West England SU) were elected onto Block of 15 at National Conference. Katie Dalton was elected president of NUS Wales. In 2010, Porter was elected as the 54th President of the National Union of Students . Whittaker was re-elected vice president (welfare). Peter Mercer and Ryan Wain were elected onto Block of 15. Katie Dalton

930-449: Was on Brexit , which prominent OIs took a strong and embittered stance against, and the group led NUS' campaign for a people's vote . As a result of the group's broad definition, a lot of controversy has raged over whether such a faction exists. Many NUS commentators are in agreement that such an organised grouping is clearly in existence. Various names were in use, including the "Webberites" (after Simon Webber, an early leading figure),

961-404: Was the first since 1981 to be elected from a political slate clearly to the left of either Labour Students or the OIs. In recent years there has therefore been renewed confusion over the exact membership of the OIs, stemming from a series of notable factional shifts within the NUS by several individuals and the emergence of more than one group of independents who organise together. In 2007, though,

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