UK: The National Union of Students is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy

Hard left union that condemned austerity as a “political choice” runs up huge debts and is forced to introduce austerity measures to avoid bankruptcy. It’s almost poetic.

The National Union of Students is in crisis and teetering on the verge of bankruptcy, an explosive letter obtained by Guido has revealed. In recent years SU disaffiliation, along with other services that provide student discounts without the NUS’ baggage of dubious geopolitical stances, anti-Semitism scandals, and hatred of clapping have put the organisation under serious strain.

NUS President Shakira Martin and NUS Acting Chief Executive Peter Robertson have sent a letter to all affiliated Students’ Unions, setting out their dire financial straits.

“The NUS Group is facing financial difficulty. We are projected to post a significant deficit this year without enough resource to cover the loss.”

“We’re looking at a £3m deficit for the group in this and future financial years.”

“We have taken immediate advice on the options available to us to ensure we remain solvent. It looks likely this will include a combination of borrowing against the building we own, making cuts to staff, and turning off some of the activity we deliver.”

The NUS will try to stay afloat by implementing harsh austerity, making sweeping cuts to staff as well as cuts to services. But Guido was told that austerity was just a “political choice”?

It’s clear some big disaffiliations in 2016 have further squeezed the NUS’ finances. There has never been a better time to leave this disaster of an organisation…

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Sarah Lawrence Professor's Office Door Vandalized After He Criticized Leftist Bias

Professor Samuel Abrams executed a brilliant strategy, knowing that all he had to do was state his thesis and the institution at which he teaches (Sarah Lawrence) would react in such a way as to verify it

After penning an op-ed for The New York Times decrying the ideological homogeneity of his campus administration, a conservative-leaning professor at Sarah Lawrence College discovered intimidating messages—including demands that he quit his job—on the door of his office. The perpetrators had torn down the door's decorations, which had included pictures of the professor's family.

In the two weeks since the incident, Samuel Abrams, a tenured professor of politics at Sarah Lawrence, has repeatedly asked the college's president, Cristle Collins Judd, to condemn the perpetrators' actions and reiterate her support for free speech. But after sending a tepid campus-wide email that mentioned the importance of free expression, but mostly stressed her "commitment to diversity and inclusive excellence," Judd spoke with Abrams over the phone; according to him, she accused him of "attacking" members of the community.

"She said I had created a hostile work environment," Abrams said in an interview with Reason. "If [the op-ed] constitutes hate speech, then this is not a world that I want to be a part of."

What's more, when the two met in person, Judd implied that Abrams was on the market for a new job, he said. "I am not on the job market," he said. "I am tenured, I live in New York. Why would I go on the job market?"

Abrams interpreted Judd's remarks as a suggestion that he might be better off leaving the school. Judd did not respond to a request for comment.

Abram's op-ed criticized the "politically lopsided" events hosted by the college's Office of Student Affairs, including seminars on microaggressions, understanding white privilege, and "staying woke." It also included original research: a nationally representative survey of 900 administrators. According to this data, liberal administrators outnumber conservatives 12 to 1. This would mean the ranks of the administration are even more uniformly liberal than the faculty.

"While considerable focus has been placed in recent decades on the impact of the ideological bent of college professors, when it comes to collegiate life—living in dorms, participating in extracurricular organizations—the ever growing ranks of administrators have the biggest influence on students and campus life across the country," wrote Abrams.

Many Sarah Lawrence students and alumni did not appreciate Abrams calling attention to this issue.

"There was an emergency student senate meeting, to my knowledge," said Abrams. It was his understanding that the meeting produced a declaration calling for him to be stripped of tenure and dismissed from the college. Judd sent a campus-wide email about the meeting, which she described as "not only thoughtful, but thought-provoking."

"The Senate asked me to publicly affirm that Black Lives Matter, that LBGT+ Lives matter, and that Women's Justice matters," wrote Judd in the email. "I emphatically did."

The student senate did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Abrams' office door was vandalized on October 16, hours after the op-ed's publication. The perpetrators posted a sign on the door that read, "Our right to exist is not 'ideological,' asshole," and was signed "transsexual fag." Another flyer demanded that he apologize to residence life staff and the director of campus diversity, students of color, queer students, trans students, and other marginalized persons. Multiple messages instructed Abrams to "quit," and one told him to "go teach somewhere else, maybe Charlottesville."

Abrams believes the perpetrators tried to break into his office; some of his books had fallen off their shelves as if the sign-posters had slammed the door and the walls. "I'm really shaken," he said.

Abrams' dealings with Judd have further unnerved him. During their conversation, she implied that he should have cleared his public writings with her before submitting them, something he described as unacceptable.

Several of Abrams' colleagues met with Judd to discuss the vandalism and express their view that such acts could not be tolerated. Judd agreed, but did not pledge to take any further actions. These professors thought she seemed scared that the students might hold more protests, creating a public relations disaster, according to Abrams.

This incident is an example of a concerning phenomenon: college administrators going soft on free speech in an effort to appease a handful of extremely aggressive students. Administrators should take greater care to avoid explicit ideological bias, and they must defend the free speech rights of professors who speak out against it. A college that attempts to muzzle, discourage, or rid itself of speech that offends the far left is failing its mission.

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High school vice principal is dragged and kicked in an attack by students as he tried to break up fight, and bystanders laugh and clap while filming the brawl for Snapchat

A Missouri high school assistant principal was tackled to the ground and beaten up by students when he tried to break up a fight.

In a video obtained by DailyMailTV's affiliate Fox 2 in St Louis, shocking footage shows students laughing and clapping while teenagers repeatedly kicked Oakville High School Vice Principal Brian Brennan on the floor after he got pulled into the brawl.

Teenagers filmed the scuffle in the cafeteria of the St. Louis school and posted it on Snapchat instead of getting help or calling 911. 

Three students - one aged 15 and two aged 16 - were arrested as a result of the confrontation.

Vice Principal Brian Brennan at Oakville High School attempted to split up three fighting children in a cafeteria Monday but got pulled into the altercation

'Administrators and a school resource officer intervened to break the fight up. All students and staff are okay,' Assistant Superintendent, Dr Jeff Bressler told Fox 2.

'Obviously we take all fighting serious. We would love to see fighting stop in all high schools.

'Safety is our priority and we're always looking into how we can support students so they don't resort to violence.'

Police say Brennan was taken to Urgent Care, reports KGNS.

The three students were taken into custody after the incident however they won't be charged as they are juveniles.

The case has been taken to St. Louis County Family Court.

Principal Jan Kellerman sent a letter to parents to reassure them their children were safe attending the school after they received a string of calls from those anxious about students and staff.

The students involved may be expelled from school.

'We are investigating the matter and discipline will be rendered as detailed in our district disciplinary policy,' she wrote before thanking mothers and fathers for their concern.

She added to KGNS that all administrators are trained in restraint.

'It’s the most important thing we do here and all our students are safe,' she said, adding that they are looking at their current policy for handling physical altercations.

'After any kind of altercation we always discuss things like is there something else we need to be doing.'

Brennan appeared to be in high spirits at the school in the days following the incident as a post he retweeted from Oakville showed him smiling in a selfie with students.

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