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Salient. An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington, N.Z. Vol. 14, No. 1. February 28, 1951
Complaints
Complaints
"The complaints of the BNUS officials come down substantially to the claim that minority opinions do not get a fair hearing in IUS, and that IUS activities 'go far beyond student problems and embrace all the great questions of the day,' i.e. they are too 'political.'
It is obvious from IUS publications, and it was obvious from the many speeches and reports we heard, that many of the matters with which IUS concerns itself are of a political nature. But neither your observers nor the great majority of those present at this Congress could agree with the claim of the BNUS delegation that these questions are outside the reasonable scope of IUS activities. Having carefully considered all views expressed, and the facts disclosed at the Congress, we would say:—
| (1) | The IUS is not any old student, body, but a body pledged to carry out a certain constitution, This constitution which was at the time of its enactment, and still is, supported by the overwhelming body of the membership, commits IUS (inter alia) to the following from the Aims of the I.U.S.: |
| (b) | To secure for all young people the right to and possibility of education, primary, secondary and higher, regardless of sex, economic circumstances, social standing, political conviction, religion, colour or race . . . and all other means of securing to students their material independence . . . |
| (i) | To give active support for all organisations working for peace and security. To this end, to fight for the eradication of every vestige of fascist ideology . . . To combat all forms of discrimination, the falsification of science, and the propagation of theories of racial superiority. |
| (j) | To represent the interests of students in international affairs. |
| (k) | To assist the students of colonial, semi-colonial, and dependent countries to attain their full social, economic and educational development; to this end, to render to the students and peoples of these countries all possible assistance in their struggle for freedom and independence." |
| (2) | The programme outlined in the above sections of the Constitution explicitly involves an active struggle for a number of things, for which the energies and work of all students in all countries should be brought to bear. |
| (3) | Of these things, the two outstandingly urgent needs which emerged in speech after speech (including the main speech from the BNUS delegation) are Peace and the Colonies. |