Editing Durham Students' Union (section)

===NUS Affiliation===
On a number of occasions, some have suggested have that Durham SU might disaffiliate from the [[National Union of Students (United Kingdom)|NUS]],<ref>Hannah Costigan, [http://palatinate.dsu.org.uk/News/535/ "Durham to pull out of NUS"]{{dead link|date=December 2017|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}, ''Palatinate'', accessed 28 October 2006</ref> however until 2009 none of those opposed to affiliation had pushed the issue to a full student debate and vote. In 2009 however, a referendum took place proposing that Durham SU should stay affiliated to the NUS. Students voted convincingly in favour of affiliation with 80% (2564) of students who voted voting to stay affiliated and 20% (624) voting to disaffiliate.<ref>[https://vote.dsu.org.uk/index.cgi/results/44]{{dead link|date=December 2017|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}} DeVote online voting system, accessed 27 November 2009</ref>

Shortly after this, controversy arose regarding a planned debate, "Multiculturalism in Britain", at the [[Durham Union Society]], which was to involve a recently elected [[British National Party|BNP]] MEP, and which was subsequently cancelled over alleged fears for student safety, reopened the issue of [[National Union of Students (United Kingdom)|NUS]] affiliation. A petition for a second referendum was put before the Union <ref>Vincent McAviney & Jodie Smith, [http://www.palatinate.org.uk/news/national-news/security-concerns-stifle-free-speech "Security concerns stifle free speech"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101030031409/http://www.palatinate.org.uk/news/national-news/security-concerns-stifle-free-speech/|date=2010-10-30}}, ''Palatinate'', accessed 8 February 2010</ref> and on 12 March 2010, the referendum concluded with a majority of voting students voting to disaffiliate from the NUS,<ref>{{cite web |title=DEVote online voting - Results |url=http://vote.dsu.org.uk/index.cgi/results/51 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100814155315/http://vote.dsu.org.uk/index.cgi/results/51 |archive-date=2010-08-14 |access-date=2010-08-14}} DeVote online voting - Results</ref> meaning that Durham Students' Union disaffiliated from the [[National Union of Students (United Kingdom)|NUS]] after the end of the 2009-2010 academic year.<ref>Ben Robertson,[http://www.dsu.org.uk/news/138153/news_nus_referendum_results_announced_15032010/ "NUS Referendum Results Announced"]</ref>

A third referendum on NUS affiliation was held in January 2011 with 60% of students voting to reaffiliate with NUS.<ref>[https://www.dur.ac.uk/student.elections/dsu/index.php?results=58 DeVote Online Voting] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629183239/https://www.dur.ac.uk/student.elections/dsu/index.php?results=58|date=2011-06-29}}</ref>

In 2015, another referendum reaffirmed NUS affiliation (61% supported affiliation), with an 11% voter turnout.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Taylor-Kroll |first1=Charlie |date=16 June 2016 |title=Durham SU remains affiliated with NUS following referendum |url=https://www.palatinate.org.uk/durham-su-remains-affiliated-with-nus-following-referendum/ |access-date=18 June 2023 |website=palatinate.org.uk}}</ref> The SU currently remains affiliated with the NUS.