Middlesex University - Students' Union

Students' Union

As of 2005, Middlesex University Students' Union (MUSU) is undergoing a period of large-scale change. Academic year 2004–05 saw the university management force MUSU, against the wishes and votes of MUSU members, to give up its commercial areas – i.e., shops, bars, cafeterias and entertainments. These have now been taken over by Chartwells (then known as Scolarest), a major provider of catering and support services to UK educational institutions, who was already handling catering facilities for the university proper. This situation has arisen due to a dispute over a £300,000 debt owed by MUSU to the University.

MUSU has four sabbatical officers, each with a specific portfolio, and who also represent the students on their base campus. MUSU runs a number of student lead entertainment and communication activities under the name of MUD (Middlesex University Direct). This includes a radio station (MUD Radio) and a student magazine (MUD Magazine), which is published six times a year and is available to students for free.

In 1981 Union president Nick Harvey joined protests outside Rochester Row police station after six Irish students were detained without charge under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. That year student John Kennedy stood in the Crosby by-election to highlight the case of seven students suspended from the Polytechnic after a sit-in protest demanding nursery facilities.

The Students Union has gone through a major re-branding process in the last two years they have changed their logo from what was not a student centric one to a new purple coloured image which has significantly increased the Unions' visibility amongst its members and this happened during the term when their new President who is the first International student (Indian) who got elected in 2010 and also during his term MUSU has undergone a massive change in its staffing structure and have written up a strategic plan for they next three years . MUSU elections 2012 has seen a significant Increase in voter turn out of 70% when compared to previous years with the help of key staff members and the Student Union President Manojkumar Iyer .

MUSU has had a lot of presence in the last two years at national level by campaigning against cuts in education and many of its officers have stood for positions at the national level .