Keele University Students' Union - Student Activism and History

Student Activism and History

Keele University students have a history of particularly left-wing activism, most of which occurred in the 1960s and 1970s. A three day sit-in of the University's Registry Office took place in protest against various university rulings of the time mainly centring around accommodation. This included a rule which banned students of the opposite sex in halls of residence after 10pm. Ironically, Keele University would later become the first UK university to offer mixed sex halls of residence. There were subsequent sit-ins in various locations around the university for various reasons over the proceeding ten years. The most infamous event however, was Keele students' week long declaration of independence from the UK. However, some less enthusiastic alumni claim that the effectiveness and popularity of this stunt have been greatly exaggerated.

However, despite the historical reputation for left-wing activism amongst Keele students which once had the campus labelled "The Kremlin on the Hill" by local people, the university has more recently been a centre of apoliticism, with political groups struggling to recruit on campus. In this regard, however, things have begun to change again.

Membership of the university's Conservative Future branch was once popular and the largest political party on campus. Every year NKCF (as the society is known) held many social and political events with notable visitors including Boris Johnson and Michael Howard. Every summer NKCF held their "Conservative Ball" in Keele Hall which attracted fellow Tories from all across the country, including notable MPs; but now these events and balls have now fallen out of favour with the group after failing to make a profit.

There has been a resurgence in membership of Labour Students, who have had high profile visits from many Keele graduates who are Labour MPs. Keele Labour Students is now the largest Labour Students club in the West Midlands in terms of membership, and the group currently occupy four seats on the Newcastle-under-Lyme Constituency Labour Party Executive Committee, a member on the Stoke-on-Trent North Constituency Labour Party Executive Committee and one former Chairman is now a Councillor for Longton North.

The university was also home to the first ever student branch of the United Kingdom Independence Party and a short lived England Society (loosely affiliated with the English Democrats Party).