[1] Donald Thompson, Sidney Shugarman, Pierre Ouellette, Myron Tiechko, Daniel Palmer, Dawn Hassett, Doyle Brown and Ian Boothe are listed as the first directors.
"[2] With its head office located in Ottawa, Ontario, the NUS/UNE had a democratic structure in which elected delegates put forward, debated and decided policy through an Annual General Meeting held between April 30 and May 15 of each year.
[2] NUS/UNE was created by students in 1972 as a response to looming post secondary education cuts from the federal government.
The federal government instituted a ceiling on Post Secondary Education matching grants to provinces and territories.
[2] Between 1973 and 1976, initial policy was formed and finances were organized and solidified in order to consolidate the national student movement.
[2] By the end of 1976, NUS/UNE was on firm organizational and financial ground and had by this time launched several nationally coordinated campaigns that involved grass-roots participation at the campus level.
The National Union of Students and its provincial affiliates were engaging in campaigns across the country to oppose government funding cuts to universities and colleges.
The NUS/UNE also planned a National Student Day (which BCFS participated in) to protest increasing barriers to post -secondary education.
During its time, the NUS/UNE received criticisms from students that the Union did not address other issues such as poverty, war, and environmental degradation.
[2] Nigel Moses focused his study on young women's activism in the (Canadian) National Union of Students.
He examines the issues NUS engaged such as violence against women and abortion rights, to sexism and outright hostility toward feminists at meetings.