President’s Update: Feb - Now!

Hey guys! Term 2 is slowly coming to its end and with that a new update on what I have been up to. As always, please text me or send me an email if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, complaints or anything and everything in between :)

National Advocacy

This term has been very focused on national advocacy to create an HE sector that is more just for students. I have been continuing to support our work with the Pay the Placement campaign. I was interviewed by Nursing Standard and are liaising with BBC Essex to bring attention to this important cause. I also met with York SU to expand the reach of our campaign. If you guys want to help with the campaign please sign and share the petition with your communities. We are at just under 7,000 signature - helps us reach to 10,000 to make the government respond to our demands!

I have also been leading on the development of our Fix University Funding campaign. Chloe, Rebecca and I had a meeting with Bayo Alaba MP to discuss the crisis in Universities, Southend and the problems with the current marketised model for education. Besides this, we are focused on building SU Power to make this a truly national student-led movement. Chloe and I had a presentation at the Southern Unions Conference to introduce other SUs to join the campaign and fight for change. 5 SUs have joined the campaign so far, representing around 77,000 students in total!

Strike Action & University Restructure

The UCU took further strike action starting on the 5th of March, and we have been focused on making sure that the dispute with the University is resolved as quickly as possible to make sure that your education is protected. I have had regular meetings with Union Leadership to create solidarity between staff and students and agreed on points of collaboration. We have also demanded that the University fully consider the alternatives proposed by the UCU and provide transparency as to how they are doing it. I also demanded that the University extend the window for Voluntary Redundancies, which they have gone forward with. 

I have also asked the University to commit to ensuring that any savings made in staff costs from the strike action be reinvested into students, whether that be through further Hardship Fund funding or compensation for students for missed teaching, which they have agreed to. If you our your communities have missed teaching due to strike action, make sure to complain and put pressure on the University by following the steps in our Strike Actio Support page. Additionally, if you or someone in your community has travelled into campus to find out that their classes are not going forward, you can claim reimbursed for travel and childcare through the Univeristy Website. 

Besides strike action, I have also been focused on prioritising student feedback through the ongoing University restrucutre. We have demanded that Pathways is protected and its valuable provision remain up to quality, and have advocated for Departments to be prioritised over the Faculty strucutre  - arguing that Departments, as student-facing institutions, should be the key academic unit at our University. 

Transparency & Democracy

One of my key priorities as President has always been to create an SU that is increasingly transparent and accountable to students. In this past couple weeks, these are some of the actions I have taken to ensure this:

I have drafted and introduced a new Financial Transparency Framework to the SU, which calls on the Chief Executive and Director of Finance of the SU to present detailed information on SU finances, including our yearly budget, forecasts and expected risks, to the SU Council for students to scrutinise. This is expected to take effect on the April meeting of the SU Council, pending their and Trustee Boards’ approval. 

Due to the ongoing strike action, I also called an Extraordinary SU Council meeting to provide transparency as to the alternatives proposed by UCU, elevate concerns students may have about industrial action, and create solidarity between students and staff. The panel consisted of representatives from UCU and UNISON.

The situation that the University finds itself in has also called into question how democratic the institution is, in my opinion. With decisions being taken at a fast pace, with not very meaningful consultation undertaken with key stakeholders, I believe it is crucial to take a hard look at reorganising how decision-making takes place at our University. Chloe and I had a meeting with the VC to talk through these concerns and raise the importance of creating a more democratic system and culture. I will be looking to work with trade unions, university staff members, students and management to create a governance structure that is more democratic, transparent and takes the concerns from students and staff more directly.

Finally, I am also leading on creating a new SCO and SU Council structure for the next academic year, which would include paying and consolidating our SCO roles. I wanted to make sure that students who contribute to our campus are paid for their work, and, thus, allowing them to invest more time and effort into activism and organising on our campus. 

Ongoing Projects

Besides the above, my work has continued with other projects you’ve heard about before. Since my last blog, we hosted another Community Market, which brought us to over $5000 raised for Societies and Clubs across all Community Markets! The next one is due to take place on the 17th of March so keep an eye out!

I am still working with Demilitarise Education on our Demilitarisation Campaign - making it clear that arms manufacturers should not be allowed on our campus. I am drafting a new policy to be presented at a University committee to tighten the due diligence checks done as part of the research partnership assessment process as to not allow partnerships with arms manufacturers or companies in violation of international law. I will also be meeting with the Due Diligence team at the university to discuss their approach soon. 

I am also working with PalSoc to draft a paper asking the University to introduce a scholarship for Palestinian students, as many other Universities have done over the past couple years. With the genocide in Palestine still ongoing, and the destruction of the higher education system in Gaza, it’s important to support our fellow students and create opportunities for them to flourish. 

I have also been working hard with our Trans SCO, Theo, SU and University staff on the Gender Affirmation Fund. After many meetings and a lot of work, I am happy to share that we will be launching the SU Gender Affirmation Fund by the end of this month! Supporting our Trans students has been one of my number one priorities since starting my role, so I am incredibly happy to see that students will be able to access material support from the SU. 

Finally, Hareem and I are still working on making sure food is affordable here on campus. I have emailed the Director of Campus Services and asked that the $3 meals remain for next year and are available to students. We are also finalising the Food Bundles project, creating an affordable option at the SU Store, aiming to launch at the beginning of Term 3, and I am working with a group of Economics students to bring a short-term, student-run foodbank to campus.