President’s Update: January Edition!
Hi everyone! Long time no see! Here is a quick breakdown on what I have been up to since my last update (or like the last week of November).
Responding to the University’s Restructure
As you are all aware, the University announced on the 2nd of December the closure of our Southend campus and the introduction of a redundancy program for 400 members of staff. Since then my main focus has been making sure that students are protected through this whole process and that their voices are heard.
In the immediate aftermath (end of first term), I asked the Vice Chancellor and Pro-Vice Chancellor Education to join us for an Extraordinary Council meeting to answer student questions, encouraged the PVC to start her Q&A sessions for Southend students, we launched the Tell Us How You Are Feeling survey to pick up on feedback, we released our Student Leader statement outlining our position and the specific actions we are taking both on at a University and national level, and I launched the SU President Update bi-weekly email series to provide transparency and live updates on our progress on the actions we are taking.
Chloe and I also met with the President and Co-President of UCU (trade union representing academic staff) to discuss how we can work together, including on minimizing redundancies and lobbying government. Regarding this last point, I reached out to all MPs representing our university’s constituencies to make sure we are collaborating when working towards national change.
Since coming back to campus, we are continuing the work we started last term. Since I came back on the 12th of January, my priority has been to push for transparency from the University around its financial compensation package for Southend students, as this remains a matter of great concern, and arguing that the current information being shared is just not enough.
I have also met with Pam Cox MP to share our concerns around the growing crisis in Higher Education and what can be done to address it. Chloe and I are also meeting with UNISON Branch Secretary to discuss how we can collaborate on shared goals. We have also met with Bernard Jenkin MP to discuss our national campaign and how we can work together. These are the early stages of a campaign we will be launching later this term aimed at addressing matters of national Higher Education policy, as mentioned in our Student Leader statement.
We remain committed to working with all members of our community to make sure that the interests of students are prioritized and the negative impact of the proposed restructure on the student experience is as minimal as possible
Community Market
Last term we hosted two editions on the Community Market (November and December) and I am really happy to see how successful they were. People seemed to be really engaged, and 18 societies and clubs raised over £2900 over both market days!
Due to some technical issues with card machine availability, we unfortunately won’t be able to run the Community Market with as many fundraising stalls as we have in the past. But we are still planning on running two Market days this term on 17/02 and 17/03, with applications opening this week!
Gender Affirming Fund
Theo, our Trans SCO, and I have been working to make sure that trans students access the £3000 that are held up in the Gender Affirming Fund (GAF). When it was created 5 years ago, there was no system set up for people to actually access the services, which is why no student has been able to access it.
After talking with the University, we are in discussion for the GAF to be managed by the SU. Theo, myself and other staff members at the SU will come up with an eligibility criteria for the fund and will share this proposal with the University to make sure this service is up and running as soon as possible.
Food Affordability
Following multiple conversations with the Director of Campus Services and the SU’s Head of Retail, we came to the conclusion that both the University and SU’s commercial services don’t have enough surplus food to have good enough of an offer on an app such as Too Good to Go.
This is why Hareem and I have decided to pivot the Food Affordability Big Plan item and are now focusing on bringing affordable food bundles to the SU Store. We have had an initial conversation with the Head of Retail and our Deputy CEO (Commercial Services and Business Development) to observe what kind of offer we could provide at the lowest price point possible.
Working with the Local Community
Following the Labour Government’s decision to postpone a series of upcoming Mayoral elections (including Essex’s first Mayoral election), the Citizens Essex Mayoral Assembly project I was leading on took a different turn to focus on issue-specific campaigns to lobby local stakeholders on. We will be focusing on transport in Essex. If anyone would be interested in supporting this campaign in any capacity do let me know!
I am also working with the local organization Colchester United Against Racism (CUAR) on two event collaborations on anti-racist and anti-fascist education made to bring students and the local community together.
BDS Policy
I have continued the work around the BDS policy by focusing on the goals of the Demilitarization campaign. I had a meeting with the University Secretary focused on international research partners and careers fairs. I have also been in contact with the Deputy Vice Chancellor to discuss our private partnership approval process.