President’s Update: November Edition
Hey everyone! Thank you for coming over here to read about everything I’ve been up to this past month 😊 If you have any questions, comments or ideas, feel free to send me a dm on IG (@essex_su_pre)s or a quick email (as22122@essex.ac.uk). With that being said, here is what I have been doing this month!
Community Market & SU Festivities
We launched the first-ever Community Market! I was so happy and proud to see this idea come to life and campus become as vibrant as I know it can be. 9 out of the 12 Clubs and Societies we contacted participated in the event, raising a grand total of £873.16! An average of £97 per Club/Society, with the highest amount fundraised being French Connection with £239.
I launched a consultation afterwards to pick up feedback from Clubs/Societies who participated and got all-around great feedback. Key thing to highlight was that pretty much all of them said that they got meaningful engagement with students and fundraised a substantial amount (an average rating of 9.6/10), indicating that the project fulfilled its main goal.
We are preparing to launch the second (festive!) Community Market on the 2nd of December. We have already contacted the Clubs/Societies that have had stall allocations and are prepping everything to make sure this one is even better than the first.
Related to this last bit, I’ve been involved in discussions to launch the holiday events line up for this year: SU Festivities! We have launched the campaign and have planned a variety of events for people to enjoy during the holiday season; including Ice Skating, Christmas Markets, and more.
Citizens Essex Mayoral Assembly
Building on this listening campaign, I am launching a survey to gather as much feedback from students as possible to make sure the future Mayor of Greater Essex takes the needs and interests of students into account! You can complete the survey here: https://essexsu.typeform.com/to/pbEZYq8H
Aside from the survey, I am also conducting other in-person events, including two drop-ins in Square 3 to meet as many people as possible, as well as a House Meeting to come later this term. Make sure to reach out, share and complete the survey to make sure that your experiences are considered when building policy for a better Colchester and Essex for students.
Student Experience Committee
At Student Experience Committee, we raised a variety of concerns from students including the quality and price of food and accommodation, the issues with the Report + Support system, the sudden closure of the Art Exchange, and concerns from students at Loughton campus regarding the future of the café run by the University on campus.
Two agenda items I presented were regarding (1) support for the trans community and (2) access to private student accommodation for international students. Regarding the first, I provided an update on the EHRC’s incoming guidance, that is set to affect the trans community around the UK and on our campus. I shared that the VC has announced that the University will invest in transforming the facilities at Essex, to expand our current provision of gender-neutral facilities.
I also raised concerns Theo, our Trans+ SCO, and I had regarding the Gender Affirming Fund (GAF), a university-run fund dedicated to trans students to access funding for gender affirming items. Due confusion around its administration and lack of publicity, no student has been able to access the substantive funds held up in the GAF in its years of operation. Theo and I are meeting with University staff to make sure the £3000 held up are able to be accessed by the trans community on campus.
Finally, I also provided an update on rent legislation, mentioning that the Renters’ Right Bill has passed in parliament. One of its impacts will be that landlords will not be able to charge more than a month’s worth of rent upfront. This could potentially make it difficult for international students to access private housing, as they are usually asked to either make large upfront payments or rely on a UK-based guarantor (which are difficult for international students to have). This is why I advocated for the university to introduce a University Rent Guarantor Scheme, making it easier for international students to access housing.
Following up on this discussion, the Director of Campus Services sent over a paper sent to Executive Committee last year to develop a University Guarantor Scheme, which at the time was not accepted. I am planning on building upon this previous work to make sure that the University implements a guarantor scheme to facilitate international students’ access to private accommodation following the introduction of the Renters’ Rights Bill.
BDS Policy
Since the last update to the SU Council on the actions taken on the BDS policy, we have reviewed the stock across of all our commercial services and can confirm that we do not currently hold any products imported from Israel or the territories it illegally occupies (with the exception of Everything Essex which is yet to be checked).
Furthermore, I am working with Demilitarize Education to develop a Demilitarization Campaign, aimed at terminating the University’s research and academic partnerships with arms manufacturers. I will be meeting with PVC- R Chris Greer and University Secretary Lucy Johnson to proceed with this work.. I will also meet with our Deputy Vice Chancellor and Chair of the University Council’s Partnership Advisory group Neil Kellard to review the University’s current academic partnerships approval process policy.
Democracy, Representation & Transparency
We had two Student Leader Drop-ins in November one in Colchester and another in Southend) to talk to students about the most pressing issues they face as well as promote and collect feedback on the Big Plan. To make sure we are providing updates on the feedback, we are collaborating with the Marketing Team to make sure that students are updated on actions we have taken through the SU Student Leader website, which has been redesigned to accommodate for this.
I am launching a listening exercise to improve the Pit Stop in Square 4. As one of the few accessible non-commercial spaces where students can socialize, eat/reheat their lunch, and relax, I want to make sure that it is as student-centred and comfy as possible. If you’d like to give us feedback for us to lobby the university on and make the Pit Stop a nicer place, you can complete the survey here: https://essexsu.typeform.com/to/Tw90ciDL
I have also asked the VC to join us for an extraordinary SU Council meeting to provide transparency as to the University’s current financial situation, as well as provide all students a space to ask the most senior university official the questions that they have as well as share their concerns.
Other highlights:
- Had an initial meeting with Colchester United Against Racism to develop a series of anti-fascist and anti-racist educational workshops (set for Term 2)
- Took part in an interview with Rebel Vox to talk about the work that we’re doing as a team and some of our achievements so far
- Supported with the Welcome Talk and SU Tour at our November Open Day for prospective students
- Working with Marketing to create a series of IG posts introducing our SCOs and Council Reps, highlighting the important work they do for our community
- Continuing to work on the EU-CIEMBLY project to get students involved in a local pilot of a citizens assembly
- Added the International Day Against Fascism and Antisemitism to our days of significance calendar