Quick update over the last two weeks!
The last two weeks have absolutely flown by from committee meetings to events! The semester is in full swing, and things are rapidly changing. I’m loving seeing the Plug and Tub so busy, seeing so many of you taking part in different events such as show in a week, sports fixtures and student leadership roles! Here’s a quick update on some of the things that I’ve been involved in over the last couple of weeks!
Find updates on:
- University Committees
- Sport events
- Graduations
- Drink Spiking in the City
- Diwali
- Naional Representation
Council / Senate / Students’ Union
CSSU met for the first time this year on Tuesday 2 November. This was one of the first in person meeting that happening in the Council Chamber with all the Officers and our fantastic Reps Mohammed and Hong. We presented the SU Top Ten as well as the new Citizenshift frameworks we have introduced this year to make sure you can shape the decisions within the SU, such as Summit, Standpoints, Ideas to Action and Citizen Assembly. We received an update from the Director of Accommodation and Hospitality on how the start of term had gone, including updates on support for students quarantining and the food outlets on campus. We also used this as an opportunity to raise concerns around drink spiking and the most recent Night In campaign. We highlighted the need to ensure messages around this topic were not victim blaming, the need to tailored support for victims and for preventative measures to be put in place as well as clear identification of the consequences if you are caught spiking someone’s drinks.
Attended the Men’s Rugby
Elizabeth, Jacob, Nigel (University Chaplin) and I attended the Rugby Men’s First Team match against Exeter. Such a fantastic atmosphere in the crowd with lots of Bath supporters present. After such a turbulent last year especially with in person sport starting and stopping in lockdowns it is fantastic to see matches happening!
Graduation working group
Jacob and I attend a graduation working group that meets regularly to discuss the ongoing situation with graduations, including for 2020 and 2021 cohorts. We have recently been working with the group to see how winter graduations can take place in a way that the local council and Public Health Bath are happy. It is looking promising that winter graduations will be taking place on the Claverton Down Campus at the beginning of December. We are working with the University to explore options on and off campus for the summer graduations with the plan to make them the best graduations yet!
Bath Safe and Secure
Meg and I attended the Bath BID meeting that focused a lot on drink spiking – for a more detailed update check out this news article here - Drink Spiking Safety (thesubath.com). This meeting brought together representation from a number of bars/clubs across Bath, the local police, the local council, and night marshals. We had a really productive discussion around drink spiking and we were really pleased to see the venues so keen to collaborate on this important issue.
Equality Diversity and Inclusion
Meg and I attended EDIC on Thursday where we raised issue around the accessibility of campus and one of our Top Ten Priorities around Inclusive Spaces on campus. We are really looking forward to seeing this work take shape and will be reaching out to groups in the near future to be involved in this. If this is something you would like to be involved in please let us know! We also discussed some of the new roles focusing on EDI in the University and how they sit into the staffing structure, making sure that they directly supported students and staff.
BANES Council and SU Student Engagement
I met with Marianne (SU President Bath Spa) and Shaun Stephenson-McGall who is the Member advocate for Engagement with Students to discuss how the student population in Bath can best engage with the local council and how both our SU’s could support this work. We highlighted key issues such as students being left out of resident associations due to the area student housing tends to be in and local area WhatsApp groups.
We also discussed the complexity of the Council website and the barriers that this can present. There is a ‘Have your Say’ button on the website to view on-line consultations.
We will be meeting with Kevin Guy (Councillor) in a few weeks where we will be discussing this further to make sure that you all feel you belong in the City of Bath.
Met with the Director of Accommodation and Hospitality
Microwaves, microwaves, microwaves!! The issue around the lack of microwaves and the long queues is one that has been raised multiple times since the start of term! We have now reached an agreement that additional microwaves will be added in The Edge and Claverton Rooms.
We also discussed what Christmas will look like on campus this year for those who wish to stay on campus. There is a working group discussing these plans at the moment but there’s lots of cooking and Christmas activities involved!
Diwali
On Thursday 4 November we celebrated Diwali in the Edge. Sid worked with the Tamil Society, Malayalee Society and Hindu Society bringing 150 people together for an extremely special event which consisted of the Pooja / Aarti, followed by dancing and singing performances, and traditional sweets called Kaju Katli and Ladoo. It was fantastic to see so many people together to celebrate Diwali ‘the festival of light’.
Advance HE DVC and PVC conference in Birmingham
On Wednesday 10 November I travelled to Birmingham to speak at an AdvanceHE Conference to Pro Vice Chancellors and Deputy Vice Chancellors around the student experience post covid. We discussed the importance of collaborative working with students’ unions who often have mechanisms in place whereby issues are raised. For example here at the University of Bath, the Students’ Union has a lot of student leaders who are Academic Reps, PAL leaders, Peer Mentors, Advisory Panels, Summit members. Working with these groups can allow for co creation to take place meaning that policy isn’t designed without clear and direct student input. I also had the opportunity to meet up with Hillary Gyeji-Ababio (NUS Vice President Higher Education) who has been working on a national level to advocate for your rights. We discussed NUS 100th Birthday and the hope for an in person Conference as well as industrial action and decolonisation work happening across the sector.
It's been a busy few weeks but I am looking forward to the rest of this Semester!!
Next week we have our first Summit where we will be meeting to discuss some of the first SU Standpoints. We also have an exciting event happening on Friday which I have worked with Ben (ACS Social Sec) to create which is A night with ASC and DJ Cuppy! This is a night for everyone to celebrate Afro / Caribbean culture! Tickets are on sale here - A night with ACS Featuring DJ Cuppy
