Here are questions for all candidates running for the position of Democracy, Operations, and Community Officer.
1. What’s your position on the UCU strikes and the Students’ Union response at UCL?
2. How will you engage with students and represent their interests in democratic decisions?
4. Individual Questions to Andrei, Carol, Hamzah, Jordan and Mohammed
1. What's your position on the UCU strikes and the Students' Union response at UCL?
Andrei:
Carol: I am still in full support of the UCU strikes at UCL, all the sabbs signed a statement of support in November which was backed by a policy that went through our Education Policy Zone and Union Executive. In terms of the Students’ Union response, I would have loved to revisit the ‘Students’ Support the UCU Strike’ policy to see how much attitudes had changed in relation to the second round of strikes, I believe that the SU should have had a more tailored response to them- reflecting that some students were disproportionately affected by the strike action.
Hamzah: I support the right of our lecturers to strike and support the cause they are striking for. As such, I support the Union's decision to support the strike. The reasons the Union outlined in its policy declaration included wage stagnation, the outsourcing of contracts and a gender pay gap. Furthermore, the strike was support by a supermajority of staff. In future, I would consider the support of students for a strike, but I would not support a referendum on policies such as this.
Jordan: I completely support academics staff action as they are fighting for fair treatment and have not been met with appropriate democratic action by universities. I also believe that the union's response demanding fee refunds was reasonable; however, I think that the application for academic financial compensation (up to £250) should have been better advertised to students. I believe the union should have made more effort to circulate this information or pressure UCL into sending emails out in each department. Many people missed out on received first term compensation dimply due to poor communication
Mohammed: I respect and strongly support UCU striking and UCL SU's response to it. UCL's academic and support staff have a right to strike and we must all support them for this and the reason behind them going on strike. However, due to the current sociopolitical climate strikes and protest come across as frequent and the risk of it being perceived as culture can increase. Hence, UCU must ensure strikes are a part of the lobbying strategy rather than the only strategy.
2. How will you engage with students and represent their interests in democratic decisions?
Andrei:
Carol: I have been engaging with students through my fortnightly ‘Carol’s Question Times’ (your opportunity to ask me anything about my work, the role or the SU in general). When contentious policies were to be discussed at Union Executive, I made sure to speak with all relevant student groups and invited them to attend the meeting so that I could facilitate fair and robust discussions. If I am re-elected, I will continue to do the same, and work to increase awareness of the policies to be discussed and the different ways to feed in your opinions on them.
Hamzah: I will hold regular drop-in sessions with students, and committee members of clubs and societies. I will also conduct surveys to accurately gauge the opinion of the student body. In order to make this process of engaging with students as wide as possible, I will also include updates within the newsletter, and on the SU website, and vastly expand the social media content, with more interesting content. Establishing a dialogue between students, staff, clubs, societies and myself is essential, and I hope to be a visible presence who regularly frequents student spaces in order to chat and discuss about what needs addressing
Jordan: The easiest way to directly engage with students is through societies and committee members are usually eager to engage with the union in order to improve their club. As stated in my manifesto, I want to fully engage with student groups already protesting for change at UCL. Groups already fighting for issues should be listened to in order for the union to bring issues directly to the UCL board. For ideas generated by union staff, engaging student staff and using focus groups before implemented change would go a long way in making students feel they are part of positive change
Mohammed: Working groups are an effective method when looking to engage students with an end goal or a pilot initiative in sight. For example, for piloting a new SU initiative, especially directing work towards democratic decisions. I would also look at existing student forum structures and how we can improve them and identify current gaps to work on these.
3. What will you do to support the work of the Disabled Students' Network who recently released a highly publicized report detailing institutionalized disability discrimination at UCL?
Andrei:
Carol: At the ‘Creating change for UCL’s disabled students’ report launch on 22nd January, I promised to make all Students’ Union spaces (both physical and online) accessible- which I will continue to work towards if I am re-elected. As part of my ‘Better represent students’ part of my manifesto, I will ensure that a review of all current officer roles and remits is undertaken so that officers do not have overwhelming workloads or lack the support they need. This would directly support the DSN as the Disabled Students’ Officer needs more support than they are currently receiving from the Students’ Union.
Hamzah: Reading the Disabled Students’ Network report was tough. It was horrible to hear of such institutionalised marginalisation and discrimination. The report was wide-ranging and, as such, requires a cooperative approach with other SU officers to implement its recommendations. I pledge to do so, so that these demands for equality are not just heard, but acted upon. With respect to the shortcomings of the psychological and counselling services, I believe we can implement the majority of those recommendations almost immediately, and I will demand the university reduce waiting times, because they are currently completely unacceptable. Furthermore, I would coordinate with UCL Estates
Jordan: Having been told by my GP to seek support outside on UCL due to their lack of resources, I have felt the intimidation of seeking support. I want to fully engage with the DSN as well as the Disabled Students Officer to ensure UCL is truly inclusive. As I personally do not have a physical disability, full engagement with those effected will be needed to ensure proper representation. I will pressure UCL as not only are they deterring students away from help, but they are actively breaking the law by refusing to make all teaching buildings accessible.
Mohammed: I would look to take forward and work on the recommendations provided by the reports especially with regards to resources I would have available to me. For example, bring forward the concerns forward to estates and UCL east to ensure the future looks brighter a step at a time. I would also look to work with support and wellbeing every opportunity possibility using the recommendations at heart of my work.
4. Individual Specific Questions
Andrei:
Carol:
Q. How will you find funding to help make cafes more affordable, get more microwaves and hot water taps, develop existing SU spaces and open and run a zero-waste shop at UCL?
A. I will fund these projects largely through continuing to develop good working relationships with key people at UCL, meaning that more people will understand how much the Students’ Union needs more funding and support from the university.
Last week I secured £55,000 from UCL to look at our current activity spaces and sports facilities, the funding will also cover George Farha café, Huntley and Mullys to look at the ways we could develop them and make them a lot better for students.
I am involved in the budgeting process, meaning that I can influence how the SU allocates funding.
Q. What was your greatest achievement in this role last year?
A. This is a tough one to answer but getting 4 new microwaves across Student Union buildings must be my greatest achievement. It might seem trivial to some people, but physical facilities, like microwaves, contribute a lot to the student experience.
It took me a lot longer than I thought it would, but I finally have one microwave in Phineas, one outside Huntley and two in the Institute Bar. I have received more positive emails from students about the two in the Institute than I have with anything else I have worked on this year!
Hamzah:
Q. Why do you think in-person AGMs for clubs and societies should be brought back?
A. Having worked at the Activities desk I am regularly in contact with presidents, treasurers and committee members. The overwhelming response to this year's online elections has been negative. A significant number of clubs and societies prefer the personal aspect of AGMs, and a large number opted out of online elections, whilst a very large number were frustrated by the manner it was mandated to them. Online elections are useful for especially large societies, such as RUMS, but not most. Hence I would change the policy to an "opt-in", meaning clubs and societies do not accidentally sleepwalk into an election procedure that is unsuitable for them, but large societies can maintain the advantage of them.
Q. How do you plan to improve welfare support, especially for students in positions of responsibility?
A. This is something I care about deeply. A number of students find the pressures of being a senior committee member or working as a member of student staff extremely challenging and stressful. Running a club or society should be enjoyable, work should not be burdensome, and neither should be mentally taxing. I would reform committee training, which since it has been moved online, has been less effective - I would hopefully do so with the Activities team and Officer. Furthermore, I would introduce an open door policy and seek to bring in Union mental health representatives to help students. For student staff: managers would be instructed to take a more proactive interest in the welfare of their student staff, as is the case at the Activities desk - a stark contrast to the experience of café staff.
Jordan:
Q. How will you better inform freshers about the union’s role in the UCL community?
A. Ideally, the most effective way to do this would be to implement an online course that needs to be completed as part of enrolment. This would be quite simple, including a short set of slides about at the union is here for and how it can help students, followed by a quite questionnaire. Additionally, I would suggest to academic departments to allow union reps to speak briefly in introductory talks so that new students have an immediate impression of how valuable the union is.
Q. How will a student volunteer mental health hotline work?
A. The hotline would be led by trained student volunteers offering support through an anonymous phone system. Depending on the number of volunteers, the frequency of the responsibly would not be much and would ideally run until midnight each night. After this, other hotline numbers would be offered as an alternative. The purpose of the hotline would be to normalise seeking support and would provide a less threatening first step into managing mental health. By making it student-led, it would also mean that students seeking support would feel less alienated, as they know the support is coming within their UCL community.
Mohammed:
Q. What measures do you plan to implement to improve the union’s sustainability?
A. We are currently in a very dynamic state with regards to the risks our community faces. Something as simple as promoting upcoming freshers to start using reusable cups is put into question due to the current risk associated with it and hence cafes not accepting it. Hence the sustainability audit is what I would use to guide union effort using.
Q. What’s your position on balancing freedom of speech and hate speech? How will you represent student interests in union policies on this issue?
A. We need to follow the law as to what constitutes hate speech - and anything that doesn't fall into this is allowed. However, one needs to be aware of sensitive topics and I aim to work on building awareness on this with the platforms at my disposable. I also aim to implement a working group and prospective student wide vote to establish formal position by the SU as guided by NUS on key current issues which is dynamic and tends to shift every year.