Welcome to the Equity and Inclusion Unit (EIU) Update for November 22! These updates will help to keep you in the know on Equity and Inclusion efforts at the Union and beyond. November's Update covers....
- The Equity and Inclusion Officer's Update
- Black History Month Recap
- Building Community Matters
- Introduction to our Community and Inclusion Officers for 22/23!
- Student Officer Training
- The Gender Expression Fund
- What's Coming Up?
Look out on Slack for when we publish a new update every month! I am so pleased to be able to communicate all the exciting things happening around Equity and Inclusion, especially as the Unit continues to empower our student Community and Inclusion Officers and work with our fabulous sabbatical co-chair Seyi Osi (Equity and Inclusion Officer) in her work.
Doing something around Equity and Inclusion that isn't mentioned in this Update? Email [email protected] and let us know!
Hello, hello!
Seyi (she/her) here – the Equity and Inclusion Officer.
What a wonderfully hectic start to the term! It has been great working with the rest of the Unit and our fabulous student officers.
Just an update from me...
- Before term started, I met with the fab Community and Inclusion officers to discuss their priorities, ways we can support each other and most importantly the significance of intersectionality when working as an Equity and Inclusion Unit.
- The EIU ran detailed and engaging training for the Community and Inclusion Officers covering leadership styles, how the Union runs and clarity around the meaning of equity and intersectionality – big up Jayne for creating inclusive training. You can learn more below!
- Black History Month: events and activities were successfully run by various officers and societies. The programme varied with something for everyone, focusing on sports, the arts and panel discussions. Read below to learn more!
- We have Disability History Month, with the theme Disability, Health and Wellbeing, coming from 16 November to 16 December- so keep your eyes on our stunning programme.
- The Gender Expression Fund has launched with a bang! Within two weeks we have received around 30 applications – big up Danielle!
- Discussions have started with the excellent Dani Bradford on a Union Equity strategy; a long-term and short-term strategy is in the works.
I'm working on great things with great people who put Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at the forefront of their work practice– what a dream! Stay tuned for our next report with more groovy things we will have done.
Learn more about Seyi in the reel below!
The month of October, in the UK, is Black History Month. Black History Month, as it is celebrated in the UK, was launched in the 1980s in London and was largely the result of local community activism which challenged racism in British society. The first year of its celebration coincided with several landmarks of (now) Black history and celebration, including;
- African Jubilee Year
- 150th Anniversary of Caribbean emancipation
- 25th anniversary of the Organisation of African Unity, an institution dedicated to advancing the progress of African states.
The theme of Black History Month this year is Black Wellness and Healing. Black History Month is a dedicated time to acknowledge, celebrate, share, and understand the impact of black heritage and culture. This year’s theme ‘Black Wellness and Healing’ centres on a gentle nurturing approach - in contrast to the typical trauma-related approach to Black History.
Black History Month celebrates diversity; therefore, our Equity and Inclusion Officer, Seyi, our BME Students’ Officer, Callie, and supporting clubs, societies and figures in the Union worked to create a varied programme of events, so there is something for everyone to get involved with.
An example of some of the events included:
- Women Students’ Network x Film Soc Film Night: Daughters for the Dust, Tuesday 18 October, 18:00 – 20:00
- Team UCL Sports Night @ SCALA, 19 October, 23:00 – 04:00
- Drop-in with Seyi, 21 October, 17:30 – 19:00
- UCL Drama Society: Reclamation 2022, 25, 26, 29.
Building communities
Over the five days of Welcome week, the Print Room Café was host to Welcome Breakfasts for five of our student Networks: the BME Network, the Trans Network, the Women's Network, the LGBTQ+ Network, and the Disabled Network. They were supported by the Marketing and Communications team to make these events happen.
These events help to encourage those students who identify as part of these groups to meet up with others and feel at home at UCL.
Our Networks hosted picnics, games nights, socials and more, helping to create an inclusive and welcoming community at UCL.
Name: Callie Yoo
Title: Black & Minority Ethnic (BME) Students' Officer
Pronouns: She/Her
Priorities:
As a BME or a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) student, I experienced difficulties adapting and assimilating. I eventually became part of my new community, and these challenges became part of my growth and experience. It also means I am aware of deep-rooted social, economic, political inequalities. As a bridge between BME students and the UCL community, I hope to support BME students to feel more included in the community. More importantly, I will make sure that the voice and the narratives of BME students are delivered to the executive body of UCL SU. I plan to achieve these by being open-minded to new ideas and voices and organizing various events to make BME students feel more welcomed and included. I want to open more opportunities for BME students to participate in campus activities and shape the campus environment.
Name: Angel Ma
Title: LGBQ+ Officer
Pronouns: She/Her
Priorities:
After a certainly eventful year at UCL, I hope to use the organisation and leadership skills I've gained throughout the year to further address the Stonewall situation. I look forward to holding the Provost up to all the promises he made and regularly following up with the progress. I plan to continue organising fun and enriching events, including hosting external organisations and speakers. Some of my favourites from last year include queer sex-ed workshops and famous speakers such as Yasmin Benoit! I look forward to making students’ time at UCL to be both fun and educating.
I also appreciate the value of open communication between the management and the student body, I aim to keep it open through webinars, town halls and weekly newsletters. I will use my negotiation skills to campaign for changes to improve LGBT+ life at UCL. Our goal will always be for UCL to rejoin the Stonewall scheme and will not stop fighting until it happens! Trans rights are human rights!
Name: Harper Taylor-Hanson
Title: Trans* Students’ Officer
Pronouns: They/Them
Priorities:
Growing up in the birthplace of the UK's largest pride festival, I have been involved in queer activism for many years now. There has never been a more important time to advocate for Trans* rights at UCL than right now with the recent partition from Stonewall. Over the past few weeks, I have felt anger, anxiety, and dread about what this means for my safety and existence within this institution and I hope that we can provide tangible changes to help so many that I know feel the same. I plan to achieve:
• Re-joining Stonewall stays at the top of the agenda.
• Normalise the use of pronouns in introductions throughout the university - introduce an 'opt-out' system for adding pronouns on online platforms.
• Implementation of effective training for lecturers and seminar leaders.
• Push for gender-neutral bathrooms by setting up single enclosure facilities.
• Increase welfare resources.
• Expand the trans network and create a safe online platform for students to share advice and make connections.
• Lobby for a fund to help cover gender-affirming surgery and therapy
Names: Manon Simmons and Sasha Green
Title: Women Students’ Officers (Job share)
Pronouns: She/Her
Priorities:
As second-year PIR and chemical engineering students heading into primarily male-dominated fields, we're extremely passionate about championing women's voices and rights across UCL. Our two different experiences as women will help us diversify our role as we combine our strengths to implement the changes that need to be seen globally, starting with our campus. We're keen to utilise the leadership, communication and organisational skills developed in our previous roles as Sports Rep and chairwoman of Pembrokeshire Youth Assembly to fulfil the commitments in our manifesto.
To make serious changes for women across UCL we wish to:
• Lead active bystander and anti-sexual harassment campaigns
• Ensure stronger support systems for victims of sexual abuse
• Fundraise with women’s charities to empower women everywhere
• Make UCL WN a welcoming space for trans and non-binary students
• Diversify the range of activities in the WN
• Lobby for free period products on campus
• Run meaningful women’s history month activities
We’ll place inclusivity at the heart of everything we do to celebrate and amplify the voices of all who self-identify as women at UCL.
As we approached the arrival of the 22/23 Community and Inclusion Officers, the Unit worked on crafting specific training to prepare them for their duties. This is a priority of Jayne, the Equity and Inclusion Unit Coordinator, to ensure that student officers receive the support they need to flourish and feel empowered to represent their committees. This was designed and organised with Danielle, the Advice and Advocacy Manager, and Seyi, the Equity and Inclusion Officer. Care was taken to ensure the training was accessible in as many ways as it could be, and that every officer no matter their needs would be able to access and enjoy the module. Jayne has experience in creating accessible online learning content and made sure to apply that to the creation of the learning material.
The first part is an online training course using self-guided presentations, which allow officers to refer to and read over information whenever they need. There were three groups of information identified as important for officer development, and you can see them in the drop-downs to the left!
This was also accompanied by a task booklet that allowed officers to record their thoughts and answer activity questions to embed what they were learning. This way, the self-guided portion could appeal to as many learning styles as possible!
- Essentials
This includes, but is not limited to: Democratic structures, introducing the Union and its processes, relationship management, managing money and much more.
- Events
This includes, but is not limited to: Risk assessments, room bookings, external speaker processes, making events accessible, and much more.
- Communication
This includes, but is not limited to: Email/Slack use, online forum moderation, data protection, using the What's On? calendar, Socials, and much more.
The second part of this training was a hybridised workshop. Seyi, Danielle and Jayne delivered the training workshop together. This covered community-building while also encouraging solidarity and intersectionality amongst the officers, and how this related to their role-specific skills. This included informing them about each other’s communities to increase their shared knowledge base, training them in managing professional relationships, the zone structure and how to communicate effectively to name a few! This was also a great opportunity for Community and Inclusion Officers to get to know each other and get to experience the office!
Many people experience feelings of stress and anxiety at the disconnect they feel between their gender identity and appearance. Danielle has worked thoughtfully, alongside Seyi and Harper, to engineer the Gender Expression Fund to provide financial assistance for students to purchase items that will make them more comfortable with their gender presentation and, we hope, improve their well-being.
This work has come out of lobbying from the LGBT+ Network and LGBQ+ Officer, Angel Ma, in 2021 to 2022 to hold the University to account for their decision to not re-join the Stonewall's Diversity Champion's Scheme or make a submission to the Workplace Equality Index. This is a decision they announced on 16 December 2021. You can read the original Union statement at the time, on the right.
It was imperative that students feel safe and welcome on campus, especially our Transgender students who the decision targeted. The President and Provost Dr Michael Spence agreed to a number of recommendations made by the Network. A strong recommendation made to the Provost was that there should be an exclusive small grants fund to help support trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming students to feel comfortable, and help empower them to express their identity. The result was the Gender Expression Fund which was lead on, and worked in partnership with the University, by the Union.
In terms of the fund, grants can be used to purchase gender-affirming products such as clothing, binders, packers and beauty products. Grants can also be used towards travel to medical or therapy/counselling appointments, but we are not able to provide funding for treatment or other medical procedures.
The Union anticipates grants will usually be around £50, but in expectational circumstances may be up to a maximum of £100.
The Union has designated a total of £3000 for this fund in 2022/23.
On the right, you can also see the Union's statement on the Gender Expression Fund and how students can access the fund.
Watch out for our next update, which will include information about what went on in Disability History Month (which takes place from the 16 November to 16 December), Trans Day of Remembrance (November 20th), the new LGBT+ Equality Steering Group Fund (LEIG Fund), and much, much more.
