Equality & Campaigns Officer: Kim Williams
Job Description (summary)General Duties
All Officers are responsible for the day to day running and management of the Union as an organisation, including but not limited to: ensuring it complies with the law and relevant acts, in particular the Education and Charity Acts, funding and budget monitoring, compliance with Health and Safety legislation, ensuring Union Policies and Procedures are adhered to and representing students. All Officers are also required to be actively involved in collective work and be willing to accept work at the request of an appropriate body. Equality & Campaigns Officer voluntary role (non-sabbatical) This officer works on the multiple campaigns and equality events throughout the year. They also make sure that all events and activities are accessible and that the union remains an inclusive place for students. A full job description can be found in the NSU Constitution, Bye Law 1 |
My Manifesto
Mental Health - Assignment and exam stress - Relaxation and meditation sessions to relieve student stress levels that could impact student mental health. These will run over exam or assignment periods where students can come along and try different relaxation methods and gain information on how to manage stress. Not only this but group talks where students can talk about their stress openly and support each other. - Mental health first aid training for all societies as hard to keep track of the mental welfare of every individual student. As a community we have a duty to look out for one another. One way I feel we could achieve this, is by having mental health first aid training for all societies. This could be very impactful in terms of spotting signs of low mental health for students that are not only part of these societies; but being able to recognize students that may be struggling throughout campus. - Awareness of student attendance -although it is up to students to attend lectures, mental health can actually disrupt daily activities like getting out of bed in the morning. If there are 4 consecutive weeks of missed lectures, I feel Student support should reach out to students to see why this may be the case. This could even be a nudge email that sends a sticker image to students "need to talk?" - Waiting time for Counselling- This needs to be reviewed. Currently it seems to be first come first serve and I don't think its good. I don't think its fair that students who may be reaching out for help, who have indicated on self-referral forms, that they are suicidal or having extremely low days, are being made to wait, three months to see someone. Forms should be categorized in severity and those who are at risk to themselves or others should be seen first. If this cannot happen then measures should be taken to make sure that any student who has disclosed thoughts of suicide, self-harm or any other severe symptoms, at least have a one-off session while they are waiting, so they can see that the university cares and has read their form to understand they are there to help. Accessible Campus for all - Larger multi-faith room; more of our students at Newman practice religions that are non-catholic, it should be fair that those students have a space where they feel like they can practice their religion without feeling as if they are an afterthought. - Gym and Tonic- Women's only section in Gym or if this couldn't work, women's hour on a weekly basis - Clinical waste- All accessible toilets should have bins for medical waste & not fair for disabled students to have to travel around to dispose of their products. - Unisex toilet - having a disability /accessible toilet that is non gendered is not the same as having a gender neutral toilet. Many other universities have already taken the step to include gender neutral toilets and I think Newman is lagging behind on that one. - Mature student support- many mature students have been out of education for a while. I feel like there should be a "Catch up" workshop over the summer before a new term, that invites mature students to get back to basics of education. With revisiting the structures of educational establishment and essay writing workshops. This could be like the Head Start program that currently runs. |