My Top 5 Priorities for the Year

Read on below to see how I got on with my manifesto points and campaigns this year so far. You can keep an eye on progress on my profile page of our site here.

• #SUSPS

  Scottish Universities Supporting Palestinian Students is a Scotland-wide campaign backed by the Scottish Government, the STUC and NUS Scotland, it aims to help support postgraduate students from Palestine to come to Scotland to study. Here at Stirling we have secured a fee waiver for a student to start in September (the University is currently in the process of recruiting) and we have raised a significant chunk of money to help support the student with a scholarship when they get here. We held a fantastic fundraising event with American singer-songwriter David Rovics, we have received backing from Dame Judi Dench and Noam Chomsky and we have developed good links with local community groups who are very supportive of the campaign.

  As well as the fee waiver and scholarship for a Palestinian student, I’m delighted that we also managed to convince the University to have a similar scheme for a Syrian refugee student. The University is currently in discussions with the council about how best they can recruit a student. I was also proud that many Stirling students made donations to help refugees stranded in Calais.

   
• #OneStirling 
  
  We have run numerous Liberation campaigns throughout the year. In October we hosted events to celebrate Black History Month in partnership with the Afro-Caribbean Society. We held Hollaback workshops and took part in a march as part of 16 Days of Action in November. We ran a stall in the atrium campaigning against lad culture, asking guys to hold up signs saying why they are not ‘that lad’.  Most significant of all however was the screening of the film the Hunting Ground which attracted a very large crowd of both students and staff.  The Hunting Ground deals with sexual violence and misconduct on US college campuses and it has helped open up a dialogue here as to what we could do better. Following on from the film screening we held a meeting with the Senior Management team and consequently a new high level ‘Sexual Violence and Misconduct Strategic Coordination Group’ has been established to try and tackle any problems we have at Stirling and ensure our campus is a safe place for all. Lastly, we voted to rename the Liberation Zone to the Equalities Zone in hope of making it more inclusive and improve engagement with it as a zone. We also have voted for an additional two Equalities Officers who will sit on the Student Executive and help make sure liberation campaigns have maximum impact.
   
• #StirVoice
  
  We have sought to improve engagement throughout the year. The Campaign for Fair Rent was very successful in getting students engaged, with almost 2,000 signing a petition and all new Union President candidates running with rent on their agendas.  

  Attendance at General Meetings and Zones has been poor still so we have passed policy to move towards a more inclusive and accessible online system. By re-naming the Liberation Zone we’re hoping to get more engagement with the re-named the Equalities Zone.

  The elections saw a slight increase in voter turnout with 2048 students voting, 18.5% of the total student body.

   
• #StirRent 
  
  The Campaign for Fair Rent sought to ensure student accommodation remained affordable for all regardless of socio-economic background. I led the campaign, galvanising the support of almost 2,000 students which was presented to the rent Review Group in January. After a couple of days of intense consultations I managed to secure what I believe was a fair compromise to ensure Stirling maintains its excellent record on accessibility. 14 of 17 University-run properties had their rents frozen, with only three most expensive properties facing a 2.5% increase. As well as the rent freeze (which in real terms will save students £200,000) I also managed to secure a further concession of a new ‘Accommodation Hardship Fund’ worth £50,000- this will directly help those students who are struggling to pay their rent at the end of the month. Rent remains a big issue and the incoming sabbatical team can hopefully expand on the work I have done this year.
   
• #StirActivist
  
  I established the Activist Forum at the beginning of the academic year to try and bring together activists from across the political spectrum to coordinate and consequently strengthen their campaigns.  This had some initial success with good turnouts and many great ideas for campaigns being put forward. Going forward I believe that Activism needs to have a more formalised role within the Union to ensure we remain a campaigning body that seeks to make students’ lives better!

  In November we sent a bus full of activists down to the NCAFC Free Education demonstration in London. We had a bigger delegation than the rest of Scottish Universities combined! Our chants about ‘Beans of toast’ have now become infamous in student activist circles!