After two years as Welfare Officer at Arts Students’ Union my term in office has finally come to an end. The past two years have been absolutely incredible, life changing and challenging years – but it’s finally time for me to hand over to the next Welfare Officer and say goodbye!

Writing a blog attempting to sum up my two years is impossible – words can’t describe how much has happened and changed. When I say life changing I actually mean it. This job has stretched and challenged me in ways I never could have imagined and afforded me so many amazing opportunities – and all I can say is I feel very privileged to have been elected to do such important work.

Every day when I come to work I get to enjoy what I do. Yes there are incredibly frustrating parts, yes there are (many) days when I cry after a terrible, difficult meeting, but ultimately I have one of the best jobs in the world – I get to tangibly improve people’s lives. The reason I ran for this position in the first place was because I wanted to change things for the better. I wanted to improve the support for mental health, I wanted to make UAL more affordable, I wanted to improve the visibility and support for some of the most marginalised groups. And I’ve been able to do that.

The best thing about this role is that you get the opportunity to shape it. You can choose what you want to focus on, and work on issues which you’re passionate about. Of course you have to know that it’s a real issue amongst students – but doing research is super fun too! And we have such amazing, talented staff who work in the Union who can help you with all that too.

There are so many things that make working here special. The ability to focus on issues that matter to you. The ability to help students, and change and improve things in the University. One of the things that has made this year so special for me is working with such an amazing, supportive team – Hansika, Ana and Leah - they’ve kept me going when I felt like I couldn’t continue and whilst we all have specific areas and priorities we focus on, their unwavering support of me and constant help has meant that I’m able to achieve so much.

In my two years as Welfare Officer it’s difficult to say what my favourite part has been. I’m proud of everything I’ve done, it’s been an incredible journey, and one I know I won’t forget. Here are some of the things I’m particularly proud of.

Changing the extenuating circumstances guidelines

These changes resulted in changing the evidence for sexual assault (allowing survivors to obtain extenuating circumstances without a police report). As well as putting mental health into the list of ‘acceptable’ circumstances. One of the reasons why I felt so proud of this was because when I announced the news I had several emails from students thanking me and telling me they weren’t able to get EC’s before because they didn’t want to report rape to the police. It was really moving to hear from those people and see the impact this will have. It’s also quite personal to me, I had a lot of trouble with the extenuating circumstances process when I was a student so it felt really satisfying to see that change.

Winning a £250,000 investment into counselling

After making mental health my priority campaign and doing so much work on this issue to have the university listen and actually invest in support services is so fantastic. This is a huge win - a quarter of a million pounds! 

Initiating a university wide action plan on sexual harassment and assault

This is a really big piece of work which I initiated, and which will continue for long after I’ve gone. I think what made this so remarkable was when I got 40+ members of senior staff in the University to attend training by Rape Crisis. To see University staff in one room, engaging in the training, and showing a commitment to the project – it wasn’t something I’d seen happen before. As well as that, in the first meeting the University said they’d ‘put their money where their mouth is’ in terms of funding the project. Whilst I won’t see most of the changes happen I feel confident that they will.

Trans Awareness Week

Running the first ever Trans Awareness Week really paved the way for a lot of excellent work around trans inclusivity and awareness at UAL. One of the reasons why I’m so proud of this is because it has led to some really important work, such as the implementation of gender neutral toilets across the University, and a lot more awareness of trans students. Since this we’ve seen the University work on their guidance for trans students, sponsor three exhibitions focused on transgender issues (one of which you can submit to here) and I was even asked to deliver trans awareness training to a group of 40 members of staff at the University.

Lastly, I just want to say thank you to all the students who I’ve worked with, who voted for me, who’ve attended the events I’ve put on – or just participated in any way.

Next I’m going to be starting an MA in September at Sussex in Gender and Media, and will be working at the LGBT+ Switchboard over the summer, a mental health charity for LGBT people, as the Engagement Officer.

I’m also going to try and do some things for me – next week I’m off to Glastonbury where me and my girlfriend are curating and performing at The Sisterhood Stage, with our queer club night Gal Pals. We’re also doing three Pride’s over the summer – London Pride, Trans Pride and Brighton Pride, so you can catch me there. And I’m working on my own zine Femme Feels, on queer femmeininity, which you can still submit to here. If you want to keep in touch I’m @scarlettshaney on Twitter and Instagram!

Whether you’re graduating or staying on at UAL I wish you all the best and please don’t forget the Students’ Union is here for you – and yours to run and shape.

Love,

Over the last two years the Students’ Union has had a lot of wins for students. From not raising tuition fees to continuing students, to 24 hour library opening hours at CSM, to gender neutral toilets on all campuses.

Whilst the four of the full time officers (that’s myself - Welfare, Ana - Campaigns, Hansika- Education and Leah - Activities) work as part of a team and often very collaboratively we also have certain remits that we work in.

Here are some of the wins we’ve had for Welfare since I’ve been in office for the past two years. It’s worth saying that none of this could have been achieved without the help and support of not only those who work in the Union, but students’ themselves. Without having 900 responses to our mental wellbeing survey, and students’ protesting on University Mental Health Day we would not have come so far for mental health support. Without the powerful quotes from trans students at UAL we wouldn’t have got gender neutral toilets. 

It’s important to remember that when we work and organise together - we can have big wins. Arts Students’ Union exists to defend and extend your rights, don’t forget to get in touch with the incoming Welfare Officer Katy if you have any issues or campaign ideas for next year. 

As we approach the end of term I imagine many of you will be reading this worried about your own deadlines, how you’re going to hand everything in on time, and stressing about how much work you have to do. And imagine how much worse this might be if you’re also going through a bereavement, or suffering from a difficult period in your mental health, and you were still made to hand your work in by the deadline.

Well, from September 2017 students who have an extenuating circumstance (an unforeseen circumstance such as an illness, bereavement or accident) will be able to have an extension on their deadline!

You might be shocked thinking; doesn’t UAL already do this? Sadly not. Whilst the majority of other universities give students extensions UAL requires you to hand in on time, even if you’ve had a serious issue which has had a huge impact on your ability to work. Students with disabilities are able to get an extension through an Individual Support Agreement (ISA), but those who’s conditions are unexpected, or last less than one year, are unable to access this.

This is something I’ve wanted to change for years, and after nearly two years of campaigning, I have. From September students’ who apply for extenuating circumstances will be allowed a two-week extension on their deadline (if they want one of course). You will still be able to re-submit if that is your preferred option, or hand in on time and ask for your circumstance to be taken into account when marking (usually changing your grade by one increment).

In addition, all students who hand their work in late will no longer be automatically capped at a D-. Currently if you hand in a minute late or a day late you are all given the same penalty, your grade is capped at a D-. We’ve all been there, stuck on a bus or the tube, wondering if we’re going to make it to hand in on time. This policy will ease some of the stress by working on a gradual basis where marks are taken off depending on how late you hand in. Students who hand in a minute late shouldn’t be penalised the same as someone who hands in a day or even week late, and this could make the different between passing and failing a degree.

These changes come after nearly a two year long campaign of your students’ union lobbying the university, writing several papers, being told it is impossible and can’t be done, lots of research and putting together case studies from students. Thank you to all those students who took the time to tell us about their experiences, these were invaluable.

If you would like more information on extenuating circumstances, please speak to the students’ union’s advice service. They are a free, impartial advice service who can help you with everything you need to know when it comes to filling out an extenuating circumstances application. You can find all their details here http://www.arts-su.com/advice.

Spring has sprung! The days are getting lighter and things are feeling a bit less miserable- although possibly not if you’re a final year student with looming final major projects due (be kind to yourself! Take breaks!) As always this term has flown by, and yet Christmas feels like a very long time ago. Anyway, here’s what I’ve been up to over the last couple of months…

The Mental Wellbeing Project

At the start of Spring term I launched the Mental Wellbeing Project to support student mental health and encourage us to think about how we can create and maintain better mental health whilst studying.

For this I organised 20+ events over the course of 4 weeks to take place on nearly every UAL campus. This ranged from art therapy (see our collective masterpiece pictured below), to yoga, to self-care workshops to a panel discussion with creatives whose art practice deals with themes of mental health. Following on from this, I’ll be organising more events for next term, and if you have any ideas of your own you can apply for funding here!

As part of this I also visited every UAL college and handed out thousands of wellbeing goody bags with freebies such as tea, water and fruit- and of course our second edition of the Wellbeing Zine. This is a little guide to help support you - and the best part is it’s all been written by myself, a student who struggled with my mental health at UAL. If you haven’t already got one, you can pick up a physical copy at any of our college offices, or our main office in LCF High Holborn. 

In addition to this, I’ve been working with the University on our joint mental health action plan. This is a five year plan to support students’ facing mental health difficulties and includes actions such as all tutors having mental health awareness training (within two years), specialist support for LGBTQ and BME students and disability equality training. 

Extensions for Deadlines

Something I’ve been lobbying the university on for a while is allowing students’ under extenuating circumstances to be given an extension on their deadline. The university have agreed to look at this, however I’m doing a lot of behind the scenes work to ensure that the process they create is as accessible, fair and easy for students’ as possible. 

This will hopefully be in place for next academic year- keep an eye out for updates! It may be that we have to put more pressure on the university to ensure this does actually happen, so we might be calling you to action! 

LGBTQ+ History Month

February marks the national LGBTQ+ History Month. As a queer person I wanted to make sure we marked and celebrated this important month, and I organised events including an incredible talk by Travis Alabanza on navigating queerness as an artist and an amazing and informative LGBT+ History Tour of Soho run by the LGBT+ charity Centred.

Plus, last week Arts Students’ Union won an NUS Award at the National LGBT+ Conference for our hard work on Trans Awareness Week!! 

We were the runner up for ‘Event of The Year’ which recognises the work done by Students’ Unions across the entirety of the UK 🎉🍾✨ 

International Scholarships

Something which myself and Ana worked on this term was improving the Postgraduate International Scholarship Scheme. In 2014, after a successful SU campaign, UAL introduced postgraduate scholarships for international students from low and middle income economy countries. This year we were involved in a review and secured some major improvements.

This included increasing the maximum scholarship to £25,000 plus accommodation costs for eight successful applicants! We also made edits to the criteria to make sure the award is more accessible to asylum seekers and refugees. We can now proudly say that UAL is one of the many universities in the UK that offers scholarships to refugees.

As well as this, UAL has introduced a further 25 scholarships of £5000 for international students. For more info and to apply head here.

Sexual Assault and Harassment

Lastly, for the past year I’ve been working on harassment reporting and support for survivors. This has turned into a huge project with the University reviewing its reporting procedures, code of conduct and complaints procedures.

By the end of next term we should have an anonymous online reporting system in place, harassment advisors who’ve had rigorous training by Rape Crisis and improved guidance and disciplinary procedures. We’re also working with Accommodation on a crisis intervention for those living in halls of residence - such as a number you can text if you find yourself in a non-consensual experience, and an experienced and trained person on the other end of the phone.

As well as this we’re hoping to get funding to implement bystander workshops for students, which (fingers crossed we get the money) will be rolled out to all freshers’ from October!

  As always, feel free to get in touch with me at [email protected] if you have any questions, need help or want to get involved.

Hope ya’ll have a relaxing break! ❤️💜💚💛💙

Love, Scarlett

As many of you will hopefully be aware, for the past year your students’ union has been campaigning on mental health, and lobbying the university to invest more in their support services.

Last year we asked you about your experiences with mental health and had over 800 responses to our survey. Of those who filled it out, 92% said they’d experienced a period of poor mental health, yet only 19% of students felt the support UAL had given them was sufficient.

With this information we’ve been able to lobby the university to increase the budget for counselling by £250,000! Aka, a quarter of a million pounds- a huge investment into students’ mental health and a massive win for our campaign. 

This puts the student to staff ratio at 1:1187. To put this into context the recent Higher Education Policy Institute report recommends a ratio of 1:1358, but says the current average in universities is an appalling 1:5000. With this additional money UAL have doubled the amount of mental health advisors, hired two more full time counsellors and extended counselling hours to weekends and evenings.

Not only that but the university has also agreed to fund our Wellbeing Project, which will launch in January, giving the SU and additional £6000 to spend on mental health activities for the spring term. This will follow on from last year’s Wellbeing Week, and create a conversation about mental health at UAL, as well as equipping students’ with the skills to maintain their own mental wellbeing.

As part of this we will be running a series of events around mental wellbeing- including workshops, art therapy, discussions and yoga, and will be revisiting and reprinting the ever popular wellbeing zine. More than anything though I want students’ to make their own events and campaigns happen. We have a budget just for student projects on mental health and staff at the union who can support you in bringing your ideas to life. No matter how big or small your idea is, how many people you know or the contacts you may not have, we can help you. Get in touch with me at [email protected] and let me know your ideas.

We won’t be stopping there though, we need to make sure our counselling service continues to be well funded, and that the university looks at other ways to support students’ mental health. Using the data from the survey you filled out last year we’ve created a joint wellbeing action plan with the university to cover the next 5 years.

My next steps will be lobbying the university for mandatory mental health awareness training for staff, competent and specialist counselling for BME and LGBTQ students and deadline extensions for assessments.

I can’t believe the term is almost over already! Autumn term seems to have literally flown by. It doesn’t feel like too long ago that we were preparing for freshers’ and giving inductions. Looking back though tons has happened; from freshers’ fair to trans awareness week to presenting to UAL’s most senior management on our priorities (always a nerve wracking task).

Here’s some of my highlights, lowlights and achievements…

Thanks UAL Royals for letting me relive my old cheerleader days at freshers’ fair

For the past year I’ve been campaigning on mental health, and lobbying the university to invest more in their support services.

This year they’ve finally agreed to increase the budget for counselling by £250,000! Aka, a quarter of a million, aka our Vice Chancellor’s yearly salary ;) With this they’ve doubled the amount of mental health advisors, hired an additional two full time counsellors and extended access to weekends and evenings.

I won’t be stopping there though, we need to make sure our counselling service continues to be well funded, and that the university does more to support students’ mental health. Using the data from the survey 900 of you filled out last year we’ve got a joint wellbeing action plan with the university to cover the next 5 years.

Not only that but the university has also agreed to fund our Wellbeing Project which will launch in January. As part of this we’re running a series of events around mental wellbeing, and will be revisiting and reprinting the ever popular wellbeing zine. More than anything though I want students’ to make their own events and campaigns happen- we have a budget you can use and staff here to support you bring your ideas to life- so get in touch at [email protected].

Another highlight for me of this term was Transgender Awareness Week.

This year myself and Julius, your LGBTQ officer, organised six events to take place throughout the week, making this bigger and better than last year. From the wonderful Charlie Craggs behind Nail Transphobia painting nails at CSM, to yoga and sports classes for trans students, to a powerful and political panel discussion with trans artists I’m so proud that as a union we put liberation at the forefront of everything we do.

Charlie looking glam at her pop up nail salon at CSM

Another priority of mine is supporting survivors of sexual harassment and assault. At a university where there are 75% female students, who make up the majority of victims, this is an issue the university seriously need to address.

Back in September I presented to UAL’s senior management about sexual harassment, and UAL’s current policies and procedures- and how those do not support survivors. Despite staying up till 1.30am finishing off my presentation because that’s the kind of perfectionist I am, the presentation went really well and the SU and the university are now working together on this project. Changes should start happening from January including launching an online reporting system for all forms of harassment, trained harassment advisors, an awareness campaign and a website review- so that students aren’t just told to go to the police.

Not everything this term resulted in a win however, and it is important to say that we frequently have difficult, frustrating conversations with university management where they simply do not understand what it is like to be a student at UAL. The struggles, frustrations and difficulties that students face today. One of these conversations was around UALs halls of residence, and the lack of affordability.

At UAL only 23% of rooms in their halls of residence cost less than £8,000 a year (the medium amount of student loan). Out of the 13 halls of residences on offer, seven of those don’t have a single room which is under £8,000 a year. We don’t think this is fair, and we’ve continually put this viewpoint across to the university with little avail.

This week UAL halls came back to us about our affordable rent strategy and said there was nothing they can do to reduce costs. After several frustrating meetings about this issue I felt very defeated and we were all upset about this disappointing outcome.

We won’t give up though, because we know students can’t afford to. How much money you have shouldn’t stop students from coming to UAL. 

Look out for more details about our halls campaign in the new year. And join the march for affordable student housing on Dec 7th.

Finally, I’m currently working on lobbying for deadline extensions for students. 

UAL is one of the only universities that don’t offer extensions for extenuating circumstances. This means if you have an illness, accident or bereavement you have to decide whether to submit substandard work on time, or risk missing the deadline without knowing whether or not you’ll be capped at a D as a late penalty.

In order to lobby for this change, we need to hear about your experiences and how this may have impacted you. We’ve created a super short survey you can fill out here.

Have a wonderful Christmas break- and please use it to relax and take some well deserved time off.

Love,

Scarlett (yes that’s me rocking the Wednesday Addams look since day 1) Your Welfare Officer xoxo

Ps. See you at Gal Pals!!

Starting university for the first time you often picture this incredible, amazing experience. On TV, in films and in books university is depicted as being the best time of your life. A time for fun, making new friends, drinking, living alone for the first time and studying something you love.

So what happens if it’s not all you expect it to be? Or you don’t live in halls, or you commute, or don’t drink, or suffer from social anxiety, or the myriad of options that might make it more difficult for you to fully participate in university life.

This was the situation I found myself in four years ago when I started university for the first time. I couldn’t afford to live in halls of residence and found it really difficult to find anywhere to live in the London private rental market and ended up having to commute from Brighton for the first two weeks of my course. This meant I missed my freshers’ week, and when I did move to London a couple of weeks later I wasn’t able to find somewhere with other students. I felt incredibly isolated and lonely to begin with. I didn’t make many friends on my course as I’ve always been very shy and when I saw on Facebook all the fun my friends from home were having at universities across the country I felt even worse.

I won’t go into detail about my first year experience but I can say with some confidence that if it wasn’t for joining a sports team (shout out to Cheerleading) I wouldn’t have made it through the first year. Going to practice twice a week gave me purpose to leave the house and talk to other people. They also hosted weekly socials, which whilst they weren’t quite up my street, they were a good place to make friends.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, don’t worry if university isn’t quite what you expected it to be. Your first year might not be the most enjoyable, it certainly wasn’t for me, and you might not make friends right away. It’s OK if you feel like this, lots of people will feel this way too. University can often be a lonely, isolating and stressful time, which is so different to how you might have envisioned university life to be, but it’s important that it doesn’t always feel that way.

Here’s my tips for freshers’ who might be finding it a little harder to settle in.

Join Things!

There are over 60 societies and sports teams at UAL so you’re bound to find something you’re interested in, and it’s a great opportunity to meet likeminded people. I made my best friends at university by joining ArtsFems, UALs Feminist Society. I was really nervous when I went alone to my first ever meeting but everyone was really friendly and welcoming, and although I didn’t immediately bond or make friends with anyone I carried on attending meetings and events and volunteered to help out with things they were doing. This led to me becoming really involved in the society and making my best friends at university.

Keep in Contact

You’re not alone in feeling homesick, even if everyone seems like they’re having a great time. Call your family and friends and make plans in the future to visit so that you have something to look forward to. And if that isn’t possible because you’re a student from overseas, schedule skype or phone calls with friends and family, it’s so much more personal than just talking over Facebook or WhatsApp.

Get Involved

If you don’t see something for you, start something. The SU can help you create that space, put on that event or start a society. There are 20,000 students at UAL and I can promise you that you won’t be the only one who likes watching old French movies, board games or Dragonball Z.

Learn Self Care

At some point during your university life things will inevitably go wrong or get on top of you. It’s important to learn and practice how to look after your wellbeing early on. Self-care is simply caring for yourself in a healthy way, whether this is taking a bath, going for a run, reading a book or switching off social media, whatever works for you. Adopting self-care techniques is particularly valuable in maintaining mental wellbeing and managing existing mental health problems, and may also prevent problems from developing or getting worse. Find out more about self care and wellbeing in our zine, and pick up a physical copy in the SU office on your campus. There’s also a UAL self care group you can join.  

Learn how to budget

I know how difficult it can be to live in London as a student. Student finance barely covers your rent, let alone food and materials, and this can be a serious source of stress and anxiety for many students. But you don’t want to be in a situation where you’ve maxed out your overdraft within the first couple of months. Try to stick to a budget and anticipate your spending costs. UAL has a great list of resources on budgeting and finance available here http://www.arts.ac.uk/study-at-ual/student-fees--funding/living-costs-discounts-budgeting--debt-advice/ and if the worst does happen they have hardship funds available too.

Ask for Help

Today is Bi Visibility Day but you probably didn’t hear about it because bisexuals are rare, mythical creatures that don’t really exist, right? Like unicorns!

Although I like the comparison to a beautiful, mythical creature bisexuals do very much exist, and it’s extremely harmful to the bi community to be constantly erased and subjected to biphobic stereotypes.

Hands up if you’ve ever heard one of the following biphobic statements;

Why can’t you just choose? It’s probably just a phase Have you decided if you’re gay or not yet? Don’t you think you’re just being greedy? Who do you like more though, men or women? Isn’t everyone bisexual really? Bisexuals are so annoying- why can’t they just make up their minds? Can we have a threesome?

I’m guessing every bisexual person’s hand must be up by now because these are the kind of comments frequently thrown at bisexual people. Being attracted to more than one gender seems to leave a lot of people perplexed, both outside and within the LGBTQ+ community. In fact, many of the questions above are real questions lesbians and gay men have asked me. One of the difficult things about bisexuality is that we are often ostracized and erased by our own community, despite the fact we make up more than 50% of the LGBTQ+ community.

Bi-erasure and biphobia has a detrimental effect on our community as bisexual women are more likely to be depressed, more likely to be raped and abused by our partners and less likely to be able to find specialist support and resources. Bisexual women also face a disproportionate risk of domestic violence with 75% of bisexual women having had violent partners in comparison to 46% of lesbian women and 43% of straight women. And as demonstrated by how the media has treated Amber Heard, our sexuality is often used as a reason to excuse this abuse.

It’s frustrating that people believe bisexuals are only half as oppressed as others in the LGBTQ+ community, or that at least we are accepted by mainstream society when involved with members of the opposite sex. But partial acceptance is not really acceptance at all, and the effect of dating someone of the opposite sex can feel as if your identity is being erased as people automatically assume you’re straight, because heteronormativity, am I right? I started dating a man after two consecutive relationships with women and felt as if my entire identity was being erased. I didn’t feel comfortable in queer spaces anymore and every time I uttered the words ‘boyfriend’ I felt as if I was betraying a sense of myself. Whilst it was easier to exist in public as a couple, internally I felt a lot of turmoil.

There’s also the hypersexual stereotype of bisexuality, usually directed at bisexual women, as we are seen as more sexual, promiscuous and greedy. This often prompts straight men to ask whether we’re up for a threesome (this used to happen a lot when I had femme partners), and many to believe women are only doing it for male attention. Surprisingly no, bisexual women do not exist for male consumption.

When it comes to bisexual men, people don’t seem to acknowledge they exist at all. Bisexual men are routinely erased and denied out of existence and frequently assumed to be gay and ‘unable to come out of the closet’, rather than bisexual. Many of the stereotypes of bisexuality threaten dominant perceptions of masculinity, making it even more difficult for people to accept. But it’s not just gender; your race, religion, disability or gender identity can all make it more difficult for people to accept and believe your sexuality.

Another misconception people have around bisexuality is that it means you are equally attracted to men and women. Personally I am not equally attracted to men and women. I like all genders, not equally, not to the same degree and not all the time, and that still makes me bi.

“I call myself bisexual because I acknowledge that I have in myself the potential to be attracted- romantically and/or sexually- to people of more than one sex, and/or gender, not necessarily at the same time, not necessarily in the same way, and not necessarily to the same degree” – Robyn Ochs

This quote by the bisexual writer and activist Robyn Ochs really helped me to come to terms with this as it takes into account that you can be attracted to people in different ways. It also challenges the assumption that bisexuality is gender binary, highlighting that bisexual desire can work towards any number of genders beyond male and female. It can be frustrating that people assume bisexuality is inherently binary but bisexual can mean many things and is an umbrella term for anyone who isn’t attracted to one specific group. This can include pansexuality, polysexuality and queer, a nonspecific identity that describes anyone diverging from heterosexuality.

With the issues affecting our community we can’t afford to be a silent majority anymore. We need to speak up and say that bisexuality does exist. So on this Bi Visibility Day and every day after I urge you to be visible, be proud and know that your identity is real and it’s valid.

Extenuating Circumstances (ECs) are defined as circumstances which are unexpected, significantly disruptive and beyond your control. This in turn effects your ability to perform your best, or meet a deadline, allowing you to submit an ECs claim which will take into account these circumstances. 

This is a time when additional stress is least needed and this year I’ve been working hard to ensure the university’s extenuating circumstances process is as robust, easy and accessible to students as possible. From 2016/17 there will be a brand new ECs form which is simplified, easier to understand and has more flexibility over the evidence required.

Back in September you might remember I got the university to explicitly state mental health on ECs as an acceptable reason. The original wording of the form made it seem like students’ suffering with mental health issues would be unable to claim ECs for this reason, which we know makes up a huge majority of students’.

As well as this we wrote a paper specifically on extenuating circumstances, and gave this to the university way back in November. It was finally agreed last week at a high level university committee that our proposed changes would be added to the ECs process! YAY! And there’s a brand new form (below) which is much easier to understand.

This is a huge win for the students’ union, although it’s taken some time to get to this point the perseverance and hard work has finally paid off with amazing results.

Starting from 2016/17…

You will no longer have to supply a police report under grounds of sexual assault, trauma or serious crime. 

This is absolutely amazing news for student survivors. The current EC guidance states that the only evidence which will be considered in support of a claim relating to serious crime (e.g. rape, assault, mugging) is evidence from the Police or another investigating authority.

Recent media attention has been drawn to how university’s deal with reports of sexual assault, with one in three UK female students alleging to have been sexually assaulted or abused on campus. However, only 15% of those (male or female) choose to report this to the police. The reasons for this are widespread, and if you’d like to know more about Stand By Me, an NUS Campaign to support student survivors which SUARTS is part of, you can read more here.

Students’ can now supply evidence from a medical practitioner (i.e. GP) or the university’s counselling and health advice team, instead of a police report.

Category B: Reasons that may be acceptable is to be removed, with these reasons becoming part of the ‘acceptable’ category.

By removing this category the form appears much simpler and easier to understand. It was recognised that this category can be confusing and add additional stress as students’ will be uncertain as to whether their ECs will be accepted. As long as you have the supporting evidence outlined then your ECs will be accepted for all of these reasons.

The University’s Counselling service can now be used as primary evidence for your EC claim.

If you’re already seeing a counsellor at UAL, why should you have to take the additional step of going to your GP just to get a letter for your ECs application? 

We recommended that the university’s counselling team should be able to submit evidence for students’ they are seeing, and this will now be accepted for claims relating to serious medical condition, bereavement, some forms of trauma and unexpected caring responsibilities.

Starting Now...

Students can submit their ECs form via email

This sounds like such a no brainer but believe it or not when I submitted my ECs last year I had to travel an hour to my university campus, when I was dealing with severe anxiety and depression, just to hand deliver my form. The relevant email addresses have now been added to the EC forms and guidance so they are easy to find.

EC Deadlines

In the past ECs had a deadline of ‘within two weeks of your circumstance commencing’. We said this deadline was unrealistic, and could put students’ off submitting because they weren’t within the timeframe. 

The guidance has now been updated to state claims should ‘ideally’ be submitted within two weeks of the circumstance commencing, however the only deadline is within 1 week of the exam board meeting. By removing this strict deadline this should relieve stress for students’, as we know it takes 10+ days just to get a doctors’ appointment sometimes. Dates of the exam board will be published on moodle, please let us know if you have any problems finding these. 

Free Medical Letters for ECs evidence

Some GPs have been known to charge up to £40 for a medical letter, not ideal when you’re a struggling student. The university has a partnership with Holborn Medical Centre, who offer UAL students (in any borough) free medical certificates. This information has been added to the ECs guidance and form so students’ are aware.

You are also able to claim back the money of a doctors letter by contacting UAL’s student advice service http://www.arts.ac.uk/study-at-ual/student-services/student-advice-service/

Factsheet for Medical Practitioners

Frequently we hear reports that students’ have gone to their GP, paid for a letter, and this has still been rejected by the university. A factsheet has been put together for students to take with them when requesting a doctors note from their GP, so they know exactly what they need to include, and this is now available on the ECs webpage.

Don’t forget if you’re ever in any doubt about the regulations of ECs or how to submit, please contact the SUs advice service who offer free, confidential and impartial advice, in person, on the phone or via email.

A lot of people don’t understand how hard this job can be sometimes, and the emotional labour that goes into a lot of the work which we do.

This morning I had a meeting about the mental wellbeing report we’ve produced, where the university were meant to be responding to students’ feedback given from our survey. During the meeting it felt as if they completely dismissed the entire report, despite the fact that 863 students filled in our survey. Not only that, but they diminished what I told them was my experience, and the things many, many students have emailed and told me about. I felt attacked and belittled for merely presenting what were the facts.

In the survey which we conducted last term we found that 92% of respondents had experienced a period of poor mental health. This shows that mental health difficulties are commonplace at UAL, something which the university knows anyway as nationally UAL has the second highest disclosure rate for mental health. We also found that the majority of students had only received two counselling sessions. Furthermore, only 19% of students felt that the support they’d been offered was sufficient. The university completely overlooked this during the meeting, and kept insisting that the number of sessions a student receives is mutually agreed by themselves and their counsellor. However, this is at complete odds with what students are telling us, and my experience as a student.

When I was a student I used the counselling service, and was offered three sessions maximum. This was certainly not mutually agreed between myself and the counsellor as I desperately needed help. When I asked if there was any way I could have more sessions I was told to go private, as I’d be waiting on the NHS for a very long time, and to ask my parents to pay- which was simply not an option for me being from a low income background. I left feeling even worse, thinking ‘If you don’t have money no one cares whether you live or die’. I wanted to die, and there was no where I could turn to for help.

We know that the current model the university is providing is not working. The university’s support services are failing students. Students are not able to access a sufficient amount of sessions, or appropriate treatment.  Despite the fact all counsellors are trained in CBT the vast majority of students had not been offered CBT, with only 8% of students being offered this service, and 50% who sought this support.

Yes they’ve put in place more counsellors in order to help meet demand but it’s still not good enough. Every time I meet with the counselling service I leave feeling upset.  They don’t seem to listen to students, facts or evidence. 

I left the meeting in floods of tears, and went to cry in the toilets where I’ve cried in private many times since being an officer. I felt my breathing become ragged as I  began to hyperventilate, and my arms become numb as the onslaught of a panic attack took hold of me. 

I managed to pull myself back together, and walked went back into the meeting to make sure that I was able to have the last word, even if I left feeling sad, frustrated and attacked. 

I still feel embarrassed about crying in front of people who I work with, but actually I’m not really here to be a professional. I’m allowed to be a real person and be angry and upset, and I do feel that in a way it’s good for them to see the effect their decisions have on students. This is the reality of the support you’re giving students, and if you don’t like it then listen to what students are saying and make change happen faster.

I know that if I’m re-elected I will be able to make these changes happen, because they have to happen. I will be focusing solely on my re-election campaign this week but after that, it’s time to get organised and re-think tactics ;)

I don’t suspect anyone reads these reports but it’s a nice chance of me to reflect on what I’ve achieved, and what work still needs to be done to improve the lives of students at UAL. Being an officer can be incredibly frustrating sometimes, particularly at UAL, as change often seems to happen so slowly and I feel as if I am constantly chasing people up on issues. The important thing though is to not let it get you down. As evidenced from some of our amazing successes this year, change can happen if you fight for it. 

Manifesto/Priority Areas 2015-16

Big wins this term have been:

- Gender neutral toilets!

Gender neutral toilets on all campuses have been agreed by UAL. The signs will be up shortly and I have asked the estates staff to liaise with myself and the trans rep of LGBTQ society as to where these signs should go. These should not be on the doors of any disabled toilets so if you see this happening, please let me know.

- Halls rent freeze 2016/17!

Myself and Ana had a meeting with the head of accommodation at UAL where we discussed the affordability strategy that we presented. We presented an argument for a number of beds to be subsidised at an affordable rent for students from low income backgrounds. Whilst this hasn’t been agreed, they have agreed to a rent freeze across all UAL halls for 16/17, and will give us their long term strategy for affordable halls of residence at our next meeting.

- Halls welfare!

Halls are also currently recruiting a member of staff available 24/7 for students in halls experiencing urgent issues out of hours. This person will be available to call, email or text, and will have a car so they are able to come in person to any hall within an hour. 

- Mental Wellbeing Week!

UAL gave us full funding for our mental wellbeing week. We were able to put on a week long series of events, and print 1000 copies of the wellbeing zine with this money. As well as this we have money to do more events throughout the term, and an exhibition of student artwork which will launch on university mental health day in March.

Have you seen the SUARTS Mental Wellbeing Zine?

As part of my work on mental wellbeing I’ve put together this handy little zine full of resources for you ♥

This includes wellbeing tips, myths around mental health, self-care and where to go for support both within the university, and low-cost therapists, charity organisations and other places you can get support from. Don’t worry if you missed out on wellbeing week as we’ll be doing lots more throughout the year to help support students’ wellbeing, and foster a supportive and pro-active approach to mental wellbeing.

I’m often asked by students, what does the students’ union even do? The students’ union exists to represent you, to defend and extent students’ rights, and represent your concerns to the people at the top. 

This year your officers have been fighting for longer opening hours across all the colleges, a 24hour library, work to tackle the cost of study and financial burden placed on students, more support for mental wellbeing and tackling the attainment gap for black students’.

You’ve probably heard the news that our lobbying and petition for a 24hour library has worked! CSM is to have a 24hour library (Monday-Thursday) and opening hours are to be extended across every college. But you probably haven’t seen the other successes we’ve had this term. For instance, the university has agreed to put in place an additional mental health advisor to support students’ mental wellbeing, and made changes to it’s extenuating circumstances policy, so that mental health is included. We’ve also successfully campaigned for the university to divest from fossil fuels, to implement gender neutral toilets, and supply us with extra funding to celebrate the achievements of black students by running a Black History Festival, which is to continue into the new year.

This gives you a brief insight into what your Student Union Officers do, but as it’s the end of term and the end of the year I thought it’d be a good opportunity to round up what I’ve been working on this year so I can be as transparent as possible about my work. At most Students’ Unions, Officers are held to account at their Student Councils. This is the first year that SUARTS has had a union council, and I thought it’d be beneficial for everyone, not just those on council, to read my report and be kept up to date on my work. As Welfare Officer my job is to represent you on issues related to wellbeing, support, housing and equal opportunities.

Here’s my report from our first ever student council!