Hello everyone – February has proved to be a busy and winning month! There have been some fantastic achievements by members and WMANUS Officers…please read to find out more...
The first week of February was riddled with snow a number of planned meetings and training sessions were cancelled due to campus’ being inhabitable and shut.
On the 4th February I worked with the officers and staff team at Sutton Coldfield College. I delivered a great training session to both officers and students around a number of areas – officer and staff roles, campaigning and lobbying. Sutton Coldfield College is merging with Matthew Boulton College September 2009 – which will give the combined college over £30, 000 students. The current officer team are keen to have representation for all students across all of their sites, spreading across the whole of Birmingham. The officers are now planning for September 2009 and are looking at reviewing their structures to fit the new college. They are keen to represent all students regardless of campus, course or background.
I made my second visit to RNCB Hereford (Royal National College for the Blind) in early February; the college are looking at their structures and want to engage a larger number of students. They are now working on an action plan to begin reviewing their current constitution after the Easter holidays and have a new one in place by September 2009. RNCB Hereford raised money for Children in Need and is now planning for Comic Relief in March.
In last months blog I wrote about FE Sexual Health Campaigns at Walsall and Newcastle-under-Lyme Colleges, in collaboration with the sexual health charity Brook in Birmingham. I am pleased to say on the 09th February Walsall College hosted its first Union led Sexual Health Campaign “S.A.S Sex & Students”. The picked an ideal spot in the College (St. Pauls Campus) reception where they were visible to students and staff and able to “guide” students towards the stool. The offices and students had written a petition which they are going to use to Lobby their corporation, principle, primary care trust and MP’s requesting better sexual health facilities in Walsall College and the Walsall Community. The officer and students did a fantastic job and got over 280 signatures in support of the petition. Brook in Birmingham sent two representatives who assisted with the event had had their own stall – between them they gave out over 500 lubrication sachets/condoms and information leaflets also a small number of home Chlamydia testing kits. Brook was surprised by the uptake and interest of students and they ran out of condoms an hour before the event was due to finish. Walsall College held and equally successful S.A.S event at their Shelly Campus on the 10th February with equal success.
The first week of February was riddled with snow a number of planned meetings and training sessions were cancelled due to campus’ being inhabitable and shut.
On the 4th February I worked with the officers and staff team at Sutton Coldfield College. I delivered a great training session to both officers and students around a number of areas – officer and staff roles, campaigning and lobbying. Sutton Coldfield College is merging with Matthew Boulton College September 2009 – which will give the combined college over £30, 000 students. The current officer team are keen to have representation for all students across all of their sites, spreading across the whole of Birmingham. The officers are now planning for September 2009 and are looking at reviewing their structures to fit the new college. They are keen to represent all students regardless of campus, course or background.
I made my second visit to RNCB Hereford (Royal National College for the Blind) in early February; the college are looking at their structures and want to engage a larger number of students. They are now working on an action plan to begin reviewing their current constitution after the Easter holidays and have a new one in place by September 2009. RNCB Hereford raised money for Children in Need and is now planning for Comic Relief in March.
In last months blog I wrote about FE Sexual Health Campaigns at Walsall and Newcastle-under-Lyme Colleges, in collaboration with the sexual health charity Brook in Birmingham. I am pleased to say on the 09th February Walsall College hosted its first Union led Sexual Health Campaign “S.A.S Sex & Students”. The picked an ideal spot in the College (St. Pauls Campus) reception where they were visible to students and staff and able to “guide” students towards the stool. The offices and students had written a petition which they are going to use to Lobby their corporation, principle, primary care trust and MP’s requesting better sexual health facilities in Walsall College and the Walsall Community. The officer and students did a fantastic job and got over 280 signatures in support of the petition. Brook in Birmingham sent two representatives who assisted with the event had had their own stall – between them they gave out over 500 lubrication sachets/condoms and information leaflets also a small number of home Chlamydia testing kits. Brook was surprised by the uptake and interest of students and they ran out of condoms an hour before the event was due to finish. Walsall College held and equally successful S.A.S event at their Shelly Campus on the 10th February with equal success.
Newcastle-under-Lyme College held their Sexual Health Campaign on the 12th February – I have had a detailed update from the officer team and the event was a huge success. Their event had more of a valentines twist than the event at Walsall College, Brook representatives were also present and helped with the day. Officers sold roses and the proceeds were donated to The British Heart Foundation, they also made and gave out Valentines goodie bags and condoms. They report the event was busy all day and the student radio hosted a special sexual health radio show with information about sexual health and a ‘dedicate a love song’. A love note wall was put up for students to leave messages for their loved ones.
Both colleges are currently evaluating the campaign days, the next stage will be to review the evaluations and decide if the campaign was successful enough to run in all WMANUS colleges. If you would like any information about the campaign or would like to run it in your union then please contact me – wmanus@hotmail.co.uk or 07837-059-588.
It was the third time lucky for out WMANUS and Newman catch up meeting on the 13th February (damn snow!). It was fantastic to finally catch up with Pete and Cath and of course to discuss future WMANUS-Newman action. Newman had a busy term before Christmas – comic relief, the continued UCU/UCA Pay Dispute, Holocaust Memorial Day and HEFCE’s changes in re-sit costs. We spent some time discussing Staff-Student Protocol – Newman Students Union are in the process of writing a protocol to implement by September 2009, Staffordshire University Students’ Union has already kindly passed on a copy of theirs – if anyone one else would like to help please email me: wmanus@hotmail.co.uk.
The Great Higher Education Funding Lobby on the 18th March is on the end of everyone’s tongues at the moment, and so it should be! Newman will be sending a number of delegates to the event – would you like to? WMANUS is putting on a free coach for members! 35 seats have been taken already so if you would like to reserve some spaces then please contact me ASAP: 07837-059-588 or mailto:%20wmanus@hotmail.co.uk.
The lobby such an important event, David Blunkett, Jon Cruddas and Paul Farrelly have already been confirmed and this influencing opportunity is one not to be missed! You can find all the information you need about the event, lobbying pack and agenda on officeronline: http://www.officeronline.co.uk/nationalcampaigns/articles/276120.aspx
WMANUS had its first Exec meeting of 2009 on the 16th February, here is a brief overview of each officer’s activity:
James Hilsdon WMANUS LGBT Officer:
- Charlie Cosham who was job sharing the role of LGBT Officer with James has stood down, however James is happy to continue and take the role on board himself.
- Walsall College are organising a FE LGBT Liberation Workshop which James is going to deliver.
- James is contacting all FE members to arrange Liberation Workshops.
- Warwick and Coventry Universities ran a collaborative LGBTQ History Month campaign, this included: film screenings, sit in’s, debates, guest speakers and the Terrence Higgins Trust.
- James will be contacting all members to discuss LGBT Conference and check everyone has registered delegates.
- Unite – LGBT & Union collaborative campaigns for working students, this is an area James is looking into.
If you would like to contact James regarding the LGBT campaign then please email him: j.r.hilsdon@warwick.ac.uk
Sanjay Singh BEM Officer:
Sanjay co-opted into the role of BEM Officer at the WMANUS Winter Conference in December, he is new to the role but has lots of fantastic ideas:
- Working with schools in the West Midlands to encourage young people from low social and economical backgrounds to enter higher education. He is keen to use the election of Barak Obama as an example that anyone can achieve anything. Sanjay will be contacting members to discuss ideas and find out what you already have in place.
- Work with members BEM officer to set up a network.
- Sanjay will also be the WMANUS delegate for the Black Students Conference later on in the year.
If you would like to contact Sanjay regarding the BEM campaign then please email him: sanjaykumarsingh86@gmail.com
Hollie Jones Womens Officer:
- Students Parents Launch – Hollie attended the event and will be making efforts to work with members around student parents.
- To work in collaboration with Mature Students Officer Kate Lawrence around Student Parents.
- Re-claim the Night North – made efforts to organise a coach for members, very little response from members despite the coach being free.
- Hollie is going as the Womens Delegate for Birmingham Guild of Students to the Womens Conference next month.
If you would like to contact Hollie regarding the Womens campaign then please email her: h.jones@guild.bham.ac.uk
Kate Lawrence Mature Students Officer:
Kate co-opted into the role of Mature Students Officer at the WMANUS Winter Conference in December, and she is getting really stuck into her role already:
- Kate has a number of concerns over the definition of “mature” students? She has a great deal of evidence from a number of different definitions from Universities, Students Unions, LEA’s and student support services.
- A letter has been drafted to go out to all WMANUS members to consult unions and mature students over this problem.
- Chris Milne, WMANUS Non-Port Officer, will be working with Kate on this campaign.
- Kate and WMANUS Convenor are in the process of contacting NUS for support and guidance on this issue,
- Kate will be working in collaboration with Hollie Jones, WMANUS Womens Officer on Student Parenting.
- She will be the WMANUS Delegate for Mature Students Conference later on in the year.
Does anyone have any policy? Definitions Union/University of “mature student”? Any contributions will really assist WMANUS with this campaign.
If you would like to contact Kate regarding the Mature Students campaign then please email her: u7n57@students.keele.ac.uk
On the 26th February I attended the NUS Welfare Network day in Coventry – this event addressed some important issues facing students, many of which are going to be raised at Annual Conference in April (not long now!).
I attended a work shop around Religion on Campus ran by Chris Brill from the Equality Challenge Unit (http://www.ecu.ac.uk/) – the ECU supports the Higher Education sector with its mission to realise the potential of all students and staff regardless of their race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion and belief or age.
I gained a great deal from this session – did you know there were over 170 distinct religions and there is currently no distinct legal regulations for Higher Education Intuitions to monitor religion on their campuses? Chris spent some time talking of how to engage student of religion and a number of West Midlands delegates gave good examples of how they /could engage on their campuses:
Ralph Hayward from Staffordshire University Students Union stated that is was very rare of students coming to the advice centre for anything other than practical advice or Haram of university fees. Staffordshire University also have a number of diversity working groups which included religion on campus.
The ECU is making speedy progress in this area they have met the following organisations to discuss religion on campus:
- DIUS and NUS to assess extremism on campus
- Held a religion and belief meeting with stakeholders
- Met with Equality and Diversity Practitioners
- NUS
- AMOSSHE
- Faith Organisations
- Student Faith Organisations
From these discussions the ECU have identified 3 key areas: dress, institutional timetabling and contractual hours, and facilities and services. There research found students unions do not accommodate a number of religions during welcome/fresher week programmes and Gregorian calendars are not suitable for students of Jewish and Muslim faiths. Prayer facilities and accommodation were at the top of facilities and services lists grievances from students – in some institutions prayer rooms are used as exam locations and are out of service for weeks at a time during exam periods, and mixed halls of residence proved problematic for a number of religious groups. Dress – this issue has featured in the media on a number of occasions in recent years, particularly over female Muslim students wearing burqa on campus in relation to security and also Health and Safety issues for Muslim students on health placements. FE colleges face number of issues around common room security - “No hoodies” rules have caused some problems with students feeling unhappy that hijabs and burqas are allowed but hoods and hats are not.
So, how does your Union and University cater for students of faith? Are your welcome weeks suitable for all? Does your University offer enough Kosher and halal food options in its catered halls? If you would like a copy of the ECU presentation or would like to discuss religion on campus further please contact me: wmanus@hotmail.co.uk
I am going to be meeting with Sanjay, WMANUS BEM Officer, to discuss religion on campus - lots of little things can make your campus more accessible for students of religion.
Ed Marsh, NEC Block of 12, referred to the after lunch plenary as “the graveyard shift”, sometimes this is the case; however the debate focused on a very hot topic – Students & Alcohol. The panel consisted of Graham Wood, Commercial Operations Manger Sheffield University Students Union, Damien Gallen, assistant to MP Sally Keebs, Paul Smith, Executive Director of NOCTIS and Ama Uzowuru, NUS Welfare. There was much agreement on the panel:
100% support of responsible drinking across student movement both commercial and representative.
Students should not be blamed and used as scape-goats for anti-social behaviour and irresponsible dirking when it is a national issue.
Drink related anti-social behaviour is having a massive impact on communities.
Student Union venues are safer environments for alcohol consumption than high street competition.
The Government needs to adopt a mandatory alcohol pricing index for supermarkets.
Three things need to change: 1. Perception of students and alcohol
2. Retailers must be responsible for sale prices
3. Students’ Unions must have alcohol debate
There were also a number of disagreements on the panel and amongst the floor:
Initiation Ceremonies – will they ever stop? Are we driving them underground by introducing policies? Its not just sports teams who have “drinking problems” – it’s an issue for a wide range of students outside sports team culture.
Students Unions depend on commercial funds to operate – should students unions move away from commercial funding? Universities should increase block grants? Aren’t Student Unions supposed to be about representation not drinking?
Pricing in Union bars – can we out price supermarkets? Is it ethical for Students Unions to sell drinks as low a £1 a pint? Students Unions don’t offer enough non-alcoholic alternatives – how can NUSSL influence and change this?
Have students called for action around responsible drinking? Is this Government led? What do students want – cheap beer vs. responsibility? What role does alcohol play in the 2009 student experience?
What’s the opinion of your Union? What do your students think about responsible drinking? What is your relationship like with your community and local business’ when it comes to drink related anti-social behaviour? Have your sports teams driven initiations underground? – These are the questions you need to find the answers to – WMANUS is keen to work closely with members around this issue. If you would to discuss this area further or would like some assistance with an alcohol debate then please contact me: wmanus@hotmail.co.uk
The Sexual Health and Students Unions session was delivered by Rowan Harvey from the Terrence Higgins Trust. Before I go into more detail here are some interesting yet scary facts about the West Midlands: Between 2003 and 2007 number of new diagnoses of:
- syphilis rose 226%
- herpes rose 17%
- genital Warts rose 15%
- chlamydia rose 14%
- gonorrhoea rose 36%
Now you have either had a turn in your stomach or are thinking what your Union can do about Sexual Health provisions in your institutions and local community – below is a list of things you can do to improve provisions:
open dialogue with LA’s/Councillors and Primary Care Trust Chief Executives
Involve your MP, AM and MSP
Survey your members and involve this in your campaigns
Engage with patient involvement and mechanisms
The Terrence Higgins Trust is also willing to come onto your campus and assist with awareness days – for more information visit http://www.tht.org.uk/contactus/
Higher Education Funding – Staffordshire University Students Union Billion Pound Debt Website:
Staffordshire University Students Union has really excelled with Broke&Broken, President Fiona Wood explains:
“The website has been commissioned by us to one of our own graduates (Rich Bishop) and is designed to show a cumulative debt figure across the national student community in real time. As each student signs up and adds their debt, the figure automatically increases, giving anyone looking at the website a snap-shot of the national situation regarding student debt. Interest is also added with the figure constantly updating as interest is calculated. Students can add their debt via the website or via a facebook application, adding a face to their debt giving the campaign a visual human element. The aim is to see how long it takes for the national figure to reach...and more than likely exceed...£1bn! This should only take around 40,000 students based on the average student debt of £20k”
Visit the website – http://www.brokebroken.co.uk/ / http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=71662821192&ref=mf get your students involved and let’s see if the West Midlands can help rack up the debt and hit the £1 billion pound target!
Elections – good luck to all candidates and I look forward to meeting the new Executive’s over the coming months! In the meantime if there is anything WMANUS can do to help then please let me know – wmanus@hotmail.co.uk
WMANUS Spring Conference – provisional date is TUESDAY 5TH MAY, conference call will be out in the next few weeks, time and place to be confirmed.
What’s coming up in March?
Womens Conference 3rd – 5th March – Hollie Jones and I will be attending and a full report will feature in next months blog!
Varsity Staffordshire VS Keele 11th March – the clash of the titans will be hosted by Staffordshire this year but who will win?
Great Higher Education Funding Lobby 18th March – get registered, get there and make a difference! (Please contact me about travel ASAP) http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=xbKw4_2b2jqHnpgw1cY8_2fW0Q_3d_3d
NUS & UK Borders Agency International Students and Immigration Thursday 19th March – Birmingham http://www.officeronline.co.uk/events/nationalevents/276152.aspx
Annual Conference 31st March – 02 April Blackpool – get registered, contact me for coach details and make a difference.
Conference documents, including candidate manifestos can all be found here: http://www.officeronline.co.uk/events/nationalevents/275868.aspx
Well there we are, another month in the life of the WMANUS Convenor. Next months blog will also contain mini reports from Exec members so you can get a full picture of WMANUS outcomes! If you have any questions or would like to discuss anything in this blog then please, please contact me wmanus@hotmail.co.uk / 07837-059-588.Sophie KettellWMANUS Convenor 08-09
Both colleges are currently evaluating the campaign days, the next stage will be to review the evaluations and decide if the campaign was successful enough to run in all WMANUS colleges. If you would like any information about the campaign or would like to run it in your union then please contact me – wmanus@hotmail.co.uk or 07837-059-588.
It was the third time lucky for out WMANUS and Newman catch up meeting on the 13th February (damn snow!). It was fantastic to finally catch up with Pete and Cath and of course to discuss future WMANUS-Newman action. Newman had a busy term before Christmas – comic relief, the continued UCU/UCA Pay Dispute, Holocaust Memorial Day and HEFCE’s changes in re-sit costs. We spent some time discussing Staff-Student Protocol – Newman Students Union are in the process of writing a protocol to implement by September 2009, Staffordshire University Students’ Union has already kindly passed on a copy of theirs – if anyone one else would like to help please email me: wmanus@hotmail.co.uk.
The Great Higher Education Funding Lobby on the 18th March is on the end of everyone’s tongues at the moment, and so it should be! Newman will be sending a number of delegates to the event – would you like to? WMANUS is putting on a free coach for members! 35 seats have been taken already so if you would like to reserve some spaces then please contact me ASAP: 07837-059-588 or mailto:%20wmanus@hotmail.co.uk.
The lobby such an important event, David Blunkett, Jon Cruddas and Paul Farrelly have already been confirmed and this influencing opportunity is one not to be missed! You can find all the information you need about the event, lobbying pack and agenda on officeronline: http://www.officeronline.co.uk/nationalcampaigns/articles/276120.aspx
WMANUS had its first Exec meeting of 2009 on the 16th February, here is a brief overview of each officer’s activity:
James Hilsdon WMANUS LGBT Officer:
- Charlie Cosham who was job sharing the role of LGBT Officer with James has stood down, however James is happy to continue and take the role on board himself.
- Walsall College are organising a FE LGBT Liberation Workshop which James is going to deliver.
- James is contacting all FE members to arrange Liberation Workshops.
- Warwick and Coventry Universities ran a collaborative LGBTQ History Month campaign, this included: film screenings, sit in’s, debates, guest speakers and the Terrence Higgins Trust.
- James will be contacting all members to discuss LGBT Conference and check everyone has registered delegates.
- Unite – LGBT & Union collaborative campaigns for working students, this is an area James is looking into.
If you would like to contact James regarding the LGBT campaign then please email him: j.r.hilsdon@warwick.ac.uk
Sanjay Singh BEM Officer:
Sanjay co-opted into the role of BEM Officer at the WMANUS Winter Conference in December, he is new to the role but has lots of fantastic ideas:
- Working with schools in the West Midlands to encourage young people from low social and economical backgrounds to enter higher education. He is keen to use the election of Barak Obama as an example that anyone can achieve anything. Sanjay will be contacting members to discuss ideas and find out what you already have in place.
- Work with members BEM officer to set up a network.
- Sanjay will also be the WMANUS delegate for the Black Students Conference later on in the year.
If you would like to contact Sanjay regarding the BEM campaign then please email him: sanjaykumarsingh86@gmail.com
Hollie Jones Womens Officer:
- Students Parents Launch – Hollie attended the event and will be making efforts to work with members around student parents.
- To work in collaboration with Mature Students Officer Kate Lawrence around Student Parents.
- Re-claim the Night North – made efforts to organise a coach for members, very little response from members despite the coach being free.
- Hollie is going as the Womens Delegate for Birmingham Guild of Students to the Womens Conference next month.
If you would like to contact Hollie regarding the Womens campaign then please email her: h.jones@guild.bham.ac.uk
Kate Lawrence Mature Students Officer:
Kate co-opted into the role of Mature Students Officer at the WMANUS Winter Conference in December, and she is getting really stuck into her role already:
- Kate has a number of concerns over the definition of “mature” students? She has a great deal of evidence from a number of different definitions from Universities, Students Unions, LEA’s and student support services.
- A letter has been drafted to go out to all WMANUS members to consult unions and mature students over this problem.
- Chris Milne, WMANUS Non-Port Officer, will be working with Kate on this campaign.
- Kate and WMANUS Convenor are in the process of contacting NUS for support and guidance on this issue,
- Kate will be working in collaboration with Hollie Jones, WMANUS Womens Officer on Student Parenting.
- She will be the WMANUS Delegate for Mature Students Conference later on in the year.
Does anyone have any policy? Definitions Union/University of “mature student”? Any contributions will really assist WMANUS with this campaign.
If you would like to contact Kate regarding the Mature Students campaign then please email her: u7n57@students.keele.ac.uk
On the 26th February I attended the NUS Welfare Network day in Coventry – this event addressed some important issues facing students, many of which are going to be raised at Annual Conference in April (not long now!).
I attended a work shop around Religion on Campus ran by Chris Brill from the Equality Challenge Unit (http://www.ecu.ac.uk/) – the ECU supports the Higher Education sector with its mission to realise the potential of all students and staff regardless of their race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion and belief or age.
I gained a great deal from this session – did you know there were over 170 distinct religions and there is currently no distinct legal regulations for Higher Education Intuitions to monitor religion on their campuses? Chris spent some time talking of how to engage student of religion and a number of West Midlands delegates gave good examples of how they /could engage on their campuses:
Ralph Hayward from Staffordshire University Students Union stated that is was very rare of students coming to the advice centre for anything other than practical advice or Haram of university fees. Staffordshire University also have a number of diversity working groups which included religion on campus.
The ECU is making speedy progress in this area they have met the following organisations to discuss religion on campus:
- DIUS and NUS to assess extremism on campus
- Held a religion and belief meeting with stakeholders
- Met with Equality and Diversity Practitioners
- NUS
- AMOSSHE
- Faith Organisations
- Student Faith Organisations
From these discussions the ECU have identified 3 key areas: dress, institutional timetabling and contractual hours, and facilities and services. There research found students unions do not accommodate a number of religions during welcome/fresher week programmes and Gregorian calendars are not suitable for students of Jewish and Muslim faiths. Prayer facilities and accommodation were at the top of facilities and services lists grievances from students – in some institutions prayer rooms are used as exam locations and are out of service for weeks at a time during exam periods, and mixed halls of residence proved problematic for a number of religious groups. Dress – this issue has featured in the media on a number of occasions in recent years, particularly over female Muslim students wearing burqa on campus in relation to security and also Health and Safety issues for Muslim students on health placements. FE colleges face number of issues around common room security - “No hoodies” rules have caused some problems with students feeling unhappy that hijabs and burqas are allowed but hoods and hats are not.
So, how does your Union and University cater for students of faith? Are your welcome weeks suitable for all? Does your University offer enough Kosher and halal food options in its catered halls? If you would like a copy of the ECU presentation or would like to discuss religion on campus further please contact me: wmanus@hotmail.co.uk
I am going to be meeting with Sanjay, WMANUS BEM Officer, to discuss religion on campus - lots of little things can make your campus more accessible for students of religion.
Ed Marsh, NEC Block of 12, referred to the after lunch plenary as “the graveyard shift”, sometimes this is the case; however the debate focused on a very hot topic – Students & Alcohol. The panel consisted of Graham Wood, Commercial Operations Manger Sheffield University Students Union, Damien Gallen, assistant to MP Sally Keebs, Paul Smith, Executive Director of NOCTIS and Ama Uzowuru, NUS Welfare. There was much agreement on the panel:
100% support of responsible drinking across student movement both commercial and representative.
Students should not be blamed and used as scape-goats for anti-social behaviour and irresponsible dirking when it is a national issue.
Drink related anti-social behaviour is having a massive impact on communities.
Student Union venues are safer environments for alcohol consumption than high street competition.
The Government needs to adopt a mandatory alcohol pricing index for supermarkets.
Three things need to change: 1. Perception of students and alcohol
2. Retailers must be responsible for sale prices
3. Students’ Unions must have alcohol debate
There were also a number of disagreements on the panel and amongst the floor:
Initiation Ceremonies – will they ever stop? Are we driving them underground by introducing policies? Its not just sports teams who have “drinking problems” – it’s an issue for a wide range of students outside sports team culture.
Students Unions depend on commercial funds to operate – should students unions move away from commercial funding? Universities should increase block grants? Aren’t Student Unions supposed to be about representation not drinking?
Pricing in Union bars – can we out price supermarkets? Is it ethical for Students Unions to sell drinks as low a £1 a pint? Students Unions don’t offer enough non-alcoholic alternatives – how can NUSSL influence and change this?
Have students called for action around responsible drinking? Is this Government led? What do students want – cheap beer vs. responsibility? What role does alcohol play in the 2009 student experience?
What’s the opinion of your Union? What do your students think about responsible drinking? What is your relationship like with your community and local business’ when it comes to drink related anti-social behaviour? Have your sports teams driven initiations underground? – These are the questions you need to find the answers to – WMANUS is keen to work closely with members around this issue. If you would to discuss this area further or would like some assistance with an alcohol debate then please contact me: wmanus@hotmail.co.uk
The Sexual Health and Students Unions session was delivered by Rowan Harvey from the Terrence Higgins Trust. Before I go into more detail here are some interesting yet scary facts about the West Midlands: Between 2003 and 2007 number of new diagnoses of:
- syphilis rose 226%
- herpes rose 17%
- genital Warts rose 15%
- chlamydia rose 14%
- gonorrhoea rose 36%
Now you have either had a turn in your stomach or are thinking what your Union can do about Sexual Health provisions in your institutions and local community – below is a list of things you can do to improve provisions:
open dialogue with LA’s/Councillors and Primary Care Trust Chief Executives
Involve your MP, AM and MSP
Survey your members and involve this in your campaigns
Engage with patient involvement and mechanisms
The Terrence Higgins Trust is also willing to come onto your campus and assist with awareness days – for more information visit http://www.tht.org.uk/contactus/
Higher Education Funding – Staffordshire University Students Union Billion Pound Debt Website:
Staffordshire University Students Union has really excelled with Broke&Broken, President Fiona Wood explains:
“The website has been commissioned by us to one of our own graduates (Rich Bishop) and is designed to show a cumulative debt figure across the national student community in real time. As each student signs up and adds their debt, the figure automatically increases, giving anyone looking at the website a snap-shot of the national situation regarding student debt. Interest is also added with the figure constantly updating as interest is calculated. Students can add their debt via the website or via a facebook application, adding a face to their debt giving the campaign a visual human element. The aim is to see how long it takes for the national figure to reach...and more than likely exceed...£1bn! This should only take around 40,000 students based on the average student debt of £20k”
Visit the website – http://www.brokebroken.co.uk/ / http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=71662821192&ref=mf get your students involved and let’s see if the West Midlands can help rack up the debt and hit the £1 billion pound target!
Elections – good luck to all candidates and I look forward to meeting the new Executive’s over the coming months! In the meantime if there is anything WMANUS can do to help then please let me know – wmanus@hotmail.co.uk
WMANUS Spring Conference – provisional date is TUESDAY 5TH MAY, conference call will be out in the next few weeks, time and place to be confirmed.
What’s coming up in March?
Womens Conference 3rd – 5th March – Hollie Jones and I will be attending and a full report will feature in next months blog!
Varsity Staffordshire VS Keele 11th March – the clash of the titans will be hosted by Staffordshire this year but who will win?
Great Higher Education Funding Lobby 18th March – get registered, get there and make a difference! (Please contact me about travel ASAP) http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=xbKw4_2b2jqHnpgw1cY8_2fW0Q_3d_3d
NUS & UK Borders Agency International Students and Immigration Thursday 19th March – Birmingham http://www.officeronline.co.uk/events/nationalevents/276152.aspx
Annual Conference 31st March – 02 April Blackpool – get registered, contact me for coach details and make a difference.
Conference documents, including candidate manifestos can all be found here: http://www.officeronline.co.uk/events/nationalevents/275868.aspx
Well there we are, another month in the life of the WMANUS Convenor. Next months blog will also contain mini reports from Exec members so you can get a full picture of WMANUS outcomes! If you have any questions or would like to discuss anything in this blog then please, please contact me wmanus@hotmail.co.uk / 07837-059-588.Sophie KettellWMANUS Convenor 08-09
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