Welcome Week (Sat 22nd - Sun 30th)

What has your E&L Officer been up to this week?
And the disappointing cookie tale.

Some of our volunteers! From left to right: Hannah, Mike,
Young, Nicky and Megan!

Saturday and Sunday a superb team of volunteers and myself helped new students move in to Runnymede 1. Saturday was great fun because of the good weather and a constant flow of new arrivals, where as Sunday was just a bit wet! Many thanks to all of the volunteers who helped out with all the heavy-lifting on this weekend, and I hope you have all recovered! And as for you new students, I hope you are settling in well.


Apart from that, I have been part of the "Squirtle Squad", where we hand out water to you all on SU nights. I shook my head and tutted with the rest of you with Coolio's behaviour on Wednesday night - I hope the Sound People know to ignore his rude remarks, and that also that you all enjoyed yourselves despite his inappropriate behaviour. I also hope it was worth the wait for the "Gangster's Paradise" song, which he played right at the end.

Martha Gillespie, our Ethics & Environment
Officer, with one such bottle of water.

I'd just like to remind you all that our SU has a Zero Tolerance policy to sexual harassment - any groping, touching or inappropriate behaviour that makes you feel uncomfortable is not welcome, nor tolerated. We have strict procedures here in our SU, and I am currently working on publicising this campaign amongst staff and students alike. If you would like to know more, then join the Inclusion & Representation page on facebook, or keep following this blog, or contact the Feminism Society. I will add more information on this policy soon.

I helped out briefly at the SU stall at the Societies fair, great to see so many of you getting involved in what the SU and the Societies and Sports at RHUL have to offer. Hope to see many of you at our GM on Tuesday the 2nd October, and hopefully running for the roles in the I&R Senate. Liberation is exciting this year, be a part of it!

I've also written an article on the "Let's Talk About Porn" event for the student newspaper, and written a motion for this coming GM - the campus nursery is more expensive than most, and the UCU is campaigning for it to be more reasonably priced for students and staff alike. The motion is for our SU to support this campaign, and to follow it. With all the advertising I do now, you wouldn't believe that in my first year I had never written an article!
I've also arranged several meetings for this coming week to discuss how to make our Union more accessible to students with disabilities, and how to encourage Zero Tolerance behaviour in our SU staff and students.

Myself, and the Zero Tolerance posters in the SU.

I've even fallen a little ill, so I've been sleeping as much as possible! And currently baking vegan cookies (I'm not vegan, but a housemate is!).

Anyway, see you at the GM!

N.B. The cookies didn't work. I am so ashamed. If you see me this week, please do not mention it. They crumble between my fingers. *Sob*

Article in The Wilding

So it's true! My article is in The Wilding, a fantastic publication by Royal Holloway's own Feminism Society. In this issue (and mind you, the first of its kind!) you can find information about the suffragettes at Holloway, a perspective on Fifty Shades of Grey and much much more.
It is truly a gem!

Find my article on page 22 on the following link: http://rhul-fem-soc.blogspot.co.uk/p/the-wilding.html

If you are around Holloway, you can get your own physical copy for free when you join the society.
Well worth it, if you ask me.

Let's Talk About Porn...

THIS is something I have been working on, my friends. We need to question the things we see everyday (page three and on websites) sometimes - and this is one of those times.

We have four very talented speakers coming with very interesting backgrounds. 

All are welcome! 

To be held at Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey.

Welcome & Basics of Liberation at SURHUL.

Welcome to the Equalitea blog post! It's great to see you here!

This is the official blog for my position, where I'll be keeping you up to date with the ins and outs of my position. There's plenty to talk about - so where to begin!?

Let's start by explaining my role, and how it's going to change.

I chair and work with the Inclusion & Representation Senate, which has representatives (as elected by you) from a variety of liberation branches, a few officers, students, and finally our wonderful Sabbatical Officers. The main roles are like so;

• BME Rep (Black & Minority Ethnic)
• LGBT+ Rep (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans, and anyone else who doesn't identify as hetero-normative)
• Disability Rep (can be both visible and invisible)
• Women & Marginalised Gender Rep 
• Various Hall Reps (for on campus or off campus)
• Postgraduate Officer
• International Students Officer

Together we decide on campaigns to run, on issues that need to be promoted and also how to make both our university and union more accessible. All students are welcome to these senate meetings to help decide how to make this all possible. It's also where we hold each other to account, catch up on the progress each one has been making and support intersectionality between reps.
You can run for any of the above representative roles (apart from LGBT+ Rep, which is already taken!) at the GM on Tuesday 2nd October. The Officer positions are elected in cross-campus elections later in the year.

Later this year, however, it will be changing.

The first four representatives mentioned will become Officers in their own right, and my role will make way for this. This allows our union to focus on liberation and rightly attributes more value to liberation. 

This is why I will also be helping the development of activists from these groups - to create a strong liberation station for the movement to progress from.

Soon, I will write more about each position and what I have been up to.

Until then keep an eye out for The Wilding (AWESOME FemSoc publication!) where I have written an article about Liberation at our Union! I will also let you know how Welcome Week went, and prepare you for the first GM of the year on the 2nd October!

Over and out!