Your VP (Welfare) here to give you an update on some of the work that myself and the rest of the Executive Officer team have been up to during November 2023.
Hello everyone, it’s your Vice President (Welfare), Jack McGuinness, here to give you an update on some of the work that myself and the other Executive Officers been doing to better represent the interests of the students here at the University of Derby during November 2023.
Disability History Month
Continuing on from the success of the first liberation month of the academic year, the Executive Officer team have planned and implemented a variety of different events for Disability History Month, which runs from the 16th November, through to the 16th of December.
On the 30th, we held the Disability History Month fair, where students could share how their disabilities affect navigating daily life, such as going to the shops to buy food or coming to sites to attain their education. Taking a different tone, VP (Education) Holly was also interested in finding out how and if students' disabilities empower them.
Expanding upon the success of the parasports provision of last year, VP (Activities) Gabby has developed a variety of different events, like Para-Tennis, Para-Cheer and Para-Bouldering to showcase how disabilities don’t hold people back from achieving their goals.
Children on site policies
During a meeting with the University of Derby for the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, it was explained that the Head of Student Services was reviewing the Children on Site policies that the University had to be clearer about what was and wasn’t allowed.
These policies affect so many students' experience of attaining a degree, and being the representative of the student body, I’ve been providing the student input into the development and implementation of the policies and procedures.
Student Safety
A huge part of my manifesto is the work to further student safety in Derby, working with departments at the University, like Security, Student Services and IT to propel the marketing of new systems that are implemented to better student safety.
I’m glad to say that this work with the University hasn’t stopped.
On top of the work that both the Union and University have done bringing in the Safezone app, the Head of Student Services relayed the work he has been doing with the City Council to develop and improve an action place for the night time economy.
To work alongside this, I’ve been working to develop an action plan for the Executive Officers, meeting with the Venues and Events Manager of the Union of Students to gain his insight and see how it could be further improved to the benefit of students.