Now that the usual week one frenzy has died down, I thought I would take a little time to tell you all a bit about what I did last term, and what I've got in the pipeline for this term. I try to remember every day that I am here for students, and work according to that - so if any of you have any ideas for what I should be working on, then please let me know. I can't promise that I'll make it happen but I will always try!

So, what did I do in term one?

• Spoke to and emailed countless students, responding to enquiries for advice and general worry. Dealt with lots of casework and equal opps issues, and liaised with the advice centre when appropriate.
• Produced the Moving-In Guide 2011 which was sent out via email to all non-first years.
• Delivered Equal Opps training to Sports Council and Union Council
• Signed the SU up to the ‘Attitude is Everything’ Access Charter in order to make the SU more accessible.
• Attended the November 9^th Demo in London against Fees and Cuts and Student Activism 2011 with other Warwick students
• Organised two GUM clinics (with 130 and 71 people attending respectively) and for ‘Got it?’ Coventry NHS’ chlamydia testing campaign, to come to three nights out at the union to test students.
• Delivered a presentation on students in the local community to the South Leamington Community Forum, and liaised with Leamington police and the owners of Smack with the view of getting welfare stewards at Smack – watch this space!
• Increased numbers in the Beyond the Bubble facebook groups pretty much tenfold from last year – current figures are at 137 for the Coventry group and 422 for the Leam/Kenilworth group. I post on these groups regularly and have also written two ‘beyond the bubble’ news bulletins which are sent by email to all non-first years.
• I sit on the NUS LGBT committee so I have also delivered workshops on their behalf and have been to three committee meetings.
• Opened the new multi-faith prayer room at Westwood Campus.
• Organised to have the Mind Bus on campus twice and produced a brief for a mental health leaflet on World Mental Health Day.
• Spoken at UNICEF on campus’ World AIDS Day conference and on Pride’s Interfaith Panel.
• Trialled Gender Neutral Toilets in the union building.
• Managed to get a ton of free materials from organisations including Action on Hearing Loss, the Samaritans, and Drink Aware
• All of this is alongside things like our weekly sabbs/senior managers meeting, writing things for the website, bubble and blogs, giving interviews for The Boar and RaW, and working with the rest of the sabb team to deliver a variety of projects.

What I’m working on this term

The Relax Housing Campaign. This got off to a cracking start with loads of students coming to our first housing day last week – but it doesn’t stop there! For the first time we are having a second housing day in week 4, as well as drop-in sessions for international students, and students without a group to live with. Keep an eye on the website for more information

LGBT History Month – this is a month that is very near and dear to my heart. It runs throughout February and I can’t wait to support our LGBTUA+ students in their events.

Disabled Students’  needs – with the recent debates in Parliament proposing to slash benefits and the Disabled Living Allowance (thankfully with some concessions), with the possibility of charges being introduced for Blue Badge Holders (I am writing an angry letter!), the numerous “Hardest Hit” protests across the country, and the compelling nature of the Spartacus report, it’s clear that disabled people are feeling the brunt of the government’s austerity measures. Students are no exception to this. Having met with the University’s Disability Services Co-Ordinator, and having signed the SU up to Attitude is Everything’s Charter, I am keen to improve our provision for disabled students. I will be holding focus groups and sending out a survey around weeks 9 and 10 and working with the NUS and our SWD’s officer to achieve this.

NHS Blood Service – Am currently trying to arrange a donation clinic on campus – it may not happen until term 3 but will be brilliant when it does.If you can please register to be a donor and find a local donation session in the meantime. 

Zero Tolerance to Sexual Harassment – I am in the process of finalising the SU’s action plan, which if accepted by the NUS Women’s Campaign will see us take a visibly strong stance against sexual harassment in the SU.

Women in Officer Elections 2012 – I’ll be blogging about this later on in term, but I really hope to see lots of the amazing women that go to Warwick and are involved in SU activities running for sabb. It’s a great job – no reason why men should have all of the fun! (Disclaimers: I love all the boys on my team. Being a feminist does not mean I hate men. No, it’s not sexist to encourage women to run. Etc, etc, etc…)

Responsible drinking – I’m applying for funding to run a campaign around this in week 6, which will aim to revitalise the fantastic “what if?” campaign and make good use of the national Drink Aware resources.

Respect in Sport – Chris Sury and I are going to work together to make sure that Warwick Sport remains and promotes an inclusive environment to cater for the incredibly diverse population. Watch this space, it’s going to be awesome.

And LOADS more – including the University Mental Health and Well-Being Day, writing the Beyond the Bubble Bulletins, continuing to be on the Democracy Review Working Group, helping you quit with the NHS Stop4life service, and working with the rest of the sabbs and staff to make term 2 an all-round corker.

As always – feel free to email or drop by my office with any questions or concerns!

Izzy