Hi everyone, and welcome to our last UGM of the academic year and my last UGM as Keele SU’s Activities and Community Officer. I’ve been working hard on lobbying the University around multiple issues including empty space on campus, accessibility, society support, and embedding sustainability. I’ve also been involved in multiple conferences and national events since last UGM. Let me know if you have any questions about my report or any current projects at su.communityofficer@keele.ac.uk before I leave at the end of June!
Manifesto Updates:
1. Society Voice and Engagement:
1.1 Societies of Keele Logo
The Activities Team began the process on finding a new brand to represent all societies at Keele SU. So, they sought out with the marketing department to design something that would align all +120 groups under one banner like what the AU shield represents for clubs. We were given 4 options and based on society member consultation which received more than 400 votes and staff consultation we decided on this amazing logo to represent our societies. Thank you to our Activities and Marketing team for the work they did on this, and to find my full report about consulting students about the new logos click the link here, Societies of Keele Logo Report.docx.
1.2 Representing Music Societies
Continuing from my last report Music societies continue to have facility problems with their current space in Barnes Bar and we are in communications with University Estates about this. I will be meeting with multiple University stakeholders soon on providing instruments to our music societies, renovations to current training spaces and providing them suitable spaces to practice for the future.
1.3 Society Support
Over my last Semester at Keele SU I have been heavily involved in supporting societies through their democratic process, with their events, and with their campaigns since last UGM. Thank you for all the work everyone has been doing and any society needs help with anything let me know at su.communityofficer@keele.ac.uk or my Instagram @Tom_KeeleSU.
1.4 Society Ball and Awards
For the last couple months, the Activities Team and I have been busy planning Society Ball and Awards which will be hosted in the SU on the 18th of May and is only £25 this year! Get your tickets at Societies Awards 2023 w/ Afterparty (keelesu.com).
2. Sustainability:
2.1 Edible Campus
Fruiting Trees have now been planted on campus at every Halls of Accommodation
2.2 Weigh to Go Shop
In our last Sustainability Working group which works on our new Sustainability Plan, we decided to review the Zero Waste Shop located in the Hub due to food waste creation and loss of money and interest. I decided to consult students and received over 40 responses most saying the shop is valuable but also has some negatives which may explain the loss in interest. Based on these results and what students said we decided the space could be used for a better initiative such as the Great Donate Second Hand Item Program. The link to the report is located here, Keele SU Weigh to Go Shop Report.docx.
2.3 Water Fountain
The new cooled water station located behind the SU stairs is now developed with all the new sustainable information about water poverty and plastic pollution, completing the project.
3. Student Experience:
No updates for now.
Team Strategic Aims:
1. Student Safety and Wellbeing:
Nothing to report as of now.
2. Access and Inclusivity:
2.1 Diversity Festival March 2023
The semesterly event we call Diversity Festival celebrates all culture at Keele through society stalls, organisation showcases, free traditional food, performances, and activities. The event this year included 27 stalls, 7 of those serving free or affordable food to our students. In total we served more than 650 meals to students through Union Kitchen, Brickhouse, Hamilton Bay, Fatus Kitchen, Malaysian Society and Sikh Society. We measured roughly 700 to 1,000 students in attendance during the event. We had two performances one from Clive Martin (a local Saxophone player) and Salsa who were both amazing! Other notable mentions are the multiple University departments that came, Keele SU societies, Twocees Cuts who were doing haircuts and a Henna stall run by a Keele student!
Overall, this semester's Diversity Festival was the best yet and had an amazing atmosphere even through the snow! We have really been able to see the power of Keele and our students this round and have seen the value in running these types of events for students from the past 2 Diversity Festivals. This event will now be hosted by the Keele SU Activities Team for the foreseeable future.
3. Quality Education:
Nothing to report
4. Cost of Living:
4.1 Free Meal Kits
We received £650 form the Keele Keyfund to provide students with Free Community Meal Kits to aid those feeling the impact of the Cost-of-Living Crisis. We have 120 meal kits for students ranging from a stir-fry, chilli, and curry which we have 40 kits of each. They each feed 2-4 people and are all vegetarian however can be made with meat. These will be given out on Tuesday the 16th of May from 11am till 3pm at a first come first serve basis. I’m hoping based on the success of this program it will push the institution to continue initiatives like this one to aid students during the Cost-of-Living Crisis. If you are particularly struggling due to the Cost-of-Living Crisis, we can reserve a kit for you.
4.2 Spaces on Campus
I will be meeting with multiple stakeholders form the estates department to investigate the use of empty spaces on campus including the post office and ST5 space. In this communication I will be lobbying the University to begin a student consultation in collaboration with us to ensure students have a say with what gets put into these spaces on campus and what will benefit them the most.
5. A fair and sustainable world:
5.1 Turkey and Syria Society and Club Fundraiser
In March we raised £546 for those in crisis in Turkey and Syria through the DEC, Street Child, and the Zahra Trust. A Big thank you to the Great Donate, Men’s Rugby and Ahlulbayt Society who helped raise most of the money for this initiative!
Outstanding UGM Motions:
Check out our Policy Document here which includes all our passed UGM policies Policy-Document-February-2022.pdf (keelesu.com)
- Accessibility on Campus
Within the meeting I’m having with estates about spaces on campus and music, I will be mentioning accessibility on campus and following up what work has been done and how we can begin development of what was voted by students to work on at a past UGM. As since then we haven’t received a detailed answer about accessibility development on campus.
You can find my report and the other full time officer reports at Full-Time Student Officers (keelesu.com).