With Black History Month just a day away, SU President Maia Jarvis tells you what we have planned for our celebration on campus and beyond! We've teamed up with African-Caribbean Society to bring you a ton of events and ways to get involved.
The theme of Black History Month 2022 is 'Time for Change: Action not Words' so I thought I would get straight to the point and highlight what the Students' Union has done or is currently doing to amplify the voices of black students on campus and improve their university experience.
Student Voice Report on the BAME Inclusive Student Experience
Your former VP Education, Kate Roberts, (who went on to become SU President in 2020/21) published this report on BAME student experience in January 2020 (two years on, we’re in the process of stepping away from the term ‘BAME’ – more on that below). It examines the issues black, Asian, and racially minoritised students face at university in a national context as well as at Royal Holloway and is the result of two years of research and talking directly to students. The report addresses Royal Holloway’s current BAME attainment gap (the difference in the number of firsts or 2:1s awarded to BAME students versus white students) and the University’s plans to narrow it. This year, one of my manifesto priorities is to review the 25 recommendations for improvement and ensure that they are either completed or in progress.
Read the report
Celebrating Black History Month
This October, African-Caribbean Society (ACS) and the SU have organised a ton of events to celebrate black history and culture as well as the talent of Royal Holloway students in the black community. ACS have organised everything from a student showcase to a bake sale; the society also said they wanted a careers-related event, so we’re hosting a session on juggling a side hustle alongside a 9-5. We’ve also got Maia Thomas, award-winning EDI consultant and activist, giving a talk at the end of the month. There are lots more events going on so check our calendar to find out more!
BAME Collective
One of our seven student Collectives is the BAME Collective, which represents the interests and voices of BAME students across campus. Our Collectives represent traditionally underrepresented groups on campus and as officers, we work really closely with them to ensure that we action your feedback and amplify your voices. Collectives receive support and work with the Union to secure the interests and rights of students that self-define into the relevant group. You can nominate yourself from now until 9 October to be a Collective Convenor (a leader of the collective) – we’d love to hear from you!
Lobbying to step away from the term ‘BAME’
Last year, your former President, Henn Warwick, co-wrote a paper with the College’s Strategic Policy Manager to lobby the College to step away from the term ‘BAME’. Whilst this acronym used to be the norm, many institutions have moved away from it, realising that it can be unhelpful to group ethnicities together as the problems students face are often unique and it also emphasises certain ethnicities whilst excluding others. BAME also centres whiteness due to its use of the word ‘minority’ and students may not resonate with the term. This point may seem strange to include as I’ve used the term ‘BAME’ a lot in this article, however, we want any terminology changes to be led by students so once the collectives are in place, we’ll be consulting members of the BAME collective to understand what they want to be called.
Academic Rep Specialisms and Diversity Monitoring
Last year, we introduced rep specialisms, which meant that reps could self-identify with an underrepresented group on campus, enabling students to utilise their lived experiences within their department to drive change. We also conduct diversity monitoring of our academic reps, which informs conversations about equality, diversity, and inclusion within departments with the goal of ensuring that our representative structures accurately reflect the diversity of the Royal Holloway student community. Course rep sign up is currently open and closes on 16 October.
African-Caribbean Society
We support the wonderful African-Caribbean Society (ACS) – they’re putting on so many cool events this month so go check them out and get involved!
Get involved in Black History Month