Hi! I’m Charmiane, your CCW and CCI Sabbatical officer, coming in with my Term 1 updates for my 2nd year as your officer: )
Black History Month? Every Month!
This year, I led the Union's Main activities alongside Ayon, your CSM Officer. Our theme was Standing Firm in Power and Pride. 5 Students were selected to take part in our month-long exhibition at the Arts SU CSM Project space. Shout out to Winnie, Minnie, Malayika, Cordelia and Leo! I achieved my goal of giving away 10 free tickets to current students to go see the 1-54 Art Fair at Somerset House to expose them to new and inspiring spaces within the “art world”. 20 of you came to get free massages and manicures for our World Mental Health Self-care Day, which also happened to clash with International Black Girl Day off. I made some self-care goodie bags too and backed them with oranges (take your vitamin C guys, it's cold outside and no one wants to get a cold), flowers, face masks, notebooks, pens and face masks! Since then, I've been connecting with staff and students who lead communities across UAL, too, to bring Black voices and ideas together.
A-C, who and why? Its actually pronounced ACUI
I had the privilege of going to the Association of College Unions International Conference (ACUI) in Vermont, USA. A small team of Arts SU staff members got to tour 4 Universities in the USA and learn from each other. We asked what’s working here and there, and also investigated what’s not working. I can’t wait to implement some of the community organising I learnt from the student staff at the University of Vermont, Dartmouth College and Southern New Hampshire University.
Education? Strategy! Hotel? Trivago!
UAL Staff teams are working to create a brand new education strategy, and the Sabbatical officer team have fed into the Staff stage of consultations. We’ve been reading and receiving feedback on key documents and talking to senior staff at UAL on what skills we believe are important for our current students and demanding they create a future-proof education. I was in a meeting where staff from all the colleges and teaching education levels (FE, HE and PG) combined our vision or a good UAL education at all levels and we fed that back to the Pro-Vice Chancellor for Education and Students.
Any other Business?
As Sabs we have to sit on a wide range of committees and panels to represent the interests of the student body. There are 3 main subcommittees we can sit in. Last year I sat on the Education Enhancement Committee and the Academic Quality and Standards Committee. This year, I made a little switch. Instead of EEC, I’m now in Academic Board. I mention this to show my commitment to taking the student voice to as many rooms as possible. This shift reflects my desire to focus on the quality of education we receive is to the best possible standard and that our students are graduating feeling prepared!
A few Spring somethings to look forward to
- Blue Monday ( Re-freshers style wellbeing event at LCC on January 19th)
- LGBTQIA+ History Month
- International Women’s Day
- Rep-Con 2025
- CCW and CCI Spring Mini Socials!!