I think this year has really taught me what is “performative” vs what is not. It’s been a really crazy year to be a Sabbatical Officer (Sabb) and I am so proud of my fellow officer team and supporting staff at the SU for getting us through it all.

You have to work in many areas as a Sabb, from giving your opinions on policies and projects drafted by some highly skilled (or sometimes just highly paid) academics, meeting with students/ course teams, working on events and liberation projects, directing a charity as a trustee, shouting at old white men etc. I really could go on and it’s in many ways a self directed but peer supported job and I want to stress that I never did anything here on my own.

I’m most proud of the work that has or soon will relate directly to the student experience. This year I’ve been able to help get Adobe software on the university’s hardship fund, open up study/ common spaces at LCC, begin a decolonising pilot project alongside colleagues at the university and raised a plethora of student items with the university i.e. equipment access for film, hardship funding, certificate/ diploma delivery and placement application help.

I’ve had the chance to host some amazing events like the Arts’ Awards 2021, The Creative Manifesto project in Sustainability and Cross sector collaboration, empowering student voices through decolonising reading lists as a part of Academic Support’s “Who Do We Think We Are” event, termly Student and Dean Forums, online student inductions and so many fantastic events provided by the SU.

I have every confidence in the future sabbatical officer team to drive that change within our university and demand justice for all COVID graduates.