Meeting My Manifesto

Meeting My Manifesto – President, Carys Rhiannon Thomas

With the Queree Conference having only took place during my second term in office, I think it’s important to provide feedback in relation to both my manifestos.

Although in both terms I have tried my hardest to hold up all manifesto points, some have been altered due to University major changes. As a Sabbatical Officer the role being so wide, focus and priority of different instances alter the focus of our work.

Never the less here’s a look back at my manifestos and what I've done to uphold them:

Meeting My Manifesto Term 1

Enhance Campus atmosphere by organizing varied activities

Having taken up office I came to learn that it wasn’t in the officers remit to organise and manage events. This being said I did take lead on volunteering and fundraising events that I would hope the students enjoyed. Here’s a list of some events that I both invested personally in and ran/assisted in running:

- On campus Bunjee Jump (there wasn’t enough uptake in Caerleon for the Newport Region one to go ahead.

- Oakwood Theme Park Trip.

- Bratislava or Bust Rally.

- Trek to Kilimanjaro (with Challenges Abroad).

- Onesie Day.

- Pancake Race.

- May Ball.

- Saloufest.

- Scavenger Hunt.

- Exam De-Stressors.

- May Ball.

- LGBT History Month Events.

In addition to this I pushed for more student lead events, which have grown over the last two years and are evident in those run today.

Represent and be a presence on all campuses

During my first term I attended over 300 meetings, which spanned across all five campuses. Although it is difficult at times to be a lasting presence in each campus, I did manage to attend each one at least once a week. On reflection I completed more work for the Cardiff and Newport regions whilst at Pontypridd than I did at the campuses themselves. I think we need to look at strengthening our links from regions and reps to officers as oppose to pushing for ongoing officer presence (with the exception of casework visits). See attached for work hours and locations.

To remain loyal to traditions by fighting to continue the legacy of events such as MayBall and opening such events to all regions.

This was by no means a small task. Having come into office and be told that this manifesto point was not going to be possible, I started work on proving otherwise. I brought the item to Trustee Board and although the event made over a £20,000 deficit in previous years managed to get board to agree on a cost-covering smaller scale May Ball. A May Ball society was formed as a result of this and the VP Newport took up arranging the ball. The ball was held and although smaller than previous years was deemed a success.

Increase Student Consultation in Union decisions

Students have been included in all Union decisions. We have student Trustees from all regions that assist in making decisions from the highest ends. We also have three quorate student councils that can pass proposals and mandate us sabbs. We have also increased our student involvement in the running of the union, having students run events, run the website, taking on volunteer positions etc. We also ensure that logo decision making are passed to the students and have been conducting multiple surveys to get student input on decisions/plans. We are also constantly working hard with SVR's and course reps to feed up student opinion on a variety of matters. We also launched a research platform for students to impact and organise the SLTA's (student lead teaching awards) and developed Change Agents which impact on the Universities approach to Learning and Teaching.

To defend and extend the rights of all students across all campuses.

As was mentioned earlier, I attended over 300 meetings on varied campuses. I fought for various things such as facilities at Atrium II, City campus space developments, development of a Glyntaff SU space, Treforest side gate accessibility issues and the cash machines and IT issues at Caerleon. I also fought for mandates fed through our student representative channels. Additionally I took on casework from multiple campuses and succeeded in most.

Keep an up to date profile on decisions and things I am doing as a sabbatical officer on a regular basis.

We increased our social media stream by 100%. I launched a new Presidential Twitter and Facebook, which had a record number of followers/friends. I posted updates on what I'd been doing throughout the term. I also began a blog collating things I’d done and meetings attended. I updated the website to include a 'Sabb Corner' tab, which gave students insight on who we are and what we were working on. Additionaly I ran a belonging campaign, which advertised all council members in each region as well as boosting the feeling of belonging in each region.

To increase integration between campuses.

We ran a night  in partnership with Oceana on a Monday, which was open to all campuses. We also set up integrated student rep groups on facebook and integrated all social media streams and groups. As mentioned earlier, I also ran a belonging campaign which was lead by our SVR's. All SVR's also met and worked together on multi-campus issues etc. The end of year May Ball event was also open to all students with priority given to the Newport region.

Meeting My Manifesto Term 2

My focus during my second term in office was very much centred around completing and implementing the SU review and increasing our partnership work with our partner colleges. In addition to this, I have been working on my manifesto aims as well as acting on student mandates.

Glyntaff – Develop the SU Space & increase campus presence.

We introduced a games machine to Glyntaff and had a donation of computers to go in the space. Although we added to the facility presence in the campus was very low. However, I worked with the faculty to host careers events in the area and worked with faculties to ensure the Glyntaff student voice was being heard.

City – Explore re-location possibilities and re-assess the officer structure.

Initially I fought for the City campus SU space to be re-located. This came into full affect when the campus re-alignment changes were announced. During the realignment I fought for increased SU presence with better facilities for students. It was concluded that the SU would take up the rear ground floor of the campus in 2015 with students having access to better facilities than they currently have. Facilities fought for where ones that students suggested and feedback via a campus re-alignment survey.

Treforest – Fight for equal financial support for Sports teams, clubs and societies & create a comparative bar prices list.

I took a proposal to student council which fought for and requested that clubs and societies get adequate/better funding. This proposal was turned down however, the financial support given to societies and clubs has been factored into the review, which is due to be completed in May 2015. Bar prices in the Union have been investigated and as a result the Union now have a range of different beverages and offer a much larger selection of deals.

Caerleon – To fight for more courses to remain on the Caerleon Campus, to push for student-led events, to increase interest in student led groups and to push for equal financial support for societies and clubs.

With the University deciding to close it’s Caerleon campus, fighting for courses to remain at Caerleon proved difficult. As a result of campus re-alignment my focus was shifted to instead fight for students to remain on Caerleon campus until there where equal or better facilities at the campus they where being re-located to. This resulted in my equal or better campaign, which pushed the University to allow students to remain on Caerleon for a further year whilst developments where made in other campuses. This fight is ongoing with faculty staff pushing to move sooner.

Student led groups has seen a dramatic increase in all regions and most events have been student-led. I have already discussed the push for equal funding for societies and clubs.

Cardiff – Adequate staffing at Atrium, Su presence at Atlantic and Cromwell House and food provision at Atlantic House.

Membership services staff where put on a rota to ensure that there was staff presence was at the Atrium in addition to the full time Officer. Catering staff were predominantly student staff and the shop was manned as well as the ideas factory. Although having said this, I do believe there is demand in future for an events manager and with the democratic structure changes there needs to be a review of staffing in all regions.

I explored the possibility of food provision in Atlantic house and Cromwell house which was welcomed and taken on board by the University. However when tasked with gathering evidence and student feedback on the matter  only one student completed the survey. With little evidence to support the request, the proposal was not implemented.

With an officer being based in Cardiff full-time presence in both atlantic house and Cromwell house should have increased. However with the breadth and large scale of events such as Campus-realignment this proved difficult. The proposal to have a student feedback wall was also not supported.

General – To fight for a better financial model and act on mandates forwarded by students.

The fight for a better funding model formed part of the SU review. The review document was welcomed by the University and further research is being done in the three areas. The democratic structure was reviewed, changed and passed; the sports review is ongoing and will be completed in May 2015 along with the Financial review which will see the Union receive funding via an annual agreement with the University as oppose to the current model based on student numbers alone.

Reports & Research Complied whilst in Office:

- Academic Manifesto

- Change Agents

- A review of Academic Board

- The Future of Higher Education in Buenos Aires

- A reflection on Auschwitz

- Elections review 2014, 2015

- Partner Colleges Links between HE and FE

USWSU Awards Nominated for/won during my term in office:

Shortlisted for Students’ Union of the Year in NUS Wales Awards 2014, Shortlisted for Student of the Year in NUS Wales Awards 2014,  Shortlisted for Staff member of the Year in NUS Wales Awards 2014; Shortlisted for Student Media of the Year in NUS Wales Awards 2014; Shortlisted for Student Journalist of the Year in NUS Wales Awards 2014, Shortlisted for Campaign of the Year in NUS Wales Awards 2014, WCVA Good Governance Award 2014.

NUS Wales Staff member of the year 2015, NUS Wales Officer of the year Runner-up 2015, Shortlisted for NUS Wales Students’ Union of the year 2015, Shortlisted for NUS Wales Campaign of the year 2015.

 Some Headline Wins and Achievements During my Terms in Office:

· Introduced a Zero Tolerance to Sexual Harassment policy across the University and Students’ Union

· Successfully lobbied the University for a students’ union review of core values and funding

· Introduced the Academic manifesto which is now the leading document informing the Universities Learning and Teaching Strategy

· Fought for Equal or Better and successfully won the fight to keep students on the Caerleon campus for a further year whilst investment was made into other campuses.

· Obtained an SU social learning space in our Glyntaff campus

· Fought for beer on tap and the right to sell food in Atrium II

· Introduced a be safe initiative that gave bottled water to students after a night out

· Increased overall membership of societies by 15% & Grew our number of societies to over 60

· Raised £39,582.95 for charity in 2014 and currently £21,349 in 2015 through RAG (Raise and Give)

· Gave over 2,000 students the chance to give feedback to the University during our Fair Funding Campaign

· Developed our Go Out And Talk feedback boxes in each of our campuses and passed the cards to the relevant individuals

· Recruited over 300 Student Representatives

· Secured a bid to renovate the library at our Treforest Campus

· Doubled our overall membership of sports clubs

· Inputted to the Universities’ Vision, Values and Strategic Plan

· Increased engagement with our students in particular our Nursing cohort by 200%

· Held our Don’t Drop Out Drop In campaign for its fourth successful year

· Erected new Gender Neutral Toilet signage

· Passed the Welsh  Language Charter as Union policy.

· Fought for and successfully gained 24/7 access through the side gate on our Treforest Campus

· Won the fight to take over the SVR scheme.

· Inputted into the development of all University documents, policies, rules and regulations and procedures

· Secured over £50,000 of Financial Contingency Fund Funding for our students in dire need/distress

· Developed an annual impact report for the yearly annual report.

Travel Hours Term 1 & 2

For travel hours in both my terms in office and for further information on what I’m currently

working on please go to:

http://carysrhiannonuswsupresident.blogspot.co.uk/

What I will be working on until I end my second term in office:

- Finalizing and completing this year’s annual impact report.

- Conducting and carrying out an elected officers/HR review.

- Developing and finalizing officer training for 2015-16.

- Seeing through the outcomes of the SU review.

- Carrying out hand over to incoming officers.

- Acting on mandates from student council.

A Reflection On Auschwitz

A Reflection on Auschwitz

Having heard stories of the eeriness of Auschwitz and the grand scale of upset it causes when visited, I was expecting a roller-coaster of emotions. However even having discovered that Auschwitz was in fact three rather large death/concentration camps as oppose to one, the silent empty bunkers, demolished concentration camps, views of railways, photographs or the background horrific stories didn't physically upset me. I was more upset at the fact that I wasn't crying my eyes out at the mere thought of the horrific events that took place.



There were three instances however where I genuinely felt something that I could not control feeling...


The first instance was after walking through the well-known gate to camp which read 'Arbeit Macht Frei' (Work will set you free). We were taken into a fitted out block (converted for purposes of hosting museum type items) where we were told about how when people where told to leave the Ghetto's that they would be placed in a new home where they could make a fresh start. How these people would then pack the items that matter most
and carry them on the long painful journey, to then be separated from their wifes and children, to then be sorted into fit for work or summoned to death, to having those items stripped of them thrown into a pile to be sorted and sold for German profit. In this building there where extremely large glass cabinets full of these sorted belongings. We where told that this was only a fraction of what was collected! There where cabinets full of shoes, baby shoes, clothes, glasses... packet to the brink up against the glass in these designated areas. Still none of this physically upset me, until they took us to a side before going into this one room and read out a poem to us. It read...

                                                         Pigtail                                                                           

When all the women in the transport

Had their heads shaved

Four workmen with brooms made of birch twigs

Swept up

And gathered up the hair

Behind clean glass

The stiff hair lies

Of those suffocated in gas chambers

There are pins and slide combs

In this hair

The hair is not shot through with light

Is not parted by the breeze

Is not touched by any hand

Or rain or lips

In huge chests

Clouds of dry hair

Of those suffocated

And a faded plait

A pigtail with a ribbon

Pulled at schools

By naughty boys

Tadeusz Różewicz, The Museum, Auschwitz, 1948

We had a discussion on how much we can identify with something we all have, we all noted how our basic possessions where much the same, how something as profound as human hair resonates in us all. We were then told to remain quiet and respectful as we entered this room. I took one step and one glace before feeling like I was thrown to the brick wall on the other side of the building. A Glass cabinet much the length of four cars was filled with human hair that had been cruelly taken from prisoners. The slumping feeling like i was being pulled beneath the ground continued as we walked slowly around the room. when we left the room the feeling varnished but the shock and astound remained.

(Image Taken from Google, the exhibit does not allow photography)

Shortly after we entered another building much like the last, where items of possession where piled behind glass cabinets stood lifeless. I continued in my thoughts of happy families pre-holocaust and the thoughts of those expecting to move on to better things following life in the ghettos. We entered a room and my eyes filled with tears, I was speechless. On first glance I thought I had saw an array of sporting equipment, lacrosse bats, cricket bats... I took a second glance and shamefully took a sigh of relief upon realizing that in fact the items that lay before us where prosthetic limbs, walking aids, supports. My tears stopped as I began to process what I had actually seen. Although I was deeply sorrowful for the reality of what I'd seen, it didn't hold a personal connection with me, I could not put myself in those individuals shoes.

Having experienced this guilty moment, we were shown around the rest of the camp. We were shown and told stories of the experiments done on children namely twins, how prisoners had to crawl into standing cells and remain standing for four days, how people where tortured in every means possible, shown the poor living conditions they had to endure, the torture of severe thirst, the strict rulings on going to the bathroom, having to share a bed with over 16 people whereby if one person turned the other turned with them, shown the viewpoints of the German guards, the view points of prisoners and soon to be prisoners, shown the carting trams that

moved people from one location to the next, shown demolished gas chambers, shown photographs, testimonials and war memorabilia, shown the electric charged barbed wire that extended around the camps, shown where the head of camp resided with his family, drawings that children had made on walls with pencils... shown everything.

Prior to visiting the gas chamber that still stands having been renovated for a bomb shelter, we where shown a model of how a chamber would have looked had they still been standing. It showed them being ushered in, the area where clothes would have been removed, the chamber itself, the human body burners, the prisoners - 'the gold removers', the officers quarters, I had a clear picture of what this murder house would have been like in the days of the holocaust. Again we where told to respect the deceased and to remain silent as we entered this area. I walked inside and instantly felt a feeling of eerie coldness. Not the cold as in weather cold, this was different, ghost like. Little nozzles lined the walls much like a garden sprinkler where the gas would have been leaked in, the room a shell. We walked through the bolted door into another area where the corpses will have been burned and gold teeth will have been removed. Again the eerie cold was apparent. We left the building and the ghost like coldness disappeared. There was no sign of it when we walked past the hanging stakes, no sign of it anywhere apart from that chamber.

In summation, my experience in Auschwitz surprised me. I was surprised at how I was physically upset by material items and how the broad scale of the camps did not. 

Concluding Thoughts

This experience made me think of our world today. Have we really learnt anything from the holocaust? Are we all bystanders in a world where pockets of antisemitism and profound ideology still exists? After all World War II and the Holocaust did not happen over night, it was the final goal for the elimination of the Jewish population that was built up in stages. Is this not happening today with events we see in France, with dictators who shoot anyone who defy them, with groups like ISIS. Or are we witnesses to all of this, but choose not to get involved, chose to turn away. It's human nature to look after one's self and one's loved ones. To stay silent is to remain alive. Are we trying to avoid complete extermination that is inevitable with Nuclear warfare by not interfering? In Einsteins famous words... '' I don't know with what weapon World War Three will be fought with, but World War Four will be fought with sticks and stones''.