Lorna Selby

As your Women’s Officer, I would be excited to represent the voices of all Women in our Student Union and make our University a safer place! 

To prevent violence against Women from occurring, I will focus on education. I will ensure that all students and staff are educated on Violence Prevention to enable bystanders to feel empowered to intervene and make sure that all people on our campus understand the principles of respect and consent. This would particularly focus on First Year Students by including a ‘Consent and Respect’ section to the Halls Welcome Information. 

I will further strengthen emergency support strategies when gendered violence does arise, by implementing the SafeZone App at the University. This app allows students to call for emergency assistance, keep up to date on incidents on campus and report their location. This app has already been rolled out in many UK Universities including the University of Manchester and the University of Exeter. 

I will also improve long-term support for survivors of gendered violence by strengthening Mental Health Support Services within the University, as well as making closer ties with specialist support organizations in the City including Yellow Door. 

In order to quantify the progress of these strategies, I will monitor Gender Equality through a Women’s Student Safety Survey. This will allow for the collection of data on how safe women feel at the University to show what work needs to be done and will foster community engagement on how to tackle issues.