Equality and Diversity Committee (14th October 2015)

The Chair welcomed all members to the meeting and reported that Kamil Lucci (Age Coordinator) had resigned. Georgia Wakeley (student) was also in attendance.

The Committee agreed to approve the minutes of the last meeting at the next meeting.

Members introduced themselves and briefly outlined their roles to the rest of the Committee. Caitlin emphasised that each of the roles were not exclusive and that there were crossovers between the issues.

Bruno reported that he had been in contact with the Wessex Scene in having regular articles on sex and equality with possible future articles on issues such as gender and sexuality.

Caitlin updated the Committee on an event promoting equality and wellbeing. Instead of having different stands for various relevant societies, it was suggested that important themes, such as consent or addiction could be more approachable and relevant to students.

Caitlin explained the possibility of running an event similar to Our Cup of Tea – a project where members of different faiths have conversations over a cup of tea. Sam suggested that this would be a good idea for Inter Faith Week in November. The Committee also agreed that it would be important to include Atheist society in Inter Faith Week.

Caitlin also updated the Committee on an evening event in December. This event would include music and comedy (with Folksoc and ComedySoc being potential societies to be included) with a raffle with relevant prizes (e.g. vegan food, ethical tea, books etc.).

Sam updated the committee on Black History Month, which will include film screenings and a Caribbean culture night.

Sam also updated the Committee on the annual Inspiring Women event. The Committee discussed the issue of where to hold the event and who to invite. Caitlin suggested that a Paralympian speaker would be an original idea and it was decided that a working group could be set up to help organise the event and decide which speakers to invite.

The Committee discussed what they could do for Inter Faith Week. The Chaplaincy often holds events for this week, so it was decided that more information on their events would be useful, for inspiration and to avoid duplication.

Luke asked about the progress of gender neutral toilets issue. Sam said that he would find out whether there had been any developments and report back to the Committee. Luke also asked about the gender neutral toilet map - a project started last year, and stated that he was keen to continue the project.

The Committee discussed LGBT History Month in February 2016, for which the theme will be religion, belief and philosophy. Bruno said that the philosophy department had some relevant academic staff that would be interested in doing some talks. Luke and Natalie commented that the Geography and History departments also had staff interested in LGBT+ issues, who might like to be involved. Luke said that it might be a good idea to do another special edition magazine for the month, but possibly with more of a theme. The Committee agreed that their events for LGBT History Month did not necessarily all need to be on the theme of religion, belief and philosophy.

The Committee also discussed what they could for students under the age of 18. Bruno confirmed that these students were able to come to SUSU’s evening events, but not able to attend any events outside of SUSU that required identification. The Committee discussed the possibility of a non-alcoholic evening event, but it was agreed that it would be useful to know how many under 18 students there were first.

The following position was elected:

Gender Identity Coordinator – Georgia Wakeley

As there were no other business the meeting closed at 17:00.

The date of the next meeting will be November 11 at 16:00.