Status: Complete

What is being done to combat the racism and sexism displayed recently by the student union president?

Recently the comments of the student union president, regarding a mural on display in the university, cause a Nationwide outrage.

This was rightly so, as not only was the comments made very disrespectful to those who lost there lives in the war, but the comments were also blatantly sexist and racist against white men in the university. 

As far as i know, so far no actions have been taken place to ensure something like this happens again. 

Submitted on Wednesday 31st October 2018

Hi Anon,

Thank you for your suggestion, and apologies for the length of time it has taken to conclude this You Make Change.

The Students' Union has always been clear that we do not support Emily's comment in question as we recognise that it was deeply insensitive and inappropriate. Following on from the incident, SUSU carried out an internal investigation into whether there was a breach of our HR policy at which point Emily made the decision to resign from her post. Unfortunately due to the confidential nature of these proceedings this is all I know and this is also all I am legally allowed to disclose. To ensure this doesn't happen again SUSU has reiterated our social media policy to all members of staff and reminded managers and teams to keep a closer eye on social media usage moving forwards. We will always challenge extremist or inflammatory language where we find it, in line with our rules and procedures.

If you have any further concerns regarding this please feel free to email me at aupres@soton.ac.uk.

Best wishes,

Steve Gore, Acting President

Thursday 20th Dec 2018 10:23am