Len Stuart

Hello! I'm Len, I have been at Staffs since 2018 and I am a first year Vice President, I have been involved in the Students' Union since I came to University, from working as student staff, member of different societies, to running the LGBTQ+ network.  

I have just finished second year of Business Management. Chances are you will see me around campus or in the venues, feel free to say hi!

Pronouns: He / Him / His

Inclusion and Awareness

I want to be able to support our representative networks in the best way that I can by looking to the future in creating an atmosphere and culture of inclusion and acceptance for all.

• I want to work with the university to help improve the process of exceptional circumstances, making it more accessible, more consistent and easier to understand with greater transparency.

• I want to increase equality, diversity, and inclusion training for university staff in all areas.

• We must recognise that we have a lot of parent students, the entire campus should be a child-friendly space, giving great freedom to these parents to continue their studies without the fear of a lecturer being upset as a child is in a lecture.

• I want to create and introduce a carer passport, it is a simple tool to help coordinate and connect up the support for student carers through an 'organisation-wide' approach. It supports the early identification of students who are carers and improves staff understanding of their personal circumstances and individual needs.

• We need to work with students to raise awareness on campus of Black history month and BLM.

• Relaunch the Period Poverty by looking at its focus

• Awareness campaign for Domestic abuse and Gender-Based Violence

• I want to put on a week of events, encouraging students to get involved. It is important to be educated about sex and sexual health, no matter your opinions on it, your sexuality, or your gender.

Mandatory Consent and Healthy Relationships

Whilst representing the University at the Nation Conference of Students this year it has become apparent to me, through workshops, that gender-based violence and the issues around it is of huge importance and need to be tackled somehow.

• I want the Students’ Union, the University, ResLife and any other relevant department to work together to produce a mandatory consent module that all students must complete, embedding this module within our induction process will help all students learn more about consent and bystander intervention

•  In addition to this, I want all sports clubs and societies’ committees to have extra training, as well as bar and club staff at the Students Union so they can spot signs of sexual harassment.

• Voluntary workshops on healthy relationships

Neurodiversity Inclusion 

The past two years of the pandemic have highlighted challenges for both the university and students. A need for change for students with thinking and learning differences was emphasised, something I saw first-hand during the first lockdown.
People with atypical abilities such as Dyslexia and ADHD have been often left out of discussions despite estimates being as high as 1 in 5 people being born with these conditions in the UK. But we have the capability for every lecture to be recorded and captured, so why aren't they?

• I want to carry this work forward and work on streamlining interactive infrastructure, making for a more inclusive interface for neurodiverse students at Staffs.

• I want to collaborate with the University and Verve and create more quiet spaces for study whilst combining that with events for students to use those spaces so people can study in their own way.

• Working outside of conventional study times feeds into the 24-hour campus that previous union officers have worked on.

• Another aspect of this campaign would be to start promoting and encouraging a culture of understanding among academics regarding neurodiverse students that have faced a long history of misunderstanding and bias.

How Employable are YOU?

Our university has won awards for employability and has prided itself on this. But how ready do you feel for the world of work? Do you have a complete CV that you're happy to send to recruiters? Do you know where to look for the right job for you?

• Provide employability sessions, in partnership with the Career Connect Hub, which I have started this year already, open to any student to attend.

• Provide courses to students to increase their employability.

• I have already started working with the Career Connect team to introduce my 'Preparing You' campaign.

  • A campaign that will look at calling all final year students to offer advice and support for further study and work,

  • A week-long event of themed webinars, starting with ‘Applying for opportunities’ in June with a ‘graduate careers pack’ will be sent to every final year student with webinars in June and July to complement and reinforce the packs’ printed resources

Sports and Societies

Sports and Societies are a huge part of university life, it's where you meet like-minded people and can spend hours of your university life, but sometimes attracting new people can be a bit of a challenge.

• I want to create an inclusion framework, with tasks or goals for each team and society to hit, upon completion the student group will receive an endorsement and a digital badge.

• I want teams and societies to sign up to 'Officer Spot-Light', where the society signs up and an officer will attend a session and then write a blog or vlog for the website.

• Over the first months back I want to shine a light on your teams, creating a series of one-off blog articles through the union website giving you a chance to advertise yourself and attract new talent.

• I also want to encourage an inclusion campaign when we get closer to pride month, like the rainbow laces scheme from Stonewall, but I understand some people may not want to mess with their kits, so I will look at other options so all can be included such as vinyl transfer stickers.

Guys, Gals and Non-binary pals

I am a Cis gay man, and in my time of running the LGBT+ network I tried to educate myself on trans issue to the best of my ability, I am not going to sit here and tell the trans and non-binary community what they need, because quite simply, I do not have that lived experience. I believe that for trans issues, cis people, like myself, should wait for trans people to tell us what they want help with or how they want to be supported, and then give it 110%.
 

• I want to assemble a panel of engaged students that are trans and non-binary people to go over, review and rewrite the Transgender inclusion policy, bringing it Update and appropriate for new students joining the university in 2023.

• I also want to work to bring back the LGBT+ conference, bringing together many universities from the UK to share and grow through best practices for students on campuses.

• Since donation rules have changed, this year I started to look at how students at Staffs can help and helped to organise to first blood drive on campus.

Inclusive Facilities 

We aim to make our campus welcoming and inclusive to all students, staff and visitors.

• I want more all-gender toilets on campus, and I want the university to guarantee them in every new building

  • Within these spaces, there can be shower stalls/rooms provided for commuting students, accessible toilets, and baby changing facilities for parent students eliminating the necessity to use valuable disability toilets.

• In every building, there should be at least one true disabled toilet on each floor and multiple ambient disabled stalls.

• A breastfeeding space for those parents that want a space or room for breastfeeding, there should be one available to them!

I am not campaigning for the elimination of gendered toilets on campus but designating all-gender toilets on campus is a positive and welcoming message to trans and non-binary individuals and provides inclusive facilities for types of family units.

An Evolving Campus

As our campus evolves with new buildings so should the accommodation that is offered and the types of accommodation! Some suggestions here can be implemented for next year if they're successful, whilst others show the importance of our student’s voice whilst our campus is being developed by the university.

• Working with GreenPad I want to produce a guide for all students to access to help avoid common issues that affect a lot of students when they leave halls whether they're renting privately or through GreenPad!

• LGBT+ accommodation. It is a concept that has been trialled at Sheffield University and has succeeded despite negative media at the beginning. The process would be painless, an option on the application form for accommodation?

• Couples! Many universities offer accommodation for you! Why shouldn't Staffs as well

•  Families! During my time here I have met so many students with children, and I think it's great! Much in the same way as the couples' flats, I want to be able to talk to the university about installing families accommodations, in 'family zones'.

• Mature Students and Post Grads! Going into student accommodation might not be very appealing when you consider the lifestyle differences of a fresher. I want to propose to the university a quiet zone, this could be included with the family zone.

• People with Additional Requirements! I want to ensure that anything needs you have can be met by the university! Be that the facility for a live-in carer, appropriate changes made for those that have been diagnosed with mental or physical health conditions and feel they need the support, specially stored medication should never be an issue on campus with the ability to access it 24/7 is necessary.

• I also want the university to commit to having emergency accommodation available for any legitimate welfare or safety concern for any student

• Facilities for New Halls. Practical vending machines should be on-site and available 24/7 as well as very accommodation having its own washing facilities, eliminating the need for pay as you go washers

Consuming Campus

We all love a bit of Welcome Week! We have the established events that everyone expects, the move-in party, Gobble and whatever is on a Friday night! They're great and they're busy. but there is more to Student life and we need to be safe on campus.

• More Alcohol-free events in the daytime and evening

• CCTV refit of LRV to increase safety

• Introduce the ‘Angel Shot’ an extension of Ask Angela

• Spike Testing Kits for your drinks on a night out

• Review the Union’s menu’s at all outlets

• I want to trial an event called ‘Friday Pres’, have the kitchen open doing dirty loaded fries and burgers, have the pitchers we know and love at Ember, have tables and music, running from 5 until 9:30, meet your mates and chill out after a week at university then go get ready for your night out, wherever it may be!

Sustainability 

The University needs to acknowledge that it needs to act on the causes and impact of climate change, this can only be done effectively one way, by declaring a Climate Emergency.

• The University needs to assign a senior manager who can take action across departments and structures to assess the key contributing causes and local impacts of climate change to inform focus areas, in turn, this will identify what needs to be done, by when, to meet the target. Increased collaboration and engagement with a wide variety of organisations, individuals, businesses and local authorities will be necessary for the local area as well as the prioritisation of tasks and actions which will be essential, to identify what will have the biggest impact and how to adapt to unavoidable risks.  There will be existing actions and functions at the university that can be modified to help achieve our aims! A business case with a detailed implementation must be presented and then stuck to so results can be monitored and used to drive progress.

Student Staff!

I want to be able to give something back to you by organising 'social days' on and off campus, this could range from more staff parties to arranging events that are away from campus and will require feedback from you!