On 20th January 2021, it was an- nounced that a new role was being added to the Sabbatical Officers team — a full-time Equity Officer. Subse- quently, the roles of Women’s Officer, along with the Black and Minority Ethnic Student’s Officer, will be made part-time and an Equalities unit will be established that will “provide[s] the support our liberation officers lacked for years,” reported the Student’s Un- ion website.
These changes were proposed and approved after an impartial consulta- tion by a third-party group, MiraGold, on representation at UCL. The agency conducted surveys and focus groups with “students, current and previously elected officers, and the people at UCL that students and officers are seeking to influence” and consequently suggested several improvements to the structure of the SU for a more effective and rep- resentative body.
Although these changes were unani- mously agreed upon by the Union Executive Committee, they did raise some doubts about what they imply — by making liberation officers part- time, is the SU taking the focus away from their agendas? Or was it simply a logistical move to better allocate re- sources to provide “more support for campaigns, casework and student-led projects” to tackle issues of racism, har- assment and discrimination?
A Student’s Union spokesperson explained to the Cheese Grater Maga- zine that the previous model propelled an uneven distribution of workload, where Liberation Officers were asked to take on “detailed casework” along with the responsibilities of their role, which created a “legal risk as well as an emo- tional burden” for them. Therefore, the new structure will ensure their “libera- tion work is sustainable, fully support- ed, and sets us on a positive path for the future.”
All in all, the conception of an Equalities unit is promising. With tan- gible resources now at their disposal, liberation officers should finally be able to deliver on their promises on improv- ing the accessibility of campus, closing the diversity gap and decolonising the curriculum, among others.