The Richardson Resignation Campaign
In 2023 UEA was facing a huge financial crisis, finding themselves over £30 million in debt! Big redundancies were planned, with some faculties facing 30% cuts. This was totally unacceptable and was going to have a huge impact on students education. I used my platform to call out the Vice Chancellors flagrant use of expenses, and called for him to either take a 30% pay cut or resign.
Within days Dogdy Dave was feeling the pressure mount from students and the campus unions. Just two weeks into our campaign Richardson stepped down from his role.
Student Day of Action!
With Richardson gone, the financial deficit still remained. The planned cuts were devastating, particularly in the Humanities. In co-ordination with the UCU I helped plan a student day of action. It rallied a broad coalition of people to say simply - enough is enough.
After months of campaigning, it was announced that UEA had cancelled the initial cuts and that no compulsory redundancies were to be made. This was a huge victory for UEA and the campaign. It also encouraged the campus unions to work in closer coordination on campus-wide issues going forward!
How to Survive Pharmaggedon
In the summer of 2023 Boots withdrew from running the pharmacy on the UEA campus. This left 17 thousand students without a designated pharmacy, including many vulnerable members of our community. By ending the contract in the summer, this left new students unaware that the university they applied to no longer had the services that were advertised. Since then I have been campaigning to open a new independent pharmacy, and have worked with an applicant pharmacist to collect data and boost the argument for a new provider. These PSCE Market Entry programs are slow at best and gruellingly painful at the worst, and so in the meantime I compiled a set of key pharmaceutical information for students.
I'm waiting to hear a response on the pharmacy campaign imminently. I am hoping to have the campus pharmacy reopen by 2025!
Free Flat Feast!
This year I planned a free meal giveaway, with two meal choices - one gluten free and one vegan! In total we gave away over 1000 meals in just over an afternoon. The demand was staggering, and also indicative of the crisis that students currently find themselves. Even if its a small gesture, those meals could have helped a student gap the bridge between foodshops. Going forward, I'm hoping to extend the provisions available to students, and am hoping to open a foodbank soon!
Social Media Campaigning
I've used my platform to share the struggles faced by different groups of students across the UK. In my role I do my best to utilise my privilege to maximise the voice of others.
Disability History Month - A Day in a Wheelchair
This DHM I worked with our Disability part-time officer Holly Summers to highlight the poor experience that wheelchair users have on a campus designed in the 1960s, with accessibility not even an after thought. The videos received very positive responses from disabled students on campus and campaigners across the country. I have used these videos as leverage to make UEA a more accessible space. The lifts work much better and much more frequently now!
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