Ali gibson for vp activities and development
Hi there! Ali, any/all pronouns running to be your next VP Activities & Development. I’m a past Sabbatical Officer, having been VP Health in the year that brought you rent rebates, Town Halls and the successful end to the Scrap the Cap campaign, and a multiple-times student leader. I’m currently the President of KCL Radio and KCL Psychiatry Society, a Hubs student staff member, a committee member of the LGBT Society, Liberate KCL and the Medical Students’ Association, and a third-year medical student. My past work has also included getting King’s to sign the Ban Conversion Therapy charter for medical schools, pushing for senior SU and university staff to include pronouns when introducing themselves (sorely lost since departing the role), setting the ground work for a collaborative approach to representation which was finally achieved this year and advocating a supportive statement to students with connections to Palestine during times of crisis. My whole ethos has been about Democratising, Demarketising, Decolonising and Diversifying our university and Students’ Union, and this is the work I will continue in post.
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CORE PROMISES
“A cardinal tenet of democracy is that people must be free to choose freely whom they want to support.”
– Archbishop Desmond Tutu
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KCLSU has over 350 student groups, whose calls for better response times and funding go unnoticed. My aims to improve the respect given to students voices include:
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Revolutionising the Activities, Finance and Representation teams to make sure their services to student groups are timely and that you can reach them when you need them
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Rework the Community Leaders Training to more than a policy zone – so you can find the information and contacts you need if you want to run a ball, a conference, or a meeting with university management
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Re-introduce the Town Halls that I started as a previous VP, some with an Activities focus, so you can raise pressing matters such as when there were issues with Storage spaces this year.
“Never give nor take an excuse [especially from kcl management]”
- Florence Nightingale
Everyone of any background or identity has the right to be part of societies, clubs, networks and academic associations whilst at King’s. I’ll work to this goal by:
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Introducing a cost-of-living access fund with no evidence requirements, provided by KCLSU, so no student is prevented from joining a group due to financial worries
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Re-introduce part-time paid Liberation Officers to represent our Black, Disabled, Neurodiverse, LGBT+, Trans+ and Parents & Carer students, Students of Colour, Students of different faiths and many more where the interest in the student body lies; to represent your needs both in creating socials but also campaigns for your rights
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Revisit the Safe Space Policy, bringing in multiple aspects of providing a safe space for students on campus. These include actioning the remaining aspects of the Stop The Music campaign, ensuring sexual harassment complaints have a solid policy to support those making the complaint and tackle harassment outright, combatting racism within SU and university processes and interactions with staff, providing a community approach to tackling controversial topics on campus.
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Calling for an Accessibility Audit of KCLSU and KCL, following the campaign Adjust KCL and campaign meetings where senior university management have agreed to this in principle – they need to follow their duty to cater for all and not let inconsiderately-designed buildings and systemically ineffective services from ruining students’ education.
“Never give nor take an excuse [especially from kcl management]”
- Florence Nightingale
Our groups need support to operate, which takes the form of reaching out to speakers, seeking sponsorship and/or using resources for promotion and core activities. We also have a duty to educate fellow students about the origins of institutions like King’s, and build a better world for all together. My manifesto aims:
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Students’ Unions used to be a place of action and change-making, but now we receive statements in times of crisis to look after our mental health. I will push for a more activist and decisive stance, putting KCLSU effort to raise funds and awareness for causes that matter to our student population.
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Continue the Dismantle King’s Colonial Legacy campaign, branching out into anti-colonial resource hubs for groups to pull on for events and education to address our own history
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Introduce an Ethical Sponsorship Policy, and support groups to connect with local businesses particularly those led by Black, Disabled and LGBTQ+ folks
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Ensure KCLSU has a sound Sustainability approach that includes student groups, to minimise our impact on the environment and address the mounting climate crisis
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Through the Safe Space Policy, supporting student groups to invite grassroots organisations and speakers doing work in our communities to improve our world for everyone
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Working with Education Officers to tackle colonial roots in our courses, from a perspective of developing our students to be leaders of the future
Running societies is expensive, which I know from personal experience! On top of the costs of university and living in London. Our university holds thousands of pounds in its infrastructure, and our Students’ Union receives the biggest block grant from the university out of all SUs in the UK. The money is there, and it needs to go to student action and effort. My aims therefore are:
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Review the Development Fund – how much money is actually there, and where can other money be re-prioritised to ensure all groups get what they need. Too many times have groups I’ve been part of a group who received £25 for all of our work to be done from!
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As under Democratise, Finance reply times are far slower than they should be, meaning students can be left out of pockets for months. Additionally student staff have had to wait for considerable time to have simple pay matters sorted. Staff need protected time to address the needs of student groups.
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Expand the Soldo card trial, currently available to 20 groups, to reduce the need for groups to approach Finance and lessen the pressure on those processes.
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Work with university departments and local businesses to find novel funding and sponsorship opportunities, that follow decolonised principles, for groups to be able to access