Community Officer End of year report

Officer / Michael Abiodun Olatokun
Session / 4

1.  Objectives

Being where students are: extending the activities, events and support offered by the Union to all of our teaching and living spaces to integrate satellite campuses.
Context / Several pieces of our research, including How We Can Help (2012) and Supporting The Student Experience at Third Party Halls (2013) have shown that the student experience in third party accommodation is not as well supported as those in halls on campus. There is an inequality of provision that is accentuated by geographical differences. As Community Officer, I was proactive in enhancing the student experience for students both off, and on, campus.
Progress / ·  Negotiated a final panel of appeal for dispute resolution at Broadgate Park that will contain representation from the Students’ Union. There is also a trial of new mattresses at Broadgate which will hopefully provide protection from liquid spillages.
·  Successfully persuaded the university to create new central guidance on University packed lunches, improving quality for all.
·  Extended the timeframe that students can use their mealcards in halls until 10pm.
·  Student Advice and I stopped the refurbishment of Melton Hall kitchens during a disruptive period for students; Ramadhan and exam/ coursework submission time.
  • I am writing a proposal for the Halls Package Review Group to create a new catering accommodation package that will contain rollover credit. This would also contain the option of a mealcard that could be used by students in off-campus halls.

Time Scale until students see results / ·  Students have already experienced the benefits of the improvements within the food offer and the representations made around deposit adjudication.
  • The rollover credit proposal would take effect from 2016/2017.

How will the success be measured /
  • Successive How Did We Do? Surveys.

Achieving reasonable power compared to landlords in a buyers’ market: drive up quality and housing standards in private accommodation
Context / There is a surplus of bedspaces when compared to the amount of students that need them in the city. In spite of this, students still feel a frenzied rush to secure housing very early, doing little research into other houses that they could have secured later on that are often of better quality. Landlords also compel students to sign contracts on the spot, deceptively remarking that they have more interest in their properties than is realistic. Students are also not bartering to secure preferential terms in their private contracts, when they have the power to find other accommodation in many cases. I want to reverse this and make the landlords obsequious to our needs, rather than the other way round.
Progress / ·  Successfully lobbied the council to increase the amount of resources it uses in enforcing its additional licensing regime.
·  Represented student opinion throughout the year in discussions over our relationship with the student housing charity Unipol, and represented student views over alternative provision.
·  Developed student housing campaigns with the NUS Vice President for Welfare and Community.
·  Shot videos for the Love Your Home househunting campaign and advertised these to students.
  • Continued meetings with the Nottingham Action Group to extend the Students' Union's relationship with community stakeholders.

Time Scale until students see results /
  • I will recommend that Sam Peake, my successor, actively seeks feedback on the student househunting journey during his term of office. A “Love Your Home” survey would be useful to achieve this end.

Achieving the political potential of our students: get student issues onto the manifestos of leading election candidates for 2015
Context / The student body in Nottingham South represents 33% of the population of the constituency, according to NUS figures. However, we have a comparatively weak political position compared to the economic influence that we exert over the area; the (Town and Country Planning Order 1995) Article 4 direction and the introduction of parking permit costs exclusively in student areas.
Progress / ·  Bike racks were installed outside Derby Road and Lenton Boulevard Sainsbury’s stores.
·  Parking permit exemptions were secured for students with far-off placements; there is now a space on the Council’s application form where students can claim an exemption, and so far 47 have been successful.
·  Trained a team of student activists, collated issues from hundreds of one-to-one conversations and created a list of student asks called The Student Manifesto. All local councillors and Nottingham MPs pledged to support the document and are publicly accountable to it. The winning council party produced a “Student Manifesto” that contained very similar themes and issues to ours. We have already seen a multi-million pound commitment to cycling in the city and the promised of graduate and internship opportunities for students.
  • I passed the Student Manifesto as a policy at Students’ Union Council. The Union is now mandated to continue the work to its natural conclusion; near to full implementation of the aims of the document.

Time Scale until students see results / ·  Students have already been given parking permit exemptions.
·  The election saw candidates that supported the manifesto succeed; it may have influenced voter behaviour.
  • See below.

How will the success be measured /
  • Full implementation of all of the manifesto over the course of the next city council term.

Achieving the political potential of our students: encourage student voting
Context / The 18-24 age range, which makes up the broad majority of our student body, seldom vote at elections. This creates the above issue.
Progress / ·  Diligently worked throughout the year to encourage students to vote. Activities included: securing £3,000 from the NUS to support voter registration and turnout activities, lobbying (unsuccessfully) University officials to integrate voter registration into enrolment and launching a “register and nominate” campaign.
  • I wrote blogs, performed interviews, appeared on regional television and helped to create a large event on National Voter Registration Day.

Time Scale until students see results /
  • This is difficult to analyse. Eventually, the public debate should elevate youth issues.

How will the success be measured / ·  The Union is still interrogating the data collected from elections.
  • It is likely that we did not achieve the strategic target of 8,000 student voters in the general and local elections.

2.  Remit

Meetings

Meeting / What Happened / The Result
Students' Union Transport Working Group / Formed this group to review our transport offer. It contains representation from all student living and academic sites. / This group has horizon-scanned and analysed issues in student transport, making recommendations such as Hopper Bus deployment and political lobbying.
Nottingham Citizens General Election Accountability Assembly / Harry, Kiri and I spoke at the largest event in the general election season; an assembly of 2,300 at the Royal Concert Hall. / The leader of the council pledged to implement standards for landlords in the city.
Halls Package Review Group / I was chosen to attend a group that would change and amend the university accommodation and catering packages. / I have been given the opportunity to propose a paper on rollover credit, which will go the board in June.
Project Transform Organisational Design Working Group / The university is readjusting the provision of student support and non-academic infrastructure. / I have been pushing for the implementation of student service hubs where students are in this meeting. Many of them have been accepted.
PresComm / The JCR Presidents' Committee meeting. / This has been a key opportunity for me to consult JCR presidents. Their views have been fed directly into my paper on Rollover credit and we collaborated to pass an autonomous policy for research into student alcohol consumption in halls.
NUS Welfare and Community Conference / Held the NUS Vice President for Welfare to account on housing campaigns. / I was able to take knowledge on housing trends back to Nottingham to assist the production and development of Love Your Home.
Nottingham Citizens Leadership Group and Citizens UK Council / As a leader of Nottingham Citizens, I was also allowed to sit on the national council of Citizens UK. / I led this organisation to create an ambitious general election strategy. We held an end-of-year assembly at the Westminster Central Hall with over 2,000 people in attendance, lobbying the deputy prime minister and leader of the opposition.
Student Watch Meeting / The concept of a student neighbourhood watch has been developed over a series of meetings. / We chose to suspend the project. UoN students on the chosen pilot streets did not want to run the project in the end.
Democratic Procedures Committee / I was chosen as the officer to sit on this committee, and then was elected chair in its first meeting. / I have been the most efficient and successful chairman of DPC, passing many amendments to the byelaws that have rationalised the processes by which we run. A key list can be seen here: http://www.su.nottingham.ac.uk/pageassets/make-the-change/democracy/agendasminutesandreports/Minutes-of-Democratic-Procedures-Committee-18th-Nov-2014.pdf
JCR Vice President Forum / The Community Officer was judged by the team to be the best placed direct officer link to the vice presidents of Jcrs. As such, they will now co-host a forum of JCR vice presidents with an elected JCR VP from the year before. / I was given an awareness of the continued relevance of rollover credit as a student issue, and begun lobbying on the issue, culminating in my seminal report.
Councillor meeting / I have attended meetings with many councillors this year. / More graduate opportunities for students, commitments to all asks of the student manifesto, including resources for the enforcement of tenant problems.