Thursday 29-07-2021 - 15:02

I have felt issues deeply and wanted to resolve them. 

Anna Marshall reflects on her year as Opportunities Officer

I’ve never worked in Dunelm House, the Students’ Union building, which has meant reflecting on my year as Opportunities Officer is difficult to disentangle from my year living in a student house. There have been moments where I couldn’t get to a meeting until I’d broken through my bedroom door because the doorknob was malfunctioning, and there have been days I’ve had to sit in rainy bikesheds outside closed university buildings because our WiFi had been cut off – so classic student life stuff has been especially pervasive into the job this year. This isn’t helped by my social life quickly becoming also entangled – I’ve had the privilege to befriend many other Durham sabbatical officers this year, who have been a lifeline when a project has hit speedbumps and I’m struggling to see a way through on my own. 

I started doing some of the work for this role a month early and came into a fiery hotbed of raw emotion on all sides – doing open student Zoom call focus groups, but also going on multiple walks a day with individuals who wanted to tell me their perspective on the Students’ Union. I’ve tweeted before about how impractical I find the idea of a professional life separated from personal life – I have felt issues deeply and wanted to resolve them. When this issue is something like racism, student accommodation, sexism, the environment, or mental health, I’m never going to approach it with a clinical objectivity – these issues are just too important.  Sometimes things require a lot of brainwork, which has to seep into every area of your life so you can have a eureka moment whilst washing your hair.

Building the pressure to be a more sustainable University and SU

I’m proud to be in the initial planning stages of Durham’s first paper-free freshers’ fair. I’ve attended multiple top-level discussions on sustainability this year with the University, which led to me being part of a working group to suggest an action plan. It’s been a pleasure to work with Greenspace, who are a constant source of optimism and expertise in this University. It’s looking like there will be a big increase in budgeting for tackling the environmental crisis next year, and I’m really excited to hear where things go once I’ve left Durham. It’s been crucial to have a student voice consistently pressuring for climate action at every level, so I’m delighted to have recently passed a motion through Assembly creating a climate emergency action group. I hope this group will become a consistent source of student pressure on both the SU and the University to be more environmentally sustainable. You can express an interest in joining this if you like, either through contacting me or emailing dsu.governance@durham.ac.uk.

Laying the groundwork for democracy changes

On the topic of governance, the biggest project here is the democracy review, which I had initially planned to have held a referendum on by now. However, the changes which our data suggested were definitely wanted were not extreme enough to necessitate a referendum, so instead we’ve been taking a series of motions through Assembly. This will cause slow change, but what is clear is the democracy review wheels have started to roll and will be picking up speed next year, with the potential for change only increasing. The initial groundwork has been laid, now it is up to the next generation of students to decide how to continue this process.

Making is not as glamorous as you might think 

I’ve learnt that one of the biggest things students can do to make change is turn up and communicate clearly. If you want to make change in this university, often it’s a case of sending a direct email (politeness is key), and then turning up to subsequent meetings. We often jump to the endgame point of protest (the sexy part of activism) when what would have been far more productive would have been to open a dialogue. In the national media, we often only hear about the protests, but a good protest will only happen when an attempt has been made to have productive dialogue and the offending party has been given a chance to compromise.

It’s been my absolute privilege to be your Opportunities Officer for 2020/21. We’ve weathered the storm of 2020, and kept our SU intact. Thank you to everyone I have been able to interact with, support and consult over the past year, it’s truly been a whirlwind.