Vice President of Community Role

Your elected representatives here at DUSA and the University of Dundee work hard to bring out changes and add to a better student experience. A lot of events take place at DUSA and the University which leads to constructive conversations in the interest of the students. Besides the academic commitments and much behind-the-scenes work, your executives dedicatedly attend the events and sometimes initiate social events showcasing students’ skills and talent. Here are a few events your Vice President of Community, Jazmine Bennett, attended and conducted in the month of November.

University Strategy Launch

Jazmine attended the university strategy launch discussion and put forward questions to the Principal about what they felt were contradictions between the strategy and the views he expressed and the issues in the division of Humanities. In the conversation, the University of Dundee Principal, Ian Gillespie emphasised the importance of historical education, related explicitly to the issues raised in the Founders’ Report, while there is no second-year History module taking place next semester; and he emphasised a desire to keep the University’s successes in Dundee (this is part of the strategy) but that is not reflected in Humanities where taught postgraduate courses have been cut such as MLitt English Literature and Continental Philosophy and where others, such as MLitt Creative Writing and MLitt English Studies will be cut, leaving no provision for taught postgraduate study in any Humanities subjects out with History and Archives and Information.

Student Representative Council

Students Reps work together to make sure to provide the best student experiences. SRC meeting was held on 15 November, alongside most of the Exec, where Jazmine seconded two motions (one around supporting Trans Day of Remembrance and one around implementing a Student Parent Rep) and spoke about the importance of championing trans issues (and it’s significance as last week was Transgender Awareness Week). Hasan Mahmood (Vice President of Fundraising) also spoke up about the motion to implement multi-faith prayer spaces. (There’s video footage of this).

Winter Graduation

We had a winter graduation ceremony on 17 and 18 November and your Vice President alongside the other executives attended the event. It was a great moment to see so many happy faces.

DUSA’s Got Talent

On 18 November, we had a smashing event – “DUSA’s Got Talent” which was organised by Jazmine and was presented by Hasan and André who performed an impressive rendition of Luciano Pavarottii. As a student and DUSA staff, I stepped forward and presented a song in Hindi – and represented an Indian dance form. The event was lively and we had so many amazing performances by students who presented different skills in the most creative ways. This event is being hosted again on 28th February 23 and you can register a ticket now!

Transgender Day of Remembrance Vigil

20 November is marked as the Transgender Day of Remembrance, in remembrance of the people who lost their lives as a result of transphobia. The DUSA staff and students, alongside the wider community, gathered at ‘The School of Life Sciences Medicinal Garden’ to commemorate the transgender people who have died as a result of brutal acts of anti-transgender violence, stigma, and suicide.

Jazmine Bennett is a Vice President of the Community. Jazmine can support you with campaigns, society activities, and engaging you in DUSA services. They’re particularly keen to boost the representation and engagement of marginalised groups, such as BAME and LGBT students. They’re also here to help you develop your skills and leadership, through societies and representative structures like the Student Representative Council (SRC). They’re all about improving and boosting your student experience and making you feel like a part of our global student community.

Send them an email or find them in the Hive on Floor 4. email: vpc@dusa.co.uk