Students’ Union Report

BY ROSALYN FRANCES

It is fair to say that this year has been an eventful one for the Lucy Cavendish Students’ Union. The enthusiasm and dedication of the fantastic President and Vice-President Dana Flaherty and Jana Sadovska have certainly paid off, not least with regards to the large and committed SU they inspired and led. This year’s union was notable in that nearly all positions were filled, and a number of new positions were also added. We are grateful to the tremendous student union committee for all their hard work this year.

Michaelmas term began with an exciting programme of Fresher’s Week events, following on from the Bridging Week run for the first time this year by the College. The events were diverse, including ‘freshers’ speed-dating’ to the enticingly named ‘meet the guinea-pigs’. Opportunities were also available to have professional headshots taken for academic profiles. Continuing the legacy of exPresident Ida Svenonius, first years were welcomed into the College with a top secret initiation ceremony, devised to encourage pride and a sense of belonging in the incoming students.

As the incoming committee were inducted, the term continued to be high energy. Dana encouraged each and every committee member to take an active role in generating activities for the termly programme. These ranged from socials like ‘Afro-beats and Plantain chips’, organised by the fantastic BME officer Miriam, to an event discussing ‘Routes to Cambridge’ coordinated by our wonderful Access rep Akpomena. The ever popular grad talks, organised by Graduate Officer Sabine, also returned, and the student body was treated to many an academic research delight. Our Green Officer Rosa was also very engaged, dreaming up popular green film nights, including David Attenborough screenings. Rosa was persistent in encouraging students to take part in the student switch off challenge, a termly inter-collegiate environmental competition. Subsequently the college was victorious, winning a fabulous booty of 50 tubs of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream to share.

This year also saw the strengthening of international lunches on Thursdays, organised by proactive International Officer Vega, who also created bi-weekly movie nights. Whilst LGBT Officer Hanine coordinated regular film nights and reading groups. A successful interfaith event entitled ‘Three Faiths, One God’ was held by Rahma, our Faith Officer – in which students from Abrahamic faith backgrounds gathered to discuss their experiences, both shared and differing. Social events certainly did not disappoint as we were also graced with a fabulous Halloween bop based on the celebrated Tim Burton movie ‘The Nightmare before Christmas’.

The second term brought more action and excitement, including one of Lucy Cav’s famous ceilidhs, a favourite of President Dana. This is also the term in which students ethical exploits were most pronounced – a cascade of events were arranged for Pink Week, the University-wide campaign week for breast cancer awareness. Green Week brought further colour to our calendar, as Rosa arranged more screenings, discussions and actions to generate greater climate awareness.

For Chinese New Year, Koh our Food and Accommodation Officer held a celebratory evening at College, replete with traditional snacks. Her tireless work in communications regarding student rents, food options at Formals and graduate accommodation is a massive contribution for which we are most grateful. Whilst a panel event for eating disorders awareness week, was held by our Welfare Officer Lim Eng and I, in which speakers from across the Cambridge community came to the College to challenge common myths.

It is important to note the hard work that was put in by Dana and Jana in this term into reforming the student union structure and constitution. The President and VicePresident devised a new decentralised plan, reducing pressure on the President, and creating working groups for pertinent areas including welfare, administration and events. This will hopefully improve the efficiency of the union going forward, and we are so grateful to Dana for taking this initiative in her busy final year of university. As Lent term concluded, the students handed over to Jana as the new Student Union President, Rosie as her capable Vice-President, and a new executive committee.

Whilst the year did not end as we had hoped, and we were not able to congregate as we might have wished in Easter term, I for one am confident that brighter things are in the pipeline. Lucy Cavendish students and union members, you have truly excelled yourselves and you should all be immensely proud of your achievements this year.