Hi everyone!
With Welcome Week upon us we wanted to welcome back our student community – and welcome thousands of new faces, too. We also want to introduce ourselves – we are your LUU Student Exec, and last spring students elected us to represent their voices and interests at the University, Union and beyond.
Over the next few weeks you’ll be seeing lots of ways to engage in student communities, and we wanted to take the time to update you on the work we have been doing on community cohesion following the tensions we saw in the last academic year – on campus and off it. As you’ll know, the conflict we are still seeing in the Middle East has deeply impacted our student community. We have all witnessed the horror of the war and are personally devastated by the loss of innocent lives, and the impact on countless families. Last term, we saw protests and vigils on campus to recognise the loss of life and the grief that so many of us are united in.
We have been in discussions over the summer with the University, LUU society PSG (Palestine Solidarity Group) and student campaigners in working groups around the University’s Chaplaincy functions and their industrial and educational partnerships. This also actively includes student leaders from our JSoc (Jewish Society). We are looking forward to working with the University as they progress this into real action and support for students affected by the devastation across the Middle East. You can read the University’s updates here. As your Student Exec, we are committed to updating you all on developments as they arise via this blog.
As part of our induction over the summer, we took part in training on antisemitism, Islamophobia and dealing with hate crimes, to make sure we have the tools we need to support and protect our diverse community. Sadly, many of our communities, especially Muslim and Jewish students have felt unsafe due to the conflict abroad, and recently, the Islamophobic and racist far-right riots here in the UK. Our priority is to ensure a safe and secure campus for all, and representatives across LUU are engaging with the University’s Antisemitism Working Group and Islamophobia Working Group to help achieve this.
We know many students want to join in and stand in solidarity with global movements. We work closely with our clubs and societies to make sure that their events, campaigns, protests and vigils are as safe and effective for all involved as possible. If you would like to make your voice heard about any of the issues mentioned in this blog, check out our list of authorised LUU groups to join in their activities, or submit a policy idea.
Our Help & Support service is available to any students who have been affected by these events. Hate crimes, including acts of Islamophobia and antisemitism should never be tolerated and should be reported via the University’s Student Information Service. Downloading the Safe Zone App can also be a useful tool for important and accurate safety updates.
Working for a peaceful and unified campus community will be our focus all-year around, and we know all students who come to Leeds deserve this to be a time you love. We hope you all have a great start to the new term and look forward to meeting as many of you as possible throughout the year ahead.
Best wishes,
Your LUU Student Executive 24/25
