EDI at the Association – a useful guide to a more inclusive Students Association
At the heart of our vibrant student community is a wonderful tapestry of unique backgrounds and experiences. At the Students Association, we are all about celebrating your differences and empowering you to advocate for positive change should you face any barriers during your student journey.
To show the current Student Leadership’s commitment to making the Association and the OU a safe and accessible place for everyone, they have chosen Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility (EDIA) as one of their priority areas for their current term. You can learn more about what this entails on the Association's website.
As well as all Student Leadership members being committed to supporting students, don’t forget that your Vice President EDI, Natalie Baker, is your dedicated advocate for all things related to EDIA. You can find Natalie’s contact details on her profile page.
The Association also supports three student-led Support Groups headed by Committees consisting of student volunteers: the Disabled Student Group, OU Pride and the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Group. To find out more about each Group head to our Support Group page where you’ll be able to sign up for the Groups to get regular updates and take part in any elections, read the bios of the Committees, and find out what’s on.
A recent collaboration project involving all Groups has just launched a quarterly EDI newsletter. Our aim with this new initiative is to bring you a quarterly summary of insights, updates, and opportunities related to making the Association and the OU a more welcoming and equitable environment for all. The EDI newsletter will be published on our website and will be located in the Support Groups’ page. You will be able to click on the Newsletter tile to view it. If you are already a member of any of the three existing student-led Groups, you will automatically receive a reminder of the newsletter for each edition. You will also receive a reminder as part of the Association’s main newsletter, you can sign up for this using this form.
To provide further opportunities to explore topics related to EDI that are relevant to our students, we are also embarking on a new project coined “EDI Roadshow”. We will tour through different subjects in the coming year and bring them to you to learn about and discuss. To kick us off, we start with a small video project which you can learn about more in our latest EDI Newsletter and invite you to take part and help us showcase the unique identities of our students.
If you would like to make a submission to the video project or send us a comment or question on any other topic, email us at oustudents-support@open.ac.uk.