In the Student Council, the Black and Minority Ethnic Groups Representative is tasked with representing every minority ethnic group in the university.
I propose that this role is split to individually represent various ethnic groups. My suggestion for the classification would be Black Students Representative, Asian Students Representative and Arab Students Representative as this would be in line with the current UK government ethnicity grouping.
The reason for this is one representative cannot accurately take care of the interests of such a vast group of people. As the current BAME rep, I have felt inadequate to do this to the best of my ability as I feel that every group deserves to be at the top of their representative’s mind. I am a black woman, my experiences are that of a black person. The experiences of people of other ethnic groups are unique and valid in their own way and deserve to be fully represented and looked after by the council.
I acknowledge that there are ethnic groups that may not be represented by my proposed classification, so I would also like for any other ethnic group to be able to request representation if they so desire.
I also acknowledge that these roles may not be filled every year, similar to any role in the Student Council currently but representation means putting the systems in place.
The days of non-white people being placed under a reductive umbrella should be long gone and the separation of this role would be the Student Council’s step in the right direction.