Elliot Beever

Disability and Accessibility

 

• Improving accessibility within the university for our neurodivergent students both in and outside of our classrooms, especially working to ensure they are able to participate in all walks of university life with ease, and attend annual events like the freshers fairs and careers fairs with ease. 

• Relaunch Disable the Label! Disable the Label was an amazing campaign highlighting disabled students and their achievements as well as the accessibility issues faced at Queens. It is vital we run this and improve it yet again to ensure that issues are highlighted and brought to the front.

• Working on a review of the current policies in Queen’s such as the ‘fit to sit’ policy and practices in schools around exceptional circumstances to accommodate disabled students’ needs as well as students with mental health issues.

 

LGBT+ Students

As an LGBT+ Student, current LGBT+ Officer and former president of the LGBT+ Society at Queens, making sure that LGBT+ students are treated equally and fairly is a top priority, but also making sure that we highlight the achievements and milestones we’ve hit as LGBT+ people, with Northern Ireland finally having equal marriage.

 

• Continuing the work on making our university a safe space for LGBT+ students, and trans students in particular, by working to protect and respect people’s identities, pronouns and names, especially in making sure students are not outed because of the way information in the university is shared.

• Our spaces within the university need to be seriously looked at, in particular being Student Accomodation provided by Queens, changing facilities within the PEC and making sporting societies and more trans friendly. 

• Working to make sure that gender neutral facilities are available on campus outside of bathrooms for disabled people, especially in new builds such as the extension of the library and the biomedical center.

 

International Students

 

As our international community in Queen’s grows, we face an urgent need for more services focussed on their student experience, policies to accommodate and help them integrate into our wider student body. 

 

• The conversation around mental health within the international community is far behind in terms of the other work within the university on the student mental health crisis. Culturally competent mental-health policy and services need to be introduced to cater to their needs. 

• Improving awareness of existing mechanisms for international students to report hatecrime or discrimination they face within the university, as well as working with Queen’s to improve cultural competency training around dealing with issues specific to the international community.

• Revamping the International Buddy Scheme which has helped build a community of international students. To accommodate the growing numbers of international students and the demand for more from the programme we need to review, expand and reshape the buddy scheme to center its focus on building meaningful connections for international students to provide them a source of support. 

 

Irish Language

As a Welsh speaker, I am proud of the culture and identity my language represents for me that the Welsh Language Act protects. Therefore, the work of Irish Language Activists has always been close to my heart. I have supported and been a proud ally of Queen’s students calling for bilingual signage as well as believing that the university needs to support the growth of the language on campus and in wider society.  

 

• Conversations around the use of the Irish Language in the university have become deeply politicised- we need to work on normalising Irish language and working to create a positive academic and political discourse on the use of the language, especially in terms of campaigning for bilingual signage in Queen’s.

• Lobbying the university to make official documents available to students in both English and Irish. As a university on the island of Ireland students deserve to have access to official university documents in the language of the island. 

• With the restoration of an executive in Stormont, we have seen the introduction of an Irish Language Commissioner with no mention of an Irish Language Act. This is simply not enough, nor what activists have been campaigning on for decades. In line with our existing union policy I will work to continue lobbying our political representatives for a standalone Irish Language Act. 

 

BAME Students

 

• In recent years we have seen campaigns such as Black History Month give a massive platform to students to express their history and their culture within the university. While continuing the great work done on campaigns such as this, I want to ensure I continue to support and empower more BAME student groups to build campaigns to celebrate their culture and identity. 

• Decolonisation not Internationalisation: As an institution we should be focussing on decolonising our curriculum, policies and structures, with racial justice and anti-imperialism at the core of our work. ‘Internationalising’ is yet another tactic used by Queen’s in furthering their agenda of a marketised Higher Education system, and we need a grassroots campaign to fight instead for a democratised education system and an internationalist university. Diversifying is NOT decolonising.

• With the rise in international and BAME students on campus we have also seen a far more diverse group of students of faith on campus. However, aside from the specific chaplaincies, there is a huge lack of space for students of faith to pray on campus. I will lobby the university to create a prayer room in an accessible space in a central location on campus, with facilities to accommodate the prayer needs of students of different faiths.

 

Women Students

 

• With the decriminalization laws, we now have the opportunity to help women in times of need and should be able to provide assistance for people in the university experiencing unintended pregnancy. I want to make sure that the union can create a pathway to services or advice on crisis or unintended pregnancy.

• With 2020 comes a new decade, but still the same principles. We are a pro-choice union and I want to keep it that way, and as well as working on project choice and working with the women students’ officer to help tackle harrassment of women students seeking contraception, emergency contraception and advice on abortion. 

• Tackling violence against women on campus, as well as highlighting the effect on much more marginalised groups of women such as trans women of colour, who are the most at risk. 

 

 

About Me

 

Hey! My name is Elliot and I have been your LGBT+ Officer for the year, and I want to continue to represent students as Equality and Diversity officer. I’m a student from a small town on the north coast of Wales, and I moved to Belfast 3 years ago when I began my undergraduate degree in International Politics and Conflict Studies. Alongside doing my degree, I have been ingrained in student activism since I arrived here, and I’m extremely proud to have been a part of the movements for the decriminalisation of abortion and legalising of equal marriage!

 

My Experience

 

Throughout my time at Queens, I have been particularly involved in LGBT+ activism. I started off as the Gay representative on the LGBT+ Society, to the president of said society to finally being elected as your LGBT+ Officer last year. During that time I have represented LGBT+ students to the best of my ability, being involved in not only multiple campaigns on campus, but also even reviewing aspects of policy in conjunction with the current Equality and Diversity officer. 

 

But I’ve not only been involved with LGBT+ activism, but I have been a part of demonstrations with Project Choice and Amnesty QUB, as well as participating in the UCU strikes in solidarity with lecturers. I have done my utmost to fight against discrimination and fight for the rights of students within the university, and I want to continue to do so as your officer for Equality and Diversity. I want to make sure that students from all groups in the university, be it BAME, international, LGBT+, disabled students, women and so on are all represented fairly and equally and to make sure that their voices are heard.

 

Campaigns I have been a part of

 

Ran LGBT+ History Week 2019

Ran LGBT+ History Month 2020

A part of Beyond the Binaries 2018, going on to co-run Beyond the Binaries in 2020

Campaigns to introduce Trans Students Officer and Irish Language Officer

 

Engagement and other experience

 

Executive Management Committee member 19’-20

QUBSU Council 19’-20

LGBT+ Society President 18’-19

USI Pink Training 18

USI Pink Training 19

 

I hope you entrust me with the role of Equality and Diversity officer. Representing and fighting for the rights of students is my passion, and the role is something that I have strived to be able to achieve since I got to Queens. I hope that my manifesto shows you how much I care about the work I want to do, and the ideas I have to improve the lives of students at Queens. 

Download Manifesto
Facebook: @voteelliotbeevervpequality
Twitter: @elliotbeever