We call for a vote of no confidence on the current Welfare and Diversity Officer. In summary this petition states that the current Welfare and Diversity Officer has: - Made students feel intimidated, unsupported, and unrepresented - Been unprofessional in her public conduct and behaviour towards both students and staff - Encouraged or expressed hatred based on an individual’s race, gender, or social position Students have come forward who do not believe that the current Welfare and Diversity Officer can represent the student body.
believe that she has refused to represent students unless they agree with her actions and beliefs, and has frequently spread anger and hatred instead of providing unbiased welfare support. The recent media storm, that has wrongly targeted BME only events, has also resulted in students being shouted down for trying to voice any concerns about the current Welfare and Diversity Officer. As a result individual students have been too afraid to come forward with their issues to their student representatives. In addition to this, had the BME meeting been handled in a more professional way many feel that BME meetings at Goldsmiths would not now be facing a public attack.
The Welfare and Diversity Officer has attempted to discourage students who disagree with her from speaking out, and actively sought to oppress students trying to voice their concerns and negative experiences. This is especially relevant to the repercussions of the recent occupation she was involved in leading.
During the occupation she booked a short amount of leave and then declared she was ‘on leave until further notice’, leaving students without an official Welfare and Diversity Officer. When asked to attend a meeting intended to allow disabled students to voice their concerns in a safe space where they would not be shouted down, she complained to the organiser that this was a negative sounding meeting and asked people to attend to voice support for the occupation.
This has actively oppressed the voices of disabled students seeking to speak to their representative officers. The current Welfare and Diversity Officer has spread slanderous rumours of staff bullying to support her campaigns, and encouraged students to believe that an individual member of staff is directly responsible for student suicide attempts disclosed to her as the Welfare and Diversity Officer. Blaming any individual for this is never ok, let alone using sensitive student disclosures to support her own agenda.
The current Welfare and Diversity Officer has used hate speech based on race and gender. For example the consistent use of hash-tags such as #killallwhitemen and #misandry, and publically calling someone ‘white trash’ under the official GSU Welfare and Diversity Officer twitter account. Any apologies given have been presented in a way that attempts to shift the blame and refuses to see genuine fault in her conduct, which has not changed.
The response is still to attack or invalidate students who speak out. Full-time Officers ‘help steer us through the year by representing students, making sure their voices are heard and their needs are met.’ The Welfare and Diversity Officer should provide unbiased welfare support and represent students. Students should not feel bullied or coerced into agreeing with their representatives, and certainly not feel intimidated or silenced. There appears to be no accountability in the actions of Full Time Officers unless students speak up.
We call for this vote to determine whether the wider student body still feels that they are represented by the Welfare and Diversity Officer. By signing this petition I agree to a vote of no confidence.
you're a mod. you're supposed to set an example 
