Reflection:

First of all, a big congratulations to the officers for being elected and all the hard work that they have been doing so far. The accountability panel was incredibly impressed with their approach, they appeared very hands on and ambitious, and with that, they definitely hit the ground running.

The accountability panel, made up of students from different disciples and campus’ met with our elected officers in October, to discuss their priorities and progress so far. The role of the accountability panel is to represent and advocate for the student body and offer both positive and negative feedback to the officers in terms of their goals so far. We support our officers, ask questions, share their frustrations and celebrate their wins.

As the meeting commenced, the panel had the opportunity to speak to each of the officers, find out about the progress they're making and hear about any challenges they have faced so far. It is clear that the term has been busy and eventful, with Welcome Fair, the start of a new academic year and their priorities. From listening to our student officers, we saw they have made progress in a range of areas, which is especially impressive given that they have been making plans for both an ideal world where large, face to face events are possible and a world where a COVID cloud continues to linger. Our officers seemed to have found a balance of both.

In the meeting, the panel and officers discussed how best to communicate to the student population about all the work the officers are doing, the progress they are making and ways to continue improving student engagement. We reflected on how fundamental both to panel members and to student officers, for students to have a platform to speak honestly, openly and transparently about their ideas, concerns and expectations. Final thoughts on the meeting were ones of excitement and enthusiasm for the events and outcomes to take shape and come to life, especially as we hopefully return to some form of normality post COVID.

The work undertaken by our officers is critical to enhancing the experience of Kings’ students across all campuses. The relationship between the student officers and accountability panel is supportive, with one main goal underlying all of our interactions: to drive real change, that is meaningful and important to the King’s student population.

Panel Summary:

Zahra Syed, President

• Working with KCLSU anti- sexual and harassment project group and attended the anti-sexual harassment project team meeting and discussed the impacts on harassment and areas of improvement between King’s and KCLSU.
• Attended the King’s Preventing and addressing harassment and sexual misconduct oversight committee - The group created at King’s to discuss how we could potentially align and tackle any harassment and sexual misconduct taking place at King’s.
• Met with internal KCLSU colleagues to work on wellbeing matters and is in the process of creating joint plans.
• Organised a meeting between our Black student networks and the university to speak about the statues present at KCL during Black history month.
• Wrote to Southwark Council to issue statement of concern, regarding drink spiking incidents at Dover Castle pub. As a result, Southwark Council launched an investigation into their local pubs and venues. Wrote a comment in roar and released a joint statement with KCL and KCLSU comms on drink spiking.
• Organised a members’ meeting and election to help determine the position of KCLSU in regards to the UCU strikes.

Arslan Zafar, VP Activities & Development

• Attended a meeting with the King’s EDI team x KCSLU Officers -  Discussed potential areas for partnerships and collaboration agreed to write for the EDI annual report.
• Attended Careers meetings – held meetings with career-related societies to work on collaborating with the Careers Service to increase student engagement.

Hamza Lone, VP Education (Arts & Sciences) 

• Hosted a 30-Society meeting – hosted a meeting with almost 30 different cultural societies at KCL, to discuss collaboration on a cross-cultural ball.
• Attended a meeting with the King’s EDI team x KCSLU Officers - Discussed potential areas for partnerships and collaboration agreed to write for the EDI annual report.

Fatimah Patel, VP Education (Health)

• Academic Standards Subcommittee – Attended our first meeting on 22^nd September 2021, where she liaised with senior staff on whether the conditions of the fair assessment policy should be changed. Agreed that the wording on when evidence for mitigating circumstances should be provided must be made more clear to students.
• College Education Committee – attended first meeting on 6^th October 2021, where she continued the discussion on what the conditions should be for mitigating circumstances forms.

Rebecca Seling, VP Postgraduate

• Attended College Education Committee where she advocated for International Students who have Visa restrictions to still come to King’s.
• Attended College Research Committee where she advocated for support in PGR’s research, in creating a more inclusive research culture, to decrease harassment between Supervisors and PGRs.

Daniyal Ubaidullah, VP Welfare & Community 

• Keep it Real Campaign: Volunteered to assist and work with this student-led campaign driven to demand transparency from the college relating to financial matters affecting students. Attended a meeting and campaigns workshop to help give voice to this campaign.
• Hosting events during Black History Month.