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To @WarwickSU , when will you stop exploiting, gaslighting and mistreating your WOC part time officers?
A thread.
A thread.
Me and @Kikachukwu3 , the two Environment and Ethics co-officers, recently passed a “Warwick Divest” motion in an All-Students-Referendum. Our motion soon after received a legal challenge (to which its contents the Trustees have barred us from speaking of)
On Friday 4th December, our Trustees sought their own legal advice, which recommended re-wording a motion that was already democratically passed. This would result in it going to another ASV. Naturally, we disagreed with this legal advice and were told to seek our own by Tuesday
8th December, if we wanted to defend our motion to the Board. In two working days, Eseosa and I, both full-time students, managed to compile an entire legal case with the help of the most amazing human rights lawyers.
On the day before the defence of our motion was to be presented, we were gaslighted by our Board, who although, previously okay-ed our legal representatives being present, had now expressed that it was not necessary and the meeting would now be re-arranged for February.
We were not consulted in this decision nor did we ask for more time from the Board. Yet they framed the attribution of more time to us as a kind gesture.
Our motion was *democratically* passed. It is mandated for us to do our job to get Warwick to divest from unethical companies and BAE systems. It was in our very manifesto. By delaying our case, The Board are preventing us from carrying out a motion in the interest of students.
On the day of the meeting (Tuesday 8th - today), we were told less than 2 hours before the Board meeting that we were now re-invited and had to present our hearing. They would make their decision in February based on this hearing.
We are full-time students who have had to put our entire degrees on hold for a Board to completely exploit us and ruin our welfare and mental health.
We ask this @WarwickSU who are you representing?
We ask this @WarwickSU who are you representing?
It’s definitely not the Black women officers who have been undercut by other student officers engaging in misogynoir & have been labelled as “aggressive” and “bullies” without apology or action.
It’s definitely not the WoC part time officers who have given and given free emotional and physical labour to a union that completely ignores our concerns. We have had to sit through endless meetings and endure violent All-Lives-Matter rhetoric from both Trustees & Officers
It’s definitely not the Part Time Officers who have most times put their entire degrees on hold to try get this Union to actually represent the interests of its Black, brown, LGBTQ+, disabled, women and non binary students yet are undermined for doing so.
It’s definitely not *any* student. A motion that has been democratically passed is clearly not at the utmost importance to our very unelected Board of Trustees.
Is this a Union for students or for Trustees to decide what they want or do not want for us?
Is this a Union for students or for Trustees to decide what they want or do not want for us?
@WarwickOccupy & many of us student officers occupied the SU last year because it is institutionally racist and enabled a figure in the IDF to speak on campus alongside an islamophobic organisation. @WarwickSU pledged to listen and actively work on our demands.
We ask, as occupiers and PTOs, what have you been doing for a year?
Because we have seen NO productive action since then and have witnessed and experienced first-hand the misconduct of the Trustees and the racism, sexism, misogynoir that has never been accounted for
Because we have seen NO productive action since then and have witnessed and experienced first-hand the misconduct of the Trustees and the racism, sexism, misogynoir that has never been accounted for
Audre Lorde, a theorist close to our hearts, wrote that we must transform our silence into language and action. “Your Silence will not Protect you”. We have been silent for the past few months out of a one-way respect for our Trustees.
We refuse to be silent now.
@WarwickSU
We refuse to be silent now.
@WarwickSU
