Updates from your Community Officer Odudu: 

In October, I attended graduation ceremonies at Scarborough and London to celebrate with our students, now graduates, who attained the remarkable feats of receiving various degrees from the university. Also, I co-led the trips to IKEA Nottingham and Oxford and ensured that the trips were a huge success.  

In support of Black History Month, I participated in a movie night and a CU Coventry takeover event hosted by Nutan, our Global Majority Community Engagement Lead, and hosted a Panel Talk for Black History Month tagged “Reclaiming Narratives”. Guest speakers within and outside the university were invited, including: 

• Jerome Moran, a police officer with the West Midlands Police 
• David Ogundepo, a young tech entrepreneur  
• Mohammed Abdullahi, a lecturer in Coventry University’s College of Business and Law 
• Natalie Mukundane, the Chairperson of African Youth Commission  
• Eno Maycock, an Assistant Professor and the Executive Director of Coventry University’s MBA programme 

These speakers made insightful contributions to the topic and videos/clips of the events will be available as soon as practicable.  

I also participated in the Gender Fund Board where over £100 was allocated to students who made applications to the fund to purchase gender affirming items.  

Furthermore, I wrote to the five members of the UK parliament representing the various areas where Coventry University has campuses in support of the NUS’ “Homelessness Campaign”, and eventually scheduled a meeting with Zarah Sultana. I am currently reviewing the Renters’ Rights Bill to ensure that drafts are made which reflect the housing interests of our students.  

I am currently planning a Model United Nations Event which is scheduled to be held on 27th November 2024 as part of our Disability History Month events, and a communities’ party scheduled to be held on 13th December 2024. I am still keen on supporting out various Community Engagement Leads, and I am looking forward to the exciting projects that each of them is working on. 

These are a few of the things I did in October. The month of November promises to be even more exciting and I look forward to the amazing projects that will be happening this month. 

Community Engagement Lead Updates: 

Nutan shah - Global Majority  Community Engagement Lead: 

This Month I've been working hard on various events and campaigns for Black History month. Some of these events include crafting, 2 SU area takeovers, a movie night, a social media takeover, and a panel talk. 

Layna Forbes - Disabled Community Engagement Lead: 

As the Disabled Students Community Engagement Lead, l've had a productive and fulfilling time in my role so far. I started by connecting with both new and returning students at the Activities Fair, which allowed me to engage with the community and introduce them to the work we're doing.

A key focus has been developing the "Creating a Neuro-Inclusive Campus" campaign. I've attended several meetings and analyzed relevant data to further my goals of building neuro-inclusive spaces on campus. This includes plans to provide neurodiversity training for both staff and students, ensuring the campus is more accommodating and understanding of neurodiverse needs.

Additionally, I'm excited to be planning a series of events to celebrate Disability History Month, which runs from the 16th of November to the 16th of December. These events will unite the community and highlight the contributions and experiences of disabled and neurodivergent individuals. Make sure to check our website for more updates on these upcoming events!

Victory Ebere - International Community Engagement Lead: 

I've been planning a couple of events and Ideas for the coming months, as well as starting to map out ideas for the International festival in semester 2. The 1st is a Movie night, which I hope to hold in December. a date hasn't been set yet, but I want to ensure that international students are able to attend. I see it as an opportunity to bring students together and also make them feel seen, as most of them might be alone in December if they don't go home.

My second event is English Language workshops. I figured that lots of international students, especially from Asia, find it a bit hard to communicate with peers, meaning they are less involved in activities unless it's with their peers of the same country or Language, so I feel it will be really nice to have these workshops. 

Alex Powell - LGBTQIA+ Community Engagement Lead: 

Last month, the LGBTQIA+ Student Community hosted its first community activity, tote bag painting. It was well attended and everyone got stuck in and created some great designs. I look forward to hosting more events in the future! Later this month I am collaborating with LGBTQ+ Charitiies in Coventry to hold an event for Trans Day of Remembrance, you can find out more information about this on the events page. 

The Gender Expression fund is still open to apply for. If you are looking to purchase any gender-affirming items, please apply. You can apply for up to 4 items and get a maximum of £40 towards the items requested.

Another thing I am working on improving is the Trans Student policy, specifically the non-legal name change policy, and the ease of finding information about the resources available as an LGBTQ+ student on campus. The university now has a webpage on the student portal for LGBTQ+ students but I am working on trying to get the university to go further and have a page everyone, including prospective students, can view. If you have any experience with trying to change your name on the university system to a chosen name we would be grateful to hear from you.

Sophie Horton - Women's Community Engagement Lead: 

As Women’s engagement lead, I’ve had an amazing start to the year, getting to know you all and talking to students about your wants and needs as women’s students. I’ve been busy organising events and campaigns that span the upcoming year, supporting your safety and your welfare and a variety of social events to help build a thriving community.

As well as International Women’s Day in May, we also have a Day against gender-based violence coming up and hopefully a variety of initiatives to allow you to get involved in charity work, fundraising, and spreading awareness on the issues that you care about.

All events will be uploaded on the SU Communities page and promoted through the women’s community emails, so if you're not yet, then sign up on the SU website and keep an eye out in the future!

​Getting in touch:

Thankyou, for reading though this month's Community Executive Updates. 

You can find out more about what we have going on, or how to join a community through the communities page.