On November 20th your elected Student Voice Leaders gathered to make decisions that will improve the experiences of all students.

The new democratic structuring of student representation proved to be a great success - School Zone meetings allowed for in-depth discussions of specific issues facing each individual School, giving Student Voice Leaders a chance to meet, share ideas and establish a common consensus for the first time.

All Student Voice Leaders also attended a rolling campaigns training session with MDXSU’s Campaigns Co-ordinator, John Cox. This session focused on how changes can be effected, and what tactics could work for leaders and student taskforces looking to carry out policies on campus.

After the School Zone meetings and campaigns training, all Student Voice Leaders then convened at the Mary Sheppard lecture hall for the Conference session. Whilst future agendas will be decided entirely by Student Voice Leaders, the inaugural policy proposals were made by the Sabbatical Officers after an introduction from the Student Union President, Sayed Alkidari.

Jennie Brown, Vice-President of Business & Law, presented a proposal to bring anonymous marking to all academic departments. After some debate around the pros and possible of differing marking methods, the proposal was passed with a significant majority voting in favour.

Sophie McKay, Vice-President of Health & Education, proposed the implementation of a zero-tolerance to bullying and harassment policy, arguing that all students should be free to enjoy their time at the university without being intimidated, humiliated or treated without due respect. Student Voice Leaders pointed out the issues of sexism on campus, and discussed how exactly a ‘zero-tolerance’ approach might be enforced. The motion was passed with a unanimous vote in favour.

Sarah Bennett, Vice-President of Media & Arts, suggested that MDXSU increased its transparency and accountability, in both governance and finances. This policy was also passed with a unanimous majority.

After an overwhelmingly positive Conference session, the next step is for the Executive Committee to pass the policies when they next sit on November 27th. If these are endorsed by the Committee, they will then be given over to a trained student taskforce to bring about the changes on campus.

If you would like to find out more about getting involved with the democratic representation of Middlesex students, we’d love to hear from you - please get in touch with Charlotte Tobin at c.tobin@mdx.ac.uk. To see the livetweets associated with the November 20th event, check out the #studentvoice hashtag - you can also follow the MDXSU account to keep up with further news. And do check out the pictures over on Facebook!