As one of the full-time roles at the Guild of Students, the Welfare and Community Officer is responsible for the wellbeing of students both on and off campus. Within their remit are issues of mental health support, student accommodation and ensuring that university services are accessible and inclusive.

Of eight candidates in the running, only three opted to participate in Media Day coverage. Bismah Anwar, Lily Coughlan, John Brady, Tayla Hearst and Saeed Alghamdi did not reply to Redbrick’s offer of an interview. For more information about these candidates, visit the Guild Elections website. 

The following interviews for Welfare and Community Officer are listed in alphabetical order by surname.

Rosa Alaluf

If elected, Rosa Alaluf’s first day in office would involve notifying the university of her campaign to ‘reallocate funding back into mental health,’ in order to make support provided by the university and the Guild ‘a lot more robust.’

With regards to the rent strike campaign, Alaluf emphasised the importance of helping students on ‘an individual basis’, as well as on the university-wide scale. This would include advice on structuring emails to landlords to discuss problems students may face. Rosa also praised the work that incumbent Charlotte Minter has done to raise awareness of private renting for students during the pandemic to a national level, by discussing issues with MPs. Rosa cites her experience working on her local borough council as a source of experience that will help her liaise with politicians to enact student demands. She ended by saying she is ‘more than qualified and more than willing to take up that torch.’

When asked about the worsening state of student’s mental health, Rosa reiterated that she has ‘a very robust plan’ but admitted reallocating funding can only go so far. She has plans to ‘introduce education initiatives for students helping students’, as students are often burdened with taking care of themselves and their friends with very little support. After reducing wait times, ‘the next step is to offer better transitional support’ to ensure students on the waiting list remain supported by the guild and also external services. Finally, Rosa wants to ‘educate university faculty on students’ mental health needs.

Rosa believes destigmatising issues pertaining to sexual health is key to improving sexual health at the university. ‘In terms of more practical things that can be done, I fully endorse the Guild’s ties with Umbrella,’ but said there is a need for people to have ‘access to condoms, access to information’ as well as sanitary products, which can all be provided by the university for a ‘pretty low cost.’

With regards to sexual harassment allegations, Rosa wants to focus on ‘believing people brave enough to come forward and to create a culture of encouraging people to believe them.’ Although she concedes more intense investigation is needed if these issues extend to a ‘university or criminal level,’ she wants to make sure ‘those who do come forward can still maintain their safe space.’ Rosa also said: ‘I want to extend the “Not On” campaign to pretty much every level of university life’, including freshers week, society training and reps for subjects and housing. However, the priority remains to ‘look after the victims’ and ‘most importantly try to ensure it doesn’t happen in the first place.’

Safety was the next topic Rosa was asked about, and along with increasing access to safety alarms, she would invest in software which informs students of ‘safe routes through Selly Oak mapped out, that way students know which areas are well lit, which areas are have more security cameras […] and then they can plan out a route that makes them more comfortable on their way home.’ She also wants to increase the number of community wardens ‘from a range of backgrounds’, as well as starting an optional buddy system for first years. She then cited her experience in communicating with police and making sure ‘the police are held accountable for looking after students,’ while ensuring there is ‘as little racial discrimination as possible.’

When asked about her experiences which have prepared her for the role, Rosa pointed to her work on the LGBT Association council, ‘making the space more welcoming to people with disabilities and people of colour.’ She is confident in her ability to work with people ‘in an intersectional way […] ensuring people’s needs are individually met.’ Her experience as a ‘Student Trustee on the Guild Trustee Board,’ meaning she ‘knows the inner workings of the Guild really well.’ Rosa also referred to her activism with Stonewall and the Holocaust Memorial Trust.

Aaliyah Simms

Asked what would be at the top of her agenda on day one in office should she be elected, Aaliyah said: ‘rent rebates, that’s going to be very important […] working on the things that Charlotte [the incumbent officer] has been doing.’ She continued by explaining that she would like to rejuvenate a sense of community, noting ‘how much people are struggling’ as a result of the pandemic. Aaliyah pointed to some of her ‘lighter’ manifesto pledges – notably the ‘Big Brum List’ – as a way she would set out to achieve this.    

Given the potential next year for continued COVID-19 disruption, we then discussed the ongoing rent strike campaign, asking Aaliyah whether her manifesto aligns with any of their demands. ‘There is definitely some overlap,’ she replied, noting both her support for rent rebates and the need for ‘significant talks’ on the issue surrounding those students who are locked into private tenancies.

Mental health formed the basis of the next question put to Aaliyah: a recent study reports that over half of polled students in England have seen their mental health deteriorate since September, how would she seek to address this crisis? Citing personal experience of the university’s welfare provisions – ‘or lack thereof’ – Aaliyah said that she is ‘highly aware of the issues that are currently being faced’ by students. She wants to see action which is less ‘performative’, emphasising the need for ‘more welfare officers’ and ‘bringing those wait times down to ensure that no one falls through the net.’ In addition, she wants improved communication regarding extenuating circumstances and has described greater access to ongoing adjustments as a ‘main manifesto point’ which she is ‘very proud of.’ 

Our conversation progressed to issues concerning sexual health – a topic which has recently featured prominently in public discourse, as a result of Channel 4’s ‘It’s A Sin’ and it being National HIV Testing Week. Asked how she would raise awareness, Aaliyah expressed a desire to increase the Guild’s links with Umbrella Health and to encourage more open discussion of sexual health. She also stressed the importance of ‘ease of access’ with regards to testing kits – wanting them to be accessible discreetly if need be.  

Also in the news of late – albeit more locally – was criticism of the Guild’s response to allegations of sexual harassment. Aaliyah said that she would seek to bring about reform to their procedures by ‘lowering wait times for communication’, as well as providing ‘signposting’ to appropriate places of support – whether they be counsellors or the police. ‘I think it’s very important again to make sure that people can come forward […] I will listen to them,’ she stated. 

Student safety – a long held concern – was the last of the campaign talking points raised with Aaliyah. She wants to continue some of the Guild’s existing initiatives (such as providing personal safety alarms), in addition to raising awareness of ‘times when you can call 999 vs. 101.’ Aaliyah also envisages providing lists of safety apps, introducing a buddy system for walking home, and wants more funding for the Selly Express. Dialogues with the city council – especially over providing lighting on the canal – is another avenue she wishes to explore.    

To finish, Aaliyah was asked whether she had any personal experiences which she felt would better prepare her for the role of Welfare and Community Officer. ‘In my twenty years of life, I have gone through an extraordinary amount which has placed me, I think, in one of the best positions to be the next WCO’, she said. Speaking candidly, she continued: ‘in terms of the things that we spoke about, for example mental health and safety in Selly – even sexual violence – I’ve been there, and I am here to support anyone else through it.’   

Ryan Smith

When asked what the first thing on his agenda would be, Ryan said to ‘set up a student renters union,’ adding ‘that is the main point of my manifesto.’ He believes this will help all students living in private and university accommodation with assistance regarding legal advice. It would also be reassuring for students to ‘know there is a dedicated housing team to help with their housing issues.’

The conversation then changed to the rent strike campaign. Although Ryan admitted he is not involved with the campaign, he still ‘completely understands the frustration that people are facing this year.’ He went on to say: ‘they’ve come to uni, they’ve paid at least £9000 […] and they’ve had a terrible experience.’ Mentioning the events that took place in Manchester last year, Ryan said ‘I don’t think in any way that’s how any human being should be treated. And that’s why a student renters union is important.’

With regards to the mental health crisis in the student community, Ryan spoke candidly about his personal experience, with his own ‘mental health crisis’ helping him to understand ‘how difficult this can be for students.’ He said the university’s ‘deal with it yourselves’ attitude was not good enough. He also criticised the cuts to university welfare services, saying the personal service he used to receive has been ‘stripped away,’ not to mention the ‘huge waiting lists’ for counselling, and the university’s outsourcing of care. Instead, Ryan called for a ‘student led reform […] for student solutions to student problems.’ He ended by questioning ‘why the university is so unwilling to engage with its disabled students, and students who are suffering as a result of this pandemic.’

Ryan called for the reinstatement of the BDSM club as one way to improve sexual health awareness, commenting ‘spaces like that are really really important, sex positive spaces where people can openly express things like consent and sexual health.’ He went on to condemn the lack of sexual health services at the university, once again questioning why such services are outsourced. ‘Why do we shy away from these problems? We’ve got 40,000 students, a lot of us are having sex. Let’s make sure that that is consensual and make sure we’re protecting our sexual health.’

When asked about improving the process of sexual harassment allegations, Ryan commended the bravery of victims who speak out, and said that the university ‘doesn’t want anything to do with you’ if you have not got hard evidence. He called out the ‘gimmick’ of ‘you report, we support – well there’s no support!’ He emphasised the need to support those who have been through ‘traumatic experiences and find out what they want to come out from it.’ The student body also needs to ‘come together’ to prevent these issues from ever coming about.

Safety was the next topic on the list, and Ryan said the university doesn’t ‘supply enough resources to tackle the problems of safety off-campus.’ Considering the number of UoB students living in Birmingham, Ryan said the university has a ‘responsibility to keep them safe.’ He went on to allude to safety concerns with the pandemic, with the university ‘not doing things like providing COVID testing like the University of Plymouth have done, and you can see there that it’s had a real effect of driving down cases.’ Listing other universities with similar COVID testing facilities, Ryan said ‘the University couldn’t care less and I think that’s mad.’

At the end of the interview Ryan was asked how his personal experiences prepared him for the role, and he argued that there is a ‘lack of representation of white working-class students.’ He wants more ‘working class students to come into education’ and said he ‘understands the challenges faced by marginalised people to get here [to university]’ and wants to focus on ensuring these students ‘feel like they belong.’

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