An Interview with Hamsavani Rajaswaren, the new VP of Equality & Diversity at QUBSU.

Audio: https://www.mixcloud.com/TheScoopQUB/hamsavani-rajeswaren-the-new-vp-for-equality-diversity-at-qubsu/

Transcription:

Rory: We are interviewing today Hamsavani Rajaswaren, who is the new VP for Equality and Diversity at QUBSU

Hamsavani: Hello! 

R: #thenorthisnext, I love that name! For those of you who don't know Hamsa's name on twitter is 'Hamsavani #thenorthisnext' 

H: why not? A wee plug where I can you know 

R: anyway, how're things going then?

H:  They’ve been great, just adjusting to the new job and we're moving out of the building, so it’s been kind of settle in, but don’t settle in too much. But I’m really excited for the new SU Elmwood, it’s exciting and a new adventure

R: I haven't seen the new building yet, have you?

H: I haven’t seen inside of the building in person, but I’ve had a look at the floor plans. The services have moved downstairs, and it will be more accessible so for students coming into the building they will be more aware of where the student offices are. That’s for Elmwood SU, yeah. The new speakeasy excites me too, the floor plans for it look very interesting. 

R: Yeah, so am I! Queen's Radio actually have our first event there on the 16th September, called QR Jukebox

 R: So how were the pride celebrations?

H: It was great, this was my first pride because, as an international student, I normally go home over the summer. So, this was my first summer in Belfast. 

R: So, you had to work through your first ever summer here?

H: Well yeah, but it doesn’t feel like work, as much as it is doing something I’ve always enjoyed doing. and now I have more autonomy over that work as well. 

But, I really enjoyed pride because, I think, it was one of the biggest prides ever in Belfast - from what the organisers said anyway. There were so many organisations at it. and it was really nice to see family’s come out to pride too. I think that was my favourite part of it. Just seeing people who would have identified as within the community of LGBT+, and allies too, just teaching their children that... It’s a very important step to normalising, and accepting, especially when the politics and politicians are dehumanising the LGBT+ community. It’s very important that your average people are making sure those conversations happen and making sure that their children are used to that from a young age and know that the LGBT community is something that exists. And also, if the child grows up to identify within that community, it opens up avenues to have these conversations with their parents.

R: Looking back through your twitter, I found a thread of yours that was promoting change, not from the politicians, but from ourselves. all that energy and passion that you have, are you going to put that into the job?

H: oh yes definitely, I think a lot of that has come out of me being involved in the union and student movement. I was very non-political, which I say in big huge air quotes, because I don’t believe you can be. if you have an opinion on anything, you're political, even if its pineapple on pizza.

R: which is good!

H: which I am against, I am anti-pineapple. that'll be my new twitter bio, it’s the next campaign. Going back to what you were saying, a lot of it goes back to my upbringing in Singapore where people are accepting of politics, as in this is the norm, don’t fight against it. Whereas, coming here taught me a lot more of how you should stand up, have a voice and fight for your rights. and you should fight for your fights. I think, being someone who identifies into various minority groups, you’ve always been told to dumb yourself down, to make yourself go unnoticed and "normal". And, to fit in better your best being a wallflower. I was thinking about this this morning when I saw something on twitter, when a company had 50 shades of foundations, where the darkest shade was number one and the lightest was the last - which you wouldn’t see a lot in the beauty industry. what a time to be alive, when people of colour and minorities are reclaiming our spaces, and saying we've had enough, and we aren’t going to take any more while actively working against these societal norms. and a lot of that has come from being in the student movement, there no way I wouldn’t put that into the job 

R: you clearly have the passion then, and compassion, for the job to speak out against these things 

H: yeah one of the things I always say, is that I want diversity to be normal. I don’t want you to look at an ad where there’s people from all ethnicities and you think wow, that’s great its setting a standard. I want that to be normal

R: so, it shouldn’t be commented on?

H: yeah when you put up on ad, you shouldn’t think of getting someone from a different ethnicity, or a transperson to be represented. I don’t want it to be a thought process, diversity should be normal. It should be a normal part of the media industry. 

R: Yeah, I completely agree with you. 

R: In your manifesto, you talked about project choice. are you planning to work with them?

H: of course, I was part of project choice and it was very exciting to be involved in it as a student. It’s a taskforce that works on anything to do with the pro-choice movement, and last year headed up our 'choice and consent' week. From a union perspective, we've engaged with so many students and the work in creating future campaigns to bring about legislation has been so heartening. One of my favourite parts of this job so far has been seeing the work headed by students, which is so endearing to see them engaging with the work and empowering themselves through that. And project choice really empowered so many students to become very vocal on their views, and that’s very important in making prochoice conversations normal in the home - talking to your family and in your workplace. It’s always really nice seeing a student who comes in as a very quiet person, and through the campaign you can see them coming out of their shell and empowering themselves to take that message with them.

R: From a wallflower to an outspoken person then?

H: yeah, and we will be rolling out applications soon for getting involved with project choice for various positions/ambassadorial roles within the taskforce. I want to work on a trilateral approach prochoice conference, getting activists from down south and over in the rest of the UK to come over and talk about how to approach and tackle prochoice across the lands. 

R: #thenorthisnext, then?

H: well it’s not just people from the north who are engaging in this activism, its allies from all around us - across Ireland and the UK. people are waking up and seeing this is in an issue

R: so, to change our environment here, we almost need input from the environments around us?

H: I think it’s good to have the support of them. Speaking to a lot of activists from here, it can be very tiring when you have been fighting for a cause for so many years, and you can’t see any change in the political environment - so to speak. having a fresher perspective, and support from allies is always nice. I learned a lot, particularly when certain campaigns have failed, and you can see why. Sometimes we feel stuck in our vacuum, and it’s better to see it from someone else’s perspective. 

R: discourse is the way forward then. Is the "liberation focussed approach to representation in the union", as taken from your manifesto, part of this overarching idea then? 

H: Oh yes, liberation to me is any marginalised group or persons oppressed by society, as a SU we should be platforming these people and voices. any issues we should be focusing on, should be from a liberation focus. QUBSU historically has been at the forefront of campaigns for rights and social justice, which sets a track record in that we have always put liberation at the forefront. My work will continue this onward, and platforming this people in the current political vacuum.

R: In your manifesto you speak about bringing about welfare reform, specifically regarding disabled students losing their mobility aids and education support, how has this been progressing?

H: I’m looking at my plan of work right now, so I haven’t started actively working on it yet. But it is so important, as a disabled student myself and an international student. I know so many students that have lost vital support during their studies, and students that have dropped out of QUB because they just couldn’t continue without the support they needed. even today I think it was in the news about a disabled man who is losing his benefits because of the PIPs system and is losing his car which is vital to his mobility. They are taking it away from him because he didn’t pass the PIP assessment, and to me, that is ridiculous. It is vital to his accessibility. the system is not working, his situation just highlights it. Disabled people are literally dying and side-lined by the government. We need to continue lobbying for change. As a student, making a student go through university without the support they need to function on a basic day-to-day level... the support to  help someone out of bed, or to get to classes, and when you take that away from them you are taking away the equity that they have to be a student on the same platform as able bodied students, and that makes me really angry that students are losing this. 

Welfare reform and disability rights are something very close to my heart, as someone who didn’t have many things that were vital to my own personal support to get through university, just knowing that there are people facing the same circumstance is beyond wild to me, because I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. 

R: Can you give us a bit of information about BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) ambassadors?

H: Two years ago, when I was the international PTO, myself and the BAME officer set up a taskforce called the BAME ambassadors where we recruited students from all the countries of students with QUB and talk about issues that are affecting the international community, and disproportionately affecting students of colour on campus. That was an empowering taskforce, for many of us it was something that wasn’t talked about enough on campus. A lot of issues that many students might not have realised were issues for BAME students. We did well that year, but unfortunately the officers who took over from us didn’t carry on the scheme - for various reasons. But I found it really, useful. As did many of the students who sat on the taskforce. Many of the students created motions toward the council, which were passed along with a couple of FOIs (freedom of information) about international fees, hardship funds etc. These were students who weren't very active with the union, and through the taskforce learnt that they can create change. I would be revamping the scheme and hoping to expand it from policy change in the union, to the attainment gap between BAME and international students, as well retention rates, and employment rates of international students. I think we can't really know the full extent of these issues until we engage the students

R: so, you’ve experience of doing it before, and you’ll try and...

H: well ill have more budget this time, as I’m no longer a PTO. I’ll be able to give more resource into that

R: Onto the transitioning building, do you think it will be more accessible to the students than before?

H: Well one of our proudest things as a union is that accessibility is always at the heart of everything we do. We want to make sure every student can engage with the union, no matter your accessibility needs. I’m very confident that Elmwood will be accessible with the level of planning that has gone into it, and the same can be said for the new SU in 3 years’ time.

R: in the new year coming up, can you give us some highlights of the upcoming schemes/ideas you have?

H: I think one of my favourite things in my manifesto, is the inter-sectional feminist collective. It’s an exciting campaigning group, led by women to celebrate overlapping identities and platforming marginalised groups. It will be a safe, but empowering space. It will talk about how women experience discrimination, in multiple aspects and I’m very exciting for it. It is one of those projects that will have a core campaign week, but with a lot of smaller activities peppered throughout the year. 

Another scheme is the disability forum. This is something that is aimed at opening communication lines between disabled students and their disability officers in their own schools, and their advisors at disability services. This will create better communication lines between the school, the student and the university to make sure that they are providing for the student accessibility needs, making sure they’re ok and if they need reassessed, that that is going through the in right manner and in good time. One of the biggest things is the level of bureaucracy, because communication is not smooth enough at the minute. One of the biggest part about making university accessible to all students, inclusive of disabled students, is making sure accessibility is at the heart of this and the best way to do this, is making sure communication is clear and easy. 

R: Do you have any advice for students in QUB next semester?

H: Stay open and positive. Just take it all in as it comes. One of the biggest things as a student is the level of information thrown at you, often this info is vital so keep an open mind and try to take in as much as you can. But also, it’s a fun time. In freshers you meet so many new people. My biggest takeaway would be to get involved with clubs and societies, because they are great way to get integrated with university life.

By Rory Hughes