SU21 - Astrid Rudjord for Equality and Diversity Officer

Haigh a chairde, is mise Astrid agus tá mé ag rith sna togcháin SU mar Oifigeach comhionnanas agus éagsúlacht.

I’m Astrid and I am running to be your next Equality and Diversity Officer. I am a final year archaeology student from Norway, and I have spent the past two and a half years getting involved with various campaigns across the university, such as within Irish language rights and Climate Action Group. I have also been a Course Rep for two years. This opinion piece focuses on how marketised education harms every student, and creates a barrier to equality and diversity. 

Ní neart go cur le chéile. There is no strength without unity. This Irish proverb illustrates what should be at the core of the fight for equality and diversity: intersectionality. While there has been good progress made for equality and diversity at the university, there is still work to be done. The marketised form of education that has been brought forward by rising tuition fees and living costs means that many students struggle to get what they should be entitled to: an education. These issues have been highlighted by the ongoing pandemic. 

The university promised on-campus teaching, but it seemed like they near-forced students, especially international students, to come back to campus to sit inside their overpriced student accommodation, or their often near-hazardous student flats. These are all symptoms of a dangerously marketised education system, and while the path is long to dismantle this mindset, I will work to continue the process of demarketisation of education, or at least to ease the symptoms as much as possible. 

International students make up an increasingly large part of Queens’ student body, and yet our place within the university is not representative of this. International students move abroad, being promised an incredible student experience. Instead, we are faced with extortionate student accommodation rents, and where local students may have the option to stay at home or move into a house with friends, this is rarely an option for us. I aim to lower the rents charged by Queen’s Accommodation, as they are simply not comparable to rent prices in Belfast as a whole.

On top of this and extortionate tuition fees, international students have also been denied the Covid-19 disruption payment, which was announced as a payment for “every student”. This is simply not good enough, and I aim to make sure international students do not miss out on further financial assistance. Universities need to ensure that their students feel safe. This includes fighting explicit and implicit racism, a notable example being the curriculum.

Academics have traditionally been incredibly eurocentric, and while efforts have been made to limit the effects of this in recent years, radical action is needed in order to fully decolonise the curriculum, something I will aim to do. 

Housing rights is something that affects everyone, and students are particularly at risk for being taken advantage of by landlords and letting agencies who know that students may not be as aware of their rights as tenants. The inequality that exists between tenants and landlords is one of the most pressing and I will work with the Community Action Tenants Union (CATU) to ensure that this changes. This treatment of students is unacceptable.

Students should not have to face the large letting agencies on their own, especially when the landlords have allowed their properties to reach dangerous levels of disrepair. I will campaign to ensure that landlords are properly disciplined for putting students in danger in this way, so that no other student has to live in houses with mould-covered walls, heaters that won’t turn on and broken furniture that the landlord won’t replace. 

Queen’s have continuously refused to recognise a native language of the island in which they are based, and repeatedly offended the people who speak and learn the language. The Irish language belongs to everyone who wishes to learn it. I will ensure easier access to the Irish language for students from traditionally non-Irish speaking communities, such as those from unionist backgrounds and international students, as well as increased visibility through bilingual signage. 

Please vote for me between March 1 and 4 in order to ensure an internationally-minded, safe, and inclusive university. Go raibh maith agaibh!

To see all the candidates running for this position, visit the QUB SU Website.