Interview with Steph Lomas - VP Education

Part of our Elected Officers Series

What is your name and what did you study/are you studying at UCLan?

My name is Stephanie Lomas and I studied MLaw at UCLan

What is your role in the Student Union?

My role is Vice President Education - this means that I work with students and the University to ensure that the academic journey of students is the best it can be.

Why did you choose to get involved in Student Government?

As a student who entered education through non-traditional roots [foundation year no A-levels] I felt it was really important to have a voice that showed the journeys of students from those roots. I started off as a course Rep during my foundation year, became Law Society vice chair in my first year, was course Rep again in my second year and then Was school president for both my third and 4th year. Activism is something I've always been passionate about, and as a queer, disabled, working class, female student it's become very clear that unless we challenge the status quo things will never change. The reason I went for my current role is because education saved my life and can be so transformative in everybody's life but I wanted to make sure that everyone got the experience that they deserve and that they can thrive from.

What are your main goals for the 2020/21 academic year?

It would be quicker for students to read the entire war and peace novel, than to talk about my main goals! So, my main goals for this academic year is to ensure that the student voice is truly heard; I'm doing this alongside the University and Students’ Union by reviewing student voice as we know it, through scrutinising the current Academic Rep system and improving it. Alongside this, I also want to make sure that students have a communication policy and have an expectation which is agreed by the University as to how long it should take staff to respond to their emails - communication creates confidence so it's time to start communicating better. Secondly, I want to make sure that education is accessible, from declaring a disability to undertaking our exams, from organising our need supports to ensuring that the environment around us is accessible. We need to make sure that students feel confident in declaring their disability and the systems in place, that our students receive the same level of support when it comes to exams and assessments that students in the main hall receive alongside culturally competent invigilation, that students no longer have to be the administrator to organise their own disability support and every single student can thrive in every single university room. I'm really looking forward to working with our Disabled Students Representative Nikkita and the Disabled Student Society on how we can work together to ensure that this happens. I'm currently looking at resourcing from the library to ensure the appropriate resources are available to our students especially in the current circumstances we found ourselves in but not only that, it's about ensuring that we have the opportunities to access study skills support in this new normal we find ourselves in and that's something I'm currently looking at. I want to empower placement students to call out any improper placement activity and understand that they are not there to be the cleaner in that placement - they are there for a learning experience and if that's not happening we need to do something. Finally, I want to start work on the decolonisation of higher education at UCLan, this is not just putting diverse textbooks on a library shelf, this is about looking at every aspect of the University system, identifying, scrutinising, researching, consulting and improving upon its bias and its growth from a colonial context alongside other factors.

Who is your disabled role model?

My eldest nephew Paddi, he is 17 and currently at college working super hard and becoming quite the Gent! Paddi is autistic and his passion is sport – he’s brave enough to support Liverpool in a Manchester United Family! He is working incredibly hard to compete in the Special Olympics as part of the Team GB Basketball Team which is incredible. He is my role model because he can find a silver lining to any issue thrown at him, says when something isn’t right, comes out with the most amazing one liners that have us all in stitches and he is so unapologetically himself. He also shares my love of the fast food industry! I have no doubt that one day he will be the greatest Sports Pundit in the Country – move aside Chris Kamara!

How are you going to use your position to support disabled students?

I think the mantra of ‘Hold the lift’ as a magazine shows how I will use my privileged position to help support disabled students. Nothing will be or should be done for a community without that community and that includes ensuring that the voices within that community are amplified. I will use this position to amplify the voices and stories of disabled students from across UCLan, so that we can ensure that they are heard, that we are listened to and that we are involved with the changes that our stories will make. However, it is not for disabled students to fix systematic issues within the higher education sector but, this does not mean that we as a community should be excluded from the conversations in fixing them.

If you could wave a magic wand and change one thing at UCLan, what would it be and why?

I would make UCLan accessible- I would make it accessible for our Black students and staff so that they can be confident that they are an intrinsic part of the UCLan community and not an afterthought. I would make it accessible for our LGBTQ+ community so that no longer do our non-binary or trans siblings have to tolerate deadnaming or the incorrect use of pronouns. I would make it accessible for our disabled students - that no longer is their inaccess to education deemed a ‘learning moment’ and is swiftly pushed to the side. Accessibility to education is an intersectional right, and until education is accessible to all then it is accessible to none.

By the end of the year, one thing you want to have achieved is…

UCLan University has a sustainable action plan to ensure the accessibility of education for every single student that is anticipatory and not after the issue has arisen.

What message would you want to give new students at UCLan for 2020?

Embrace every moment, say yes to all of the opportunities given to you, speak out when something is not right – feedback is cherished. At your SU, consider your elected officers as your older sibling - we are here when you need us, we are here when you need something to do , we are here when you need someone to support you , and we are here to fight for you when you need someone to do that too. ALSO KEEP READING HOLD THE LIFT!