Wednesday 27-02-2019 - 16:38

 

VP Academic Representation Luke has won an award from the National Union of Students (NUS), for his work lobbying higher education technology corporations to better facilitate the needs of transgender students.

 

NUS recognises ‘ground-breaking campaigning and organising focusing on liberation’ in its Liberation Awards each year. The 2019 Trans Campaign of the Year Award recognised Luke following two years of work to secure upgrades to student database software. The software is used by universities nationwide, and the change allows students to assign their own gender designation - including those other than ‘male’ or ‘female’.

 

The result was announced at NUS Trans Conference, the largest democratic gathering of trans students in Europe.

 

Luke said, ‘I’m really grateful for the award! Trans students face unique challenges in higher education – there’s a long way to go before our universities are truly inclusive places. I’m proud that a core part of our work in the last two years has been to better support trans students, working with our elected reps. I hope higher education will become more safe and welcoming for trans students here and across the UK.’

 

Part-time Trans and Non-binary Officer Max said, ‘I couldn’t be prouder to be a part of a more supportive SU. The work done by officers past and present has allowed me to feel comfortable to be a member of the Edge Hill community. Small things such as gender-neutral toilets, EHSU pronoun badges and being allowed to have your preferred name on registers before any legal changes can make a massive difference to trans individuals such as myself.’

 

This is the second national award EHSU have won this year, with VP Activities Dan collecting the DEFRA Bees Needs conservation award in November.

 

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