ananya sreekumar 4 vp ed

Empowering every student

Who am I? 

3rd Year PAIS Student

• Decolonise Advocate at WSU 2023-25

  • Planned and executed Liberation Conference 2024

  • Created and planned Decol Research Symposium 2025

• PAIS Colonial Hangover Magazine Student Editor 2024-25

• Campaigns Officer Warwick Anti-Sexism Society 2024-25

• Lead Editor Warwick Think Tank 2023-24

My top 4 Priorities:

• Disability and Well-being

• Decolonise 

• Anti-racism 

• Representation 

Well-Being 4 all

• Deadlines and self-certs.

• Work with departments to ensure the Disability Code of Practice is being incorporated, continuing the work of the current VP Education.

• Keep Wednesday Afternoons Free.

Strategise 2 Decolonise 

• Supporting Decolonise Advocates with their initiatives and funding.

• Create a Decolonise the Curriculum Handbook.

Confronting Racism in the Classroom

• Liaising with the University's Race Equality task force to support existing valuable initiatives. 

• Conduct primary research and consolidate it into a report that exposes the negative aspects of students of colour's experiences in educational environments. 

Representation that reflects

• I will engage first-hand with SSLC members to address their grievances and with departments to understand their difficulties working with students to effect change. 

• I will push the SU to better advertise the SSLC election to ensure more diverse representation.

• I will work to ensure tutor groups, especially in STEM, are inclusive and representative.

My priorities in more detail:

Well-Being 4 all!

• Deadlines and self certs

  • Ensure communication between module conveners and department admin to ensure coursework deadlines don’t clash and are scheduled uniformly throughout the academic year, keeping students' well-being a top priority. 

  • Work with the Dean of Students, administrative services, and the academic registrar, continuing the current VP Educations’ work to centralise exam timetables and release them early. 

  • Working with the Dean of Students to ensure self-certs are protected and consistently available in every department to safeguard students’ well-being and prioritise accessibility. 

  • Supporting the current review, reasonable adjustments are going through, ensuring the extension application process is simple and accessible in every department.

  • Provide more support to students applying for mitigating circumstances like running information sessions, especially for freshers.

• I will work with departments to ensure the Disability Code of Practice is being incorporated, continuing the work of the current VP education.

• I will ensure Wednesday afternoons remain free.

Strategise 2 Decolonise 

• Having worked for two years as a Decolonisation Advocate at the SU, I want to ensure the SU sets aside a specific budget for its Decolonise Program to fund events for the student community like the Liberation Conference and expand Decol Day into Decol Week, spotlighting non-Western art and thought. 

• I aim to work with SSLC members and course reps to push lecturers and tutors in every department (INCLUDING STEM) to actively prioritise the decolonisation of their teaching materials and practices. With the support of the Decol Advocates, Forum members, staff members, and academics, I hope to create a Decolonise the Curriculum Handbook.

Confronting Racism in the Classroom

• I will work to liaise with the Race Equality task force to support existing valuable initiatives at this University in race equality and anti-racism. I will also push for more that prioritise co-correlation between staff and students.

• I am going to push the SU to conduct a primary research-based report in collaboration with Academics and University staff exposing the racist experiences students still face in classrooms, be it from their peers or their tutors—a successor to the Warwick Speak Out Report by previous VP Education Larissa Kennedy. I hope to use the report also to research the attainment gap in various departments and push departments to rethink their teaching and assessment methods.

Representation that reflects

• I will engage with SSLC members to understand the challenges they face in their roles and how they may be improved so that departments are accountable.

• Push for the SU and departments to advertise SSLC positions more to ensure a diverse representation of elected members.

• I will also communicate with departments to understand how they can effectively respond to student feedback through the SSLC.

• I will engage with the Dean of Students and administrative services to ensure better representation of marginalised communities within tutor groups in STEM (like the Department of Math’s policy), so that female students and students of colour are comfortable and represented.