The UCU Equality Conference 2024 was held in Birmingham from Thursday 28 November – Saturday 30 November. Tilia Lenz, Senior Lecturer in Social Work and Continues Professional Development attended to represent BU UCU as the Equality Officer. 

UCU invited delegates from Further, Higher and Prison Education to attend either in person or online to join separate Equality group conferences for migrant, LGBT+, women, black and disabled members. The topic for plenary session for all equality strands was ‘fighting the rise of the far right in the context of there being a new Labour Government in the UK’. 

Tilia self-identified as a woman, LGBT+ with a migration background and attended the conferences to vote on motions and members for standing committees. 

The topics discussed in the sessions were at times deeply moving, when speakers shared their stories of oppression, racism and ableism. The intersectionality of members’ lived experiences and the impact on their perceived sense of safety in the workplace drove the plenary discussion. The rise of the far right in the UK, the global context of a normalization of oppression and stigmatization, was considered to be a threat to workers’ rights. UCU pledged to lobby the government to address this, and conference attendees discussed that as educators we have a responsibility towards ourselves, our students and wider society to uphold human rights. 

As the Equality Officer for BU, Tilia took away a sense of solidarity, that in a time of increasing uncertainty and change in HEIs, there is a strong organization with agency to support UCU members. 

So, what is next? 

UCU national is planning to recruit two specialist legal case workers for racism and sexual harassment claims to support members. 

BU UCU is involved in the review of the Sexual Harassment policy to fulfil the new proactive duties to protect staff under the Worker Protection Act 2024 (Amendment to the Equality Act 2010). Tilia is taking the lead in this for BU UCU and has taken a lot of input from the conference and learning from members’ experiences. 

As academics we all have a responsibility to uphold EDI standards and critically engage with them in our research and teaching. Collectively we can make an effort to decolonize and globalize our curriculum to ensure that our colleagues and students’ histories and experiences are represented. 

If you would like to speak to Tilia in her role as BU UCU Equality Officer, please feel free to reach out! Lenzt@bournemouth.ac.uk