UCL-UCU: Academic Board mtg Fri 10 Dec on UCL's relationship with Stonewall + Branch policy

Note that only members of Academic Board are entitled to attend the meeting.

Colleagues are reminded that this issue was discussed at an Extraordinary General Meeting of UCL UCU on 15 September 2021, where the motion at Appendix 1 was passed setting Branch policy.

UCL UCU Executive Committee

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UCL UCU

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Appendix 1 - motion passed at UCL UCU EGM 15 September 2021

UCL UCU notes:

1. LGBTQ+ people face significant barriers to full participation in public life and many LGBTQ+ people face discrimination and harassment at work (National LGBT Survey).
2. Trans people report very low life satisfaction scores compared with the UK population (National LGBT Survey) and often face significant challenges in the workplace; in a recent Stonewall survey 1 in 8 trans employees said they had been attacked by a colleague or customer at work.
3. UCL left the Stonewall Diversity Champions Scheme purely for financial reasons (UCL statement). During the initial wave of the pandemic, when there were serious uncertainties around UCL’s financial position, UCL left the Diversity Champions Programme for one year as part of its drive to conserve cash. Due to under-resourcing in the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion group, UCL was unable to enter this year's Global Workplace Equality Index.
4. Stonewall is the largest LGBTQ+ rights organisation in Europe.
5. Stonewall is widely recognised as working inclusively for the rights of all LGBTQ+ people.
6. Much of Stonewall’s work is focused on improving LGBTQ+ equalities in the workplace and it runs two schemes to facilitate this - the Diversity Champions Programme and the Workplace Equality Index.
7. UCL has not released the results of it's entry into the 2020 Stonewall Equality Index but is no longer listed as a Top 100 employer on the Stonewall site.

UCL-UCU Resolves:

To call upon UCL to demonstrate its commitment to LGBTQ+ equalities by:

1. Immediately re-joining Stonewall's Diversity Champions Programme
2. Committing to making a submission to Stonewall's 2022 Global Workplace Equality Index.
3. Continuing to improve staff training and awareness on LGBTQ+ and intersex equalities.