6th November 2023
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Vice-President Will Jones has set up the Guild’s first Working Class Student’s Collective to make a difference on campus. This is what he had to say:
The Working-Class Students’ Collective will be an active and engaged community that serves as a springboard for grassroots campaigns addressing the issues directly affecting working-class students. It will also provide a safe, non-judgmental space where students can share their experiences and the challenges they face at university. Additionally, I hope the collective will include an educational element, hosting talks and roundtable discussions with academics in the future.
As a working-class person and former student of the University, I’ve witnessed firsthand the barriers that working-class students face—not only in accessing higher education but also in thriving once they arrive. Students from lower socio-economic backgrounds are often at an inherent disadvantage throughout their education, both financially and socially. Many are forced to work long hours alongside their studies, leaving them excluded from social opportunities and campus life. Those with regional accents frequently experience accentism and struggle to be taken seriously. Above all, many working-class students lack the sense of belonging they deserve, a reflection of the lingering classism and elitism that persists within higher education. As a Guild Officer, I felt it was time working class students felt they had a space for themselves away from judgment or pre-conceived notions of what being working class was and that’s why I’ve established the collective.
Frankly, I think because people are afraid to talk about class. It’s one of those things which can’t be strictly categorised into a set number of boxes and is ever evolving which discourages people from talking about class but also rooting out the issues which do negatively impact working class students. Secondly, lingering classism within the Higher Education Sector in particularly Russel Group Universities has meant working class student are less likely to speak out about there experiences or background due to fear of judgment in what is a predominantly middle class space.
The response so far has been excellent and incredibly encouraging, several students have reached out to me over social media and have purchased tickets for our first collective meting ! I’m excited to see where we can go with this collective and build a community of working-class students at our university.
Anyone whose interested in being part of the collective can get in touch with myself @Jones, William [willmj] or message me on Instagram.
For more on-campus news, please click here:
https://www.liverpoolguildstudentmedia.co.uk/category/on-campus
