“All students are members of the Guild of Students, every one of us,” says Inool Nabbie, Treasurer of the 2023-2024 Guild of Students Council.
Commonly misconstrued, the distinction between the Student Guild – every registered student of the Campus – and the Guild Council – the students nominated and elected by their peers to advocate for each student’s rights – is vital to UWI students’ understanding of their value to the university.
“As students, we tend to feel like we don't have a voice,” explains Tishia John, the Council’s Secretary and a Faculty of Medical Sciences (FMS) student. “We tend to think the persons that make the major decisions are those that hold high positions. We don’t make the rules. We just have to follow [them],” she says. “But, that’s not so.”
On June 1, 2023, after a hectic and exciting season of campaigning, UWI St Augustine inaugurated its Student Guild Council for the new academic year, a body comprising twenty (26) members, including five executives: President, Aishwarya Maharaj; Vice President, Tyrese St Louis; Secretary, Tishia John ; Treasurer, Inool Nabbie; and Postgraduate Representative, Bradley Osbourne.
In speaking with the Guild Council members, one thing is clear: they care.
“We are students. We understand the experiences of other students, and we want to help,” says Aishwarya. The Guild’s president is also a member of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, another of three third-year FMS students to be elected to the Guild Council’s executive team for the 2023/2024 academic year. This is notable in the Guild’s history and is “definitely breaking barriers for the faculty, which we are happy to do,” she says.
Having served as the Guild’s treasurer in 2022-2023, Aishwarya shares that she ran for the position of President because she wanted to effect change. “I noticed there were so many different areas for improvement and I felt, based on my skills, that I had a vision and ideas that could really benefit the university.”
Her election campaign theme, she says, was to “improve the student experience”. She wants that when students graduate, they leave the campus feeling they had a great experience.
Though this Guild Council is just a couple months into their tenure, Aishwarya recalls some of the strides made by the past student government body. “When [the campus’ administration was] proposing a drastic fee increase effective almost immediately, the Guild was in opposition, of the approach proposed.”
Transportation around the campus has also improved because of the Guild Council. “We brought forward a proposal last year for increased shuttles and our students now benefit from four new shuttles.”
When the Guild Council raises issues with the campus’s administration it is noted because the Guild Council represents the concerns of the students and plays an integral role in championing their needs.
Guild’s Vice President Tyrese St Louis noted that, as the “main body for advocacy for all the students, the Guild sits on major decision-making bodies on the campus which can impact student life and experience at The UWI.”
As our chat continues, a consensus among the new executive team becomes clear – students don’t know how significant an impact the Guild Council has on the inner workings of the campus.
Aishwarya affirms that, “there are so many initiatives the Guild leads that students do not see, like everyday occurrences that happen to almost every student on campus”.
Other points of consensus are improving students’ university experiences through engagement, and, recognising the disruption to university life caused by the pandemic, revitalising campus culture.
In addition to their collective goals, each executive member has its own responsibilities and aims for their tenure.
Tishia recalls her own experiences as a first-year student, being lost and confused and not knowing that help existed. Now, among her goals as the Guild Secretary is to guide students and to lead initiatives that create unity among the student population. She is also planning a cancer month initiative in October to build awareness and to share the experiences of students living with the disease.
As the Guild’s Vice President, Tyrese’s office is responsible for both the Complaints Committee and the Inter Club Committee (ICC). “As far as the ICC goes,” he wants to “unify, professionalise, and revitalise the clubs of The UWI bringing greater out-of-classroom engagement opportunities to students.” For the Complaints Committee, he wants to introduce a more data-driven process for “compiling complaints and making it easy for students to lodge and follow-up on complaints”.
Inool explains that one of the pillars of his campaign was financial aid, due to the economic downturn. “We aim to increase financial assistance,” he says, as well as “engage corporate bodies to provide necessities for our students, like grocery items at a discounted rate.” Aishwarya has a clear understanding of the value of each of their roles as members of UWI’s student government. “Being able to serve in a student leadership position where we can connect with students is important to the overall student experience,” she says.
Inool adds his hope that “students work with us to achieve our objectives for the year ahead. Our motto,” he is quick to point out, is “‘Together we can make it happen,’” and so, that’s what they have set out to do.
“We want to foster that togetherness and we want to make sure that everyone knows – You are a member of the Guild of Students. You are important. You are valued and we appreciate you.”
