Who am I?

My name is Rupika and I am a third year BSc Medical Science student and currently the course rep. I am also the President of Tamil Society here at ARU Chelmsford.

I am a friendly and approachable person; if anyone needs to talk to me about their concerns, I will always be available. Just email me!

What do I stand for?

I have always believed that everyone should be equal and that we should be judged by our actions, and not by how we look. However, I realised at a young age that the world we live in does not abide by the same principle.

My personal challenges, along with my research into race relations inter and intra-culturally, made me realise that people of colour need to stick together. We need to fight for the same cause and make sure that the stigmas, stereotypes and prejudices regarding our and other ethnicities, races etc. need to be removed from everyone’s mindsets.

It can be easier for you to go and freely talk to someone who shares similar experiences to you. Even though we may not have gone through similar events in our lives, I want you all to know that you can come to about any issues. I will always keep an open mind and I am willing to educate myself on several different matters, regardless of whether they relate to me or not.

What are my plans?

Community:

• Create a group that is highly educated with BME issues and history and have this group go to schools and other areas in the community and talk about the issues and history of BME.
• Talk to the MP about including BME related content to the national curriculum.
• ARU has a large intake of students who come from different backgrounds (this includes, race, ethnicity, religion and many more). I want these students to freely share their experiences and feelings relating to discrimination.

Events: 

• Organise events involving every society at ARU that complement 'Asian History Month', 'Black History Month' etc. This will not just include race; it will include different religions, cultures etc.
• Organise a big cultural event at the end of the year for all students to attend. People can learn more about other people's culture and have fun!
• Organise educational events, e.g. debates, that include raising awareness about several different topics, e.g. institutional and systemic racism.

Research:

• Create a focus group that focuses on the British empire, discrimination, understand the reasons for why extreme and negative opinions exist about others and how these mindsets can be changed.
• Create a focus group on how BME deals with women's rights, LGBTQ+ community etc.

Representation: 

• Represent the interests and experiences of BME members at the university.
• Make sure that societies at ARU are inclusive and represent BME (via events).
• Do what I can to make sure that students of colour feel like they belong at ARU.
• Ask students of colour from different courses about how their courses can include content related to BME.
• Establish meetings with relevant societies where everyone can meet and work together to support each other’s campaigns, events, ideas etc.