Welcome to the February 2018 edition of the
Staff Pride Network newsletter!
Happy LGBT+ History Month! As part of a diverse calendar of events (see the events section below for details), on Thursday 8 February we will launch our new official University of Edinburgh Rainbow Lanyards. This is a big step for the University – with funding from Communications & Marketing, we’ve decided on two designs for LGBT+ and Ally staff members. With such an obvious symbol, we can show to new staff, students, alumni and visitors that our workplace is inclusive, and our campuses can become walking rainbows! You can choose between the ‘University of Edinburgh’ or ‘University of Edinburgh LGBT+ Ally’ designs. Pick yours up at an event, or email us and we will send it to you in internal mail.
To reach out to the 13,000 staff across the University, we have ambitions to achieve SPN reps in every School or building, and Peter Tennant is leading this Site Rep project. Please read his introduction in this newsletter and email him if interested.
On a corporate level, we worked with Procurement to improve policy wording and they have now included a new ‘LGBT+ community benefit’ in their supplier contracts.
As well as the regular Central & KB lunchtime and evening socials and joint staff-student network monthly lunch, Gina organised a poignant event in November commemorating Transgender Day of Remembrance and in December Remus organised collection boxes in Uni buildings and a World AIDS Day discussion on HIV stigma.
Finally I’d like to express my thanks to all the SPN volunteers for their time and dedication, resulting in the University rising 132 places in the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index in the last year. At their Workplace Conference in November we were delighted to feature as a best practice example of a network starting up. We look forward to continuing our efforts to make the University an even more inclusive place to work and study.
Best wishes,
Jonathan MacBride
Co-chair, Staff Pride Network |
