Christmas dinner speech 9th December 2016

Ladies and gentlemen, good evening! I hope you have enjoyed our Christmas dinner so far and that, after I have finished speaking, you will join in singing some Christmas songs with us. Don’t worry – we’ll get the words up on the projector! 

Of course, it couldn't happen without a lot of really hard work from our catering team, so let's say a big thank you to them...  And I think another big round of applause is well deserved by your Residents’ Club Committee, who have invested so much time and effort into organising tonight... 

Ten weeks ago, in my welcome speech, I stood before you all and asked you to try and meet this year’s challenges with kindness and compassion for yourself and for others. Throughout this term, I’ve had the chance to see so many of you live up to that hope on a daily basis. And the result, here in our home, is that you have built a strong and supportive community for one another.  That is something to reflect on, to be proud of, as this year draws to a close. And I hope we will see-in the New Year with a similar abundance of friendship and kindness. For if this festive season means anything to us, it must be about celebrating the peace and joy that we can find in our shared humanity. 

So if you're travelling for the holidays, I wish you safe journeys – and look forward to seeing you back in January. And wherever you will be, I wish you a Christmas and New Year full of love, happiness, and good health. 

Now please raise your glass for a toast... To a very merry Christmas!

 

How the Warden's time is used - February update

I can only say that my previous post did not have the desired effect, and an updated view of how I have been spending my time this term so far looks like this:

This is not what I enjoy about my role as Warden. Residents this year have not seen me working with them at social events and community building because all my time has been tied up with disciplinary issues. I am sorry this has been the case and once again, would like to ask everyone to help me. The Hall community as a whole this year could be getting much better value for money out of the service I can provide!

• Help me rebuild a positive Hall community. 

• Contribute to our events.

• Help us work out what activities you want organised in Hall, and work with us to organise them.

• Talk to your neighbours. Find out if there is anything you can do to make their time in Hall better. Have you been doing anything that annoyed them all last term? Tell them if you need their help with anything.

• Use our Hall bar. It's a valuable social space, but it won't survive without your custom and support. Don't drink your own alcohol in the bar, Bell room, or garden.

• Only smoke in the designated smoking area (in the garden), or on the pavement outside, well away from the main entrance.

• Keep quiet after 11pm.

• Don't go out onto balconies on the first floor.

• Be respectful of everyone around you. Remember our positive diversity message:

This is a safe space for everyone. Please join us in respecting and celebrating all our residents, staff, and guests, of every age, race, religion, sexuality, nationality, disability, and gender identity.

Finally, let me draw your attention to our goals & values statement. Help us work with you to deliver these for you.

We aim to provide a secure, supportive, and friendly environment in which our residents can study and socialise.

We hope that all our residents will call Connaught Hall “home”, and take many positive memories and good friends with them when they leave.

By encouraging our residents to participate in and contribute to the Hall community, we hope that they will learn to be self-directed and self-disciplined in their behaviour.
We aim to promote a spirit of neighbourliness and togetherness in our Hall community: an attitude that we can all take with us when we move on to other, wider neighbourhoods and communities. 

The needs of our residents, within the necessary limitations of good order, finance, and safety, take priority over other considerations at all times. 

We endeavour to help residents wherever we can. If we can reasonably say “yes” within the rules, we will not say “no”. 

We always strive to act fairly, honestly, and transparently. 

We deal with any problems sensitively and confidentially.

We do not tolerate personal harassment, nor discrimination against anyone because of their age, race, religion, national origin, gender, disability, or sexual orientation.

How the Warden's time is used in Hall - and how to improve your Hall experience in terms 2 & 3

There has been a significant change this year in how my time at Connaught Hall is spent. The graphic below is based on the amount of new correspondence in my email folders about different activities. It compares how much time I have spent on eight different areas of activity in term 1 of 2014-15, compared with the average year.

Discipline (investigation, meetings, disciplinary panels & hearings, appeals, letter writing, and fine administration) and responding to formal complaints have taken up much more of my time this year than is usual.

The amount of time have to spend on the Hall is fixed, so other activities lose out from this increase in complaints and disciplinary work. Some areas of activity are pretty fixed (like recruiting and training senior members, and attending central University meetings) so the two major things that I've had to cut this year are:

• service improvement projects. Facilities Committee, suggestion box, and responding to residents' routine enquiries; and
• Hall community & social life activities (organising & attending events, supporting the Residents' Club Committee).

Ultimately, you, the residents, pay for the service I provide for you in Hall, through your accommodation fees. I should much rather use my time to support you through difficult patches, improve the overall service we provide in Hall, and promote a positive, supportive, social community that everyone can benefit from, than trawl through one disciplinary case after another. I am usually a community leader here in Hall; this year, I feel like a policeman. I don't enjoy that relationship with our residents, and I am sure it is not the best use of your accommodation fees.

If you share my view that it's better for me to spend time on activities that benefit all our residents, rather than issuing fines, responding to complaints, and chairing disciplinary panels, I need your help!

• From the start of the new term in January, work with me and my team of Senior Members. We're here to help you make the most of your time in London and at Connaught Hall. We're not the "bad cops"! (Unless you decide that's what you want us to do with your fees.)

• Help me rebuild a positive Hall community. 

• Contribute to our events.

• Help us work out what activities you want organised in Hall, and work with us to organise them.

• Talk to your neighbours. Find out if there is anything you can do to make their time in Hall better. Have you been doing anything that annoyed them all last term? Tell them if you need their help with anything.

• Use our Hall bar. It's a valuable social space, but it won't survive without your custom and support. Don't drink your own alcohol in the bar, Bell room, or garden.

• Only smoke in the designated smoking area (in the garden), or on the pavement outside, well away from the main entrance.

• Keep quiet after 11pm.

• Don't go out onto balconies on the first floor.

• Be respectful of everyone around you. Remember our positive diversity message:

This is a safe space for everyone. Please join us in respecting and celebrating all our residents, staff, and guests, of every age, race, religion, sexuality, nationality, disability, and gender identity.

Finally, let me draw your attention to our goals & values statement. Help us work with you to deliver these for you.

We aim to provide a secure, supportive, and friendly environment in which our residents can study and socialise.

We hope that all our residents will call Connaught Hall “home”, and take many positive memories and good friends with them when they leave.
By encouraging our residents to participate in and contribute to the Hall community, we hope that they will learn to be self-directed and self-disciplined in their behaviour.

We aim to promote a spirit of neighbourliness and togetherness in our Hall community: an attitude that we can all take with us when we move on to other, wider neighbourhoods and communities. 

The needs of our residents, within the necessary limitations of good order, finance, and safety, take priority over other considerations at all times.
We endeavour to help residents wherever we can. If we can reasonably say “yes” within the rules, we will not say “no”.
We always strive to act fairly, honestly, and transparently.
We deal with any problems sensitively and confidentially.
We do not tolerate personal harassment, nor discrimination against anyone because of their age, race, religion, national origin, gender, disability, or sexual orientation.

Residents' Club Committee - survey feedback

In last week's survey, you told us that you want Hall events to be publicised better.

At last night's meeting of the Residents' Club Committee, your elected members discussed this and resolved to:

• give more notice of events;
• make announcements at dinner in the days leading up to events; and 
• invest in a printer so they can put up posters more easily instead of relying on Facebook alone for publicity.

Quick survey results

Thank you to everyone who answered our quick survey last week. 76 residents responded - so that's a response rate of 33%.

The results of the satisfaction scales are below.

We will carefully be going through all your written comments over the next week or so. Those of you who requested that we write back to you about your comments should expect to hear from us within 14 days - and probably much sooner.

We will update everyone with the action that we take based on your feedback in this survey.

Remember, you can always write to us with your ideas, suggestions, compliments, and complaints at suggestions@connaught-hall.org.uk.

Or if you want to write to us anonymously, you can text the Warden at 07 907 753 894. Please note this phone is not monitored 24/7, so do not use this number for emergencies. The response time is similar to our target email response time (72 hours). If you need to contact someone in an emergency, call reception and ask for the person on duty.

Remembrance

It was moving to share today's two-minute silence with around 30 Connaught Hall residents in reception, gathered around a screen showing the BBC coverage of the Serive of Remembrance at the Cenotaph. This is the first time I have organised a formal, collective silence for remembrance in Hall so I was pleased to see so many residents join in this national moment of reflection and thanks.

Remembrance Sunday: 11th November

The second Sunday in November is traditionally put aside to remember all those who have given their lives for the peace and freedom we enjoy today. This year, Remembrance Sunday coincides with Armistice Day – 11^th November – when we traditionally commemorate the end of the First World War.

 

On Sunday, Her Majesty The Queen will lead a national service of remembrance at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, starting at 10.30am.

 

At 11.00am, there will be a national two-minute silence. Of this, the Royal British Legion says:

“Remembrance transcends all boundaries … a rare moment when the nation can stand together and reflect on the price of freedom.”

 

Here in Hall, the ceremony at the Cenotaph will be streamed live to a screen in the reception lobby from 10.30am. I should like to invite you to join me in reception to stand and mark the two-minute silence at 11.00am on Sunday.

Multicultural Students' Forum

The Warden established a new Multicultural Students' Forum (McSF) at Connaught Hall in September. The reason for establishing the McSF is to increase and expand participation in the Hall community by students from different backgrounds.

The need for a body like the proposed forum was highlighted in the residents' survey this year, to build on good work that had alrady started with our themed cultural nights:

I love the international nights where the food is themed, there are speeches, decorations, and activities. I would love to see an Eid celebration and a Diwali celebration.

Consider cultural events from India, Brazil, Turkey, Russia.

More events from a wide variety of different cultures. Make sure you have all the nations flags in your welcoming party and not ones that fit with British foreign policy only.

St David's Day ought to be recognised - the Hall was incapable of acknowledging this national celebration, though did choose to host a special meal, speeches and bar event to commemorate the Super Bowl. Following from this, it should be said that it is in the interests of the Hall that they should view a day of a patron saint, and therein a nation, to be at least on the same standing as a football match. It is clear that there is no ethnic equality in the representation of events - we have hosted Chinese New Year and a German evening, and it ought to be the case that people of every heritage are viewed equally should such a precedent be put in place.

Also residents of black and ethnic minority background needs to be more enfranchised and protected, maybe you could have a diversity officer on the student council.

The McSF will operate as follows:

Membership will be one Senior Member; the Warden; the Secretary and the Entertainment Officer from the Residents’ Club Committee; and any resident students who are interested in the objectives of the forum. Student representatives of any and every colour, reliogion, natioanlity, and culture are welcome.

A Senior Member will provide administration for the forum.

The objectives will be -

1. To encourage participation in Hall community life by international, overseas, and ethnic minority students (IOEMS).

2. To promote and facilitate the experience of British life and customs by IOEMS – based on the idea that if you come to London to study, we should help you make the most of your time here and experience London/UK/British life to the full.

3. To broaden the range of social and cultural events in Hall so that IOEMS can share their home cultures with other residents.

4. To review and improve the way the Hall communicates with international, overseas, and ethnic minority students.

The McSF will work closely with the Residents' Club Committee. Any funding required for the organisation of events will be drawn from the Residents' Club, with agreement from the Residents' Club Committee.

I welcome any comments on this proposal, and ideas for how the McSF can best meet its objectives. Email: warden@connaught-hall.org.uk or multicultural@connaught-hall.org.uk.

Defining the Warden's role

The recent University of London consultation on removing all Wardens and Vice-Wardens from the intercollegiate halls of residence (see this thread of posts about the consultation and what happened) prompted me to review the way we describe the Warden's role at Connaught Hall.

It is important that residents understand precisely what the Warden and Senior Members are for and what they do. Correspondence from the Warden's team will now make clear that the Warden's role lies in -

enhancing opportunities for personal, social, academic and cultural development through: welfare and pastoral care; discipline and conflict resolution; community and social life; Residents’ Club and Hall bar; out-of-hours emergencies; and re-admissions.

I would value your feedback on this description: is it too long? does it make sense? does it help clarify the Warden's role? Feel free to comment directly on this blog post or email me.

The Warden's Team: supporting you all the way.

Themed receptions

I am excited about a new idea for helping residents meet one another at Connaught Hall this year.

Throughout the year, I will organise a number of themed receptions for residents with particular interests. The invitation to each reception will be open to all residents; the receptions will not be exclusive in any way: any resident will be welcome to attend, but the intention is that residents interested in the theme of the reception will come and meet other like-minded residents with similar interests.

For example, there might be receptions for residents interested in sport, charitable work, acting, political activities, LGBT, photography, medical students, national or cultural groups, etc... Where possible, I should like to be able to invite relevant external guests.

I am open to suggestions for themes. Please get in touch if you would like to see a themed reception for a particular interest, activity, or group.