SU President passes anti-racism motion and responds to Hong Kong protestors

The Students' Union President Jackie Yip brought a motion to the Annual General Meeting last night, committing the SU to fighting institutional racism at Cardiff University.

The proposal stemmed from an inquiry launched by The Equality and Human Rights Commission in early 2019, which looked into racial harassment in publicly funded universities in Britain.

This inquiry found that 24% of students from an ethnic minority background said they had experienced racial harassment since starting their course, with 1 in 20 students leaving their course as a result of racial harassment.

Jackie Yip speaking in favour of her motion

With no one choosing to speak against Jackie, the motion was put to a vote. Following a near unanimous result, the motion passed.

Jackie told The Cardiff Tab that she was “delighted this motion passed and reaffirmed our collective belief that there is no place for racism on this campus”.

Jackie also took questions from Hong Kong students during the meeting. One student, wearing a yellow hard hat, asked whether the union could support the Hong Kong protests. He said this was not a political stance, but one "about humanity, about human rights and democracy".

Jackie Yip responded saying she has family in Hong Kong, and "worries for their safety every day". She also affirmed that the Union condemns all kinds of violence, and invited the student to talk to her about his fears one to one.

Hong Kong students held a protest outside the AGM, handing out leaflets to students as they left.

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