Wednesday 28-06-2023 - 15:01

Please meet Aalaina Khan, the outgoing Chair of Assembly at the Students’ Union, who is also a third-year Sociology student and is also the Vice President of Collingwood College. Right from Aalaina’s first year at University, she established an active association with the SU and has since held multiple positions of responsibility here. She previously served as the NUS delegate, the SU representative for her college and then went on to be the chair of the SU representative committee before becoming Chair of Assembly this year.
 

She states that the role of the Chair is to ensure fair and equitable debates so that all opinions are expressed freely. As a passionate advocate of open and healthy debates, she regards them as the cornerstone of democratic processes and decision-making. She believes that such debates provoke new ideas and initiate beneficial outcomes. Having spent her first two years in Assembly she realised how integral the role of the chair was, and hence she found it important to be able to provide this service to the current members of Assembly. It is this enthusiasm for student governance and her substantial experience as a rep at the SU that made it a natural decision for her to pursue this role.

 

Aalaina affirms that this position has indeed been instructive in her professional and personal advancement. For instance, it trained her effectively to listen to people, their diverse opinions and to comprehend where they come from. She asserts this has been crucial to her as understanding people and their perspectives significantly informs her work. Moreover, the role helped her build diplomacy in communication, allowing her to engage meaningfully and mindfully during conflicts and disagreements. To her, this role, complemented by the others at the SU, allowed her to grow as a person while learning about the different facets of the University and student life as a whole.

 

Aalaina works with full dedication in order to fulfil her assignments, whether academic or otherwise. This has enabled her to acquire sufficient experience to take on any task within the SU or outside of it. Thus, being able to contribute behind the scenes whilst working alongside a dynamic group of people at Assembly has been a transformative experience for her.

 

Throughout her tenure at the SU, she has had the opportunity to work extensively on the Freedom of Speech Campaign with Jack Ballingham the Opportunities Officer. Aalaina accredits this project with being the closest to her heart, as she finds freedom of speech to be a particularly contentious but also crucial topic right now. Thus, providing Durham students with a level of protection is of pivotal importance to her. She maintains that with all her roles, she strives to create a safe, inclusive and protective environment for students from all backgrounds to allow them to make the most of their time at Durham.

 

For those looking to get more involved with the Students’ Union, she advises them to branch out to something that they've never thought of doing before. She says that the beauty of the SU lies in the multiplicity of opportunities that it provides through its student groups and Associations. Furthermore, Assembly too has a slew of roles that provide exposure and impetus for development, which are both new experiences for students but also integral to a functioning and successful governing body.

 

Having finished her tenure as the Chair, Aalaina confesses that her experience at the SU has been challenging yet immensely rewarding. Though the role has kept her on her toes, all her efforts proved to be worthwhile as she could see her peers benefit from the material improvement originating from the collective efforts of the Assembly. She hopes that through her participation in student governance and politics, she has been able to foster a welcoming environment at the University, encouraging more people to involve themselves in the same way. Greatly appreciative of her stint at the SU for all its opportunities, Aalaina has now involved herself deeply in local governance. Serving on three committees, she has taken oath as Labour Councillor in Hulton ward, Bolton and is the youngest person ever elected to Bolton Council.

The new Chair of Assembly will be elected at the beginning of Michaelmas term, 2023. Students are welcome to email dsu.governance@durham.ac.uk to express an interest.