WELCOME TO PLEXUS PLEXUS proudly present the latest edition of SOLAR Welcome to all new OU Students and Welcome Back to all returning students #new2OU #back2OU WELCOME Hello and welcome to the 5th edition of SOLAR our membership exclusive publication. We couldn’t start this edition without welcoming both new and returning students. We hope those of you haven’t been studying over the summer enjoyed the break and are looking forward to the year ahead. Hopefully you will have seen us participating in two major Pride events along with the wider University community in London and recently in Manchester. We had an excellent time celebrating the diversity of the Open University in addition to putting PLEXUS on the map. The PLEXUS committee have been busy looking at activity for the upcoming year taking into consideration your thought and ideas. We’ll be attending more Pride events, supporting all LGBT+ students through our education campaigns, we’ll also be working closely with the Disabled Students Group, the Societies and of course the Open University. You’ll see a programme of activity later in this publication. One important activity we need to mention now is that PLEXUS will be holding its first ever elections. This will be where you, our members, will be able to stand for one of these posts, the Chair, the Secretary, Campaigns Officer, Equalities and Support Officer and Women’s Officer. These five posts are the leadership of PLEXUS and drive forward the annual report and programme of activity. The term of office is for 2 years starting on the 1st January 2018. If you would like to know more about these posts please contact either of us via email or social media. Throughout the year we want you, our members, to continue advising us on what support you require, how PLEXUS continues to develop and how we engage with the OU community. The easiest way of doing this is by posting in our forums. These are only open to our members. In this edition of SOLAR, we reminisce about the year that has gone by, we highlight to our new members why PLEXUS is here and that it isn’t just for the LGBT+ community. We also have stories from our members, the staff team in Milton Keynes, and we’re very lucky to have a special feature from Helen Richardson- Walsh an Olympic Hockey Gold Medallist telling us about her OU journey and that it’s cool to be out in Sport. We wish you all the best for the year ahead and we look forward to seeing you participate in our activities whether this is online or at one of our events. In Pride Graham & Alex FRESHERS: FUN, FEARS AND COMING OUT By Mike Jennings Autumn is a time of change, but not just for nature! For many LGBT+ students, this month will be the beginning of a new journey into university education (or a return to that journey if you, like myself, are coming back to university for the second time). Unsurprisingly many of these students may decide to come out for first time when they arrive in this fresh and exciting environment. It could be due to moving (away from parents, away from remote areas into cities) or it could be due to finding themselves surrounded by more like-minded and inclusive people. It may be that students start to forge their independence, and therefore understand their identities more. Whatever the reason is, it happens, and it will only be a pleasant and safe experience if all institutions are doing their best to support it, including the Open University. Why is this important? It seems like an obvious question, but amongst all the freshers’ fun it can be easy to forget that not all students end up in the safe space that they were hoping for. Research compiled by NUS into LGBT+ students in higher education showed that they were more likely to consider dropping out, compared to heterosexual students. Even worse, just over half of the respondents who identified as Trans had seriously considered leaving their university. 56 percent of those who had considered leaving reported that feeling as though they “did not fit in” was a factor. Dreams of making a huge group of brilliant new friends, partying until the early hours of the morning and even finding the love of your life (or the night) don’t always come true straight away and if a student feels uncomfortable or that they are not being supported or accepted, that could hinder both their personal growth and their studies. Therefore, it’s important to have realistic expectations. From my own personal experience, I remember thinking life would be very different once I moved away from home and arrived in bustling, cosmopolitan London. But the people around me were perhaps not as inclusive as I had hoped, nor had my confidence in myself as an LGBT+ person grown enough yet, so I ended up feeling secluded and like I wasn’t making the most of my experience – one of many reasons why I eventually dropped out and went straight into work. Now I’m back at the Open University and want to do anything I can to support those who may find themselves in a similar position. Here at the OU, many of our students will be in distance learning and won’t have a campus. This means that immediate sense of community and inclusiveness is not necessarily a given – but we can work hard together to foster that community in different ways (both in the real and digital world) and help each other find the safest space to start to be the person we want to be. On the next page are top five Freshers Fixes The Five Freshers Fixes 1. Facebook groups are your friend. Whether it’s the group for the OU, specific to your degree, your module or any kind of LGBT+ group linked to the university or area in which you are based, Facebook groups are a great way to contact and share information with fellow students. This can really help create a sense of student community, especially if (again, like myself) you study from home and don’t have the opportunity to meet your colleagues face to face on a regular basis. The more, the merrier! Here is the PLEXUS Facebook Group 2. Switchboard will listen. Although they are based in London, Switchboard takes calls or Instant Messages from anyone, anywhere. They are an LGBT+ helpline who do their best to offer a wealth of material to those seeking information or simply just be there if you need someone to talk to for guidance. If you need assistance finding local LGBT+ groups or information about events, or need help with coming out (or anything at all) then Switchboard is a great tool to utilise. 3. Student Support could help. From your online StudentHome profile you should be able to access the contact page for the Student Support Team who are there to try and answer any educational queries you may have. Although the assistance they provide is tailored more towards your modules, exams and career, they could be of use to anyone who does find themselves considering dropping out or if you have any issues and con- cerns with tutors, staff members, or other students – unlikely to happen at the OU but always good to know the support is there if needed! 4. Meet up on Meetup! Like using Facebook groups and events, Meetup is another website and app that lets you create, join or search through events based around specific themes or subjects. For instance, you could search for LGBT+ events or events related to your studies, all happening within your area, sorted by distance. You could even cre- ate your own events to share with the students on your course to see if any of you could form study buddy groups in your area – it’s all about finding ways to create your own community and help support one another. Once the support network has been estab- lished, students who want to come out will feel more capable of doing so, without fear of isolation. 5. PLEXUS wants you! Despite the lack of campuses, here at PLEXUS we want to make all LGBT+ students feel included and that their voices are being heard. Join the forums, request an invite to the Facebook group and sign up to SOLAR – all these things will put you in the right place to discover new friends and like-minded individuals in the LGBT+ community who can offer all kinds of guidance and support, especially if you are coming out and need someone to talk to. If you just need to post on the Facebook wall for advice, want to attend an event to put faces to names, or even contribute to the SOLAR Magazine, all you need to do is click and get in touch. The aim is to continue to grow as a community and work together, using our own experiences and understanding, to make sure that the university adventure (right through from Freshers Week to gradua- tion) is as easy, enlightening and fun as possible! There you have it, the top tips to making sure your introduction to the great big world of university – hopefully those help, and if you have any other comments or feedback, don’t be afraid to get in touch! We don’t bite – after Freshers is over that is! PLEXUS & OU MAKE A MARK DURING PRIDE 2017 PLEXUS and the Open University have achieved something that has never been done before, we made a noise at not one, but three Pride events this year! Our first pride event took place in February during LGBT History Month.