Welcome to Her Campus at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland!
HerCampus has chapters all over the world. Take a trip with me to the north-east of Scotland and see what we get up to!
What year are you in? What do you study?
I’m currently in my third year of studying English and History of Art – only one year to go! This semester, my courses are Photography and Contemporary Art: 1940s-Now and Queer Times (an English course focussed on queer theory and LGBTQ+ literature).
How big is your committee?
Our committee consists of 10 members: our president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, social secretary, vice-social secretary, PR secretary, and three editors. Due to the current circumstances, all societies and sport clubs at our university are also required to have a COVID-officer. I’m both one of our editors and our COVID-officer. My job as a COVID-officer is staying up to date with local guidelines, making sure we all stay safe at our events and meetings.
How many articles do you publish each week?
We publish one article every weekday!
What social issues are important to your chapter?
It’s important to us to create an environment which is safe and welcoming to all. Intersectional feminism is essential to us. We fight against racism, LGBTQ+ oppression, and sexual harassment (such as the recent case of Sarah Everard (trigger warning: murder and sexual assault)). This shows in the articles written by our members.
Our chapter is also concerned with issues that are related to the students at our university. Currently, this includes the proposal of a No Detriment Policy. This policy was in place during our first semester of the 2020-2021 academic year, taking into consideration the circumstances students are working in during the pandemic. Right now, students all across our university are campaigning to establish a new policy.
What events have you run this year that you are most proud of?
This year has been challenging for us all, but we still managed to put some amazing online events! Every month, some of our members meet up online for our book club. So far, we’ve read So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo, Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall, and Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. We’ve also had multiple Netflix-parties, a self-care night with facemasks and sleep-over style questions, and a boozy Halloween party!
What kind of books, music, tv shows do your committee members enjoy?
We’re always ready to discuss our latest obsessions! I’ve recently started watching the series The Crown. My mum has been trying to make me watch it for ages… I’ve also been loving the book Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy. Here are some recommendations from our other committee members:
- Ellen Vinke, vice-president: La Casa de Papel is my fave tv show at the moment – it has an insane plot and great characters.
- Iona Hancock, secretary: I’ve been rewatching loads of Tim Burton stuff recently and attempting to reread the Nancy Drew books I loved as a kid!
- Lucy Clarkson, treasurer: I love a comedy or a dumb 00s teen show! Anything that kills off my brain cells.
- Jaden-marie Browne, PR secretary: Anything that contains queer people is probably a good bet.
- Carlyn Robinson, editor: Murder documentaries, please feed me all the murder documentaries.
- Megan Hâf Donoher, editor: True crime documentaries all the way!
How does your university work?
Our university offers a wide range of degrees, spread across 12 different schools: Business School; Divinity, History and Philosophy; Education; Language, Literature, Music and Visual Culture; Law; Social Science; Biological Science; Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition; Engineering; Geosciences; Natural and Computing Sciences. We also have a Postgraduate Research School and a campus in Qatar.
You can choose to do a joint honours (like me!) or a single honours. By doing a joint degree, you have courses in both your subjects. In your final year, you have to write a dissertation in one of your subjects. Most degrees take four years to complete, although some, like Medicine, take five. Our university also offers master’s degrees and PhDs.
My favourite memory of HerCampus
Our fortnightly writers meetings are always amazing, but one of my favourite events this academic year was our pamper night. Right now, we all need some time to relax and think of something else than work for our courses. Our nights out and pub-crawls are also a blast, and I can’t wait until we can meet each other for those again!