Julie Hearn (Lancaster University)

Election address

Julie Hearn

I am a Senior Lecturer in Politics at Lancaster University where I have been for eighteen years, before which I was on insecure, fixed-term contracts for eight years.  I work part-time because of caring responsibilities.  I have a track record of leading at branch, regional and national level.  I am a member of UCU Left.

UCU Positions Held

·     Lancaster UCU president, vice-president, equality officer and membership officer

·     Branch delegate to regional committee

·     NEC member, 2016-18, 2018-20, 2021-23

·     Member of UCU Legal Support Review Panel, 2017-18

Leading on USS, Four Fights, UCU Rising & MAB

I was branch president and lead negotiator when we had our first USS and Four Fights strike in 2018.  The Four Fights campaign addressed key aspects of gender equality, namely the gender pay gap, casualisation and workloads.  This year I was branch co-president during MAB where we faced 50% deductions for the entire MAB period, from April to September 2023.  We took local strike action during Exam Boards and Open Days. My deductions amounted to over £6,000. I am leading the legal challenge locally to these unlawful deductions.  I have also played a leading national role since 2018 as a member of the HEC, proposing and voting for industrial policy.

Leading on Women's Equality

As a university educationalist I have practised intersectional anti-sexist, anti-racist pedagogy for over twenty-five years, having been taught a decolonised curriculum at school and working extensively with academics and activists from Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East.  I have drawn on this activism, research and teaching experience as UCU Equality Officer in the following:

·     Represented UCU members at the University Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee

·     Co-founded the Lancaster University Race Equality Network in 2018

·     Advocated for University Menopause Guidelines to be Policy

·     Department Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Co-director and Co-chair of the EDI committee

·     Department Co-lead for Athena Swan, which monitors university progress towards gender equality

Based on my reflective practice on teaching and university leadership, I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

A Continuing Agenda on Women's Rights

I would like to be re-elected to a Women's Seat because I am incensed that we still experience institutional sexism daily.  In 18 years, I have never had a woman head of department, faculty dean or vice-chancellor.  Women students face institutions that are ill-equipped to respond to the trauma of gendered sexual violence and prevent it.  I am proud of UCU's record of fighting transphobia and in defending women's rights globally especially for the right to safe maternal healthcare, which has been destroyed in Gaza, Palestine.  I am committed to supporting equal rights for all UCU women members, in adult, further, higher and prison education.