Larissa Kennedy is a student politician who was President of the UK National Union of Students 2020–2022, succeeding Zamzam Ibrahim. She was the first president elected via online ballot, defeating six other candidates. She served a two-year term to oversee the NUS's three-year plan to financially overhaul its organisation following a £3 million shortfall in 2018. She is also a trustee of Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS-UK), an educational charity formed in response to the climate emergency and ecological crisis.

Biography

Kennedy was born in London and grew up in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

, south London. She is a "granddaughter of the Windrush generation", with family roots in Jamaica, Barbados and St Vincent. She studied at Croydon High School, an independent girls' school. She has been involved in activism and student politics since she was 16, when she served on the

Girlguiding UK Girlguiding is the operating name of The Guide Association, previously named The Girl Guides Association and is the national guiding organisation of the United Kingdom. It is the UK's largest girl-only youth organisation. Girlguiding is a char ...

’s national Advocate panel. While studying politics, international studies, and Hispanic studies at

University of Warwick , mottoeng = Mind moves matter , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £7.0 million (2021) , budget = £698.2 million (2020� ...

, Kennedy founded the "Warwick Decolonise Project". She was formerly elected Education Officer and Deputy President at Warwick Students’ Union. Between 2018 and 2020 she served on NUS’ National Executive Council, and she is a member of the NUS Black student's campaign. Kennedy previously served as Advocacy and Campaigns Officer at

Plan International Plan International is a development and humanitarian organisation which works in over 75 countries across Africa, the Americas, and Asia to advance children’s rights and equality for girls. Its focus is on child protection, education, child par ...

during a sabbatical year from her undergraduate studies, and was a 2017–2019 trustee to the

British Youth Council The British Youth Council, known informally as BYC, is a UK charity that works to empower young people and promote their interests. The national charity, run by young people, exists to represent the views of young people to government and decisi ...

. She served as UK Youth Delegate to the Council of Europe Congress in 2018. Kennedy is a member of the UK committee of the global Youth for Change organisation, which campaigns to end

gender-based violence Gender-related violence or gender-based violence includes any kind of violence directed against people due to their gender or gender identification. Types of gender-related violence include: * Violence against women (sometimes referred to simply a ...

and FGM. She is an alumna of the TuWezeshe Akina Dada Fellowship, a young women's leadership programme run by the charity FORWARD.

NUS Presidency

Kennedy entered office during the

2020 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. She campaigned for student safety and greater testing in student communities, as well as greater investment in student mental health services and making online learning accessible. She criticised the UK Government's decision to base A-Level exam results on the previous results of colleges and schools – which resulted in students from disadvantaged backgrounds "more likely to be downgraded", commenting that this policy "reproduces inequality". Furthermore, she voiced concern that the government was allowing the pandemic to affect Black communities disproportionately.

Controversy

It was reported by ''

The Jewish Chronicle ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'' in March 2022 that Kennedy had suggested that Jewish students could leave a venue during Lowkey's participation during a planned event at the NUS conference in Liverpool as mitigation for his inclusion. Lowkey subsequently did not appear at the event.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Larissa Presidents of the National Union of Students (United Kingdom) Living people Year of birth missing (living people)