Everyone at Hallam Students' Union would like to send their support and stand in solidarity with anyone at Sheffield Hallam University and around the world who continue to be impacted by the ongoing conflict in Israel and Palestine.

With this marking an extremely troubling time for many of our students along with members of our international community, HSU would like to focus on the lives impacted by the saddening violence that is currently taking place.

As a Students' Union, we are here to support and represent our members, therefore, we want students to be able to exercise their freedom of speech around this topic and any others they are passionate about.

We understand that many of our students have strong opinions around the conflict, although we would like to emphasise the need for everyone to be mindful and respectful as targeting a particular group for the events in Gaza can be classed as harassment and unlawful.

For any students who may suffer or witness any discriminatory behaviour, feel that the news is having a negative impact on their mental health, or would just like to pop in for a chat, HSU has a variety of support and wellbeing services.

Our support services

• If the issues are impacting on students' studies, they may wish to seek advice from our Student Advice Centre. There are drop-in sessions at the HUBS and Collegiate Campus, or students can get in touch by phone or online.
   
• Students can also contact us via email, direct message on social media, or live chat.
   
• Sheffield Hallam University provides wellbeing support and a chaplaincy service if students would like to talk to someone about how they are feeling. There are other resources available on the University website too.
   
• It is a good idea for students to talk with their Student Support Adviser or the International Experience Team: https://www.shu.ac.uk/myhallam/help-and-support.
   
• If any students need to report a hate crime or incident, please use the University's dedicated Report and Support service.

This is a difficult and testing period for our community, therefore, again we ask students and staff alike to look out for one another as we all hope for a peaceful resolution to the conflict in the near future.