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Union Senate (20th February 2024)

Minutes

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Name of Committee Union Senate
Date and time 20th February 2024, 14:00
Place SUSU Boardroom
Present Members
(voting)
Senator Terence Wong
Chair of Senate Yasmine Gendy
Senator Joshie Christian
Senator Klevis Filaj
Senator Ash Mochol
Senator Fionn Allen
Senator James Baines
Senator Lamar Dixon
Senator Wilson Wijaya
Union President Ed Brooker
Vice President Activities Amy Moir
Vice President Education and Democracy Rebecca Would
Vice President Sports Marina Stasi
Senator Dee Marupuri
Senator Jake Aurora
Senator Marine Ma
Senator Andrew Littlejohn
Opening
1. Welcome and Introductions
2. Minutes of Previous Meeting

Minutes approved

3. Conflicts of Interest

None raised

Papers & Reports
4. Sabbatical Reports

VP Activities

  • Society of the Month is being featured on digital screens around the SUSU buildings
  • Society Instagram takeovers less popular than anticipated, AM is being proactive in reaching out and suggesting takeovers around society events
  • Taster events deemed not appropriate for refreshers but societies were able to hold stalls and this went down well
  • Accreditation – two proposals: gold/silver/bronze or individual badges – individual badges unanimously preferred at consultation (fundraising, sustainability, inclusivity, etc.)
  • Digital Platform – building this is ongoing, can’t give specific timescale but will be soon!
  • Period Products – met with resistance on sustainability and cost, making use of project fund to push this forward
  • Gender Recognition Fund – technicalities are around cost, expecting more resistance due to fewer students affected, hoping to also make use of project fund for this
  • Liberation campaigns – society engagement has been good as many societies put on events and sessions as part of these campaigns
  • Safety charter being dropped due to lack of response from venues, launching SUSU Safe website in place
  • Invoice templates – this will take place in the new year as societies are moved onto money hub
  • Question re. rehabilitation training and what this involves – this links to student disciplinaries
  • Question re. Society takeovers – these have been well received
  • Welfare room – credit given to advice centre for looking after this
  • Question re. moving societies onto money hub – There will be more training for this

VP Sports

  • Sports Pass taking up roughly 85% of VP Sports’ time up to January
  • MS Teams chats have been very good both in terms of contact with IM and AU Presidents, updates in terms of playing conditions/weather etc. but also for consultations re. Sports Pass & TSA
  • EB has been doing most of the work on Wide Lane Bar due to pre-occupation with Sports Pass – EB & MS undertook a joint trip to Wide Lane to review progress
  • Plan is to co-chair meetings with UoS Director of Sports
  • Working with Activities Co-ordinator on buddy scheme
  • Wheelchair paper has had to be re-submitted due to procedural change
  • Question re. Accessibility in Jubilee – VP Sports has been in meetings, budgets, signage
    • Gender Neutral toilets – need to undertake student consultation to bring to the project board
  • Question re. Sports Pass – VP Sports & Union President have been holding meetings with Snr University staff since all student vote in November
    • £25k secured from University to compensate students for how this was implemented
    • Southampton Sport have committed to including sports pass in cost of monthly sports memberships
    • Sports liaison forum – meetings between students & Southampton sport to resolve issues before they become problems, including the future cost of the Sports Pass
    • Contacting Sports Club presidents to consult on what the £25k should be used for
    • Realistically sports pass is going to remain in place, focus on compensating students for what has happened already, and ensuring students are consulted about what comes next
  • Question re. Southampton Fight Night – what is this? Charity boxing match

VP Ed Dem

  • Feedback from student reps has been passed on to university staff, recommendations being taken forward by multiple boards
  • Ensuring sustainability is kept in focus in university meetings eg genAI
  • Raising profile of reps – doing lots of this, not sure putting rep of the month on digital screens is the right move
  • Working on LinkedIn guidance for reps as this is something that reps have requested as a ‘quick win’, will look to provide more detailed career progression support if there is time/resource for this
  • U7 Bus – UP has been leading on this, getting timetable changed, VPED has been getting student consultation from reps and drafting responses
  • Question re. assessment report - shortened version is available to Academic Reps, happy to send link round to senators as well
  • MyEngagement – will become more important as the welfare role becomes more embdeed

Union President

  • Capacity issues have caused delays with work on student housing experience.
  • Responses from vendors have been insufficient on SUSU Safe, working with SUSU core staff to improve website content
  • Have raised Cost of Living with SUSU venues – prices are competitive, to reduce them venues would need to cut hours for student staff
  • SUSU Strategy – this is with SLT at the moment, also doing work on Sabb roles
  • Wide Lane Bar – collecting feedback, fostering a sense of community, wrote follow-up report, trial days – pushing for another date in March
  • Working with individual student groups on key issues, local issues
  • Green Week, w/c 22nd April
  • Empowering student sustainability forum and championing actions that come from this group
  • Buses – responding to You Make Changes, have made changes to timetable, working on costing and engaging with students on wider issues than just U7
  • Question re. capacity issues – projects ending so these should abate
  • Question re. pay for nursing students – this is a national issue, could be addressed through RUGSU
  • Question re. Wide Lane Bar – possible to post fixture schedule? These change frequently and last-minute so difficult to post these in advance
  • Question re. University TikTok promoting Southampton nightlife, ambassadors to promote nightclubs that may not be SUSU Safe – not happy with list of clubs UoS have proposed, EB to raise at next meeting with UoS student wellbeing
  • Question re. student spaces in new North East Quadrant project – EB sitting on NEQ project board, they have been responsive to feedback
Closing
5. AOB

None raised

Key: P (Papers Provided), PF (Papers to Follow)