Lawrence Coomber, Union President
This fortnight has been made up of less exciting but just as important work for me as President: The working group has been formed and has met for the Joint Honours project, hoping to set out and improve the experience of students whose course has modules from more than one School, Department or Faculty. We hope to meet regularly throughout the next academic year and begin engaging students to give your ideas.
As President, I also attend the End of Year Waste Management meeting with the University, Local Council and Resident Associations to discuss how best to manage the move-out of students in June regarding waste – yes, this does start this early! By June, we should have appropriate information and guides communicated about how best to manage your waste when you move out and avoid unnecessary charges.
We also have been filming content for Men’s Mental Health awareness within SUSU and are planning to do some with the University as well, so look out for our short-form content on that soon!
Rebecca Would, VP Education and Democracy
Hi All, and congratulations to Indigo, our first Rep of the Month winner for 2024/25 for getting stuck into the course rep role and getting lots of feedback from students on his course – you can nominate your reps via this form any time!
I’ve been busy catching up with lots of your senior reps lately, discussing everything from how we could be supporting Health Sciences students better, to discussing SSLCs and their ideas for rep training. Within SUSU, I’ve also been preparing for SUSU Senate, planning one of my campaign ideas and helping look at updating many of our rules.
With the university I have been part of a few bigger meetings such as the Education and Student Experience Committee, but also some fun new work pulling together all the university teams that focus on supporting students’ skills development.
I am also trying something new to bring you a more comprehensive and visual update on what I’ve been up to, so please check out my monthly updates on my SUSU page: Meet the Sabbs – VP Education & Democracy – SUSU.
Emily Dugdale, VP Activities
Over the last two weeks, I have continued meeting with society Presidents to find out how best to support them. I have also had some fruitful marketing discussions about the @SUSU_Socs Instagram page and how to promote societies to a wider audience.
I carried out some open day talks at WSA, which was a great opportunity to inform prospective students about SUSU’s role in university life, as well as telling them about the amazing societies we have here. It was also a lovely chance to check out another campus and see where some of our students are based.
Excitingly, the Successful Futures Project Board that both Conor and I sit on, is almost ready to be launched to students. It’s an informative and accessible pathway aimed to make understanding skills gained from your degree and extra-curricular activities easy and fun. I’ve really enjoyed contributing from an ex-student perspective.
Other than that, I have been liaising with the Widening Participation team about some opportunities within secondary schools and I’m hoping to do some talks in the near future.
Lottie James, VP Welfare & Community
Hi everyone! Over the past couple of weeks, I have been working with relevant SUSU and university teams on progress on my manifesto (almost ready for Senate!). I met with the SUSU People team to organise equity, diversity and inclusion training at SUSU based on student insights. I have been working with the SUSU Representation and SUSU Events team to discuss ensuring our events are inclusive. Your Freshers feedback regarding offering activities for diverse groups, cost-effective food options, and inclusive and accessible practice is really helpful, so thank you! If you need academic or wellbeing support, do reach out to the Student Hub – the waiting lists aren’t as long as you think!
I hope to see you all for our Trans Awareness Week crafty events at Highfield, WSA and NOC. You can find the campaign events calendar for Trans Awareness Week and Disability History Month on our SUSU What’s On calendar. Excitingly, we have allocated over £300 from our Gender Expression Fund so please don’t delay in applying! Our Housing Fair was a success, and it was lovely to meet over 300 of you! Thank you to everyone who also came to our Housemate Finder event and the Advice Centre’s halls drop-in events. It’s been so lovely to meet you all – I hope you enjoyed the Doritos and made long-lasting friendships!
Finally, I met with SUSU staff to discuss society communications after 5pm if societies can’t contact Facilities through Reception. If you’ve had an issue like this, please do let us know! Similarly to Rebecca, I have uploaded my monthly updates to the SUSU Sabbs pages, so check them out!
Today marks my 100th day as your Vice President of Welfare & Community, so I’ll be celebrating! I hope you are all doing well, wrapping up warm, taking advantage of SUSU’s warm spaces and getting all the academic and wellbeing support you need. If I don’t see you on Instagram, I’ll see you in a couple weeks. Have a great weekend! <3
Conor White, VP Sports
This afternoon, we’re hosting a Facilities Forum, where staff from Southampton Sport will be on hand to hear your questions, suggestions, and concerns about our facilities. Their facilities include Wide Lane, the Watersports Centre, Avenue Campus courts, Jubilee, Team Southampton Sports Hall, and all of their gyms. The forum will take place in the SUSU Loft starting at 2 pm, so if you’re available, I’d love for you to join us!
This week, our Sports Executive Committee also held its first meeting, where we covered a range of topics, including grant guidelines for clubs, plans for the Team Southampton Awards, and their communication strategies with clubs throughout the year. Our Executive Committee includes seven representatives across nine sports categories within our community, and our top priority is to increase student input in decision-making that both SUSU and the University make which will affect our clubs.
Additionally, we’re excited to announce that we now have two new sports wheelchairs available for clubs to use, to enhance their accessibility for students. This is just the beginning of our efforts to make sports clubs more inclusive, with much more to come. The University and the Be Active program are also partnering with SUSU to ensure we have a year-round disability sports offering.
You Make Change Updates
You Make Change update: Thank you as always for your ideas and queries. We look forward to receiving more submissions in the next two weeks!