Lawrence Coomber, Union President
This fortnight, I attended the University Council on the 4th March. It was held at the Science Park, which was the first time I had been! It’s a small business estate just above the motorway on the way to Winchester, which houses small start-up businesses that have come from “spin-outs” from the University and Southampton at large. During the meeting, I presented what Sabbatical Officers had done since the last council meeting and provided input from the student perspective on other decisions that were being made.
We also had our first Advice Centre – PCSO Drop-in session! This was on Monday 3rd, and was organised by myself and our Head of Advice. Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for any of you to come to The Advice Centre with any issues you have, that you don’t quite know how to solve and even ones that can happen outside a university context. If you’ve had difficulty with an issue or with contacting the police before, this is the perfect way to do it. We hope to hold these more regularly throughout the year, so keep an eye out for the next one.
I also met with the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences with our Faculty Sustainability Rep. This was a very productive meeting where we discussed what the faculty could do to better prioritise sustainability. This included extended LEAF accreditations for its labs, a scheme which assesses how sustainable a lab is, for example, with waste. We also highlighted the need to focus on career opportunities in sustainable industries. We are having another meeting in the near future to follow up on these, and I plan to organise similar meetings with the other faculties.
Next week, voting opens in our Leadership Elections, so if you take away anything from this email, please go out and vote! We’ve got a myriad of amazing candidates, and this is your chance to choose who will be your new Sabbatical Officers!
See you next fortnight!
Rebecca Would, VP Education and Democracy
We are in the midst of Leadership Elections!! Next week, Tuesday 11th – Thursday 13th, you get to vote for your next Sabbatical Officers (who then start their roles in July!). Make sure you’re following their socials, and checking out their candidate pages on the SUSU website so you are voting for the people you most want to represent you next year!
This week I have been doing lots of campaign prep for helping you understand policy and process – including a lot of time reading through special considerations policy and guidance! I was also honoured to be invited to attend the International Women’s Day celebration at the council – and catch up with the VP Education from Solent!
This weekend is your last chance to nominate your reps and staff in our Academic Awards! Whether your reps are taking your feedback and changing deadlines or just making you heard, or staff are supportive or a shoo-in for everyone’s favourite category ‘Most Engaging Lecturer’ – nominate them now to help celebrate!
Emily Dugdale, VP Activities
Hi everyone!
The past 2 weeks have been pretty meeting heavy! Myself and Conor have been working together on a project and we are continuing to make progress there. I also did a lot of planning for my fundraiser in conjunction with Wildlife Society and Zoology students. We had a Trustee Board, where I attended the pre-brief to ask questions, and I found the student trustee’s insights very useful.
The Sabbs also had Senate last week, where we presented updates on our sabbatical plans to the senators and answered some extra questions on those points. We had an innovation and enhancement fund meeting as well.
I spent the rest of the time researching how other student unions campaign against sports and society initiations, and myself and Conor have firmed up the grant guidelines for grant round 3.
Lottie James, VP Welfare & Community
Hi everyone! I hope you are doing well. Here’s what I have been up to over the past two weeks:
I met with the various teams at the University to discuss Report and Support, pause in study support, disability inclusion and the University’s Athena Swan application, and timetabling concerns.
I met with various teams at SUSU to discuss Grad Ball, my Sabb plans to ensure they’re insight-driven and align with what you want to see, what support at SUSU looks like, the halls to homes transition guides, inclusion officers in committees and EDI training for committees, and the access to activities grant.
The Sabbs had Senate where we updated the Senators on our progress and plans until May (when our next Senate will be held!).
We held our first student Parent/Carer Network and Break The Ice went well – we hope you enjoyed it!
SUSU is holding more co-creation sessions around food and inclusion over the next couple of weeks, so please get involved!
The Advice Centre remains closed due to building work taking longer than expected. If you’d like to speak to a member of the Advice Centre, please email advice@soton.ac.uk or call 023 8059 2085. During this time, I will be working at home and in the Membership Office, if you’d like to meet, please let me know. Spring is almost here so don’t forget to stay hydrated and reapply your sunscreen!
Conor White, VP Sports
Over the past two weeks, I’ve been working with the graduation team to improve recognition for students who receive sporting awards, at their graduation ceremony. This is a great step forward in celebrating both individual successes and our sporting community on one of the most important days of a student’s university career!
Nominations are now open for the Team Southampton Awards too! If you know someone / or a club who deserves recognition for all of the work they have put in this year, make sure to submit your nominations here! Ready for the awards to be presented at the Team Southampton Awards Ball on Friday 9th May.
I also had the opportunity to attend the University’s Sponsor Day at Eastleigh FC, where over 100 students enjoyed complimentary tickets. There will be more chances to attend upcoming games, including watching our Men’s and Ladies’ first teams in Varsity next Sunday! Tickets are still available – get yours here!
Today, we held the final Facilities Forum of the year with Southampton Sport, giving students a chance to speak directly to those overseeing our facilities. It was great to see so many students attending and sharing feedback. Please continue to reach out if you have any further comments as we work to improve our spaces!
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!