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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
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