Lawrence Coomber, Union President
It’s Grad Ball week! Tickets have SOLD OUT now, and it’s looking to be one of our best events yet, with over 2,500 tickets sold. I’ve enjoyed the final stages of planning in the Project Group, and you will have already seen the preparations beginning as we completely transform our student union spaces. I will be attending myself, so I look forward to seeing you all there!
Recently, we’ve neared the end of our Rules Review of SUSU, where we’ve been working on updating many of the internal governance rules that we use. The finished set will come to Student Senate in the near future for approval. Alongside this, I have my final meeting of the Estates and Infrastructure Committee, the body responsible for approving the plans and strategy for the University’s buildings and developments. The focus is on a lot of the digital infrastructure of the University, as well as the major projects currently ongoing at the University, such as the North East Quadrant (NEQ) Building, which is under construction.
The Sabbs also filmed our Goodbye Videos! You’ll see them closer to the end of the month, when we begin handing over to your great new Sabb team. Look out for more content as we get closer to their start dates! See you next fortnight!
Rebecca Would, VP Education and Democracy
Congrats for making it through exams, to everyone who has finished their year or even their degree, and good luck to anyone about to go on placement and any Masters students writing their dissertations over the summer.
Alumni emails update: The All Student Vote passed with 3953 students voting, and over 99% of voters have asked for us to lobby the University to keep alumni emails and conduct more student consultation. We have jointly run 2 consultation sessions this week, and a form was sent out to all voters to make sure we’re giving you the opportunity to share your views in depth. The consultation sessions have explored some of the key reasons that students want to keep their accounts (contacting PATs for job references, using it on CVs for that more professional look and proof of your UoS degree, receiving emails about published papers and more) and me and the students there have suggested some alternatives that the uni are going to look into (though no promises can be made yet).
I have also enjoyed getting involved with our Menstrual Hygiene Day bracelet making, and YAMT giveaway in the library, and taking a little time off myself this week before the final three weeks!
Emily Dugdale, VP Activities
Hi everyone! I hope that exams went well.
The past few weeks have mostly involved finishing off any admin and tasks for the new sabbs to take on. I have been working with the Activities Team to unpick grants and see how we can make them fairer and support the most students. I also had the opportunity to sit on an interview panel for a core member of staff, which I thoroughly enjoyed!
It’s been pretty quiet as I’m winding down to the end of my role here. I am sad to say that this is my final Fortnightly Update, as I am leaving my position on the 12th June. I want to say a huge thank you to all the societies and committee members I have worked with this year. I wish you all the best!
Conor White, VP Sports
Congratulations to everyone who has finished their exams today! I am sure that all of your hard work and dedication has really paid off, and you are very much deserving of this summer holiday to come.
Over the past fortnight, our new Club and Society Badge Scheme has gone live to all of our affiliated groups. This allows them to gain more recognition for how they are doing alongside 5 core values we have put out: Community, Inclusivity, Sustainability, Wellbeing and Engagement. These will hopefully help in the new year when it comes to Societies Fair and Team Soton Fair and getting more students engaged in our clubs and societies!
In this last month, I am starting to finish off my handover for Travis (your incoming VP Sports) and prepare some training resources for our 2025/26 committees. I am also helping facilitate our last club meetings with Shrey, in showing them the new Team Southampton kit vision and everyone feeling proud in what they wear, whilst representing the University!
I hope you all have a great summer break, and please feel free to continue reaching out to us over the break if you need any help.
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!