Toby Page, VP Inclusion
You made it through the first couple of weeks! Well done. I hope you’ve had a lovely time so far.
So, what have I been up to?
The Gender Expression Fund is open!
The Gender Expression Fund opened on Friday.
Make sure to apply now to help afford gender-affirming items like binders, packers, makeup, clothing and more.
You can apply for up to £50 (don’t be afraid to ask for the max). We have £750 to give away for now.
Student Discipline Guide
I’ve also published the rewritten Student Discipline Guide. You can check it out under the ‘academic guides’ section of the Advice Centre’s page.
The guide has much more information. If you:
are thinking of contacting Discipline about misconduct you’ve seen/experienced
are a witness in a Discipline case
are the accused student in a Discipline case
Make sure to read through this.
Something Happened, What Now
If you experienced something difficult over Freshers’, you aren’t on your own. You can use the resources on my SUSU Safe tab, ‘Something Happened? What Now?’
It covers incidents such as:
Abuse
Fraud
Hate
Over the next fortnight, I’m looking forward to handling more of your Gender Expression Fund requests, seeing WSA at Sunday’s open day and returning to work on some of my bigger projects.
Have a lovely fortnight!
Emma Brown, Union President
A short one from me as Freshers’ week has been jam-packed with events!
Buses to Winchester
I want to understand what WSA students want more from their Southampton-Winchester bus routes. Email me president@soton.ac.uk if you have any comments on the bus timings, prices, route, etc. (Although please note, for general Unilink enquiries, e.g. regarding tickets, please continue to email unilink@soton.ac.uk). The same applies to all other bus routes – tell me feedback so I can gain a better understanding of what students want from their buses.
Meal Deals
Our meal deals have a wider range! You can now enjoy delicious sandwiches, pasta, and wraps for just £3.75 (down from £3.99). Plus, our new meal deal price features bagels, sandwiches, and salads for just £4.25 – saving you more than ever! I saved £1.48 on my lunch today! This is a huge win for keeping our prices low.
Freshers’ Week
Fun fact: I had the pleasure of being one of the quiz hosts last week. Missed out? Quiz and chips runs every Monday in The Bridge, where you can win big money! Also check out the new Bridge menu – lots of great deals, and bagels.
Freshers isn’t over. We still have Traffic Light Party, and K-Pop Party, both this Friday evening. See more events on SUSU What’s On.
It’s also been great talking to students. If you ever see me around, feel free to say hi. I love a chat. (Although you’ll also be likely to see me running between meetings).
Use You make change to submit SUSU suggestions: https://www.susu.org/you-make-change/
Joshie Christian, VP Education
What Joshie’s been doing:
Last week was a busy one, being both Freshers and the first week of Autumn Elections! I’ve been dashing between loads of our events, I’ve been at our quiz nights, rushing around our fairs, and finished the week with a game of Humans VS Zombies, and an evening at Break the Ice!
I met loads of you during the days I spent on our election stands, giving out, alongside a host of other prizes, many hundreds of rubber ducks (baby Quackademic Weapons), while repping how great it is to do some repping!
Now’s the time to write those five bullet points and nominate yourself to become a Course Rep; I want to welcome you into our family of student reps and help you to speak up for your student voice across the University!
Representation across the University:
I’ve been lucky to meet even more of your new Academic Reps over the last couple of weeks! Shoutout to Izzy, your Law School president and this year’s first Rep of the Month! I’ve met with Callum and Indy in ECS, and we’ve been chatting to ECS staff about lecture recording and livestreaming! I also had some School presidents dropping by to help at election stalls, thank you to Sara, Hope, and Indy!
With only one week left to nominate in the Autumn Elections, I wanted to shout about some of the School / Department President roles that might still be up for grabs… YOU could become the School President if you study in Psychology, ESPS, or the ORC. You could be the next Department President in Philosophy, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Midwifery, Physiotherapy, Gerontology, or Social Statistics and Demography.
Rubber Duck Thought:
Today, while chatting to the Rubber Duck on my desk, he told me that if you take the words YIPPEE and WAHOO and split them both into four parts Y-I-PP-EE and W-A-H-OO, you can then mix and match which word you choose each of the four parts from, to create a total of sixteen words, some sensible and some nonsensical. Try it out and let me know your favourite combination…
All the very best wishes from me,
Joshie Christian, VP Education
Ge 'Sparkle' Gao, VP Communities
Hello everyone～
I’m truly honoured to represent you this year and have been actively working on our initiatives. Recently, I’ve participated in a few really fun activities and wanted to share my experiences with you～
🌏 International Student Welcome Mixer: Students from different countries came together to play Bingo and experience different cultures and fun activities. I hope more international students will join SUSU events, make new friends, and not be afraid～ we are a friendly and inclusive community!
🚌 SUSU Tour – Campus Promotions: We visited different campuses, handing out candies and small gifts, along with a fun spin-the-wheel game. It’s been great to see so many of you join in! I’ve also noticed that club recruitment is going really well lately, and I hope everyone can warmly welcome new members. For those heading out for socials in the evenings, please stay safe～
I’ll continue to keep an eye on these activities to make sure everyone’s campus life is fun and engaging, and I always welcome your thoughts and suggestions. Your participation and enthusiasm really inspire me and motivate me to serve you even better!
Travis Arthur, VP Sports
The last two weeks have been packed with Freshers’ events, sports taster sessions, committee training, inductions, and 1-to-1s. There have been some big wins too: grants are now finalised, loads of sports clubs have hit record fresher numbers, and Stag’s lager completely sold out thanks to the new price – fortunately, this has since been restocked!
Freshers’ Week has been non-stop! I’ve been out at halls welcoming new students, chatting to people at the Freshers’ Fairs (including the Team Southampton fair), dropping into various sports taster sessions, hosting the Big SUSU Quiz and Break the Ice, and helping out at several of the club nights.
It’s been amazing meeting so many of you already. If you haven’t yet, I seriously recommend joining a sports club – there’s something for everyone.
On the funding side, this year’s Round 1 Sports Grant had £210,000 to allocate. However, the clubs had submitted approximately £450,000 in requests. With decisions now finalised, I’ll be contacting each club soon with the outcome of their grant.
I’m also running weekly drop-ins every Thursday from 2–3pm at The Stag’s. Come by for a chat, to ask questions, or share any ideas!
And if you’ve got suggestions about sport at university, physical activity, or anything SUSU-related, don’t forget about the You Make Change platform. It’s a great way to have your voice heard.
You can also reach me anytime via the @team_soton Instagram, on Teams, or by email at vpsports@soton.ac.uk.
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!