Emma Brown, Union President
Happy Halloween! It’s been fantastic seeing so many of you around Southampton wearing weird and wacky costumes – always a highlight of my year!
Winchester
I visited Winchester School of Art on Wednesday for the open day, which has inspired the idea of a WSA Week. If you’re in a club, society, or group and have ideas to improve engagement in Winchester, please let me know!
WSA students – I want to hear from you. Tell me what improvements you’d like to see on campus, whether it be food prices, buses, buildings or something else. The more feedback we receive, the better mandate we have to make these changes.
Quiz and Chips
I’ll also be hosting Quiz and Chips next Monday (3rd November). Doors open at 19:00, quiz starts at 19:30. Quiz entry is £1, winning team shares the jackpot!
See more information here: https://www.susu.org/event/24770/quiz-chips
SUSU Building 42 Improvements
We’re exploring potential refurbishment ideas for Building 42 and want your input! Check out our concept designs and fill in the short feedback form by November. The plans are on display at SUSU in Building 42, by reception, so you can also see them in person.
This is an early stage, and nothing is set in stone yet, which means your voice can make a real impact. If you’d like to discuss anything or ask questions, just get in touch!
Share your feedback: https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=-XhTSvQpPk2-iWadA62p2PcC9RGrdYtPljq8B5dtgmtURTZ…
Design proposals: https://www.susu.org/2025/10/20/have-your-say-on-the-proposed-b42-refurb/
Sabbs on Tour! Find your Sabbatical officers on Avenue Campus
We’ll be having our second-ever”Sabbs On Tour” next Tuesday. Find us by the Avenue café on Tuesday 4th November, from 11:30-15:00. We’ll be running a stall, with some games, freebies and more. Come and chat to us about anything – whether it be clubs and societies, events, food and drink or even what you would like to be sold in The Locker.
We’ll be giving away Dig In bags, which include snacks, a razor and a drink – if you come up to us, give us feedback, you’ll get a bag completely free!
Follow us on Instagram @sususabbs
Joshie Christian, VP Education
A couple things I’ve been doing:
Last week, I spent my Wednesday afternoon at AQSS (the Academic Quality and Standards Subcommittee). We approved the new Joint Honours Toolkit (a tool for your programme leads to evaluate Joint Honours degrees and ensure that Joint Honours students have a top-quality experience), and we agreed to set up a working group that will decide how to improve the process of handling errors that might appear on an exam paper.
I’ve been gathering your Faculty Officers to plan some of our joint projects for the upcoming year and discuss who will join me in representing you at some of the top-level university committees! We’ve been busy training your course reps, and I’ve been training the last few School and Department Presidents, too!
At course rep training, we’ve been consulting your reps on different things. A few of our sessions focused on exam paper errors, but most of our consultations this week have been about informational clarity on exams and assessments! There have been so many good ideas, and I can’t wait to write everything up to feedback to the university!
Rubber Duck Thought:
The rubber duck on my desk asked me today: What do you use to repair a tear in a broken Halloween costume? A pumpkin patch!
All the best,
Joshie Christian, VP Education
Ge 'Sparkle' Gao, VP Communities
Last week, I mainly participated in the Diwali Festival, which was successfully held. My key responsibilities included documenting various societies and events, and managing online media promotion and marketing.
This week, I’m planning to schedule filming sessions with Southampton Pirates, Salsa Society, Southampton Roundnet Society, and SAMS for on-site shoots. I also encourage other societies that need filming or promotional support to reach out via Instagram or email—the easiest way is to simply DM me on Instagram. If you’re promoting an event, feel free to tag me directly so we can help amplify your reach.
Meanwhile, our anti-fraud awareness campaign is steadily progressing. I’ve been in contact with the University and have conducted several in-person interviews. If anyone is interested in this topic or has experienced a scam before, please feel free to get in touch. We aim to collect more real-life stories and produce a bilingual video to raise awareness among students.
At the same time, our Xiaohongshu (RED) proposal is in development, and we’re gathering more feedback and perspectives.
Lastly, we’re launching a new video series that features different society projects and activities, with a goal of posting three updates per week. Through this series, I’ll explore each society from my own perspective — discovering what they do, how beginner-friendly they are, and what kind of atmosphere they have. The aim is to give students a more authentic and engaging view of Southampton’s diverse society culture, and help them find the community that fits them best.
Travis Arthur, VP Sports
It’s been a busy couple of weeks as everything starts to pick up pace! Movember planning is now in full swing – if you’ve got any ideas or want to get involved, I’d love to hear from you. It’s such an important campaign, and we’re hoping to make this year’s the biggest yet.
The Sports Exec Committee also had its first meeting, and it was fantastic to bring everyone together to start setting goals and priorities for the year ahead. There’s lots of enthusiasm on the team, and I’m really looking forward to what we’ll achieve together.
I’m part of the Wilder Fight Night Exec team, and together we’ve kicked off training for this year’s event – a charity boxing night where participants go head-to-head in the ring, and everyone comes dressed in tuxedos and dresses. It’s one of the biggest and most exciting nights of the year, and tickets will be released soon!
Alongside that, we’ve got the Ballsy 5K happening on 4th November – a charity run where everyone completes a 5K wearing just their OddBalls pants to raise money and awareness for testicular cancer. It’s £5 to join, you’ll get a free pair of OddBalls pants, and all proceeds go to charity. It’s a fun (and slightly chilly!) way to get involved and support a great cause, so definitely come along if you can!
I also attended my first Trustee Board meeting for the Students’ Union, which was a great opportunity to see the bigger picture of how SUSU supports students and shapes strategy for the year.
As always, I’m running weekly drop-ins every Thursday from 2–3pm at Stag’s. Come by for a chat, to ask questions, or to share any ideas you have. If you’ve got thoughts about sport, physical activity, or anything SUSU-related, definitely come along.
You can also reach me anytime via @team_soton on Instagram, on Teams, or by email at vpsports@soton.ac.uk.
Toby Page, VP Inclusion
Another fortnight down! Getting into the routine of it now – don’t forget to keep trying new things, going to new clubs & socs, and making new friends.
So, what have I been up to?
The Gender Expression Fund
Another week of movement with the Gender Expression Fund. I’m still working on all the documents to bring the GEF back, bigger and better than ever.
If anyone has opinions on how the GEF should be run, please send me an email. I want to incorporate as much student feedback as possible.
You Make Change
I’ve worked on my first two assigned You Make Changes. Everything submitted by students go straight to the Sabbs, and we work to make your ideas happen. So if you have any university improvements you’d like to see, head straight over there to let us know!
Sabbs on Tour
I attended this year’s very first Sabbs on Tour! We talked to a ton of students, listened to some feedback and gave out a ton of goodies. We were in Building 42 on Highfield, and it was so lovely to see such a vibrant and alive campus.
Aside from that, I’ve gone to WSA for an open day and seen the beautiful campus, continued to collaborate with the VP Communities on spreading fraud awareness, and worked towards many of my other projects.
Over the next fortnight, I’m looking forwards to the first Sabbs on Tour on Avenue, working towards wrapping up my GEF work, and continuing work on my big projects.
Have a lovely fortnight!
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!