Emma Brown, Union President
Freshers
Hi everyone – what an exciting few weeks! We ran over 60 events during freshers, with 13,430 tickets sold and 8,500 slices of pizza given away (I’m sure I ate at least 10% of those). We also sold 4,026 pints of Stag’s Lager and cider in total – both of which are still at a new low price of £2.75. Don’t worry about missing out – we’ve still got loads of events running throughout the term, check them out on the SUSU calendar.
Sabbs on Tour! Find your Sabbatical officers on Highfield Campus
We’ll be having our first ”Sabbs On Tour” next Tuesday. Find us on the Redbrick (outside SUSU Building 42) at 11:30 – 14:00, Tuesday 21 October. 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.
University Council, Senate and Lots of Meetings
Over this last week, I attended University Council, Senate and many other meetings, which equate to about 23 hours of meetings this week. My job was to update the leaders of the University on what’s going on at SUSU and ensure that our students are always considered in high-level decisions.
Give your Feedback
Have general SUSU feedback? Fill out the form here.
Any suggestions or questions? Write a You Make Change. A Sabbatical Officer will be assigned to read and respond individually to your submission.
With your help, we can make the changes that students really want to see in the Union.
Anyway, that’s it from me this week. Tune in for more fun news next fortnight.
Joshie Christian, VP Education
With a record breaking election season just over, and some long chats about getting student voices into even more university boards and projects, it’s been a busy couple of weeks!
Election Success!
It’s always busy for Student Reps in October; we’ve now had two training sessions with your Senior Reps, and we’re about to kick off the course rep training sessions now that Autumn Elections have closed! We had an utterly record-breaking election, with a total of 633 nominations – that’s 190 more than last year! We’ve also had a new highest-ever voting turnout for Autumn Elections, and I’m so pleased that even more students than ever are using their voices to decide who will represent them across the University. Congratulations to every new Course Rep, Academic President, Faculty Officer, and member of your Student Council. Welcome to the representation family at SUSU!
A couple of projects:
I’ve been planning how we can make it easier for students to report blurry cameras or bad audio on Panopto recordings – we’re looking at how to add functionality to your Blackboard that gets you in touch with the team who get things fixed!
I’ve enjoyed planning events and filming content for Asexual Awareness Week (19th to the 26th of October), so look out on our Socials and come along to our Asexual Mixer social event, a hangout with board games in the SUSU Bridge from 3pm to 6pm on the 23rd of October.
Rubber Duck Thought:
Today, the Rubber Duck on my desk told me that the buildings on Highfield Campus are secretly ordered to spell out a hidden message in an ancient language! I think he’s lying, though, we will never truly know why the buildings are numbered in the order they are…
All the very best wishes from me,
Joshie Christian, VP Education
Ge 'Sparkle' Gao, VP Communities
It’s been a busy and rewarding few weeks as I continue to work on several projects aimed at strengthening our community and enhancing student engagement.
Firstly, I’ve been reaching out to different student societies to build stronger connections and explore ways to give them more visibility through SUSU’s media channels. If your society would like to collaborate or be featured, feel free to contact me via Instagram (@susu_socs) or email (vpcommunities@soton.ac.uk) so we can arrange a short meeting. I’d love to help showcase your society’s stories and activities, and make sure more students get to know what you do!
Secondly, I’m continuing to develop our Xiaohongshu (RED) platform proposal. Right now, I’m collecting data and researching how other universities manage their social media presence to create a strategy that best represents our vibrant student community.
Finally, I’ve been actively progressing the Anti-Fraud Project, in collaboration with the University’s Security Department and the Insight Team. Many students—especially new arrivals—have encountered scams or misleading information, so we want to raise awareness through on-campus education and real student stories. If you’ve experienced something like this and are comfortable sharing, please reach out. Your story could help protect others.
If you have any ideas, suggestions, or just want to chat about campus life, you can always reach me through Teams, email (vpcommunities@soton.ac.uk), or simply come find me at SUSU. Let’s make this academic year more creative, connected, and full of warmth together! 💛
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! Hope you’ve enjoyed getting into the routine of regular lectures, clubs, societies, and new friends.
So, what have I been up to?
The Gender Expression Fund
Over the last fortnight, I’ve been helping with the 25/26 Gender Expression Fund. I’m thrilled about how many people we’ve been able to help so far.
Unfortunately, we had such a high volume of applicants that we’ve already closed it. I’ve been working towards getting more funding, so hopefully we can re-open later this year.
Deadnaming & Room Booking
I’ve met with several people in iSolutions and University tech about the phenomenon of deadnaming in mass emails.
Alongside that, I’ve begun some talks about how we can make the room booking process more accessible and easier.
Anti-Fraud with VP Communities
I’ve also been talking with the VP Communities about how we can do more to prevent fraud around campus.
Aside from that, I’ve been helping with some of our upcoming awareness campaigns and attending meetings with people who are trying to make the University inclusive & accessible.
Over the next fortnight, I’m looking forward to working towards securing more funding for the Gender Expression Fund, seeing you all at our very first Sabbs on Tour, and continuing to get the ball rolling on some of my bigger 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!