Inclusion Update
Every fortnight, your Sabbatical Officer team will bring you an update on our work around inclusion and welfare, both at SUSU and across the University. You can still email vpinclusion@soton.ac.uk at any time, with any thoughts, suggestions, or questions! Email messages will instead be redirected to either your Sabbatical Officer team or Advice Centre staff.
This fortnight, your inclusion update is being written by Joshie, your VP Education.
We have discussed our workloads and priorities, and will be taking on some of the projects that our VP Inclusion has worked on so far this year. Emma, your Union President, has already begun work. See the transport survey for Avenue Campus users in her update below! Emma and I will be recommending some improvements to the Student Discipline system, and she will be representing students on the “Women’s Voices and Visions” Inclusion group.
I’ll be organising the funding and handling the admin for the Gender Expression Fund and hopefully opening it again this year with more funding! I’ve been working with iSolutions on issues around Deadnaming and Misgendering on digital systems and will now join a project team to rework our data handling, ensuring names are handled in a way that eliminates these issues for good.
Travis, your VP Sports, and Sparkle, your VP Communities, are taking on a couple of projects to work on together. They will be working on a refresh of the Welfare Officer training for society committee members and bringing the Consent Matters and Active Bystander training from the University, to make sure every society committee knows exactly how to keep everyone as safe and comfortable as possible at their events.
Some other projects will be taken on by members of the Advice Centre team, like the Disability Equality Steering Group, and the University project to improve Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans.
Please let us know if you have any questions about our inclusion work by emailing any Sabb directly or by emailing vpinclusion@soton.ac.uk.
Emma Brown, Union President
Hi all! I had the best time last week dressed as Santa for the Winter Lights switch on. It was so wonderful to see so many of your faces out in the crowd – definitely a highlight of my year! That’s not all for festive events – we still have our Christmas Party on Friday 26 November in the Bridge from 21:00, and a Winchester School of Art Gingerbread House Decorating event on Tuesday 02 December from 18:00 – 20:00!
Winchester
Speaking of WSA, on Tuesday I attended University Council hosted at the school of art (including a very lovely tour of the site). Council is the highest decision-making body at the University – my job is to represent students at these meetings. I presented a report from the Students’ Union and highlighted our focus on the cost-of-living crisis, International Student levy and other issues that affect students. This week, I will be meeting about transport, where I’ll be prioritising improvements to the U7 bus route to Winchester – based on student feedback – as well as transport to other campuses like Avenue and NOCS.
Avenue
I’ve been working with the English Department President, who’s put together a feedback form for transport to and from the Avenue campus – please share your suggestions using this form.
Generally…
Your Sabbatical Officers have Student Council next week, where our plans and progress so far will be reviewed and questioned by student members, to ensure that we are doing the right job for students.
I am also in the process of planning February’s LGBTQ+ History Month. If you are part of a club/society or a student wanting to get involved in the campaign, please email suactivities@soton.ac.uk.
Finally, check out our tasty food menu at the Bridge, from mac and cheese to delicious bagels – and let us know what you think via our feedback form below.
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.
Anyhow… that’s it from me this fortnight. Have a lovely winter festival and stay warm! Hopefully, the lights all over campus make 5pm lectures a little nicer. 😊
Joshie Christian, VP Education
It’s been a busy one for me and the Reps over the last couple of weeks! Your Academic Presidents have been meeting and debating with the University Vice President Education at the Senior Rep Forum, some of your Faculty Officers have been representing you on projects about programme structures, and plenty of your SSLCs have taken place – it’s been a fab fortnight for student voice!
Exam Errors
Have you ever sat an exam where an error appeared on a question paper? Well, many of your course reps have! They wrote a whole host of comments and suggestions in our consultations on this topic during the first week of Course Rep training, and this week we finally agreed and approved the new system. Once all the details are confirmed, I’ll be sending out a proper update and working with the exam communications team on getting an explainer video together!
YOUR Student Voice – Have your say in big university projects!
The form I shared last time is still open! It’s a chance to bring your voice to something at University Level that really matters to you! From new buildings to the new Academic Calendar, assessment policy, and loads more!
The form is a bit like a mailing list – you’re signing up to hear occasionally from the project groups, whether that’s asking you to give feedback on your experience with a specific issue, invite you along to a consultation meeting, or set up a dedicated session to do some student co-design. Anything you receive will be optional to engage with; you decide whether you have the time!
All the very best from me,
Joshie Christian – VP Education
Ge 'Sparkle' Gao, VP Communities
Hi everyone,
This past week, I continued making steady progress on several projects
Our society promotion series is moving forward smoothly—many thanks to the Archaeology Society, Art Society, and Live Music Society for your support. I hope you enjoyed the promotional videos, and I look forward to collaborating more in the future.
I’m also continuing work with the Successful Futures project, aiming to reach more students through upcoming content. If you’d like to start preparing early for your career path, feel free to explore the resources provided by Successful Futures.
Our anti-scam video is still being worked on, and I hope the final version can be released soon.
The Xiaohongshu promotion plan is also progressing steadily.
It was sad to see Toby leave the team, but our VP Inclusion initiatives will continue to move forward as planned.
If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to reach out!
— Sparkle
Travis Arthur, VP Sports
The Movember ambassadors and I have been working hard to ensure we raise as much money for Movember as possible. So far, we have hosted a stall to encourage students to shave off their facial hair, an inside out day (where students wear their clothes/sports kit inside out to raise awareness and money for Movember), a 6-a-side football tournament. Sports clubs and other societies have also been encouraged to host their own events and challenges to raise even more awareness for this great cause. As of the 25th of November, we have collectively raised over £20,000!!! In addition, I have been working with other sport Sabbatical Officers across the country (over 30 of them) to collaboratively make an impact, having currently raised approximately £500,000. Yet to come: 24hr cycle challenge between clubs and societies! Support this great cause via this link.
Since the most recent Sport and Facilities Forum – allowing committees and other members to ask Southampton Sport and SUSU any questions that they may have and suggest any improvements – I have been working with Southampton Sport and SUSU to make the improvements that our members have suggested. These mainly include issues with facilities.
For the Team Southampton Awards, following the option list that I created, the planning for these awards has started. Now, it is time to work with the venue and finalise the date to ensure everyone who wants to can attend.
You can also reach me anytime via @team_soton on 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!