Hi James,

Thanks for your message. 

I understand your frustration in the cancelling of Cake and Coffee, and please be assured that this was not a decision that was taken lightly. Many factors came into making the decision, but the most significant was the fact that putting on Cake and Coffee weekly was costing £12,000 a year, and reaching between 80 and 90 students each week. To spend that amount of money on an event that reached approximately 2% of the Postgraduate population at the University of Southampton was not an effective use of the events budget, and ignored anyone studying outside of Highfield. 

As a result, we've been planning a series of events for over the summer and the next academic year, including:

• Power Teas on all campuses, and other buildings on Highfield campus (so let us know if you'd like us to come to your building!) 
• BBQs
• Quizzes
• You Are More Than Your Thesis (on all campuses)
• Christmas Ball

We're planning on holding Meet and Mingle events at the beginning of each semester to allow any newly arrived postgrads to meet other postgrads from outside their departments. By ending cake and coffee, we're also able to open up the events budget to Postgraduate societies to help them run events too!

We want to make sure that the events the Union puts on for Postgraduates are accessible for all, and freeing up this money means we can put on a range of events that appeal to students from all campuses!

Flora Noble, Vice-President Student Communities (on behalf of Postgraduate Committee)