18.11 - Shane

Thanks for all the questions today, its been really fun!

Don’t forget to tweet in tomorrow with anything to ask David, Dean, Chloe and Nicole  just use the HashTag  #askSUSUsabbs

17.57 - Shane

Got to be bridge for me, love a good bridge meeting!

17.52 - Shane

We are really lucky in Southampton to have such a diverse range of nightlife for students to enjoy, its definitely one of my favorite aspects of Uni life down south.

Throughout the time that I’ve been at Uni The Cube has fluctuated within its popularity, we’ve had terms when we’ve been sold out all term and terms when not a single student has arrived.

One of the strongest assets but at the same time weakness of the cube is student perception and need. When students have said we want a nightclub that is run for us and listens to our feedback,  we’ve seen a cube that’s busy and full of students that want to make it work. And we’ve seen for Wiley this friday students saying that they are going to come along and support the cube and the students’ union nightclub, its the people that make the party.

I think it’s important to remember that the nightclub is only one aspect of the entertainments programme SUSU offers, looking at Union Films, Quiz & Curry and Karaoke to name a few regular events that students love and are always busy!

17.34 - Shane

Thanks for the question fiona! For me its the JCR rebrand and the halls tshirts that first years get on arrival, its really nice to give people presents on their first few days saying you live in our halls you belong to our community!

17.33 - Sam

Right, I’m having to head off (picking up son), but I’ll review the twitter feed later to answer any questions I miss.

I’ll leave you in Sasha and Shane’s capable hands.

17.30 - Sam

The master plan is a long project, and was one of the reasons I wanted to do 2 years. So far we’ve produced a briefing document which sets our our needs and aspersions when it comes to our facilities.

This includes feedback given by council, conversations with Student Leaders last year, and work with the Union and University.

We have been engaging at a high level with the University to get improvements to social facilities across all sites on the agenda, and over the next few months will be meeting with a range of University departments to help shape the project, and enhance the points of interaction.

Over the coming term I will be running sessions with a range of different student groups and backgrounds in order to build a strong evidence base on what students would want.

By the end of the year I’m looking to have a clearer view for potential funding streams for the project, and to be well on the way to producing the plan.

17.29 - Shane

For me personally two years is definitely enough! However to answer your question I believe the electorate will pick the person best suited to their needs at the time.

17.24 - Shane

I can confirm we all wear pants. I’ve just checked!

17.22 - Shane

Men with beards are just better men… http://betterwithabeard.tumblr.com/

17.21 - Sam

I can honestly say no. Its often hard to see the impact you having during your time in the position, but I believe I am having a good impact on students lives, and some of my biggest work is yet to come.

I have always acted in the best interest of students, remained open and honest with my opinion, and importantly have always campaigned for/fought for what I genuinely believe to be in the best interest of the Union and its members, regardless of how “politically popular” I believed it makes me.

Because of this attitude I’m proud of both my successes and failures to enact change because I have never compromised on what I believe to be right.

17.19 - Sasha

Gooood question – SUSU has representation on a whole range of committees within the University, from sports and Halls, to support services and education committees. These positions are taken by Sabbs, Student Leaders, or elected councillors at the 1st Union Council of the new year. On an Education side of things, we have elected positions for University Senate, which have been filled, and the University’s Education & Student Experience group – which is currently being reviewed, so doesn’t necessarily run at the moment.

The University also has a University Programmes Committee, that now has two positions available (having previously been filled automatically by the PGT and PGR Officer, but thought to be useful and easier for people to attend if it was opened up more broadly), which will probably be elected at the next Union Council on 4th Feb – if anyone is interested (anyone can run as it’s a University committee), give me an email on vpacademic@soton.ac.uk!

17.18 - Shane

This year has certainly been more eventful than the last! I think of them both as different journeys, last year I had a keen focus on creating support systems for JCR committees and thinking about RAG in a different way, whereas my experience this year has allowed me to work at a more strategic level and develop more long term projects such as the Performing Arts Strategy, Student Groups Project and Union Films DCI bid.

I think its difficult to quantify if i’ve achieved more but it feels like I definitely achieved more last summer than the one prior.

17.12 - Sam

I can honestly say that I wouldn’t. I love this job, and I’m pleased to have done two years as I had plans for two years of work, however any Sabbatical would burn out doing to much more. Its a full on job, and it’d be hard to give it your all for more than 2 years.

17.12 - Shane

I suppose a tough question as my biggest challenge and biggest policy change this year are separate issues.

For me my biggest challenge has always been the fine balance when granting money to societies, last year this was tough because we had way to little and this year it was tough because we now have lots but still want to keep the standard of projects we are granting high! I’m really happy how year two of Essential, Development, Competition and Tour funding is developing and so far we have granted in excess of £57k to societies.

With regards to policy, i’m most proud of the standing committee review and how it has come from my motion to fruition with the new zone structure for next year coming for final approval to the next council!

17.09 - Sam

We had the meeting last week, and had a great selection of proposals. All were funded to varying degrees and I’ll be blogging within the next week to give you details of whats been decided upon.

However, I’ll give a taster now, we’ll be seeing an enterprise conference, a innovations in catering, a feature film, give it a go Winchester, and something I honestly cant remember…

15.40 - Sam

Already a few questions on twitter for today’s live blog, looking forward to answering between 5&6pm today.