Issue 4// October 2015
ENO’S EDITORIAL Hello, The year has started on a good note with amazing things happening in your students’ union. We are now only the 2nd Students’ union in the whole of the UK to have achieved the NUS Quality mark after Kent’s union. Wow! This news puts us all on the next level of greatness. Let’s make it better this year together. #Your Union…Your Voice.
Round up of the Students Union Sector There has been a climb down at Sussex University as students got £20,000 back in damages for wrongful disciplinary action against them by the University. This followed a long term campaign by students at Sussex against cuts in provision there. Students at University College London won a legal battle against their university with £100,000 damages for being disturbed by building work next to their halls of residence. There was a rent strike during the last year and the university tried to break the strike with attempting academic sanctions against the students...the students union there pointed out that such action by the university would be illegal. Another case of good work by a student’s union.
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A CLOSE UP LOOK AT THE MEMBERS OF STAFF THAT HELP MAKE IT ALL HAPPEN AT CUSU
Sports and Societies
Hi I’m Natalie the Sports and Societies Assistant Manager, I have worked at CUSU for nearly 4 years, and most of my time has been spent in the Sports and Societies department. I have recently been promoted to the role of Assistant Manager, managing the Sports and Societies team. My role is very varied one minute I will have my sports hat on, talking about coaching or facilities and the next I am helping a society develop and grow or book a room. I love working with the students here on campus, they are all passionate about the role they play within their club or society and they always seek to do their best. This year we will continue to have some great events lined up for you all to attend and enjoy.
Hi, I am Sam Lewis and I am the Sports Coordinator. My job is to work with clubs on both making sport happen on a day to day basis but also helping clubs develop from year to year. Some of the big events I help coordinate include weekly sporting fixtures consisting of 30 + games, Varsity and the Sports Ball. I work closely with the sports club officials to help run their clubs, and ultimately, enjoy taking part in their sports.
Hi I’m Emma Weir and I am the Sports Administration Assistant. I am new to the team but not new to the university as I have studied here for the last 3 years and I’m due to Graduate in November. My role is customer facing, helping officials and students with any queries they have regarding sport. I work closely with the BUCS set up, dealing with fixtures, transport and anything else our sports clubs may need. I also look after the social media pages for Sport Coventry, keeping our students and followers up to date with fixtures, pictures and other important information regarding sport at Coventry University.
Hi, I’m Robyn McDowall and my role is Sport Participation Coordinator. I coordinate sporting opportunities for all through the Sports Active programme in order to engage as many students and staff members in sport as possible. This includes netball sessions, to archery lessons and dodgeball leagues, along with many more! I also run the volunteer academy for sport activators, providing the students with volunteer, training and development opportunities. Speak to me if you would like to try out a new sport, if your sports team would like develop the opportunities they provide to students, or you would like to volunteer and develop your skills through Sports Active.
Societies have had a great start to the new academic year, they showcased themselves to students on campus at the societies fresher’s fair where they managed to talk with around 5000 people as the data collected from them showed. They had a record number of sign-ups within the first week and although the academic year has just started the up-to-date membership is already half of the target we’ve got for this year. This is a great number, and carrying on the same path of passion and commitment even greater plan and activities are to happen. Societies continue to put on regular activities and socials involving and addressing all students on campus. Some societies are now starting to plan their bigger events including Winter and Summer Balls, celebrations and International trips. Throughout the past month, our sports teams have been gearing up for the season ahead. Our ‘Give it a Go’ fortnight proved incredibly popular as students turned up in mass to try new sports, join our clubs and trial for our competitive teams – 400 trialled for Men’s Football alone! Officials have now attended training sessions and new committees are in place. Sponsorship deals have been sought and several fundraisers are already on the cards. Only this weekend, Coventry University Netball Club raised upwards of £120 for a local charity. Now entering our second week of BUCS competition, some squads have now been training for seven weeks in preparation. Our first week held mixed results but featured some fabulous wins by women’s basketball 1sts (116-10 vs Wolverhampton), men’s football 3rds (8-0 vs UCB) and men’s rugby league (72-22 vs the University of Birmingham). The next month sees another four weeks full of fixtures and provides an opportunity for clubs to build upon their success.
V & E launched its first ever “Volunteering Get Involved Week” 012-16th Oct and it was a huge success. Several hundred students visited stalls, took part in volunteering activity and registered to become members of volunteering. Overall, around 400 students participated and engaged with us during the week. Activities included: Volunteers Fair with 40 organisations signed up to showcase their volunteering opportunities in The Hub. Students were able to chat to stall holders to find out about what’s going on in the local community so they could make a more informed choice about the volunteering activity they’d like to do. Make A Difference Days Around 30 volunteers took part in a day at Coombe Abbey or Warwickshire Wildlife Trust helping with conservation work and feedback from our volunteers has been excellent. The weather was perfect, they all made friends, had a lot of fun and toasted marshmallows on the fire to eat. A perfect way to get away from uni for a day! Post Pals/Micro volunteering Our 10 Student Volunteer Team members led on organising these “HUB based” projects to design cards to send to seriously ill children and complete online activities to fundraise for various charities. Skills Workshop Students attended a workshop to help them identify the skills they had, or wanted to develop to help them choose a suitable volunteering opportunity which would aid their experience and employability. In addition to this we are also busy running our Add+vantage modules in volunteering teaching sessions, running training sessions for volunteering projects and now trying to process the influx of requests to find out more about volunteering as well as meeting with new community groups to look at project development.
Staffing update Successful Staff Appointments: Sports Administration Assistant – Emma Weir who started 01/10/2015 Personnel Administration Assistant – Claire Scott who will start 21/10/2015 Graphic and Media Designer (placement) – Mustafa Hussein who will start 19/10/2015 Postgraduate Coordinator – Aysa Ozcan who will start 02/11/2015 2 x Casual Clerical Assistants in Volunteering and Employability started 09/10/2015 2 x Casual Clerical Assistants in Representation and Democracy started 07/10/2015 We will be holding interviews for the following posts: Casual Communications and Sales Assistant on 13/10/2015 Student Community Coordinator on 22/10/2015 Student Representation Assistant on 23/10/2015
Useful Links CUSU 2020 Vision, Articles of Association, Impact Report and Consolidated Accounts http://www.cusu.org/yourunion/documents/
CUSU Calendar Monday 26th October: Voting Opens; 12 noon Thursday 29th October: Voting Closes; 12 noon Monday 2nd November: Deadline for ASM motions Tuesday 3rd November: Outreach; 12:00-14:00 Thursday 5th November: Executive Meeting; 14:00-16:00 Monday 9th November; Academic Zone 17:00-18:30 Tuesday 10th November; Liberation and Sectional Zone 17:00-18:30 Thursday 12th November: Community Zone; 17:00-18:30 Friday 13th November: Board of Trustees meeting; 14:00-16:00 Tuesday 17th November: Outreach; 12:0014:00 Thursday 19th November: Executive Meeting; 14:00-16:00 Tuesday 24th November: Student Council meeting; 17:00-19:00 You can find the yearly CUSU Democracy Calendar by following the link below: http://www.cusu.org/your-union/studentleaders/the-student-council/democracycalendar-and-attendance/