Spotlight on Union Positions: VP Welfare :: Wessex Scene Online

Spotlight on Union Positions: VP Welfare

17th December 2004
Peter Derrick Vice President Welfare

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Well, what it is exactly I do as Vice President Welfare? One thing that is certain, as many of the other sabbatical positions are, it is incredibly varied and exciting, with no day being the same as the other.

A large proportion of my job is running many different health and awareness campaigns. These are on everything from having safe sex, to giving up smoking and being aware of drink spiking. This is one of the more interesting and fun aspects to the job. Were else do you get to dress up as a hedgehog and party in the cube for an evening to raise awareness of drinks spiking. It is always challenging to find a new and engaging way to get the messages out to students, but something I really enjoy. Along with running the campaign, I have to liase with external organisations, such as the NHS and local health authority, to get a lot of the materials used. I also provide them with student views upon national health campaigns.

National representation on student issues is something that Southampton University Students’ Union is still involved with, despite being out of the NUS. I sit on the student consultative group to the student loans company, frustrating at times, but important that we as students are always on the SLC’s case to make them perform better.

Accommodation is also a considerable part of my job. This ranges from, running the annual housing week, producing the housing booklet, liaising with the accommodation office over student problems (very busy over the move in period!), and with external hall providers, ensuring that students are looked after. Also an important part of the job is keeping good links with the JCR’s from halls, making sure that they have Union support, and that we are fully aware of issues facing students in halls.

Student Community Action, the volunteering department within the union, also falls with my job. I support the SCA officer and committee, overseeing projects, budgets, and day to day issues. I also work closely with RAG and the Equal Opportunities department. My door is always for students to come and see me (and they often do), with any problem or issue that they need help with. Part of that is also being closely involved with SUAIC, as one of the sabbaticals over seeing that department. This all goes along with all the work that all the sabbaticals do, by just being sabbatical officers, endless committee meetings, report writing, and e-mails.

To finish, I would say that I ran for this job because I wanted to make a difference to students, and it is one of the best experiences that I could have had.

Contact me on: welfare@susu.org