Do Sabbs Actually Do Anything – The VERDICT

Over the past week, the SUSU Sabbs have released mid-term reports detailing their progress up until now. Judging by the absence of comments on most of the blog posts, either […]


Over the past week, the SUSU Sabbs have released mid-term reports detailing their progress up until now. Judging by the absence of comments on most of the blog posts, either everyone is very happy with what they’ve done or no one has actually read them. Fear not, below is the verdict on each of the sabbs’ performances. Also, today and tomorrow at 5PM the sabbs will be doing a Twitter Q&A. Send your abuse questions using #askSUSUsabbs.

Sabb:  Chloe Green, Welfare and Communities
Report word count: 678
TL;DR Summary: Chloe has dug deep into mental health at the University  carrying out a comprehensive survey. The results have made the powers that be take student mental health a lot more seriously. Now Nightline even has a student leader. Her housing campaign has been pretty successful, with viral marketing taking the message to students. But will we ever see a SUSU letting agency…?
Commenters weigh in with their concerns on equality and the role of overtly religious organisations providing pastoral  support
Verdict: Welfare isn’t the most interesting sabb position, but Chloe clearly has a lot of passion for the role. 7/10

Sabb: Sam Ling, President
Report word count: 1542
TL;DR Summary: Sam is a hard working sabb, always taking time to respond to comments and emails at any time of the night. He’s worked on Post-Grad fees, university access agreement and has revamped big chunks of the Union-new Bridge Bar for example. However, one commenter does pick up on an omission, Sam’s “leadership” of the Yes 2 NUS campaign. In true Ling style, there’s a full and frank explanation too.
Verdict: Sam’s going at full pelt through his bulky manifesto promises, 7/10

Sabb:  Shane Murphy, Student Engagement
Report word count: 393
TL;DR Summary: Not the longest report by a long way. But Shane did do a 12 Days of Christmas style of short blogs over Christmas. Maybe should have stuck to the same format as everyone else Shane has beefed up support for RAG and Performing Arts. The big number he drops in at the end, increasing the Societies budget to £82,000. Has your society seen much of this money? Let us know in the comments
Verdict: Generously taking into account his mini-blogs, Shane gets 6/10.

Sabb:  Nicole Trengrove, Winchester and Sites
Report word count: 869
TL;DR Summary: It wouldn’t be unfair to say many Tab readers won’t be too familiar of the world beyond Highfield. Nicole’s work started with the Sites review, working out where students were and what they needed. Quite a tricky task considering most Southampton students have never been up to Winchester School of Art (it’s quite nice) She’s laid out her plan for how to provide “SUSU” to every student. She’s also implemented society and sports tasters for Winchester students as most AU clubs and societies don’t even consider WSA.
Verdict: Despite looking like a deer in the headlights at Union Council, Nicole seems to have put together a decent plan for the future. 6/10

Sabb: Dean Jones, Sports Development
Report word count: 908
TL;DR Summary: Quite a lengthy report from Dean. He’s been working on sorting out a formal working agreement with Sport and Wellbeing after they realised there has never been one. After the decimation of intra-mural sport at the start of the year, has anything changed? Training spaces have been balanced out after the Old Sports Hall flooded, meaning a reduction in space. Sport and Wellbeing subsidised external training spaces to compensate.
Dean has also laid out his goals for the rest of the year clearly at the end of the report, which is nice
Verdict: From his report, Dean seems to have done a fair amount! 7/10

Sabb:  Sasha Watson, Academic Affairs
Report word count: 621
TL;DR Summary: VP Academic Affairs is the sabb position that has the most contact with the University big-wigs. As such, Sasha has been involved with appointing such big names as the Pro-Vice Chancellor (Education) and the Registrar. SUSSED, the bane of every student’s life, has been another area he’s fed back on too. Again, clear goals from Sasha show he’s got a plan. After 18 months in the job, you’d hope he would!
Verdict: For actually listening to all our moans and groans about our courses, 7/10

Sabb: David Gilani, Communications
Report word count: 1559
TL;DR Summary: The longest of all the sabb reports, Dave clearly has been busy! While most of the sabb team were busy campaigning in the NUS referendum, Dave was the one running it all behind the scenes. A truly herculean effort for the TWO MONTHS of the referendum period. Aside from that, he’s been beefing up SUSU media training, working on accountability and transparency and dealing with all the democratic procedures of the Union.
Verdict: Along with the commenters on his blog, I’d say David has produced the best report. 9/10

What’s your verdict on the sabbs so far this year? Vote on our poll or let us know in the comments.