THE UNIVERSITY of Reading’s Student Union (RUSU) leadership team is celebrating 100 days since its first day on the job.
In that time, officers have helped students negotiate the cost of living crisis, welcomed freshers, marked the Queen’s death and promoted sustainability initiatives.
RUSU president, Sheldon Allen, said: “What a first 100 days it’s been. When I was first elected, I couldn’t quite have envisioned how much I’d get up to working all over the summer and into the new academic year.”
Affordable living has been at the forefront of the team’s priorities, putting forward recommendations to the uniersity on how the student union could support its service users.
RUSU believes every student should have access to low-cost hot meals on campus and that they should be supported if they fall into hardship.
As such, a collaborative UoR/RUSU Cost of Living Taskforce has been established, co-chaired by the RUSU president and Elizabeth McCrum, pro-vice chancellor for education and student experience.
Over the summer holidays, the team took the opportunity to visit universities including Bath, Bristol and Cardiff Met to learn from other student unions and ascertain what could be improved at home.
Mr Allen identified a discrepancy between the sports facilities available at these universities, saying Reading needed to offer places for people to get involved in extracurricular activities irrespective of ability.
The team also attended the Southern Union conference, a three-day event in Brighton featuring 15 student unions. Attending bodies discussed how they could collectively tackle issues affecting students across the South of England.
A key takeaway from the trip was writing a joint submission with Portsmouth Students’ Union to the Levelling Up committee on the Making a Fairer Private Rented Sector White Paper.
Mr Allen explained: “The government’s White Paper featured many new proposals that will impact private accommodation. We support the proposed abolishment of section 21, no fault evictions, and advocate for students to be protected when it comes to tenant bans.
“Currently, landlords can legally exclude certain groups from ever renting their properties and we do not think this is right. Students should be able to access high quality accommodation in the private sector like anyone else.”
In September, the university welcomed its latest cohort of freshers onto campus.
“It was the first ‘normal’ freshers since the start of the pandemic and it was great to see no social distancing and not a mask in sight,” said Mr Allen.
“We welcomed thousands of [students] through our doors and gave out nearly 4000 tote bags and freebies.”
The RUSU president identified the International Students’ Event as a personal highlight, hosting alongside vice chancellor Robert Van de Noort.
Mr Allen said: “Starting university is not easy and arriving from overseas and settling in is a huge achievement in itself. It was great to see so many international students at this event, meeting each other and making friends.
“It was a lovely atmosphere and I want to personally thank [everyone] for attending.”
The death of Queen Elizabeth II provided a moment of reflection, with RUSU’s venue closing on the day of the funeral and a book of condolence opened across the campus. The team also attended various commemoration events.
The university has made their commitment to sustainability clear, and RUSU has followed suit. At its sustainability and community freshers fayre, the team launched a new student app, Doing#UoRBit, which allows users to earn points for a range of activities, with a wide range of prizes to be won.
From £30 ASDA vouchers to two weeks’ worth of free bus travel, students are set to be rewarded for living more sustainable lives. The project is funded by the university, RUSU and the IMAGINE campaign.
The team has also published a list of priorities it wants to focus on more generally. It has highlighted housing, a community festival and a sustainability conference as headline themes.
