The AUT, Freshers' Angels, a special woman called MAVIS and a call from a doctor.

The summer term’s a strange one for all students, and for student officers it’s no different. A good chunk of my work is responding to student requests and people just popping in to the office to chat. With the exams this happens increasingly rarely, which means that things have been slightly quieter and my days slightly shorter – which is nice. I’ve made it home for Simpsons several times this term.

On everyone’s mind on the Sabbatical Team is of course the AUT strike. This is a difficult time – I fundamentally believe that lecturers deserve better pay, but my responsibility is from and to the student body. When Top-up fees were introduced lecturers were promised more money, and this has been denied. Partly this is because HE funding has not increased as promised – government funding for institutions decreased when fees were introduced for example. Dave and Andrew have been engaging often with the University senior management, AUT representatives, local MPs and the NUS. In my capacity as SE Area Rep and Executive officer I’ve been chatting to people across the region about their views. For a full update keep checking www.rusu.co.uk/strike.

Although I’m out-going in my role as VP Development, my dedication to student activities remains as strong now as ever. I spent week 3 promoting Freshers Angels, NUS Activists and Web volunteer groups and several hundred people showed an interest in these new groups.

The most exciting development has been MAVIS. Mass Active Volunteering Involving Students is about getting people involved on a single day (Thursday 15th June) in a variety of community action projects, such as graffiti removal and fundraising. MAVIS is a great opportunity for people unable to commit to a regular volunteering slot. For more information e-mail MAVIS@reading.ac.uk or see www.rusu.co.uk/mavis, where you can download posters and a MAVIS ask.

In preparation for becoming VP Welfare I’ve been working on Freshers Angels, with about 40 people signing up so far. This new volunteer group will aim to make new students feel at home, meet new people and generally ease the first few days at University, including supporting JCRs on moving in day if they’d like an extra pair of hands.

I attended my first Welfare, Support and Guidance meeting the other week. This is the University’s big meeting on student services such as accommodation, the medical centre and the counselling service. This was a great chance to be introduced into some of the people I’ll be working alongside next year, as well as seeing some University staff I already collaborate with in a new guise.

The highlight of recent weeks was of course Dr Karl Kennedy, as good this year as he was the last; scourge of Sam Read, beloved of Dave Lewis and purveyor of excellent cheese. To the guy who was asking me about JCRs – do pop in and see me, and to the drunken bloke who I couldn’t hear, feel free to come and day hello as well.

Nickers x