With the summer exam season having reared its ugly head once again, final years have only one thing on their mind: Grad Ball. With 2,500 students set to attend, the Grad Ball has become the talk of the town but unfortunately for SUSU the talk has been by no means positive.
Many students are unhappy at paying £50 for what some have described as a “glorified night at Oceana”. In comparison to some other unions’ efforts, they have a point.
Anger has led to students accusing SUSU of making a profit from the event as ticket sales alone mean they have generated around £125,000 in revenue. While these accusations currently remain baseless, many are still frustrated by the quality of the performers on whom their money is being spent.
Doors shut to Southampton students?
This sentiment has spread after 3/7th of S Club 7 were announced as the final headliners. The very same Bradley, Jo and Tina whose performance at this year’s Freshers’ Ball led students to accuse the performers of being heavily intoxicated.
What is perhaps even more shocking is the rehiring of Jo O’Meara after her 2007 Celebrity Big Brother appearance when considering SUSU’s supposed commitment to diversity.
O’Meara, along with Jade Goody and Danielle Lloyd, were recorded making racist comments about fellow contestant and Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty. The comments sparked a huge backlash and even triggered protests in India, with protesters burning effigies of the show’s organisers.
The Soton Tab approached acting Equality & Diversity Officer Sam Bailey and VP for Welfare Beckie Thomas regarding the issue but neither were available for comment.
The results last time S Club came to SUSU
Students feel that SUSU’s response to the complaints has been inadequate and the situation has escalated to the point that one student has decided to formally submit a freedom of information request to the union.
Whether they are obliged to respond, however, is a grey area.
Third year student Benjamin Faulkner, who submitted the request, told the Soton Tab:
The Union President did comment on the discussion saying that the Union were getting figures together to present, but God knows if they’re altered or doctored… It’s not clear whatsoever who actually is in charge, nobody is accountable or is defending the decisions.
The Soton Tab approached SUSU President David Mendoza-Wolfson regarding the Grad Ball controversy and apparent lack of accountability and communication between SUSU and Southampton students. He told us:
Overall the response to the ball has been positive, we have had negative responses from some students but this happens every year.
Should we do more? Yes. We will make a survey available for all students immediately after the ball that will enable attendees to give us their feedback and those who are yet to graduate to share their ideas for later years.
We will do all that we can to ensure that the proper channels are put in place for students to give their input in the future.
SUSU have yet to release a formal response to the freedom of information request, but have assured students that a full breakdown of costs will be released as soon as possible. The Soton Tab will follow up on this as the story continues to develop.
What planet does David Mendoza-Wolfson live on? A mostly positive response is not a true reflection of the student bodies feeling. What statistics does he have to back that statement up. The SUSU ideas and open discussion group has several different comments stating how appalling this is without a single positive response.
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And yet 2500 students are still attending … hardly a vote of disapproval
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Considering that tickets are still on sale despite numerous announcements saying that they had “sold out” it is not the case 2500 have bought tickets. The point is that people are forced to buy tickets for an extremely overpriced event, on the premise that it’s the last event of university. Is this really the way that Southampton wanted to celebrate a year groups graduation ?
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attending cos we have to
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attending cos we have to
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Ticket sales don’t reflect satisfaction, people are always gonna go to their grad ball regardless of who is booked to play. Shame our time at uni has to end paying £50 entry for ocies
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That’s just the capacity number of attendees. The actual number of tickets sold is certainly less than this.
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Maybe just don’t go?
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the whole point is that this should be an event that all students look forward to. I think not complaining and not going is just accepting the incompetency of susu, an organisation that should represent student opinion.
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Same old shit different year.
Graduated in 2012, and this was the exact sentiment at the time. A glorified night at Oceana it was!
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‘We will make a survey available for all students immediately after the ball that will enable attendees to give us their feedback’ – all students or just those who attended? What about those who didn’t want to fork over £50 for a night at Oceana?
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Graduated 2013 and also went to the 2012 one. It IS just a night at oceana. Hilariously crap. In fact, so crap that it’s almost good. Almost.
The key issue is the acts, and susu’s total inability to compete with other unis. I’m not sure if that’s because of money, or sabbs genuinely do listen to s club in their spare time and are genuinely that fucking clueless as to what a good night out looks like.
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With that response from David Mendoza-Wolfson, it is clear he has a bright future ahead of him in politics. The standard ‘we will fix it, but not now’ response. I’d be willing to bet someone is going to profit heavily from this shambles.
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Couldn’t have put it better myself. Standard answering a different question than the difficult one asked. If we actually get any physical statistics I’d be shocked. In fact to quote Paddy Ashdown “I’d eat my hat.”
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I believe that Susu are wrong. Everyone should come together, get around the negotiating table, put aside the rhetoric, and make sure this doesn’t happen again.
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“The Soton Tab approached acting Equality & Diversity Officer Sam Bailey and VP for Welfare Beckie Thomas regarding the issue but neither were available for comment.” Both the current Welfare Sabb and incoming Sabb didn’t want to comment. Next year is going to be SO different!!!
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Do you really think that VP Welfare and E&D Officer have a say on what acts SUSU book for Grad Ball?
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I’d hope that both people have better things to be doing than giving statements to the Tab about shit artists that no one cares about.
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No. They should have a say, they represent students in SUSU. That’s exactly what they’re elected/paid to do.
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Well personally, I think there are more important things (like the mental health campaign) going on.
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If other universities can host black tie dinners with performers more current than S Club (recent re-form aside) then SUSU should be able to do the same.
They claim to be ‘all about the student experience’ and we’re voted for in, let’s face it, a glorified popularity contest, whilst getting paid for it might I add, they should listen to the students.
Set up a Grad ball council.
Give the final year students an opportunity to voice opinions when in their second year.
let students vote for artists they want.
and for God’s sake, find another venue. Oceania is great for s standard night out, but we shouldn’t have to remember our Uni experience stumbling around the car park – sorry, ‘fair ground’ – with a like warm kebab and some stale doughnuts.
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The so called Graduation ‘Ball’ is more reminiscent of a high school prom. There is no class to be found in Oceana that can be worthy of the term ‘Ball’. Adding salt to this wound is scrolling through Nottingham’s offer to their students, cheaper price and a stately venue? I wonder if Solent will be holding their Grad Ball in Oceana as well? And on that bombshell, I’m out.
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Nottingham’s looks like an honest to god Ball. Like, I would wear a nice dress to that. I’d much rather my last event at uni was a sit-down meal, or at least a post-meal dancefloor, where I could get dressed up and have a nice time and talk to people and, yeah, dance. But my entire uni career has been full of silly overpriced nights out, I’d like to end on a pseudo-classy one!
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My prom was actually classier than this looks like it will be. 3 course meal, nice dresses and tux, dance floor, fireworks, and a radio 1 dj.
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Look to Bournemouth and their huge summer ball, it’s down the road and it’s fucking incredible. This is so pathetic, grad ball has never been worth the money and it’s just never changed. Also, it isn’t hard to pull the costs together, any basic fucking event you run should have a budget sheet. Particularly when you’re running a charity. It’s incompetence at best and in all likelihood massively illegal.
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Pathetic, I hear a lot of people fed up with another round of shitness.
Susu has done nothing useful in the three years I have been here, its sad that I have remorse for this place, the place I thought I would have some organisation skills.
Freshers ball was a joke, and this year, l have had shit lecturer’s whos knowledge only extends to what’s on the PowerPoint slides.
And paying 9 grand a year for four hours of lectures a week, an even bigger joke.
What happened soton? Why are we building more halls when there’s no studying places left on campus?
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The Uni is actually building new halls as there are thousands of students each year who apply for halls but can’t get in. If more halls, then more housing choice, more student houses empty and rent prices should drop.
Susu last year intervened with the new halls to make sure that the Uni included large study spaces in the halls to take the pressure off the library and computer rooms, and to try and encourage Freshers to study in their halls rather than the library if they didn’t need books.
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SUSU isn’t covered by FOI law, go read a fucking book if you don’t understand why…
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I’m a postgrad studying a masters here after my undergrad at Leeds.
From reading the comments here it seems pretty likely that SUSU organises the whole grad ball and the cost is met with just ticket sales, as in the Union doesn’t give the grad ball any money(spends it on societies instead). At Leeds, however, the Union have the grad ball money, so as to make it bigger and better, as students had decided that they’d rather a subsidised grad ball. Yeah we pay £50 but the union also put money in, allowing for dinner and bigger acts. It meant less money on societies and sports teams, but students decided they preferred it that way.
From what I’ve seen here, it seems better to have societies and sports teams subsidised throughout the year than a slightly better act at grad ball. You’re getting your money’s worth. Acts are very expensive to have. Most of this £125k is probably going on acts. I imagine some like like Labbrynth is probably in the region of £30-40k etc
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Paying Labyrinth 40k should be a hanging offence…
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Finally! The Tab have written an article worth reading. Thank you James. It seems as though things don’t change, I heard this happened last year and a certain VP caught on and tried to sort it out…(maybe to not much avail but at least he tried). Rather than ensuring it didn’t happen again, this year’s sabbatical officers have clearly been too concerned by their personal agendas. Do they really think they are doing a good job at representing the student body. It is shameless that fellow students/graduates can’t combine their common sense and organise a worthwhile Grad Ball. It begs the question what do these people consider to be a good night? Apparently S Club 3…
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im struggling to think of anything susu have done in my three years that have been any good. Susu needs a re shuffle and make an effort to reconnect with students . Sabbatical officers are also full of themselves and spend too much time in the bridge
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I work in the bridge… Most of the time the Sabbs are in there meeting students..I’m sure they could stop doing that and just stay in their offices all day! Thought it would be a good thing that they meet and talk with students.
At least they buy things as well rather than the hoardes of students who descend with their rubbish and just leave it on the table.
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You must be that annoying woman that keeps asking me to move…
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First, they are getting paid to meet students. Second, if they are meeting students, then why don’t they know what students want? (Third, perhaps if the university provided any other decent social hubs, perhaps people wouldn’t feel obliged to congregate in the Oh So Awesome Bridge…)
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They have an office for meeting students. They are paid members of staff, they need to act like it.
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Recently sabbs act like staff and therefore people see them as staff. They are in fact full time volunteers with a living allowance. I’d want the sabbs to act less like staff and more like student representatives tbh…
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Sorry, since when was £18,000+ a living allowance?
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I think the sabbs are always in the Bridge because they get free food…..
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Aren’t we all forgetting about the two microwaves on campus? About the only thing SUSU have done right.
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Best comment on the entire article
Bravo OP
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That was Lucy Upshall
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There are plenty of other graduation events available, forget SUSU…
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Yeah let’s see the balance sheet Susu or sufucksballs
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Big Summer Blow Out…
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Eat my dust SUSU. You are a sorry excuse for a students union.
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Won’t somebody please think of the graduates!
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Soton Tab, to ensure SUSU are aware that we are not looking forward to their event, please can you do a poll as soon possible asking whether students are actually looking forward to Grad Ball?
Additionally, I would like to mention that SUSU actually rival the English Cricket Board in terms of their ability to understand what the majority of people want, and that takes some doing.
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Hmm ECB can do a job. Pipe down.
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Mendoza epitomises the ECB, so out of touch.
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I think the fact that there are very few comments on this article defending the grad ball I think it’s safe to say that no the response has not been “generally positive.” Considering the tab has close to 7,700 likes on fb it’s done a better job at representing the students opinion in 4 hours than your assumptions based on no evidence had had
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Might as well have just booked Jester’s for the night
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I consider it more of a “not firing incompetent staff members” problem
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you’re actually not wrong but nobody’s allowed to discuss staff members.
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https://blogs.susu.org/officers/2015/05/14/grad-ball-qa/
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It’s pretty ridiculous. Our medics grad ball is about the same price, but in a 5 star hotel with a 3 course meal and a couple of bands. Organised by fellow students sitting their finals and not getting paid. With an extremely limited budget. Sort it out SUSU!!
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