President's Check-in: September 2026

Hi everyone, thank you for a genuinely excellent start to Semester 2!

Creative Month
The USU has officially opened Creative Month for 2026, the premier arts festival across the University of Sydney campus. Creative Month reflects the USU's belief that the University is a place for creativity and that artistic expression is a core part of student life, not an add-on to it. Over the coming weeks students can exhibit through the Creative Awards, perform at Battle of the Bands, share stories through the Museum of Togetherness, or sell their work at the Pocket Art Market. My thanks go to our cultural partners, the Chau Chak Wing Museum, Fisher Library, The Power Institute, Sydney College of the Arts and Verge Gallery, and to the creative clubs and societies who have come to the table this year, including CraftSoc, SUDS, MADSOC and JazzSoc. Thanks also to the USU team behind a genuinely cross-organisational effort, and to our members, whose SSAF contribution and creative energy make a program like this possible.

Keeping Welcome Fest sustainable, and incredible
The stats from Welcome Fest are in! Approximately 40,000 visitors came through the festival across two days, and 4,838 students joined the USU in that window. Our teams served more than 2,000 free meals and 2,200 coffees and handed out 600 reusable USU coffee cups. Welcome to Sydney drew 1,200 registrations and 950 attendees, and Party at Manning sold 703 tickets. Thank you to the staff, volunteers and club executives who made it happen.

I'm particularly proud of our Consent Check-In initiative, which delivered more than 2,000 individual conversations with students over the course of the event. That is a remarkable reach for a program of that kind and a real credit to Charlotte and the team.

We again partnered with Green My Plate to deliver the Welcome Fest food offering using reusable containers and cutlery. Across the two days, 2,368 reusable dishes and 698 reusable forks were washed and returned into circulation, a retention rate of close to 94%. That kept roughly 40kg of single-use packaging out of landfill, or about six 240L wheelie bins worth. A closed-loop system at that scale only works if members actually participate in it, and it was great to see that so many did.

The Wentworth gaming lounge
Our new gaming lounge in Wentworth opened on 13 August and hundreds of students came through on the first afternoon. The space is there for students who aren't drawn to a traditional events program and want another way into the USU. It's open now, so come and use it.

Half-price hoodies and merch
The half-price hoodie initiative at the start of Semester 2 was a standout. Sales reached 4,721 units, more than a thousand above Semester 1. The University's contribution to the initiative is now almost fully used, and we plan to direct the remaining $50,000 toward visits to remote locations once our merchandise truck arrives in mid-September. Students at satellite campuses and on remote placements are too often on the periphery of what the USU offers, and a mobile presence lets us close some of that distance rather than asking you to travel to us.

Food Security Strategy
The Board approved an updated 2027 Food Security Strategy. Delivering accessible, low-cost meals across campus and across the whole day is harder than it sounds, and the strategy is aimed squarely at that problem. Subject to SSAF funding, management plan to expand the $6 after 6pm initiative and increase the availability of household essentials at FoodHub.

SSAF contestable funding
The Board approved this year's SSAF contestable funding submissions, developed in collaboration with the relevant portfolio holders. The proposals include LGBTQ+ initiatives, an expansion of our ESG work, and stronger mentoring and student support programs. These are bids rather than confirmed funding, and we'll let members know how they land.

Portfolio Accountability Framework
The Board approved a new Portfolio Accountability Framework. Portfolio holders will now meet regularly with the Honorary Secretary in the chair, with updates flowing back to Directors on a fortnightly basis. It's an internal change, but it matters for members: portfolios are where a lot of the work you see gets driven, and this makes it clearer who is doing what and how it's tracking.

In Closing
Semester 2 is off to a great start, with fantastic weather to boot. If you have questions about any of the above, or about anything else the Union is doing, please don't hesitate to reach out.


Archie Wolifson
President, University of Sydney Union