A recent email sent to University of Sheffield committees highlights the rate of which applications for essential roles has decreased.
Over 50 societies are at risk of fold if they do not fill essential roles by Friday – the email states.
The Students’ Union outlines that each society must have four key roles, these being: a president, a treasurer, a secretary, and an inclusions officer.
The SU is home to around 340 societies, ranging from specific sports, to course societies like Molecular Biology and Biotechnlogy, and PolSoc, and hobby societies such as Sheffield University Theatre Company (SUTCo), Sheffield University Performing Arts Society, BookSoc, Airsoft Society, Chess Society and StitchSoc. The latter four are at risk of fold.
Members of societies have seen a drastic decline in application numbers for essential committee roles for the next academic year, making it apparent that the risk of folding societies could have detrimental affects on students and the SU.
Secretary for SUTCo, Ms Rebekah Patterson, said: “I know a lot of societies have had to call EGM’s not long after they held their AGM’s.
“I feel like there wasn’t enough information out there from the Students’ Union about the importance and benefits of these roles… and we should really use activities fairs to promote committee roles.”
Although SUTCo aren’t at risk of fold, other popular societies are, all of which seem to hold a significant place in the university.
One of these is Sheffield University’s Mental Health Matters Society, which over the past couple of years have been campaigning to raise awareness of mental health issues among UoS students.
The new president of the society, Ms Abbie Yates, said: “We are very stressed because if we don’t find someone by the 20th, we will be forced to fold… We’ve got a few people to fill in as interims, but we haven’t got a treasurer.”
A treasurer is one of the four key roles a committee needs.
She continued by saying: “From my perspective, it’s desperately sad that we as a society are at risk of folding. Mental health problems are something that will affect each student at some point during their time at university, weather it be yourself or friends.
“It’s alarming when we read figures such as – ‘Over a quarter of UK students (37%) are experiencing a negative change in their mental wellbeing since entering higher education (Report on Mental Health in Higher Education, 2020), that societies such as this are at risk of ending.”
The reasons behind the low number of applicants are unknown, however some have speculated that it could be due to the impact COVID-19 had on society participation and engagement.
President of the Molecular Biology and Biotechnology course society, Emma Bristow, said: “I do definitely think there was less engagement last year, which was clear from our fall in membership as a society.
“COVID meant that things had to go online, which really affected our ability as a committee to both promote ourselves and organise fun events.”
When asked if she thought COVID had any effect on engagement with societies, she commented: “ It was really hard to make a connection, as students in the department didn’t know we existed… there was no way for us to tell them as we couldn’t visit them in lectures, or have a stall at the activities fair as we usually do.”
This became clear when Emma looked at ticket sales for the MBB summer ball, where it seemed the lack of interest was coming from mostly second years, those who started university during the pandemic.
The deadline for essential roles is Friday 20th of May.
For more information on vacant roles in societies, their Facebook and Instagram handles can be found on the SU website: https://su.sheffield.ac.uk/activities/find-a-society
