SU Meeting – 26th October 2014 Officers’ Reports President – Portrait changes are the main thing she has been working on. The Kitchens need to be looked after and kept clean and tidy. Treasurer – Not a huge amount going on but there will be a money meeting. VP – Elections will be run when the new system comes in. Access – Not much happening outside of the usual tours and Q&As. Information on interview helpers to come soon. Academic – More one-on-ones to be run. Arts – Not much to report. Bar – Not in attendance. There will be a Halloween event in the bar. Charities – Henri has been elected. Communications – Has sent out emails and OUSU meeting this week. Domestic – Not in attendance. Coffee cups are in short supply, label your bikes as they will be going at the end of term. Table tennis balls are in his room. Entz – QueerFest is on its way. There may be changes to how guests coming to bops are run. International – Crew date is happening. LGBTQ – Governing body this week and the timetable went through. Met with the poster person and welfare events to be run soon. MCR – Diana said that you are more than welcome to head in and the bar is open on Friday and Saturday nights. There is a whats-up-wadham guide on the MCR website which is really useful and mobile compatible. Sports – Gym inductions have finished for this term. Please keep the gym tidy and the amalgamated clubs meeting has been run. SLP – SLTea is starting on Wednesdays from 2-3pm. Tech – TV repairs will be done and a disco ball would cost £30-£50 if people think this would be good. Tortoise – The tortoise is still living in Cowley and will be moving into college within the next few weeks. Welfare – Peer support will be up and running and a peer support exchange event will be run with Univ. Joint welfare brunch with the MCR in the MCR in two weeks. Women – Mainly what is what will be discussed or voted as a motion. Wadham Feminists is on Sunday at Wadham and there is a potential speaker. Motions Motion 1 Adam was absent so Joe read out the motion explaining that quorum has not been reached near the end of many meetings. It was mentioned that there are 25 on the committee hence quorum as it is should not be hard to reach. Lucy also mentioned that she was looking at ways of increasing turn out. Q – Will 16 votes still be required for a motion to pass? A – No, but this only covers passage of motions to which there are no objections. Motion 2 Andy explained the motion that is just to prepare us for when the new voting system comes through. There were no questions. There were no objections so the motion passed. Motion 3 This motion had already been passed. NOTE: It was later discovered that this motion was similar to a previous motion and had, in fact, not been passed. This will return in a later agenda. Motion 4 James was allowed to speak, although he is not from Wadham. James explained that this motion went through OUSU and they decided that it needed to be discussed in JCRs. This is an NUS motion and also supports the national demonstration in November. Q – What does the motion say about private schools? A – Nothing, it covers FE and HE. Q – Is there a clause in the motion about supporting the coaches to the demonstration? A – Yes, £200. Q – What does point 18 mean? A – Originally from the OUSU meeting and is about it going into the policy book. Q – Does it say anything about living costs? A – It is not about cutting them and to increase them. Q – What about international student fees? A – It mentions freezing them but the demonstration is not about that. It was mentioned that the proposers should have thought about creating a view for the college to support and that it should be clearer what is expected of the SU officers mentioned. Aliya mentioned that it mandates OUSU voting card holders to vote for the motion and that we can now debate what we feel the SU officers should do. It was also mentioned that just having the support of the SU is very useful, especially in publications. It was asked what other colleges have done and it was made clear that this only mandates the OUSU voting card holders. Discussions on other countries systems had then been discussed, including Scotland who cut their maintenance loans. It was asked if the NUS motion is specific on how it is to be funded which was responded that by greater taxation on the rich. Amendment to change point 18 to “To support free education in principle and the NUS campaign against fees and debt” taken as friendly. Amendment to change “JCR's political campaigning fund” from 19 to “SU budget”. No objections to the motion so it passed. Motion 5 Anya took over as chair as Andy was proposing the motion. Q – What was the results of the trialling of bringing them up here? A – From the look of it, they were getting read but not much and that they are all available online. Q – What do we usually have left in the budget? A – There is a large surplus but we have lost some money due to Sarah Lawrence students being members to the MCR. Diana added that they did used to be a part of the MCR until the MCR got their new building. The money given to the SU and MCR is by a per person basis and there is a 60:40 split in the Sarah Lawrence money (SU:MCR). Q – Could we get less? A – We only get one of each but we could get less papers. Q – Where do we get them from? A – Globe News Market. Motion passed with no objections. Motion 6 TW: DISCUSSION OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND RAPE Isa mentioned the TW and then explained that there have been problems at other colleges with support from Welfare roles who have been first responders to incidences of rape and that this is not saying anything bad against our welfare officers. Q – What about the BME/PoC role? A – Amendment taken as friendly. Q – Could the training be run this term? A – Yes, hopefully. Q – Is this training free? A – Those run by Anna are and hopefully the next sabbatical officer will also run it. Q – Could this be run for college staff (as in the welfare staff)? A – Isa said she was more concerned with the officer role and that there is ones available for staff run by the council. Amendment “If someone wishes not to take the training for personal reasons they should be allowed to opt out and that this should then be noted so people know who have been trained”. Amendment to include BME/PoC officer in point 1. Amendment to include in point 7 that this will be run yearly for each new officer. Amendment to include in point 1 that any SU officer is allowed to be trained as well. Motion passed with no objections. Motion 7 This has been withdrawn as Isa needs to talk to college first. Motion 8 Andy explained that last year, in OUSU a motion was passed to allow visiting students to attend OUSU meetings. This motion will push for a visiting student’s officer in OUSU and to allow them to vote. Q – What is classes as a visiting student? A – Basic difference is that they haven’t matriculated so are not allowed to be official members of the university. Q – How would they pass on the roles? A – It does happen a lot with other roles when a student goes to study abroad for a year. Amendment to change “advertise... on Preslist” to “raise as a discussion point at PresCom”. Amendment to change “or” in point 10 to “and/or”. Amendment to restrict point 10s mandate to just the motion Adam is proposing. Quorum count was requested at this point and reached. Motion passed with no objections. Discussion points Discussion point 1 Diana explained that this had been done in some American colleges on a participation rate basis which then an Alum will donate once a particular percentage is raised. Q – Do we have many rich alums? A – Yes, and the money could be used in a way that year group chose. Q – How will it be done? A – Some places do a few days in which everyone donates whilst others used students to get other students to give and sometimes you got a gift. It was mentioned that Keble did this last year on their battels and that this was not liked. Lucy and Diana both said that this would definitely not happen at Wadham. Diana also mentioned that the endowment per student is very small at Wadham in comparison to American universities yet she felt more cared for personally here. Discussion point 2 It was mentioned that at some places they had two rooms but only one could be used by those who do not identify as male and that both would be stocked. This could be under the discretion of the officer (for the sanitary items in the men’s room) but the point of changing the rooms would require a motion. The discussion point was agreed upon by all. OUSU There were worries about the problems with the posters promoting vegetarianism that are going forward for funding in OUSU council this week relating to mental illness and eating disorders. Joe mentioned that if and when they arrive at Wadham, they can be discussed beforehand and if people feel they are not appropriate, they will not be displayed in Wadham. AOB Lucy mentioned about the awkward zine, of which we have two copies, and it is very good. If you know of anyone who has interest in this area then tell them to get in contact with the editor as they are leaving and would like the magazine to carry on. Joe mentioned that it may be good for the domestic officer to look at promoting using your own cup for the coffee machine as they are not good for the environment and Wadham SU has previously shown dedication to reducing our impact on the environment by eating vegetarian food on Mondays. Anya mentioned that if it were cheaper to use your own cup, this may help.