Council Agenda 1st Week Trinity 2008

a.    Minutes of the Previous Meeting
b.    Matters Arising from the Minutes    
c.    Ratifications in Council            
d.    Elections in Council
e.    Reports from the Sabbatical Officers    
f.    Reports from the Executive Officers who wish to make reports
g.    Questions to Members of the Executive    
h.    Emergency Motions            
i.    Passage of Motions Nem Con
j.    Motions of No Confidence or Censure
k.    First readings of Motions to Amend the Constitution or Standing Orders
l.    The Budget or Amended Budget
m.    Motions Authorising Capital Expenditure
n.    Other Motions
i.   motions affecting ousu members as ousu members
ii.  motions affecting ousu members as students at Oxford University
iii. motions affecting ousu members as members of the student movement
iv. motions affecting ousu members as residents of Oxford
v.  motions affecting ousu members as residents of the United Kingdom
vi. motions affecting ousu members as citizens of the world
o.    Any Other Business

c.    Ratifications in Council

LGBTQ Constitution (attached) passed by LGBTQ Committee Hilary 2008

  j.    Motions of No Confidence or Censure

1.    Motion of No Confidence

 
Council Notes
1   Dominic Williams (St. Catherine) was elect as an NUS delegate for OUSU
2  Council passed an amendment to be sent to NUS on Darfur in 5th week council of Hilary.
3  Council passed policy on University Funding in 5th week council of Hilary.
4  Dominic Williams voted against NUS motion 506a after being told about the OUSU policy in favour.
5  Dominic Williams voted for the removal of CR2 in 801b after being told that it was the amendment OUSU submitted.
6  He subsequently voted against 801b and 801.
 
Council Believes
1  NUS Delegates should follow OUSU policy at NUS conference.
2  Dominic Williams failed to do this.
 
Council Resolves
1        To have no confidence in Dominic Williams as an NUS Delegate.

Proposed: Elliott Golend (Pembroke)
Seconded: Richard Haigh (Pembroke)
 

n.    Other Motions

1.    OUSU's Affiliation to NUS

Council Notes
1.    That OUSU has been centrally affiliated to NUS since 2006.
2.    That before 2006, individual colleges affiliated to NUS at a cost of around £1500 each.
3.    That NUS affiliation is now charged to OUSU at £9623.72.
4.    That Oxford pays one of the lowest affiliation fees to NUS.
5.    That central affiliation has dramatically reduced the cost to affiliated Common Rooms as well as taking the administrative burden away from Common Rooms.

Council Further Notes
1.    All OUSU-affiliated Common Rooms currently take advantage of many NUS resources, regardless of whether they are paying for NUS membership.
2.    That a two-tier system has developed where some OUSU members are eligible for NUS cards while others are not.
3.    That splitting the NUS affiliation fee equally between Common Rooms would cost 49p per student.

Council Believes
1.    That Common Rooms should not subsidise other Common Rooms who choose not to pay for NUS Services.
2.    That all Common Rooms are taking advantage of NUS Services through resources, information and advice provided to OUSU and passed on to Common Rooms in various forms.
3.    That NUS affiliation is of benefit to Common Room officers and individual students.

Council Resolves
1.    To split the cost of affiliation to NUS equally between all OUSU-affiliated Common Rooms, based on the number of students in their Common Rooms.
2.    To hold an annual debate and vote on NUS affiliation.

Proposed: Martin McCluskey (OUSU President)  
Seconded: Chris Bennetts (Pembroke)

 

2.    University representation for Student Parent issues

OUSU Council Notes:
1. That support for student parents in the University is limited. There are long waiting lists for family housing and University Nursery places.
2. That student parents are a group with a diverse range of needs and concerns.
3. The University does not have a central list of student parents.
4. That the University Childcare Committee has not met for at least the past two years.
5. That the VP(Women) has re-instated the OUSU Student Parents Committee. This is now meeting regularly. The VP (Women) has also created a student parents maillist. The VP Women and the OUSU Student Parents committee are currently working on a report on the issues affecting student parents in the University.

 Council Believes:
1. That OUSU does not currently have a means of contacting all student parents, which limits OUSU's ability to support student parents effectively.
2. That for too long OUSU has not had an appropriate and effective forum in which to present to and discuss with the University issues to do with support for student parents.

Council Resolves:
1. That the University Childcare Committee should meet regularly. The Committee should meetly on a termly basis. The OUSU VP (Women) should represent OUSU on the Childcare Committee and liase between the OUSU Student Parents Committee and the University Childcare Commitee.
2. That the University Childcare Committee should include in its remit a wide range of issues affecting student parents, including but not limited to maternity and paternity leave, housing, funding support.
3. That the University should produce a central list of student parents, which they should share with OUSU.
4. That the Freshers packs sent to all incoming students should contain information about the OUSU Student Parents' Committee and the the OUSU Student Parents maillist.

Proposed: Hannah Roe (OUSU VP Women)   
Seconded: Louise Randall (OUSU VP Welfare & Equal Opps)

 

3.    Student Representation

Council Notes
1.    That in Hilary Term OUSU conducted a survey of representation across Colleges on student representation on College Committees, including Governing Bodies.
2.    That the survey revealed that:
a.    The majority of Colleges (18) have representation in the unreserved section of business in Governing Body.
b.    Six Colleges are allowed representation on specific issues in Governing Body.
c.    Three Colleges have no representation at all on Governing Body.
d.    Eight Colleges have no representation at any time on Finance Committees.
e.    That not all Colleges have a formal forum in which to raise education-related issues, or have no formal representation on their College's education committee.

Council Further Notes
1.    That, in the University, we are currently represented at a number of levels, including University Council.
2.    That we are not currently represented on Planning and Resource Allocation Committee (PRAC) and General Purposes Committee (GPC)
3.    That in recent years these Committees have dealt with issues as wide ranging as JRAM, Student Discipline and University Hardship Grants

Council Believes
1.    That Student Representation on Committees is essential in ensuring that students' voices are heard at all levels of decision making.
2.    That Oxford currently falls behind other Russell Group universities and leading international competitors in terms of student representation.

Council Resolves
1.    That OUSU Officers should work with University Officers and representatives from Conference of Colleges to disseminate best practice to colleges that are currently failing on student representation.
2.    To lobby the University for greater representation on University Committees.
3.    To highlight these issues in the upcoming QAA Institutional Audit.

Proposed: Martin McCluskey (OUSU President)  
Seconded: Ingrid Frater (OUSU VP Graduates)
 

4.    Proctorial Fines

Council Notes
1.    The amount collected by the Proctors' Office in the last year rose by 463% to £11,065.
2.    Just over £10,000 was collected in fines relating to incidents after exams.
3.    That fines collected for behaviour after exams ranged from £40 - £500.
4.    That evidence from Facebook was used in many of the cases.

Council Believes
1.    That systems for Student discipline at Oxford should be fair and transparent.
2.    That students should be made fully aware of the penalties they face.

Council Resolves
1.    To demand that the Proctor's Office:
a.    Produce a schedule of fines and charges, in order that people know the fines they face for various offences.
b.    Stop the use of Facebook and Social Networking Sites.
c.    Work to make the system of student discipline more fair, transparent and representative of a modern University.
2.    To encourage CR Presidents to collect names for a petition containing the three demands.

Proposed: Martin McCluskey (OUSU President)
Seconded: Louise Randall (OUSU VP Welfare & Equal Opps)

 

5.    International No Diet Day

Council notes
That International No Diet Day takes place on May 6th (Tuesday of 3rd Week)

Council further notes
1.    That pressure to conform to media-reinforced physical ideals has a substantial negative impact on self-esteem and particularly affects those within the typical student age-range
2.    That these ideals are often a physical impossibility and achieved only through digital manipulation of images
3.    That the physical and psychological effects of extreme or crash dieting can be profound and long lasting
4.    That even moderate dieting can increase the likelihood of developing an eating disorder fivefold (Patton, 1999)
5.    That the incidence of disordered eating at Oxford is substantially higher than within the population at large, as demonstrated in the 1998 survey by Sell and Robson, in which 36% of female respondents reported having experienced eating disorders, compared to approximately 5% of the female population at large (Anorexia, Bulimia, and Binge Eating disorders)

Council believes
1.    That overall health and positive body image are more important than attaining a physical ideal
2.    That the diet industry thrives on the insecurities perpetuated by unrealistic role models, airbrushing, and pernicious scrutiny of celebrities’ bodies
3.    That (self-)respect is a right which should not depend on physical appearance

Council resolves

1.    To support and encourage initiatives which promote positive body image in the student population, such as WomCam’s Love Your Body Garden Party which will take place on Saturday 7th June (7th week)

Proposed: Siân Renwick (Queen’s)
Seconded: Kat Wall (LMH)

AMENDMENTS

There are no amendments to this weeks agenda