1st Week Trinity 2008 Minutes

 
Council Minutes

1st week ht08

Minutes of the General Meeting of OUSU Council: 1st Week TT08

Minutes of the previous meeting

No matters arising

Ratifications in Council

LGBTQ Constitution was ratified

Elections in Council

There were no elections

Reports from Exec

Hannah reminded about student parents
Louise spoke about the Student Advisor
James commented on NSS – 49%
Ingrid – International Festival/graduate international students get a raw deal
Martin – student representation

Questions to Exec

Stefan – NSS deadline?
30th April

Motions NemCom

NUS passed
Student rep for parents passed
Student rep  passed
No Diet Day –passed

Motions of No Confidence

Elliott proposed:
Unions send students to NUS. In the run up to conference, OUSU passed policy on two issues, and included submitting an amendment to NUS conference. Dominic Williams voted against OUSU policy. OUSU members sit together and OUSU President reminds all delegates of OUSU policy. Elliott reminded us of our fees and funding policy. Read NUS policy.

Andrew Scotfilde Worcester: should delegates follow policy?
Elliott: delegated

Joel Mullan (St Peter's): any precedent for no-conning delegates for breaking policy?
Elliott: reasonably rare for this to happen. No time when a delegate has ignored policy so much.

Daniel Lowe (St Edmund Hall): is there a requirement in the constitution that requires delegates to vote with policy.
Martin: Constitution is silent, in same way as sabs bound by OUSU in University meetings. So would seem same would apply to NUS delegates.

James Lamming: is the candidate here to defend themselves? What's the process?
Dom is here. If it passes, he is removed from the position of NUS delegate. There may be an extraordinary conference.

Lewis Iwu (New College): was there an attempt of the NUS delegate to speak to exec about the policy?
Dom: not really.

Dani Quinn (Merton): how much were the differences?
Elliott:

Jonny Medland (Queen's): is there going to anything else where delegates are voting?
Martin: extraordinary one next term and regional conferences.

Claire Addison: clarify the situation. Was he made aware of the policy?
Elliott:

Charlie Severn (St Edmund Hall): did he do anything wrong? Material effect?
Elliott: no material effect.

Dominic spoke in opposition: in my defence, there is a purpose of having a cross-campus election. Should be a variety of views across the campus, not just representing Council views. Motion didn't go out on that week's agenda. No confidence seems a bit too far.

Claire Addison: this tone is shocking. Explicit guidance on how to vote. We come to debate and pass motions, it should be represented.

Rich Hardiman: not a fan of motions of censure and confidence. People run on manifestos and where there is no explicit mandate in Council, they should go with what they're elected on. But when Council elects you and makes you a delegate, you do as Council says.

James Lamming: I spend time in University meetings and agree with OUSU policy even if I don't agree with. I have no confidence in Dominic – he doesn't hold the views we have.

Martin McCluskey: back up what James and Rich have said. NUS isn't like Council in that you come along mandated by just your CR. NUS also have delegates who are told how to vote down the line. If Council tells me what to vote, I have to vote with Council and not with my political faction. Dominic did go with his political views.

Move to vote: 23
Against: 28

James Dray (Mansfield): I would like to speak in favour of this guy. He made a good point – elections are set up to ensure that different views are represented. He was elected by students who have a right to express their views.

Joel Mullan (St Peter's): Dominic was elected by about 78 people, whereas the educational policy was passed after extensive consultation. People don't always vote for candidates on the basis of their manifestos. Dominic didn't have a valid enough mandate to override Council.

Daniel Lowe (E&E): was friends in first year with an NUS delegate. Left the room instead of voting against Council policy.

James (St John's): Dominic wasn't specifically mandated to vote on this motion. If you're elected to office on a manifesto on a particular line, you still have to do what you're mandated to do. The effect of passing policy in Council, that carries a mandate with it. This is the OUSU Voice, you would expect delegates to vote in a particular way.

Move to vote

In favour: 34
Against: 17
Abstentions: 9

Awaiting response from RO as to whether or not to include abstentions in 2/3rds vote.

Proctorial Fines

Martin in spoke in favour of the motion. Spoke about the proctorial fines. 463% increase. Move this debate away from trashing. Points towards problems of the Proctors' Office. One girl had a case hanging over her for 10 months. Three demands, as laid out in the motion. Petition is already printed. OUSU Exec are meeting with Proctors on Thursday.

Dani Quin: is there an upper limit?
Martin: £1000 in SDP, £100 in Proctorial Hearing. Inconsistency about where cases are going.

Elliott: does not using Facebook mean it looks ok to mess up, but not to get caught?
Martin: important to nip this in the bud.

Alana Bower (St Hilda's): where does the money go?
Martin: special project. Good causes, but not it seems to cleaning up?

James Stafford (St Hugh's): what exactly is trashing?
Martin: trashing can go from flour, eggs, water etc to baked beans, tomato ketchup, squid, custard, vomit etc.

Meg Powell-Chandler (CCC): are fines punishment or a disincentive?
Martin: agenda of one set of Proctors, perhaps. If these are for disciplinary purposes, need to be clear. 

Ian Simpson (Sommerville): new accounts on Facebook since then since then?
Martin: hard to tell

Paul Savage (Worcester): what
James Lamming: basic case, Proctorial Hearing, Proctors are judge, then SDH, then OIA. Appels throughout.

Ingrid Frater: how do we put trashing aside and address problems with transparency and fairness in disciplinary procedures?
Martin: vocab in this. Hard to tell people not to trash people, but still need to think about impact on the local environment. Think before you do it about potential repercussions. Hard to explain to scouts on minimum wage, people throwing £6 M&S trifles over other people's heads.

Jonny Medland (Queen's): Senior Proctor now a Pro-Proctor
Martin: in practice (though need to find out) – want him to pick up the cases he started.

Sam Gisborne (St Hilda's): trashers or trasheesfined?
Martin: both. Rules Committee we discussed this. Could be done for loitering while trashed... You're not arbiters of good taste. Hear to enforce rules.

Sam Wealer (LMH): upper limit for fines imposed? Research avenues for people who can't pay?
Martin: if people genuinely can't pay, they've said since 1990s they will introduce a payment schedule over time. Don't want to get to too much detail in case negotiations start.

Joe Edwards (Jesus): photo up somewhere being trashed – can they be fined? What's the difference for Facebook?
Martin: I don't think they should be able to use anything. Depends on the case.

Stefan: we can lobby our colleges to provide us with places and facilities for parties. We should take some measures ourselves too. It is an option to pursue.

Motion passed.