7th Week Michaelmas 2007 Minutes

 
Council Minutes

OUSU Council Minutes 7th week Michaelmas 2007

a.    Minutes of the Previous Meeting

Last meeting wasn't quorate
 

c.    Ratifications in Council           

Kushal Vajasomething: Start of term set up international students campaign.  Now have 9 member committee including campaign, publicity, welfare and co-chairs.  Written constitution as well. 

Ratified
 

d.    Elections in Council

1.    Rent and Accomodation Officer

Dom Weinbery (Balliol) – No bad things or affiliations

Rent is something that every student is bothered about, especially the high rent.  Recent reports about ripped off students and accommodation a big issue, ridiciulous if no one holds this position.

Alastair Wrench (Hugh's): What use of rent committee?
DW: Yes

2.    International Students Officer

Ahamarshan Nagarajam (Lincoln)
Jaimie Li (Balliol) – No affiliations – new to political affiliations as I come from California
ShinWood Kang (Christ Church) – None

Jaimie: Fresher, but would like to work with international students committee and their new projects.  Came to OUSU to work with internatioanl students.

ShinWood: PPE student at Christ Church.  Comes from South Korea.  Wants to represent growing voice of international students.  Wants to encourage better environment in University and Colleges for internatioanl students.  Key issues are international student fees, cirricular compatible with foreign syllabuses and financial hardship.

Hannah Roe: What issues are you interested in working on?

Jaimie: Tutition, and providing more advice.

Sarah Hager: Why is ShinWoo not here?
James Lamming: He's at Humanities Divisional Board.

3.    Graduate Welfare Officer

Sarah Hutchinson: OULC, Labour Party, some others
Merennege Fernando: None

Sarah:  Standing to give graduates strong voice in OUSU so they can easily access services and needs.  Disconnection from OUSU means graduates missing out on essential support such as SAS, and don't know who to turn to if harrassed.  Will make sure graduate concerns are given high priority, contact MCRs and work with departments.  Just been elected as St Cross welfare officer so will use this experience to feed into forming effective policies for graduates and undergraduates.  Lots of experience in OUSU: ex exec member, governance working party and work with VP Women over summer.  Wants to improve graduate representation and welfare provision.

Merennege: Fresher from Univ, no prepared speech.  Increasing graudate community but their voice, including in OUSU, is not being heard as much.  Graduates have different needs, and these need to eb provided for.  If elected, will look at all possible resources and nuts and bolts issues.  Graduates have all kinds of problems.  At times, difficult to turn to particular source.  Nothing solely for graduates, so if elected will work with other officers and ensure graduates have voice, and all resources used to have lasting impact for graduates.  Experience in field at Nottingham working in this field.  Likes working with people and basically usually get things done.

4.    Graduate Womens Officer

Heather Milkieiwcz (St Annes)
Sian Renwick (Queen's)– no affiailations or things

Sian: Haven't prepared speech, but want to explain why I'm running.  Been working with WomCam and VP Women over last year on issues that affect all women – helped run Reclaim the Night March, set up Enough eating disorders group.  Different issues for graduate women than undergraduate women, for example children, maternity leave.  Don't have experience on this yet, but want to get involved in working with other officers.  want to make a difference for graduate women.

5.    JCC Rep

Eugene; No affiliations in this country
Andew Scott-Targe (Wadham) – Every political party at one time or another
Jonny Medland (Queens) – Lib Dems

Andrew: Didn't know position existed until Wednesday, but lots of experience as school rep.  Very committed.

Eugence; From New York, so project.  Lots of experience in New York having 8 positions, including President of International Students doing Economics, and some other consultative committees.  Lots of experience coordinationg events and overseeing student life and uniersity governance. 

Jonny: JCR President from Queens and I'm standing as this is the main committee of Council that students are represented on and its important we use it to lobby university strongly.  Experience as JCR President so good at lobbying people who don't like budging.  Want to help with Student Advisor campaign.  OUSU about student representation and I want to help with that.

6.    University Rules Committees

Merennege – No affiailations
 



g.    Questions to Members of the Executive   

Stefan Baskerville (Univ): Can you inform Concil about what will happen on Monday
MM: Proctors have sent email about Union debate and risk of violence.  Have been in contact with Police (Chris Griffin – Police Community and Diversity Officer) to discuss potential tensions and flash points.  Colleges email advice out.

Someone from Teddy Hall: Can you give a quick summary of Proctor email.
MM:  “Understand feelings may run high.  Be careful about presonal safety.  Refer to Proctors and Assessors Memorandum@.
 

h.    Emergency Motions           

1.     Save NUS democracy

MM: Challenge ruling of Chair for allowing this

Claire Addison takes Claire

MM: This motion is based on white paper that has been in public domain for over a month.  NUS rules require that this must be passed at two conferences.  There will be second opportunity at annual council.  Don't know what's going on, so better to wait until next term.  Let NUS delegates vote with their head and vote according to mandate at annual conference.

PD: Ruled in favour as it arrived just after deadline, but decided that as its last Council motion before end of term probably best to discuss it.  Have discussed this with Martin and now realise I'm wrong, so please vote against me.

Hannah Roe:  Chair of Council has authoirty to decide whether its an emergency ?(yes).

Rich Hardiman: POI – As an ex-chair of Council, it happens to the best of us.

Hannah Roe: Does OUSU President have special powers to decide? (No – requires 2/3rds in favour).

Clearly 2/3rds against chairs ruling so emergency motion not to be discussed.
 

m.    Motions Authorising Capital Expenditure

1.    OUSY

People proposing it aren't present, so probably best to table it.  Chair agrees so this is deferred to next meeting
 

i.    Passage of Motions Nem Con

4.    OUSU Hustings
5.    Facebook and Proctors
6.    OUSU Council Policy Motion
7.    Prelims
10.    Cowley Road CCTV
11.    Not So Bonn Square
 

n.    Other Motions

1.    UBS

Claire Addison: Darfur now being described as genocide by George Bush.  UBS just underwritten Petro China who are supporting Sudanese government commit Darfur.  Shouldn't take money from company profiting from genocide.  Not radical: already advertising ban on Exxon, Nestle.  Limited ban – once they stop profiting from genocide they can advertise again.

What does underwriting mean?  - Helps share risk

Dani Quinn (Merton): What measures are there to inform UBS about ban?
Claire: I'll write to them.

Daniel Lowe (Teddy Hall): Will Cambridge need to pass this as well or is there at veto?
RH: Cambridge ethnical policy robust and very likely it'll be fine.

Alastair Wrench (Hugh's): How much money do UBS give us?
RH: Approx £8,500 over past  couple of years
CA: Lots of money for us, but we shouldn't profit from genocide, even if it's £100000

Jess jOnes (Magdalen): Will you tell UBS?
Claire Addison: Will write to them, and tell them what they'd need to do (e.g. stop financing genocide) that will let them advertise with us again.

What is UBS's defence?
Someone else: Supporting Petro China, who are not directly involved in genocide.  As they are not being nasty to Darfur they are fine.

Kushal: Will this affect only OUSU or also University?
CA:

Corpus OUSU Rep:  Will we need to have another motion if UBS change their position?
CA:  No, clear in motion.

Speech against

RH:  Never thought I'd argue in support of genoicde.  Personally support this motion, but big business implications as this is a lot of money.  Perspective – publicity budget and campaigns could be paid for by UBS money.  Feel awful to argue this way, but this is a big hole to plug.

MM: See where Rich coming from, but disagree.  Want to take ethical stand and engage with companies to change their practices.  This has big effect by putting pressure.  Has worked on HSBC over student overdrafts and Citigroup over Living Wage.  Hope that UBS will change their policy.  Positive to stand with other student governments like Harvard, and putting pressure on UBS together.  OCCH contracts are signed in summer, so lots of time before it will affect us.

Ben Karlin (New): Struggle to know what to think: lots of money.  Draw distinction between changing policy of company and global political issues.  Would be massively in favour of this, but are there plan to plug hole in finances?

RH: NO plans yet, as selling won't happen until Easter.

Daniel Lowe (Teddy Hall): Should pass this motion, as there will be someone willing to pay for this advertising space.  Likely financial impact will be much smaller.  Disagree that it won't have any effect, look what happened to Rolls Royce.

Should we get backing of NUS?
MM: Yes – change motion to amend it so that it is taken to NUS conference in Decemeber.

Amended: Mandate OUSU President to take policy to NUS to encourage them to boycott UBS until such time that they stop financing genocide.

RH: Looks easy to fill advertising space, but businesses in slowing and its getting more difficult.  Could be due to economic collapse of Western World.  We have razor thin margins, but this is a really big gamble and you should be aware of this.

Jar Moon (Teddy Hall): On balance, should take gamble.  Despite financial difficulty, that's the only argument.  Shouldn't be principles to ransom.  Don't let money issue cloud that hundreds of people are dying and that UBS are fobbing us off on really weak grounds.

Summation in favour (Claire Addison): Know its a big gamble, but need to proceed.  Will work for Dave if that'll help.

Summation against (Rich Hardiman): Don't think I'm in favour of genocide.

Motion passes by clear majority with quite a few abstentions but not as many as those voting in favour and much more than the very few against.
 

Request to move VP Finance motion – accepted.

3.    VP Finance

Paul Dwyer stands down from Claire takes over. 

Paul Dwyer. Speaking in favour of the motion. Brought the motion because the motion went through to quickly. IN favour of continuity in OUSU. To provide next year's team with the continuity that they need. Funding provided by the university not adequate to find someone suitable. One more year of VPF to make the changeover less rushed. We have to do it now because we're running out of time to overturn the last year's motion. We need to think about the long term future of OUSU. Simply saying we have to make it work won't actually make it work.

SFI:

John X – Any part time finance positions?

PD – No. Was proposal for 2nd business manager.

MM: POI – Was the referendum time specific? If there was no date, then this can work.

Ben Karlin, New. If the motion doesn't pass, what happens next year?

PD: OxStu etc will go to the president.

RH:  If it has any political implications, it will go to the president.

Garth, ChCh: Any measures been taken to find a HGO?

KHD: Where would we find the £17,000?

MM : Expectation of university is that we'd have to find the money from somewhere.... (?)

Stephan Baskerville, Univ: Is there precedent for suspending referendums?

Daniel Lowe: What percentage of student body voted?

JL: 800 in favour, 80 against.

MM – Speech in opposition.

If this passes we need to find £18k from somewhere. University provided £30,000 of funding for HGO for this academic year, which we'd appoint at some point this year. In the following year, the money the uni will give will decrease. For rhe next sabatical team, they intend to provide £22k. VPF salary is moved into HGO. If this passed, we'd have to find £18,000. We can't make rash decisions. Over the Xmas vac we intend to sit down with people from Financial Subsidary department and work out what we're going to do. We have £30,000 to fund HGO. Might we want to funnel this off into several part time positions? Unless we drop HGO we don't have the money.

Move into debate

RH: HGO idea was originally decided to work alongside VPF and take over. With money from University, we could appoint a HGO at a later point in next VPF's term, and you wouldn't have to drop HGO completely. The point of having a HGO is a good one in principal, but in current state it won't work. If we find someone we'll find a body, rather than what they'd need to do.

JL: Policy originall passed by 100s of students. We can't give up at the first hurdle. We need to look at all the options. We've still got 7 months before the team take over. If we appoint in April, we have 3 months to handover. Let's come back later, when we've had more time to work it out. The issues can be worked over. The long term goals would be bad – not just losing the £18,000, but the losing face of overturning the decision of hundreds of students. Move to defer the motion until the next meeting. We need more time!

PD: Speech in opposition to defer. If someone is going to run, they need more time.

Voting on whether to defer the motion

38 in favour, 12 against. Abstentions, 10. It needs 2/3rds to pass. Fails by 2 votes.

HR: Very sensible motion. Idea for HGO was that they would be there at the same time as VPF. We don't have anyone lined up to take over the job. It's just to make sure we have the handover and can do it properly. We need to slow down the process. We need to make sure we have proper financial backing.

PD: HGO could be anything, so we need longer to spend time thinking about it.

Jason, Hughes. OUSU has the £30k. They're not obliged to give us the money. For OUSU to advertise the post. The university would be very stingy if they didn't give us the full amount to cover and VPF for next.

MM: They gave us the money for THIS year. The next sab team are going to have to deal with the structure we leave, but the university doesn't renegotiate – the university are going to make us go through everything all over again! It will have to go through the whole process again. Even then there's no guarantee they'll give it to us. Where did the year long handover idea come from? In Alan's mind it was always 08/09.

Move to Vote

Against - JL

Vote on move to vote

RH: It's really not good to go back to the university, but with the handover point that MM just made, the impression I got from Angela was different. We're caught between a rock and a hard place. This isn't a good way of moving forward, with this motion, but it's a way out of a tough situation.

Stephan Baskerville: Why should we take this decision right now? Let's take it next term. Right now, I feel ill equipped to make a decision. No report or facts available now. I don't see what the argument is for making this decision.  Give the sabbs the chance to go away and re think about it.

JL: Give us some time to find out what is on the other side of the rock! There's a huge risk today, coz we have no information. We can get this information over Christmas. We DO have the £30,000 for this year, it will stay £30,000 inspite of advertising costs. The handover of 3 months would be enough.  Even if they start in April we have lots of time. Lets make sure we don't make a rash decision. Let's bring the motion back, and not undermine.

Move to vote:

Clearly passes.

PD: Summation – lots of good points, but this is the best way to provide continuity. We don't know what it's going to involve
..... (see paper notes)
 

8.    Osney Mead Depository

JL: Students should be in favour of something that protects their resources. We just have to ratify the decisions made by the exec.

Speech in opposition from Neil Bowerman:

Council voted it down because it didn't fulfill simple environmental legislations.
We need to fulfil renewable energy rules. Also, the skyline limit has been breached, that's why it was opposed. We just need the Bod to change a few bits of the plans, so we abide by the necessary environmental rules.

JL: Other buildings have been let through – it was only because it was a reason that a judicial court couldn't overturn.

RH: Reasons against OMD have been absurb, we set a precedent by passing this for protecting uni resources.

Tom Lowe: Bod people couldn't prove they'd looked at other sites.

JL; POI – had to be within a 3 mile limit. It was often only a phonecall, but they had limited options to start off with.

Ben Karlin, New. This is a bureaucratic motion, lets vote in favour. We should ratify it. It's not about the motion itself, its about ratifying it.

Neil Bowerman: Proposes ratification.

Alistair Wrench: We can't do it.

Chair: Let's vote.

JL: Exec made right decision, please ratify it.

HR: Speech in opposition. Now city council have said no, why are we giving unconditional support? Given these concerns, we have to bring the motion back again, and put in the environmental stuff. This policy is no longer reference.

In favour: 35, against, 5, abstentions, 10. Motion passes.
 

9.    Admissions Policy

JL: Proposes to table it. He wants to see what floor think.

Motion clearly passes.

Alistair Wrench: Proposes that JCRs that have discussed it, send JL what is decided.

JL: Yes please! Send me them!
 

12.    Santa at Park End

Tom Lowe: Mandating Martin to dress up as Santa at Xmas Park End.

CA: Amendment – Martin should wear santa suit to exec meal.

AW: Amendment – All members should dress up as reindeer or elves.

Ben Karlin: Will my Christmas list appear in Bonn square?

Joe Ammoun: Will santa say HoHoHo or hahaha? On the grounds that HoHoHo is offensive to women.

Dani Quinn: AcAff to go as a Turkey.

Passes unanimously.
 

o.    Any Other Business

HR:  Please take posters to stick up in colleges for 'Fight for your right to party'.

Election results.