Hilary 2007

Hilary Term 2007 Meeting of Postgraduate Assembly
Tuesday, January 30, 4.15pm
University Club, First Floor Lounge


I.    Introduction to PGA

II.    Elections in PGA
A.    Graduate International Officer
B.    Apologies for Incorrectly Announcing a Vacancy in the Post of Graduate Academic Affairs Officer

III.    Motions
A.    Motion on Automated System for Transfer of Status and Other Academic Transitions
B.    Motion on the Rights of Students suffering Mental or Physical Illness
C.    Motion for the Creation of the Post of Graduate Women’s Officer

IV.    All Other Business


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Motion on Requesting an Automated System for Transfer of Status

Assembly Notes:

1.    That academic regulation regarding students’ transfer of status, conformation of status, and other academic related issues are not always met and are not efficiently administered.

Assembly Believes:

1.    That these deficiencies should be corrected.
2.    That the administrative system in the Graduate Office should be revised to solve the shortcomings relating to breach of regulations pertaining to the time between submitting one’s documents and the time of actual examination or viva. The rationale for this is to revise the current mechanisms to meet the regulations and shorten the time between submission and viva.
3.    That an automated system that alerts concerning members (supervisor, college advisor, director of graduate studies, etc.) to a breach of regulations is expected to assist students to deal with such matters. This solution also saves student efforts and worries associated with complaining when a breach of regulations occurs.

Assembly Resolves:

1.    To mandate the Graduate Executive to talk to the appropriate authorities about having the University Graduate Office integrate an automated alert mechanism into its system as soon as possible.


Proposed: Doron Shultziner, (Lincoln College)
Seconded: Giulia Saltini Semerari (Lincoln College)
 
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Motion on the Rights of Students suffering Mental or Physical Illness

Assembly notes,

1.    That both Colleges and the University have the authority to enact the procedures known as ‘Suspension of Status’ and ‘Rustication’ (or other disciplinary decanal proceeding) and that College bodies are often deferred to in these matters.

2.    That ‘Suspension of Status’ is a welfare-related procedure designed to protect the interests of ill students while ‘Rustication’ is the result of a disciplinary procedure.

3.    Recognizes that Colleges often treat ‘Suspension of Status’ as though it must automatically result in ‘Rustication’ and that some Colleges use the wrong procedure altogether.
Assembly supports,

1.    The reasoning and conclusions of the paper submitted to Graduate Assembly entitled “Mental Health and Physical Illness: A Basic Review of College Welfare Procedures.” (Attached as Annexe A)

Assembly resolves,

1.    To mandate all OUSU Graduate executives to pursue the implementation of all the recommendations suggested by the aforementioned paper.

2.    To applaud Merton College and any other College which has a Dean entirely devoted to welfare and divorced from disciplinary procedures.

3.    To encourage all elected officers of College MCR’s to take the initiative in having the proposals of the above paper included into the handbook of their College, through liaising with their College Executive Council or equivalent body.

Proposed: David Semple (Brasenose College)
Seconded: Andrew Lomas (Brasenose College)
 
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Motion to Create the Position of Women’s Graduate Executive Officer

Assembly Notes:

1.    That there are many graduate women in the university
2.    That they form a community with specific needs that require specific representation

Assembly Believes:

1.    That increased representation for graduates on the OUSU Executive Committee would be beneficial to graduates
2.    That creating a Graduate Women’s Officer position would mean that the very active Women’s Campaign would be guaranteed some element of graduate representation

 
Assembly Resolves:

1.    To introduce a motion to OUSU Council to Amend Article C of the OUSU Standing Orders to create the Position of Executive Graduate Women’s Officer, with the following responsibilities:

A.    Provide administrative, campaigning and other support to the OUSU Women's Campaign, Promoting Choice campaign, Student Parents Committee, and other committees, such as the International Students’ Committee as appropriate.
B.    Represent graduate students on the following University committees: Advisory Panel on Childcare.
C.    Work with the Vice-President (Graduates) and the Vice-President (Women) to further the interests of female graduates in OUSU, the Colleges and the University in accordance with OUSU policy and Council mandates.
D.    Attend meetings of Post-Graduate Assembly and keep the Assembly informed of their work.
E.    Further the involvement of graduate students in OUSU through common room outreach and other activities.

Proposed: Andrea Miller (Linacre College)
Seconded: Jenny Hoogewerf-McComb (Merton College)
 

ANNEXE A

Mental Health and Physical Illness:
A Basic Review of College Welfare Procedures

Introduction

This paper was commissioned to consider, in the light of evidence provided by relevant sabbatical officers, the effects that the current procedures adopted by Colleges have on those students which seek time off on the grounds of mental or physical illness.

These sabbatical officers must often counsel students facing difficulties as a result of such procedures and it is from this first hand experience that their expertise derives. It is important to mention however that no personal details were disclosed during the research for this paper and all discussions were confined to the nature of the institutions used by the Colleges. Even the names of specific Colleges have been left out of this report in order to reassure those people who come to OUSU officers for help that their anonymity is complete and is consistently respected.

Further research was conducted into the exact nature of the relevant Statutes of the University, specifically XIII part B, which lays down the guidelines for a Medical Panel to examine claims of Medical Incapacity. It became clear that in regards to supplementary procedures, i.e. following the validation of a medical disability by the Medical Panel, Colleges maintained a free hand in deciding what to do with ill students who required time off from their course.

The decision was then taken to aim these proposed reforms at Colleges initially, with the option to proceed to Conference of Colleges if successful.

Current Practices and Procedures

Students facing a physical or mental illness necessitating a break from their studies often face the following problems.

1.    Being sent home.
2.    Being deprived of access to college and university facilities.
3.    Being deprived of their University Email account.
4.    Being deprived of their Bodleian (or equivalent) card.

Each of these are problematic for reasons which will be laid out, but it is important to belabour the point that some Colleges make common recourse to these procedures, rather than using them as procedures of last resort.

In addition there is the problem of terminology. Rustication, literally “countrified, i.e. sent to the country,” carries a very specific definition, according to the Proctors. It means being sent out of residence as a result of disciplinary action. Being sent home as a result of welfare-related conditions is not the same as rustication. The perception that it is the same compromises the approach of Colleges to welfare-related conditions and causes undue emotional distress to students who go through such illnesses.

It is important to clarify that the evidence on which this study is based is not the case for every College all the time. Colleges have extensive support networks, ranging from Chaplains to College Nurses, Doctors and College Supervisors, who take a personal as well as an academic interest in the students to whom they are assigned. It is the case however that the following changes would be beneficial to all students with illnesses necessitating time out, all the time, regardless of situation.

Disadvantages of Current Practices

The above four listed procedures enacted against students who must take time off from their course often come as a package and so the effects on the student is cumulative. Thus while individually some might not seem important, it is necessary to remember that being deprived of the Bodleian Library card goes hand in hand with, for example, being denied access to College grounds.

Deprivation of Bodleian Card and equivalents
This effectively disbars students from access to different facilities, from Laboratories to Libraries. For many students, their student cards provide a sense of identity. Sabbatical officers have noted that depriving someone of this card has a psychological effect and causes them to feel cut off.

It is also the case that for many depressive illnesses, the creation of a daily routine can help to ease the illness and practice at maintaining a routine which has little pressure (such as deadlines) can make it easier for students to maintain a routine once regular pressure (i.e. their course) resumes following the end of their time off. Depriving them of the facilities they have a right to makes creation of such a routine that bit harder.

Importantly, students have paid considerable amounts of money to be able to access the services of the University. The students who have their status suspended under welfare related guidelines have not committed an infraction against the University statutes. They are not being disciplined. The argument that they might distract other students is false logic; any student might distract another student. It becomes no easier or harder just because someone is not actively part-taking in a course.

Deprivation of Email Address
In much the same way as the Bodleian card, the email address provides a sense of corporate identity. Moreover, during ones time at the University, the College email address often gets subscribed to many different mailing lists; the JCR/MCR of each College, different Clubs and Societies, sporting groups and other internet-based information distributing agencies. No student, just because they medically cannot continue with their course at that immediate moment should be deprived of their social network, which often equates to a support network.

Similarly students should be permitted to keep in touch with their Tutors via said email address. No student, unwell or not, is permitted to harass their tutor or bombard them with constant emails. There is no reason that a student that feels unwell enough to engage in the demanding schedule of an active course should not be able to use their academic email address to acquire as much work as they feel they can handle. Tutors are often best placed to provide this work, having had direct contact with the student in question.

The University Examination Regulations prevent the same work being repeated in two terms, i.e. a student who is suspended in Trinity Term must resume a course schedule in Trinity Term. That said, even under these guidelines there is much productive work student can proceed with, if given the opportunity.

Being sent home (and concomitant deprivation of services)
Students who have their status suspended are frequently sent home. Often depressive or suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome, these students require extra attention. If, as a University, we are committed to living up to an agenda of Equal Opportunities, we must be prepared to give that care to them.

Frequently even in welfare-related proceedings, no official notice is given to the circumstances into which the students might be returning if they are sent home. It is the case that students have been sent home to families where familial life is not conducive to recovery from a mental or physical illness. This is frankly unacceptable.

Beyond this, there are numerous reasons why students who take time off from their course for health reasons should be given the option to continue to claim College housing or continue to live in Oxford if they were not claiming College housing. Most obviously many students have friends locally, whom they can rely on and who can assist them. That is part of what being a friend means, whether at University or making life-and-death decisions in Parliament.

It is not the case that every student who takes time off will automatically disrupt the activities of everyone they come into contact with. In cases where such disruption is reported, the Colleges should feel free to take the appropriate action of sending a student home. However, until such disruption occurs, students should be accorded the right of remaining in Oxford, in College accommodation.

For students who take leave of their course mid-year, being thrown out of College accommodation effectively means they have nowhere to go, unless they have a parental home or other previous address to return to. It is extremely unfair to expect an ill student to look for non-College accommodation mid year, when it is very difficult to find.

Remaining in College accommodation provides several benefits to those who would otherwise be forced to leave Oxford. It allows continued contact with local NHS and University counselling services. The importance of this cannot be overstated. Those on programmes such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy often build a rapport with their instructor, something shattered to the detriment of their mental health if they are evicted from College accommodation. Access to the University Counselling Service is also thus proscribed.

Recommendations

As a result of all this, some concrete recommendations have been proposed, in order to strengthen the commitment of each College to welfare provision and to equal opportunities.

1.    Each student should have the right to continue in College accommodation, at the very least until the end of the current academic year. If a student can demonstrate a pressing need to remain in Oxford, for example domestic troubles, they should be offered accommodation until they complete their course or find alternative accommodation in Oxford.

2.    Colleges should permit students to continue to hold and use their Bodleian (or equivalent) cards and academic email addresses.

3.    Colleges should permit continued access to College facilities such as Hall, Formal Hall, the Chaplaincy, College Bars and so on.

4.    Colleges should transcribe these rights into their handbooks.

5.    Colleges should draw the attention of students to these rights in any case where the procedure of ‘Suspension of Status’ is considered.