1 AGENDA Assembly Meeting Meeting: 02 Date: Thursday 21 st November 2013 Venue: LC-063 Time 18.00 – 20.00 hours 1. Members Present and Apologies 2. Minutes of the previous meeting (7 th November 2013) 3. Matters Arising 4. Elections 5. Motions to revoke or amend the Constitution and Bye-Laws 6. Motions 7. Student officer reports • SU President • VP Academic Representation • VP Student Activities • VP Community Welfare 8. Standing Committee reports • Sports Federation chair • Societies Guild chair • RAG Chair • Media Association Chair 9. Working Group reports • Equality and Diversity working group chair • Environmental Strategy working group chair • Student Volunteering working group chair • Campaigns working group chair • World Students working group chair • Postgraduate Students working group chair 10. AOB 11. Date of next meeting - AUM 28 th November and Student Assembly 12 th December 2013.
55
Embed
November Assembly Full Papers - Brunel Students€¦ · Zein Owfar, Leon Evans, Chelsea Crosson Smith, Sobi Kalan, Ashley Rowe, Chadley Richards, Jackson Smith Zion Zakari. Candidates
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
1
AGENDA
Assembly Meeting
Meeting: 02
Date: Thursday 21st
November 2013
Venue: LC-063 Time 18.00 – 20.00 hours
1. Members Present and Apologies
2. Minutes of the previous meeting (7th
November 2013)
3. Matters Arising
4. Elections
5. Motions to revoke or amend the Constitution and Bye-Laws
6. Motions
7. Student officer reports
• SU President
• VP Academic Representation
• VP Student Activities
• VP Community Welfare
8. Standing Committee reports
• Sports Federation chair
• Societies Guild chair
• RAG Chair
• Media Association Chair
9. Working Group reports
• Equality and Diversity working group chair
• Environmental Strategy working group chair
• Student Volunteering working group chair
• Campaigns working group chair
• World Students working group chair
• Postgraduate Students working group chair
10. AOB
11. Date of next meeting - AUM 28th
November and Student Assembly 12th
December 2013.
2
UBS STUDENT ASSEMBLY MINUTES
Student Assembly meeting 1
Date: 7th
November 2013 (postponed from 24th
October)
Venue: Council Chambers 18.00 to 20.00
Present:
Aanika Khan Senior Rep, Law School
Abigail Barton Assembly Community Member
Andrew Baker Assembly Community Member
Annemarie Fry Assembly Community Member
Ashley Roye-Banton Assembly Member School of Arts
Cam McKirdy VP Student Activities
Chadley Richards Media Assoc Chair
Chelsea Crosson-Smith
Assembly Member School of Health and Social
Care
Eloise Chiles Assembly Community Member
Grace Witherden Senior Rep Arts
Hannah Jones Sports Federation Chair
Jackson Smith Assembly Community Member
James Ward VP Community Welfare
Jemima Khalli Volunteer Group Chair
Joseph Hogan Assembly Community Member
Juhani Mantyranta World Students Chair
Katie Stewart Campaigns Chair
Katy Simitzi (Aikaterini Simitzi) Assembly Member School of Law
Kerri-Anne Prince Assembly Community Member
Lisa Boyles Assembly Community Member
Martin Zaranyika SU President (Chair)
Matt Cahill RAG Team Chair
Michael Darlow Assembly Community Member
3
Muneer Rabah Assembly Community Member
Nicholas Crust Assembly Community Member
Nicholas Wonacott Assembly Community Member
Priya Bhardwaj Assembly Community Member
Rob Barnstone Assembly Community Member
Samuel Aylett Postgraduate Chair
Sobi Kalan Environmental Strat Group Chair
Sonia Bhangu Senior Rep HSSC
Zarar Ali Assembly Community Member
Zaryab Bijarani Senior Rep Business School
Zein Owfar VP Academic Representation
Zion Zakari Societies Guild Chair
Apologies Sent By:
Addam Reynolds
Senior Rep School of Informations Systems,
Computing and Maths
Anthony Chilvers Senior Rep Engineering and Design
Ben Olby-Clements Senior Rep School of Social Sciences
Robyn Fitzharris Equality and Diversity Chair
Absent/Not Signed in, no apologies:
Christina Ross Assembly Community Member
Leon Evans Assembly Member School of Social Sciences
Mark Cryer Senior Rep, School of Sports and Education
Marko Jenic Assembly Community Member
Mohammed Koiki Assembly Community Member
Sawsan Hamawandy Assembly Member Business School
Tevin Tom Assembly Community Member
Non Assembly Members and UBS Staff in attendance:
Craig Lithgow Chief Executive, UBS
George Coates Manager, Radio Brunel
Rebecca Davies Democratic Support Co-ordinator
Richard Walker Director of Membership Engagement
4
Sarah Crowner Democratic Support Administrator
Meeting declared indicatively quorate by the Chair.
2. Minutes of the previous meeting
Members were invited to comment or query the minutes from May 2013 AUM. Voting was held and
the Minutes were declared accurate by an indicative vote.
3. Matters Arising
Governance Review
The Chief Executive of UBS invited Assembly members to take part in our Governance survey which
goes live w/c 11th
November. It will help us determine the way we do things as a Union and will give
us an indication of how students would like us to make decisions on their behalf.
To complete the survey, please go online to UBS Website Brunelstudents.com/makeachange or log
onto Brunelstudents.com and look for the “choose change icon”.
UBS also appealed for Student Volunteers to help promote the survey.
4. Elections
As this is the first Student Assembly of 2013/2014 a number of Elections were required for the
following positions:
a) Student Assembly Chair and Vice Chair
Nominations were invited by show of hands. DSC explained the role of Chair and Vice Chair to
Assembly members.
Chair Nominations: Abigail Barton
Abigail was asked to give a one minute speech as to why she should be elected and then she was
asked to leave the room while Assembly members voted.
Vote
For: 27
Against: 7
Abstain: 0
Abigail Barton was elected as Chair.
Vice Chair Nominations: Priya Bhardwaj
Priya was asked to give a one minute speech as to why she should be elected and then she was asked
to leave the room while Assembly members voted.
5
Vote
For: 33
Against: 1
Abstain: 0
Priya Bhardwaj was elected as Vice Chair.
Please note indicative (as opposed to ballot papers) voting was used as there was only one candidate
per election.
Committee Elections
b) Election and Referenda Committee (3 posts)
DSC explained the role of Election and Referenda Committee members.
Assembly members invited to nominate themselves by a show of hands:
Candidates were:
James Ward, Katy Simitzi, Sonia Bhangu, Annika Khan.
Candidates offered the chance to give a one minute speech as to why members should vote for
them. Ballot papers then handed round to members, members asked to write candidate name and
order of preference to elect. Ballot papers collected for counting by DoME.
c) Complaints and Disciplinary Committee (8 posts)
DSC explained the role of Complaints and Disciplinary Committee members.
Assembly members invited to nominate themselves by a show of hands:
Candidates were:
Zein Owfar, Leon Evans, Chelsea Crosson Smith, Sobi Kalan, Ashley Rowe, Chadley Richards, Jackson
Smith
Zion Zakari.
Candidates offered the chance to give a one minute speech as to why members should vote for
them. Ballot papers then handed round to members, members asked to write candidate name and
order of preference to elect. Ballot papers collected for counting by DoME.
d) Senate Committee Member (1 post)
DSC explained the role of Senate Committee members.
Assembly members invited to nominate themselves by a show of hands:
Candidates were:
Sam Aylett, Chadley Richards, Hannah Jones
Candidates offered the chance to give a one minute speech as to why members should vote for
them. Ballot papers then handed round to members, members asked to write candidate name and
order of preference to elect. Ballot papers collected for counting by DoME.
6
e) Ratification of Trustee Continuation.
CEO explained the role of Trustees in the Student Union. One of the external Trustees Matthew
Bruce has been with us three years, we have asked him to continue in his position and he is glad to
do so. We are asking Student Assembly to vote on his continuation for a further three years.
Maximum term of six years. A vote by show of hands was held.
Vote:
For: 36
Against: 0
Abstain:0
Passed unanimously.
5. Motions
A Motion to Amend Byelaw H 3.4.5.1
Matt Cahill spoke for the motion.
Members were invited to speak against the motion. No one spoke against.
Voting by show of hands:
Motion passes indicative.
B Motion to Change the Union Meetings Byelaws
Chair for the meeting was taken by Vice President Academic Representation so that SU President was
able to speak for the Motion.
Members were invited to speak against the motion. No one spoke against the motion.
Questions:
Q: What is the advantage of Student Assembly members being a normal representative at an
AUM?
A: In Student Assembly you are representing a group of people. In AUM you should be allowed
to just represent yourself, as every Student can attend.
Voting by show of hands:
Motion passes indicative
C Motion to Elect 6 specific RAG Committee positions.
Matt Cahill spoke for the motion.
Members were invited to speak against. No one spoke against.
Voting by show of hands:
Motion passes indicative
7
D Motion to Elect Standing Committees in Term 3
VPAR took over as Chair for the meeting while SU President spoke for the motion.
Members invited to speak against. No one spoke against the motion.
Questions:
Q: Could you be more specific, what part of Term 3 would you do this, what with the exam
period taking three weeks and FACE week.
A: We are looking to do it straight after the exam period in FACE week.
Voting by show of hands:
Motion passed indicative
E Motion to Amend Bye Law H 3.3.8 and 3.3.9
George Coates - Radio Station Manager spoke for the Motion.
Questions:
Q: Why was this motion not in the original papers
A: Due to admin error.
Q: Would all decisions through this committee – or would you be looking to retain any control
as Radio Station Manager.
A: Control' is precisely the sort of phraseology which encourages a mindset of selfishness, and
perpetuates the idea of one person being able to efficiently run a form of media without
being inhibited by their own self interest.
So, while I would maintain the position, I would relinquish any sole responsibility of decision
making.
Q: If decisions are made by a committee then how can we hold the Chair accountable?
A: I view the role of chair as accountability or responsibility, not a position of power. I'm not
putting this motion forward to stifle any one person, just to ensure that everyone has a say in
the out put of the Media Association.
Chadley Richards spoke against the motion.
Point of clarification
Q: Are all Students allowed to vote for Media Association members during the election?
A: Yes
Members invited to speak in a second round, for and against the motion.
Cam Mckirdy spoke for the motion.
Jackson Smith spoke against the motion.
Point of clarification
Q: Was the media association voted for as widely as the Media Chair position?
8
A: No, less candidates ran, less people voted.
Point of Clarification
Q: The elections were open to the same amount of students?
A: Yes
Summation speeches for and against.
Voting by show of hands:
For: 15
Against: 15
Abstain:3
Motion falls as this is not a 2 thirds majority.
F Change to Bye Law H 3.5 Student Representative Forum Committee
Vice President Academic Representation spoke for the motion.
Members invited to speak against the motion. No one spoke against.
Voting by show of hands:
Motion passed indicative.
G Motion to allow secure storage of Brunel University Target Shooting Club firearms on
campus.
Motion withdrawn by the proposer, statement read out by the SU President as follows:
“Following discussion with members of University management, positive steps have been made towards
achieving additional safe and secure storage of Brunel University Target Shooting Club's firearms. This will be
at an off campus location which is convenient for our use and our ability to train adequately for BUCs
competitions. Consequently, at the present time I am withdrawing the motion in support of firearms on
campus from the Student Assembly.
Thank you for your help on this Cam. You have been the only member of the UBS who has provided us with any
real help towards a positive outcome in the last few years. Without your support this issue would not have
made the positive steps that it has done recently and I have high hopes that this will provide a solution to our
problems in the coming months.”
H Motion to Eject Lazy Committee Members
Hannah Jones spoke for the motion.
Suggested Amendment – change the Motion title to read: Motion to eject Ineffective Committee
members. Amendment accepted by the proposer
Point of clarification.
Q: Three absences in a row or three during a term?
A.Three during a term.
9
Members invited to speak against the motion. Lisa Boyles spoke against this motion.
Point of clarification/Questions
Q: How would you eject a lazy member?
A: If they don't attend 3 meetings without apologies then they will not be on the committee
anymore so in that way the committee members know and the chair will inform them and
the other committee members.
Q: How do you intend to monitor a lazy or ineffective member?
A: By keeping a record of who attends meetings.
Q: if committee member gets kicked out or will there be re-elections?
A: Yes
Q: Is this for Standing Committees or Working Groups or both.
A: Standing Committees only.
Q: Is this just about committee members attending the meetings?
A: Yes.
Summations given by members speaking for and against.
Voting by show of hands:
For: 17
Against: 8
Abstain: 10
Motion passes.
I Motion to Lobby the University to support the creation of, and to create volunteering
opportunities abroad.
Jemima Khalli spoke for the motion.
Questions:
Q: How about using charities like Childreach (instead of using the University to go through?).
A: I think that some students feel more comfortable going through the university for this, than
approaching an unknown organisation.
Q: What exactly is meant by “lobby the university”?
A: This refers to us going to the university and arguing the case.
Question:
Q: Do you feel that all volunteering opportunities within the UK have been exacerbated? Do
you think people are just going for the travel opportunities? Voluntourism?
A: Yes, aware of this but we wouldn’t allow that to happen, the working group will create a
guide/document to outline what constitutes voluntourism and how to tackle it.
Members were invited to speak against the motion. No one spoke against.
Voting by show of hands:
10
Motion passed indicative
J UBS to sign the Time to Change Pledge
Kerry Prince gave a 2 minute speech for the motion (Kerri spoke on behalf of the proposer and
seconder who could not make the meeting).
Members invited to speak against. No one spoke against.
Voting by show of hands.
Motion passes indicative.
K Accommodation Steering Group
VPAR took over as Chair for the meeting while SU President spoke for this motion.
Members invited to speak against.
Rob Barnstone spoke against the motion
Questions/point of clarifications for SU President.
Q: You mentioned a three year freeze, deposits or accommodation costs?
A: This is for halls deposits at the moment.
Q: Do you want the steering group to be made up of Student Assembly members or other
students?
A: Ideally Student Assembly members, but any student can be involved.
Questions for Rob Barnstone
Q: What would you propose that the SU President does? Why wouldn’t you propose he deal
with it for the next three years?
A: Assembly members are here to ask Officers questions, not to give solutions.
Summations were given by the proposer and the opposition.
Voting by show of hands:
Motion passes indicative.
6. Student Officer Reports
Questions invited to Officers on their reports.
SU President
Q: What do you mean as known activist?
A: We invited students who take an active interest in the Union.
11
Q: What is happening with regards to Cost cutter in the Atrium?
A It’s great that we've got a new shop where we can fit more students in. Perhaps we can we
get take out the smaller Cost Cutter in the Atrium to make space for something else. SU
President to bring further updates to Student Assembly.
Vote:
Report passes indicative.
VP Academic Representation
Point of Clarification
VPAR handed round additional document about a policy that he passed last week. Further
questions to be asked outside of Student Assembly.
Vote:
Report passes indicative.
VP Student Activities
Q: Could you explain the Romeo and Juliet analogy in your report?
A: It was an anecdote about Freshers week, basically about making each event as fresh as if it
is the very first time we do it.
Vote:
Report passes indicative
VP Community Welfare
No questions;
Vote:
Report passes indicative
Standing Committee Reports
Sports Federation Chair
No questions
Vote:
Report passes indicative
Societies Guild Chair
No questions
Vote:
Report passes indicative
12
RAG Chair
Q: How much have we raised so far?
A: Just over £5K
Vote
Report passes indicative
Media Association Chair Report
Verbal update – no report, questions allowed.
Q: Not many students running for the media association committee meetings, do you think you
could clarify why?
A: We normally elect our committee before term, it was difficult to sustain interest from
Summer. Freshers who showed an interest were concerned about running for elections without
knowing what they were about.
Q: There were a significant number of Le Nurbs that haven’t gone out. How many did we order,
what can we do next time to make sure there is not as much waste?
A: As we are a small team, we didn’t have enough time or volunteers to distribute as we would
have wanted to. The copies we printed for Freshers Fayre was 5000 on the advice of Tom Scott –
but we weren’t at Freshers Fayre early enough to distribute to all the Freshers. We will return to
our normal level of 2000 copies for the next edition.
Unable to vote on verbal report.
Working Group Reports
Equality and Diversity
Q: Will students be charged for the Dyslexia service?
A: (James answered on behalf of Robyn who was unable to make the meeting)
I can confirm that there will be some means testing. Still in talks with the University on
this.
Q: Apply for access for Learning – will the student get assistance to apply?
A: Yes
Vote:
Report passes indicative.
Environmental Strategy
No questions
Vote:
Report passed indicative
13
Student Volunteering Report
No questions
Vote:
Report passed indicative
Campaigns Chair Report
Q: About the Hillingdon Council – have you contacted Keith Burrows? He could be a good
person to contact.
A: Katie confirmed that she will check with her committee.
Vote:
Report passes indicative
World Students Chair
No questions
Vote:
Report passed indicative
Postgraduate Students Chair
No report this time, due to only recently being elected.
7. AOB
Q: What was the relevance of TXP presentation at the beginning and why did we spend such a
long time on this during the meeting?
A: We originally asked for a ten/fifteen minute report which did over run. The relevance is that
it will feed into the student Consultation process.
Q: Can drinks and refreshments should be provided at Student Assembly?
A: We can look at this, obviously there are budgetary implications.
Election Results read out by DoME.
Student Assembly Chair: Abigail Barton
Student Assembly Vice Chair: Priya Bhardwaj
Senate: Samuel Aylett
Elections and Referenda: Annika Khan, James Ward and Katy Simitzi
14
Complaints and Disciplinary:
Zein Owfar
Leon Evans
Chelsea Crosson Smith
Sobi Kalan
Ashley Rowe
Chadley Richards
Jackson Smith
Zion Zakari
Date of next meeting Thursday 21st
November 2013.
Meeting Closed at 9.15pm
15
REPORT
To: Student Assembly
Meeting: 02
From: Martin Zaranyika, UBS President
Date: 12 November 2013
Congratulations to all the members that were elected at our last Assembly. A special well done!!! to
both Abigail Barton and Priya Bhardwaj. I look forward to working with you both to ensure that the
discussions and decisions that are made by this body are communicated to the wider student body.
The Campus Incident
It is with great sadness to announce the tragic death of one of our members who appeared to have
taken his own life. The incident sparked the University’s major incident response which we were
involved in. Upon hearing the news, we held an emergency cabinet meeting. In the meeting we
decided to cancel student assembly as a number of people had been affected. We also met with
some of the student’s flatmates and offered any help where possible. Throughout the Vice-President
Community Welfare was in regular contact with Student Services. Days later, we were invited to the
Remembrance Service and I was asked to read a short piece.
Society and Citizenship Zone
On 28th
-29th
October I attended the Society and Citizenship Zone Conference. Each year NUS hold 5
Zone Conferences, the Zones work to enable in-depth and wide ranging research and discussion on
issues important to students. In order to carry out the work, Union members are given the
opportunity to run in the committee elections. There are 7 spaces for Higher Education members
and 2 spaces for Further Education members. 24 members entered the election and I am pleased to
announce that I was elected on to the Committee. It was also great to hear that the Vice-President
Student Activities was also elected in the Union Development Zone We set out within our strategic
plan to engage better with NUS and now with 3 officers holding national committee positions we are
well on the way to putting ourselves in a position to maximise the benefit of our contact and our
membership fee
Union’s Financial Position
The auditors have now completed their work and I will announce our year end position after I have
signed off the accounts at Trustee Board.
President/VC Campus Walks
At our last meeting with the Vice-Chancellor we agreed that both the Union and the University
should do more to engage with students. As a result I have asked the Vice-Chancellor to do regular
campus walk arounds with me. This will give students the opportunity to directly engage with both
of us. In addition, my Vice-Presidents and I have also started initial conversations around having
certain members of the University’s Executive board giving briefings at Annual Union Meetings.
16
Trust Endowment Funds
During the Summer I agreed with the Director of Finance to have briefings before Finance
Committee meetings. At one of our briefings, I found that the University are currently holding £1.9
million in Trust Funds and are finding it very had to release the money due to the rigid requirements
from donors. I suggested that the Union should work with the University appealing to donors to
release the money. The money could go to projects that will help the entire student body. This
something we have started work on.
Ents Forum
This year a lot of changes have been made to Ents. A number of positives have been achieved as a
result. First year students will not know the difference, however some returning students have
voiced some concerns about the changes. As a result, I have asked the Ents Coordinator to set up the
Ents Forum. The first forum will be held on 21st November at 3pm. The purpose behind these
forums is to allow students to comment on what we are doing or suggest what we should do.
HR Briefings and Department Change
As President one of my duties is to (alongside the Chief Executive) manage staff. I felt that I did not
have the right level of information in order for me to discharge such a duty and as I result we have
set up weekly HR briefings.
In addition, we have changed the Projects Department to the Events Department. The major change
is that the Events Department will now work on planning and delivering varies Union events such
(SLTAs, Sports Fed Ball and Freshers Fare) throughout the year. This now means that department
managers who may not have any event planning experience will no longer have to do that job.
VP Recruitment
Since the last assembly, I chaired the student panel. On the 1st
November and 6th
November we
interviewed four candidates, (two internal and two external). After the interviews I drafted the
report which outlined the following:
- Who was on the panel,
- What questions were asked,
- What the panel thought of which candidate
- A ranking system
I presented the report to the Vice-Chancellor, Vice-Principal (International) Director of Finance, and
the Chair of Council. They thanked the panel members for their assistance.
Learning and Teaching Centre Brief
Having finished her initial round of surveying the possibility of having a new Learning and Teaching
Centre; the Library Services Director drafted a report covering the issues that had been discussed in
all the focus groups. The report was sent to the Vice-President Academic Representation and I, we
discussed it and came to the conclusion that what the student focus group had suggested had been
articulated well within the report.
Ready Programme Pilot/Personal Development Programme and PCC
The Union and University both have separate strategic plans. Within both plans
employability/personal development are key themes. Moving forward I believe that we need a much
more joined up approach in how we work together to achieve common aims.
- Union activity so far
We have started work on the first event ‘How to get a First’ and we have signed up over 100
students at the employability fair. I would like to thank the PDP committee for all their hard work so
far and I know they will deliver amazing work in term 2 and 3. In addition, as a cabinet we will
17
hopefully be having an away in week 13 to work out how we can make personal development run
throughout the entire organisation.
- University activity so far (Ready Programme)
The first cohort of students are about to finish the programme and a lot of work has and will
continue to be put into gathering data to shape the structure for 2nd
cohort. At the board meeting
the Vice-President and I pushed for more student involved for term 2 and we will now start planning
exactly how that will be achieved.
Visit to Mayor’s Parlour
On 5th
November we visited the Mayor's Parlour, the visit gave us an insight into how Local
Government operates and the Mayor also took us on a trip down memory lane, showing us the rich
history of the Borough. We were also given a tour of the Council Chambers and our student trustee
Leon Evans and Brunel Sports Fed Chair Hannah Jones were given the chance to give their 60 second
'maiden speech' (that was the Mayoress's idea btw). At the end of the session, the Mayor opened up
the floor for questions and our Rag Chair Matt James Cahill asked whether we could hold our Annual
Union Meeting in the Chambers and the Mayor said yes!!! I will contact the Council to see if we can
get this arranged, so watch out for updates
Events
Brunel Sports Scholarship Programme Welcome Reception - The evening was great as we got to see
all the new sports scholars; we also got the opportunity to have a conference call with Mo Farah
who was in South Africa at the time.
Mayor’s Parlour - . Lastly, I would like to thank the Mayor and Mayoress for having us and I’d also
like to thank all of the students who attended #TeamBrunel
Good Deed Day – Massive WELL DONE to Brunel Volunteers and the Volunteer Chair
Fireworks Night – Massive WELL DONE to the University’s events department and all the student