MINUTES OF STUDENTS UNION COUNCIL 15 th November 2015

Transcription

1 Newcastle University Students Union MINUTES OF STUDENTS UNION COUNCIL 15 th November 2015 Present: Apologies: In attendance: Jamil Al-Ajooz, Abdul Alhammadi, Luke Allison, Victoria Armstrong, Charlie Balkartat, Becky Bates, Harriet Beaty, Lewis Bedford, Sam Boam, Lawrence Bruce, Ollie Burton, Vilte Baclciunaite, Olivia Bucknall, Sam Cooke, Zoe Cram, Bethany Crenol, Blessing Christian, Edward Davies, Lauren Exell, Dom Fearon, Harry Francis, Max George, Hannah Goring, Claudia Heggie, Ashleigh Hamidzadeh, Jos Herbert, Hannah Jack, Tolu Kolawole, James McCoull, Edward Mundy, Lucy Moore, Lucy Morgan, Robert Noyes, Sima Nikolajeva, Fope Olaleye, David Ou, James Prowse, Mathew Price, Haaris Qureshi, Ali Qatan, Bethany Rice, Paige Roddam, Beth Robertson, Safiya Robinson, Dan Robertson, Nick Robinson, Patrick Rosichuk, Ed Saunders, Luke Saunders, Mark Sleigholm, Vicki Smith, Laura Staniforth, Sarah Stephenson, Angus Taylor, Frankie Toynton,, Antonia Velikova, Hannah Wall, Richard Wardle, Tom Wessely, James Wright, Harry Young, Mani Yogananthan. Jingxuan Guo Simon Gerry (Chief Executive) Angela Horend (Administrative Assistant), Kay Hattam (Campaigns & Democracy Support Worker), George Watkins (Representation & Democracy Coordinator) i) Notices to Council The Chair welcomed people to Council and noted the twitter wall was on display and asked people to be respectful in their posts. ii) Minutes of Previous Meeting iii) Elections Students With Disabilities Officer - The Chair advised Rosie Foster had resigned from her job share position and her counterpart would continue. Campaigns Officer Luke Allison explained this position would work with himself on campaigns. A nomination from Paige Roddam was received. vi) Steering Committee Report v) State of the Union Report Dom Fearon presented his report outlining the following key areas: a very successful Halloween Pub Quiz took place which was attended by around 500 people; Divestment Week is starting on 16 th November with a full week of events; Dom is involved in the Carbon Advisory Group, set up in response to the Fossil Fuel motion passed by Council last year; discussions have taken place with the Director of Accommodation regarding Halls of Residences rent increases; and the University Challenge Team has been picked following trials. vi) General Reports & Updates on Mandates a) AU Executive Committee b) Societies Executive Committee c) Education Executive Committee d) Media Executive Committee e) Community Executive Committee f) Welfare & Campaigns Executive Committee g) Volunteering Executive Committee vii) Questions to the Sabbatical Officers Sabbatical Officers came to the front and introduced themselves. No questions were received. The minutes were passed with no amendments Resolved by show of hands to elect Paige Roddam to Campaigns Officer accept with no objections accept with no objections accept all reports as a block 1

2 viii) Motions 301 Motion on QUESTIONS TO SABBATICAL OFFICERS Angus Taylor outlined his motion referring to the October Council where a member asked an in depth question. He believed that for Sabbatical Officers to fully answer such questions they should be given the time to fully research them, and if a student has carried out in depth research, they should get a similar response. This would benefit the person asking the question, and students at Council, and may also help students who do not feel comfortable asking questions at Council. Victoria Armstrong spoke for the motion explaining it would give Sabbatical Officers time to look at relevant statistics and explain in more depth. There were no speeches against. One student suggested they might think up a question and need a quick answer and asked if these would not be allowed. Angus suggested all questions should be put through Steering Committee. Dom Fearon added anybody can speak to the Sabbatical Officers at any time, and it doesn t have to be at Council. Haaris Quereshi asked if follow up questions would be allowed, which Angus indicated would be OK. Resolved by 66% votes for, 27% against and 7% * Secretarial Note: *A query was raised by a member after the meeting relating to the passing of the motion which required a 2/3 majority, and whether the voting system used rounds up or down. Following investigations it was established the yes vote was 66.1%, so should not have passed, so the motion will be taken back to Steering Committee with a view to a further vote being taken at December Council. 401 Motion on OPPOSING THE FIT TO SIT POLICY Matthew Price outlined his motion explaining the University is considering introducing the above policy which means that as soon as a student sits down to take an exam, they are saying they are OK to take it, and won t be able to submit a PEC form afterwards. He argued this removes flexibility and students may experience mental and physical illness which affects their performance. One member asked how effective the Union could be in these talks and Matt explained passing the motion would allow him to say NUSU were backing the motion. Luke Allison added that different teachers were opposing the policy as well as Mind The Gap and others. Luke Allison spoke for the motion stating the 'Fit to Sit' policy fails students on many levels and does not have the students in mind. The whole feeling behind the policy is that students will play the system and will fake being ill for exams. This is insulting to students who have to go through the stress of resitting an exam. Luke said that even if the majority of students submitting PEC forms were lying, which he highly doubted, then should we really be stopping these people at the expense of students who are genuinely ill? Luke suggested if he submitted a PEC form on the day of an exam he would have no idea if it would be accepted. He said he could not sit the exam in which case he would risk his PEC form being rejected and getting 0 or could sit the exam anyway knowing that could get an alright mark. Nobody spoke against the motion. Haaris Qureshi who was involved in Mind The Gap, was in favour of the motion, explaining the policy would make things worse for people with anxiety, as someone has to make a decision which is bad for people with mental illness. 402 Motion on INTERNATIONAL STUDENT CAMPAIGNS SUPPORT Resolved by 95% votes for, 5% against and 0% Tolu Kolawole outlined his motion which intended to get NUSU to do the same as NUS. He explained new regulations for international students are unfair on those who want to better their lives and makes them feel unwanted here. He believed the motion would make international students at the top of NUSU s agenda. One student asked what the walkout entailed and Tolu explained there is walk to Parliament in London to show students support. Luke added the Welfare Page on NUSU s website has details of a Student Walk out organised by NUS for 17 th November which is happening all over the country. 2

3 One student agreed with the motion, but didn t want other people/areas to suffer. Patrick Rosichuk agreed with the motion and suggested looking at it as a business issue, i.e. if international students are not happy thy will go to other places, and money will be lost. Another member knew international students who had to pay a years rent in advance and knew attendance sheets in lectures were just for international students. 403 Motion on VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE IN THE CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT Resolved by 89% votes for, 8% against and 3% Michael Goodfellow outlined his motion stating the Conservative and Lib Dem s had allowed Universities to treble tuition fees to 9k resulting in students leaving University with 90k debt as well as axing maintenance grants. They are planning further Tax Credit cuts, which were blocked by the House of Lords, and are looking to change the criteria for working out poverty. A member agreed with the motion, but asked what passing it would mean. A Point of Information was made by Dom Fearon who stated if the motion was to pass it would need to come back to a future Council to decide if it would go to the NUS Conference. A further student queried whether NUSU should take a political bias and Michael replied Council is meant to be representative, and if the motion passed this would be by a majority. A member suggested taking it to a referendum might be more representative, Michael took Council as being representative of the student body, but did not mind it being opened up to the wider student body, but doing it this way saves time. Frankie Toynton was in favor of the motion. One student spoke against the motion believing Universities are better funded and the graduate jobs market is picking up. A member of the Conservative Society was also against the motion, stating if it passed NUSU would be campaigning against them. Tom Gordon said it was against NUSU s constitution and didn t see how it would fit. 404 Motion on NUSU S POSITION ON THE EU REFERENDUM Resolved by 62% votes against, 33% for and 5% not Tom Gordon outlined his motion which sought to inform members of the benefits of being in the EU, explaining if the UK withdrew, there would be a reduction in grants and students wouldn t be able to study abroad through the ERASMUS Programme. He wanted to bring the motion now, so it was in place for when a referendum is called. A student asked if NUSU received money from the EU, and Dom Fearon said the University receives a lot of funding and is very pro EU. A further student queried how Resolves 1 & 2 would work together, and Tom advised it would give everyone the facts, but that people couldn t be forced. Another student if other Russell groups had taken a stance, which Tom wasn t aware of. Angus Taylor spoke in favor of the motion suggesting people should consider the effect leaving the EU would have on companies such as Nissan in Sunderland, who employ over 6,000 people with a further 27,000 employed in the supply chain, suggesting they would leave the area if this happened. Dom Fearon spoke for the motion stating the Universities finances are tied to EU funding and NUSU is tied to how well the University is doing. 405 Motion on NHS Resolved by 80% votes for, 11% abstentions and 9% against to Michael Goodfellow outlined his motion which aimed to give some positive publicity for the NHS by placing an advert in the Courier and on screens with NUSU. He believed NHS had been chronically underfunded and wanted to send out a message that the NHS is ridiculously good. Procedural Motion A procedural motion was submitted by Victoria Armstrong to remove the 2 nd bullet point under Resolves 1 - Mandate the Editor to provide space for the stated advert within the SU newspaper The Courier. Michael did not wish to accept the Procedural Motion as a friendly amendment; therefore the following discussion was had. Resolved by 60% votes for, 38% against and 2% 3

4 Victoria explained the point referred to was unconstitutional as the constitution states the Editor has full editorial discretion of the Courier. Students are welcome to write editorial articles but the Courier has to make sure is does not represent political opinion and needs to be politically independent. A vote was then taken on the Procedural Motion. A short break was taken and the revised motion discussed. Laura Staniforth agreed with the motion but didn t think the adverts would reach out very well. Luke Allison suggested it would show support for students who are passionate about the issue, and Michael said the motion was part of a bigger picture with other activities taking place, and this motion was specifically aimed at Newcastle students. 406 Motion on ANTHEM FOR NUSU accept the procedural motion Resolved by 59% votes for, 33% against and 9% Tolu Kolawole outlined his motion explaining people come to Newcastle University from all over the world and it would give alumni something to remember their time at University by. He envisaged students could get involved in composing an anthem and it could be used during Freshers Week. Patrick Rosichuk asked Tolu if he thought having an anthem was out of touch and Tolu did not agree, citing Newcastle United and Cheerleading as examples. A further student asked what kind of message it would include and Tolu suggested values, what is important for Newcastle students, and to remind them of their school days. One student spoke against the motion saying the community might not like it, if it was causing noise and people were shouting and chanting. Luke Allison spoke against the motion, he didn t think there was a student desire for it, and couldn t think of NUSU events appropriate, and a lot of work would need to be done. 407 Motion on DEFEND CORBYN, FIGHT FOR SOCIALISM Resolved by 53% votes against, 38% for and 9% not Frankie Toynton outlined his motion stating tuition fees will increase as time goes by and only the Labour Party, who have seen an increase in size, since the election of Jeremy Corbyn as its leader, has a chance of providing free education. A member asked Frankie if he felt the motion was within NUSU s constitution, and what it would do. Frankie said it would offer solidarity to students and try and get NUS to support Corbyn. A Point of Information was made by Dom Fearon who stated if the motion was to pass it would need to come back to a future Council to decide if it would go to the NUS Conference. A Labour Party supporter spoke against the motion suggesting it wasn t the position of NUSU to support just one person and passing the motion would be doing a disservice to the Labour Party. Max George said passing the motion would make a mockery of NUSU because Council is not representative of the student body. ix) Students Union Elections Resolved by 74% votes against, 19% for and 7% not A brief outline of each of the below Committees was given and nominations invited, with the following people nominating themselves. Disciplinary Committee, Jamil Al-Ajooz, Oliver Edward Burton, Samantha Cooke, Edmund Davies, Harry Francis, Beth Rice, James Henry Wright, Education Executive Committee Alexander Jones, Beth Robertson, Harry Young, Daniel Robertson Scrutiny Committee No nominations were received. Steering Committee * The 4 following nominations were received for Steering Committee, which had 2 remaining places: Fope Olaleye, Safiya Robinson, James Lawrence Prowse and Thomas Gordon. Each of the nominees were asked to give a 1 minute speech on why they wanted to be elected and an electronic vote was taken with members asked to select their 2 favourite people, with James Prowse and Thomas Gordon receiving the most votes. Resolved by a show of hands to elect all those listed onto Disciplinary and Education Executive Committee * elect James Prowse and Thomas Gordon onto Steering 4

5 *Secretarial Note: Following a query raised after the meeting, that the Steering Committee election was not carried out within the Constitution, it was decided the election of the 2 places should be carried out again at December Council, therefore Thomas Gordon and James Prowse are not elected. Welfare and Campaigns Executive Committee Sophie Davies, Hannah Jack, Robert Noyes. x) Open Debate Committee Resolved by a show of hands to elect those listed onto Welfare & Campaigns Exec An open debate on How do we get more people involved in Council? took place with Hannah Goring proposing and summing up the debate. 5