Student Council
Meeting held: 29 October 2014
Main House G.15
Chair:
Minutes taken by:
Bruce Galliver, Students’ Union President
Dani Glazzard, Democracy, Representation & Welfare Manager
SC14/01 The meeting started with a quick introduction to the terms of reference of Student Council.
Item
SC 14/02
Parking
Update
Points of discussion
The President updated the Student Council on proposals to introduce
parking charges and the proposed joint-union action to oppose this.
Actions
Students commented that a walk to university could be fun and gain
popular support.
SC 14/03
National
Student
Demo for
Free
Education
Council members raise the following concerns:
- Whether students understand the reasons for the introduction
of charges
- The need for a more regular bus service to allow people to
easily travel onto campus without a car
- How the money raised from parking charges is being spent –
Council members wanted it to be used to improve the bus
service
- Students’ Union should promote cycling as an alternative to
driving. Students need access to lockers – most are unaware of
lockers and showers in commons and asked that they be better
promoted. Students also suggested that a next bike station at
the globe bus stop might encourage people to use the x39
(both ways) and cycle up the drive. The Mature Students’ Rep
said that children’s seats on Next Bikes would also improve
their accessibility.
The Religions and Beliefs Rep proposed that the Students’ Union
provide a free coach to take students to the national demo for free
education.
Student Council members raised concerns about how students’ safety
would be ensured at the demonstration and how the Students’ Union
would ensure Bath Spa students did not participate in violent protest.
Some members also doubted the usefulness of demonstrations as a
campaigning strategy; the anti tuition fees demonstrations did not
meet their objectives. However, other Council members thought it
was a priority to ensure students are engaged with politics leading up
to the general election and that protests are a way of involving people
in politics.
1
BG to
feedback
Student Council recommended that Bath Spa look into a joint coach
with the University of Bath.
Motion passed.
SC 14/04
Officer
Priorities
The Officers presented their priority areas of work for feedback and
approval from Student Council.
The Vice-President Activities outlined his priorities:
- The ‘Wednesday Afternoons Free’ campaign
- Promoting health and wellbeing through ‘Wellbeing
Wednesdays’
- Creating an increased sense of community and belonging to
the Union across student groups through events and
encouraging the RAG Officers to work together
Student Council members discussed examples of students who were
currently unable to compete in sports fixtures due to their timetables.
1st and 2nd year students could also e-mail mycourse@bathspa.ac.uk to
see if there can be any flexibility with their timetables. Clubs
Presidents also commented that Wed Afternoons Free don’t help away
fixtures because the team often has to leave in the morning. Further,
piloting with third years is of limited use because first and second years
tend to be more active in clubs and societies.
Students commented that Wed Afternoons Free would also benefit
group work, as there would be a time when students’ timetables don’t
clash.
Some students felt introducing weekend teaching to increase the
flexibility of timetabling would be useful (others strongly disagreed).
The Vice-President Welfare outlined his priorities:
- Organising a number of equality initiatives including ‘I HEART
Consent’ pilot, women in leadership campaign, research into
international student experience, stamp out the stigma
campaign.
- Running community work projects to improve relations
between students and longer term residents in Bath, with a
focus on promoting what students contribute to the
community already.
- Ensuring the Students’’ Union’s information and guidance on
river safety, sexual health, alcohol advice, drugs advice and the
likes is a high quality.
Student Council members commented on the importance of including
the Council in any positive messages about students; representatives
of the Council had taken a negative approach when knocking on
2
Club
Presidents
students’ doors, telling them off for things they hadn’t done yet
(parties, litter etc.) and suggesting that they disapproved of them being
in the neighbourhood.
The Students’ Union President outlined his priorities:
- Creating a student and former student skills network to enable
collaboration across courses on projects
- Encouraging student political engagement in the lead up to the
election
- Promoting wellbeing through ‘Wellbeing Wednesdays’ and
other initiatives
There was a discussion about events that could engage students with
the General Election. Suggestions included:
- Events that you can only attend if you’re registered to vote
- Hustings focused on what students would like to see from MPs
in the General Election
- Comedy Soc mock hustings
- Fantasy-football style fantasy politics
- Voter registration drives
- Making the political personal – poster campaigns or similar
explaining the relevance of the general election to students’
lives
The Equal Opportunities Officer outlined his priorities:
- The Equal Opportunities Officer explained that he wanted his
work to develop out of the Liberation Subcommittee. An early
idea is looking to implement safe spaces in lectures and
seminars etc..
Student Council members suggested that trigger warnings would be
useful for lectures and seminars (the reading, slides etc.) – perhaps in
the handbooks would be an appropriate place so that students can
choose not to go to a seminar if they think it might be triggering for
them.
The Environment & Ethics Officer outlined his priorities;
- The Environment & Ethics Officer is working closely with the
Sustainability Action Group
- He would like to look at the fairtrade offer in the Students’
Union
Student Council members suggested that introducing solar panels to
contribute to SU heating would be a great idea but maybe not cost
effective. The Env & Ethics Officer commented that there is a biomass
boiler exists at the top of campus generating electricity.
SC 14/05
Student
Experience
Student Council took part in a ‘world café’ style session to feed back on
the strengths and weaknesses of the non-academic experience at Bath
Spa in order for the Students’ Union to take priorities forward to the
3
Advisory
Group
Student Experience Advisory Group.
Meeting Closed: 7pm
4