Student Council
Minutes of meeting held on Thursday 4th April 2013 at 5.30pm Location: Frenchay
Present: Matt Brown (Chair of Meetings), Olly Reid (VP Education), Nina Gizzie (VP Sports &
Health), Annie Turner (VP Socs and Comms), Oliver Kirby (Education), Lydia Dismore (Socs and
Comms), Rachel Shine, Ruqqayah Adeoye, Chris Holgate, Naomi DaSilva, Stephen Treacy, Tom
Renhard, Jessica Hockey, Sam Barnard, Oliver Groom, Alex Walker, David Sheldon, Elisabeth
Chestnut, Roxi Foster, Matt Putner, Will Mitchell, Chris Blythe, Maddison Peters, Aimee Moore,
Victoria Owolana, Piers Brown, Becky Read, Neeraj Raymead, Amy Yeo, Robert Bonhan, Charlie
Roper, Rich Bursey, Hannah Khan, Kaltuun Mirreh
Apologies: Louise Goux-Wirth (VP Community & Welfare), Emmanual Okon (SU President),Stuart
Crandon, Sonja Huttunen, Tasha Garbutt, Gareth Way, Sophie Evans
In attendance: Nerys Neath (Membership Services Manager), Emma Brown (UWESU Community
& Representation Manager); Kate Dawson (Representation Support Coordinator), Chris Cottam
(Community and Campaigns Support Coordinator)
SC1213/21
Introduction and Welcome- Olly Reid
021.01
The Council received an introduction and welcome from the Chair.
SC1213/22
Minutes
022.01
It was noted Matt Brown needs to be added to the minutes of the previous
meeting. The minutes were then duly approved.
Procedural motion: To move “Motion 1: Finances Motion” (SC1213/26) to the
next agenda item.
Vote: Procedural motion carried
SC1213/23
Motion 1: Finances Motion
Amended
This Union Resolves:
(i)
That the budget form be modified to a standard more familiar to students,
from a budget report to more like a bank account type layout with statements
consisting of item description, amount and date withdrawn/deposited.
(ii) That the VPs look into working with the finance department to allow for more
regular updating of accounts, with minimum disruption to their current
workload, and streamline current procedures.
(iii) That the VPs and finance department draw up 1 or more proposed changes
to the current format, and submit them to sports/societies/networks for
approval.
(iv) To prioritise looking into a way to allow society/sports/network’s to at least
view their account online immediately, rather than requesting a print-out
every time from Finance – saving paper!
Speaker for: Chris Holgate
Speaker against: None
VOTE: Motion Carried
SC1213/24
Motion 2: Communication Motion
Amended
This Union resolves:
 That the elected executive put together a Communication Strategy on how
the Students’ Union communicates the impact of the work that the Students’
Union does to it’s members.
 Elected Officers should use the communication platforms that are made
available through their work capacity (blogs, twitter, facebook) to regularly
update the membership of their work activity. This should be monitored by
the elected executive meeting and become a standardised agenda item at
executive meetings where the elected officers can hold each other to
account on this key issue.
 That Campus Officers should send out a monthly update as part of the
campus email communication, on the work that they are doing, and the
impact it has on students on their campus
 That the Vice President Societies & Communications should ensure that
large format poster designs of the elected Officers are installed on each
campus, with the Officers role and contact details included, by the start of
Freshers’ 2013
 That the Students’ Union Executive should work on termly (Freshers’,
Christmas, Easter, Summer) student friendly impact reports that outlines the
key successes of the Union, and distribute it to both students and the key
university staff
 That the elected executive team have separate social media accounts from
their personal account (example format @UWESU President) to make them
more easily identifiable and be passed on every year to future
representatives.
 That this policy be reviewed on an annual basis and any revisions are put to
a democratic body such as Student Council or AGM
Speaker For: Rachael Shine
VOTE: Motion carried
SC1213/25
Trustees
025.01
An update to be provided online.
SC1213/26
AGM Policy Update (Questions welcomed from Student Council Members)
026.01
An update from the Executive on policy implementation from the 2012 AGM.
SC1213/27
Policy Lapses
027.01
It was noted the following policy has now lapsed:
Venue Support for Societies
SC1213/28
Wednesday Afternoons
028.01
Students present reported postgraduate/masters do not have Wednesday
afternoons off. Some undergraduate students have lectures until 13:30 whilst
some students have no lectures.
028.02
It was noted half students present said they had flexibility in classes with different
groups for different modules. They need certain amount of people in a lab but
can change at start of year.
028.03
It was noted for only 4 students present 10% is attendance based.
028.05
Students commented on finishing later preferably but not on Fridays. No
comments were raised in regard to caring responsibilities/mature students.
028.06
It was noted some students had taken to getting work on Wednesdays.
028.07
Problems were raised with exam timetables and sports teams e.g. cricket varsity
and BUCS fixtures in exam timetables.
Action:
Council members reminded to encourage students to complete Wednesday
afternoon Sports survey
(http://problemfree.co.uk/rendersurvey.asp?sid=ux8mv9ccrn7qs3i1046870).
SC1213/29
New Students’ Union Building
029.01
Olly Reid provided an update on the reconsideration of the plans after the motion
to last Student Council.
029.02
It was noted students wanted spaces to relax/work and spaces of engagement.
029.03
It was noted that the building is planned to open in summer 2014.
029.04
It was noted a Cycling working group for new Students’ Union Building is meeting
on Monday 8th April from 10-11 on 4th floor to discuss provisions of what have and
what need.
Procedural motion: to move “Reports from UWESU Committees” (SC1213/33)
to next agenda item.
Vote: Motion carried.
SC1213/30
Reports from UWESU Committees
30.01
The following members of the Executive reported on the business of the
committees this year:
Societies and Communications Committee- Annie Turner
 Elections – voting £50 prize increased society voting
 4 successful ratifications
 Change Western Eye to a society
Community and Welfare Committee- Louise Goux-Wirth (Rachael Shine)
 Accommodation/Rate your landlord
Action: To ask Louise for an update and update website
Student Representative Committee- Olly Reid
 Spreading accommodation bursaries
 Fee waiver/grants
 Cash card
 Mature students and single parent families
 Snow texts – SMS’s good
Sports Committee- Nina Gizzie
 Sports ball
 Sports executive
- Job description
- Job roles more focused
- Executive of different types of sports e.g. combat sports
- Collaborate with HEAR record
- Update passed at sports committee
SC1213/31
Students’ Union Strategy
031.01
Emmanuel Okon delivered an update on the Students’ Union Strategy as well as
student feedback from the Student Survey about the Students’ Union.
SC1213/32
UWESU Executive Report (Questions welcomed from Student Council
Members)
031.01
The following members of the Executive updated Student Council on their current
priorities and successes this year:
Education Officer
Societies and Communications Officer
Vice President Community & Welfare
Vice President Sports
Vice President Societies and Communications
Vice President Education
SC1213/33
Varsity Series 2013
032.01
An update on the 2013 Varsity Series was received.
SC1213/34
Election Results
034.01
Information about the 2013 UWESU Election Results was provided.
SC1213/35
Any Other Business
None
SC1213/36
Date of Next Meeting – AGM 2013