Take Notice!

Hey and welcome to 4th week – hope everyone’s having a great time of it so far!

I have just finished a looong JCR meeting, but hey, we’ve got to let democracy thrive! So with that done, I’m getting on with the weekly lowdown of what’s gone on and what you need to know.

First off, massive congratulations are in order for our new Women’s Representative, Lilya Tata, and our new Computing Officer, Edward Hart! Welcome to the the world of college committees – I’m sure you’ll both be amazing!

Secondly, please remember to check out and apply to the Travel Scholarship – £5,000 is available for you to go and do something amazing. Email Rachel Pearson, the Academic Registrar, if you have any questions about the scheme.

Thirdly, our Entz Officer, Shiv Bhardwaj, has just released a survey about payment methods for the Beer Cellar. If you often visit, or would like to visit but often don’t find yourself with cash-in-hand, then fill out the form! It’s quick to do and could help make a small, but much-needed change to Beer Cellar life.

On to more general news, this week the Welfare Officers, Equal Opportunities President and I attended the Welfare Lunch meeting. We brought up the idea of a college counsellor and a welfare room. Regarding the former, further investigation will be undergone to see whether this is viable, but in the mean time I want to stress the use of our new college nurse, Midge Curran. Midge is available Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays: – 11am – noon, Tuesdays: – 3-5pm
 and Thursdays: 1-3pm. She is a great welfare source that is not directly tied to college and offers a confidential meeting; also, she has stressed that she is available to discuss both physical and mental health! As for a welfare room, the main problem we came up against was the search for a room that is not currently in use. If you’ve got any ideas let Abi Newton, Welfare Officer –  she’s keen (as am I) to get this off the ground.

This week I also met with the Bursar to discuss how the REACH scholarship stands since it was last discussed over a year ago. The state of affairs is that the JCR needs to bank £10.5k before college will pay the other necessary costs to start the process of funding a student. If you feel passionately about the REACH Scholarship, please let Teneeka Mai, Charities Officer, or I know as we’re keen to hear whether you feel this is a worthwhile investment.

Last week, I said I had the shortest meeting ever with the Governing Body, but we had a challenger this week from OUSU Council. I and Hannah Cheah, OUSU Officer, attended Council which lasted barely over 5 minutes. However, in this 5 minutes we were reminded to tell you to vote in OUSU elections! Even the most apathetic of you have something to gain as the college with the highest turn out can win up to £600 for their JCR! Think of what we could do if we won (coffee machine? decor? bigger and better events?)

Finally, on Wednesday we had the Equal Opportunities Committee meeting headed by our Equal Opportunities President, Shahryar Iravani. We met to discuss plans for Unity Week 2017!! From what I heard before I left for OUSU Council, the equal opps reps have some amazing ideas, from panel discussions to banner-making. Remember to like the Facebook group to get all the relevant details.

This seems to have been a sufficient amount of news to convey in one sitting, so I think I’ll stop here.

Have a fantastic week!

Alice

P.S The Bulletin