Corpuscles of the World, Unite!

Hey,

Congratulations to all those who have finished exams so far and good luck to those about to start!

This week we have been busy with events for Corpus; Unity Week! On Monday we had an interesting talk on the concepts of masculinity – head on over to the Unity Week Facebook page to get more details as to what was discussed. We also had lots of banner decorations and #weunite photos, so stay tuned to see those uploaded onto the page.

In other news, I attended Academic Committee on Wednesday. This was quite an eventful meeting whereby the Freshers’ Week timetable was approved, as well as discussions on whether the matriculation ceremony should continue. The latter subject will be brought up for discussion next JCR meeting, so if you have any pressing questions or opinions make sure you get to the JCR on Sunday at 7.30pm for that.

Also on the Wednesday I discussed with the Domestic Bursar when the design for the Beer Cellar should be handed in and hAndy said it will be needed by the end of term. This means that if you have a great and simple design for the mural, make sure you get your designs to Shiv. I stress that designs should be as easy as possible so that a decorator will be able to quickly paint them out, else we may have to do it ourselves! I also found out in this meeting that apparently we own the vending machines and therefore upkeep is under the remit of the JCR. As such, I will be looking into whether these can be serviced to become workable once again.

On Thursday I attended President’s Committee where we had interesting discussions on topics such as a charity initiative across colleges, diversifying portraiture and rent. Remember, if you have anything that you would like to be asked of/brought up at these meetings please let me know, as it’s a great way to share information across colleges in a more informal setting.

The longest meeting I had this week was the termly Joint Consultative Committee. The JCR brought up three issues of reducing accommodation charges for undergraduates with extended terms, changing decanal fines policy and getting a coffee machine into the Beer Cellar. Regarding reducing charges for undergraduates with extended terms, the has been recommended to be taken to the next Hardship Committee meeting to see whether spare budget can be opened up to students in the situation as outlined above. At the moment, the hardship fund is only used for students who suddenly find themselves in financial hardship, such as if you needed money to pay for rent to stay in Oxford and complete a project. I will be informed over the next few weeks of committee’s decision. As for decanal fines policy, unfortunately the dean was not present at the meeting, but this matter will be brought up again at the informal JCC lunch at the end of term. The Domestic Bursar is to bring the issue of providing a coffee machine up with Finance and Budget Committee and hopefully further progress will be made on the issue. Other topics up for discussion included Fair Trade accreditation whose policy should be moving towards Governing Body and access to Liddell from the Christ Church Bridge which will be explored with the Head of the neighbouring college.

This following week will include meetings such as Governing Body and OUSU, so stay tuned for updates on those!

All for now,

Alice xxx

P.S. Bulletin