JCR Meeting, TT '08 Week 2 (27/04/08)
Summary of Actions
Mandates:
N/A
Money:
- The JCR resolves to approve the attached budget for Trinity Term
- It also resolves to give a £300 pro-rata loan to Charenton Productions' “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” at the O'Reilly in 3rd week and a £300 pro-rata loan to Charenton Productions' “The Audacity of Ideas” at the OFS in 3rd week.
- The JCR resolves to give a £100 pro-rata loan to the production company behind “Student Play” in 4th week at the Burton-Taylor studio
- Also to give £110 to the Ball Committee for some form of celebration
Preliminary Business:
Minutes of previous meeting:
No objections
No other matters arising
People:
Chair: Meg Powell-Chandler (President)
Secretary: Tom Carlisle (Vice-President)
Present: Meg Powell-Chandler (President), Tom Carlisle (Vice-President), Joe Fallon (Treasurer), Tom Gover (Admissions and Access Officer), Sophie Rees (Clubs and Society Officer), Carl Gaffney (ENTZ President), Alex Merry (Male Welfare Officer), Rosalind Brown (LGBT Officer), Jonathan Smart (Libraries and Academic Affairs Officer), Merlin Cooper (Computing and Website Officer), Rhiannon Ward (Ball President), Hannah Al-Hasani (Domestic Officer), Mark Hamid (Returning Officer), Felicity Burch (Equal Opportunities Officer), Katie Johnston (Female Welfare Officer)
Apologies: Tom Abbott (Accommodation Officer), Tom Corcoran (International Students Officer),
Officers Reports:
President (Meg Powell-Chandler):
Is busily organising “Corpus Christi C.A.R.E.S” (Corpus Actually Really Exists, Seriously) week for 3rd week of this term. Bought a statue of Ganesh for the JCR – he is the God of “wisdom, good luck and prosperity”. Is approaching Academic Committee in the next week to suggest reforms and alternatives to 'trashing,' involving cheap Cava champagne. Attended OUSU Council.
Vice-President (Tom Carlisle):
Has organised the JCR photograph on Monday 28th April, and made a new Tea Rota for the JCR. Is involved with organising Corpus Christi Culture day within C.A.R.E.S week (it involves music, drama, etc)
Treasurer (Joe Fallon):
Devised budget; set up punt book which is in the Lodge, so you can book punts!
Admissions and Access Officer (Tom Gover): Ongoing planning of the Alternative Prospectus – the deadline for articles is the end of 3rd week
OUSU Representative (Alexo Scrivener): Did not attend OUSU Council, because was too ill to get out of bed. Was seen wearing “about seven jumpers” and “looking f***ing awful” in the words of Joe MacDonald.
Clubs and Societies Officer (Sophie Rees): Cricket and Tennis teams won! Well done Cricket and Tennis. Lacrosse was “unmitigated disaster”, however. Organising Clubs and Socs formal – possibly on Saturday of 3rd week – Sports ground party is also organised for Saturday of 8th week
ENTZ president (Carl Gaffney): Bop on Saturday of 3rd week, although this depends on the speakers, which broke at the previous bop. Will consult other colleges about loaning speakers.
Male Welfare Officer (Alex Merry): Welfare tea organised for Monday of 3rd week, as part of Corpus C.A.R.E.S. week; organising comedy short nights for finalists allowing breaks for revision
LGBT Officer (Roz Brown): Nothing to report apart from the attached motion
Libraries and Academic Affairs Officer (Jonathan Smart): Water bottles in the library, organising Subject Reps, is holding the Inaugural President's Seminar this Weds. Also, is meeting with Dr Watts about Fresher's week on Tuesday of 3rd week; sign-up for this will take place soon.
Computing and Website Officer (Merlin Cooper): Nothing to report
Ball President (Rhiannon Ward): “There was a ball.”
******
1. Budget for Trinity Term
This JCR resolves:
1. to approve the budget for Trinity Term 2008
General account
Income
College Grant
3845
Arts Levy
1500
Charities Levy
1500
Coke Machine
200
Total
7045
Expenditure
Newspapers, both student and national
-900
Coffee Machine
-500
Entz
-200
Welfare
-200
Women’s Tea
-100
Men’s Tea
-100
ISO
-100
Admin/Committee
-200
TV Licenses
-60
Arts/Clubs/Societies payouts
-1500
Charities payouts
-1500
Total
-5360
Net income over expenditure
1685
Old balance
6000
New balance
7685
Private account
Expenditure
Charities
-500
Arts motions
-200
Total
-700
Net income over expenditure
-700
Old balance
10000
New balance
9300
Proposed
Joe Fallon
Seconded
Merlin Cooper
Short Factual Questions:
- Mark Hamid wanted to know what the deal was with magazines such as Zoo and Nuts which were adopted on a trial basis and kind of stuck. Meg answered that Tom Abbott has apparently set up a “Newspaper Advisory Committee,” but he is not here to verify this
Motion Passes Nem Con
// Procedural Motion to take Points 7 and 8 now as Guy Levin has to leave
2. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
This JCR notes:
1) Charenton Productions' 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead' is taking place at the O'Reilly Studio in 3rd Week of term
2) It is produced and acted in (including our very own JCR VP) by Corpuscles
3) The overall budget is c. £1400 and the breakeven point is c. 25%
4) Last term, loans to Charenton plays (Closer and Quills) made the JCR a profit of c. £130
5) Last time this play was on in Oxford, 3 years ago, it sold out entirely
This JCR believes:
1) That we should support this production
This JCR resolves:
1) To give a pro-rata loan of £300 to the production (this means that if the play makes a profit, we return profits to the JCR, but if it makes a loss, we do not return the full amount)
Proposed: Guy Levin
Seconded: Jonathan Rhodes
Short Factual Questions:
Alex Merry asked about the 25% to break even; isn't this impossible at the OFS? Guy answered that this is a typo – it should read O'Reilly instead (this has been corrected)
Motion passes Nem Con
3. The Audacity of Ideas
This JCR notes:
1) Charenton Productions' 'The Audacity of Ideas' is taking place at the OFS Studio in 3rd Week of term
2) It is directed, produced, marketed, and designed by Corpuscles, and has some Corpus actors too
3) The overall budget is c. £2300 and the break-even point is c. 30%
4) Last term, loans to Charenton plays (Closer and Quills) made the JCR a profit of c. £130
This JCR believes:
1) That we should support this production
This JCR resolves:
1) To give a pro-rata loan of £300 to the production (this means that if the play makes a profit, we return some profits to the JCR, but if it makes a loss, we do not return the full amount)
Proposed: Guy Levin
Seconded: Jonathan Rhodes
Short Factual Questions
- Joe MacDonald wanted to know who wrote it? It's written by Gareth Russell,
Debate:
- Felicity Burch thought it made no sense to give the same Production company money for two plays in the same week, especially when the two are in conflict with each other. Guy answered that lots of plays can sell out – this isn't some kind of “zero-sum game”. Both will sell, hopefully.
- Mark Hamid asked which other colleges had been approached. A wide range, including St. Hugh's and Merton
Move to Vote
In favour: Overwhelming
4. Change to position and election of LGBT Officer (First Reading)
This JCR resolves:
- to amend the JCR Constitution so that the words “the LGBT Officer,” are removed from the list of JCR Committee members in Clause 2 - JCR Committee and Officers, Sub-clause (i).
- to amend the JCR Constitution so that the words “LGBT Officer,” are removed from the list of positions to be elected in Trinity term in Clause 28 - Timing, Sub-clause (ii).
- to amend the JCR Constitution so that the Sub-clause (iii) of Clause 28 – Timing is removed and that the subsequent sub-clauses are re-numbered.
- to amend the JCR Constitution so that the words “(apart from those circumstances outlined by clause 28 (iii) above)” are removed from Clause 30 – Elegibility, Sub-clause (iv).
Proposed: Roz Brown (LGBT Officer)
Seconded: Felicity Burch (Equal Opportunities Officer)
Explanatory notes: This will mean that a new LGBT officer will not be elected at the end of Trinity Term, and the position of LGBT Officer will be removed from the Constitution. Any LGBT equality issues, including liaising with OUSU campaigns, will be moved into the standing orders of the Equal Opps Officer, and to move the welfare responsibility will be moved into the standing orders of the main Welfare Officers.
This is a motion for Constitutional Change, requiring a 2/3 majority at two consecutive meetings, of which only one may be an extraordinary meeting. Any such change will not take effect until after its second passage (according to the JCR Constitution, which can be found at http://www.corpusjcr.org/index.php/Home/JCR_Documents/Constitution/
// Felicity Burch chooses to stand down from seconding – Alex Merry takes her place
// Proposition: Rosalind Brown – this is a pragmatic, not ideological choice – currently, the vast majority of those who elect the LGBT Officer are straight, an unrepresentative situation. The privilege to an LGBT minority (as opposed to any other minorities) is a remainder of Corpus' heritage as a 'gay college'. With new equality, arguably there is no need for this position. But she is more than willing to withdraw this motion if it causes trouble; however, given upcoming Finals, if lasting debate is to go on, it cannot involve her.
Short Factual Questions:
- Nick Hardy asked why Felicity is no longer seconding. She answered that she is in support of the motion, but is not LGB or T and doesn't want to be a hypocrite, citing her reasons for standing up for the position of VP (Women) in OUSU given that it was men who were trying to abolish it.
- Adam Hadley wanted to know whether the Proposers had consulted any of the LGBT Community in Corpus before coming up with this motion? Roz answered that she had consulted Alex Merry, who is very active in organising LGBT activities, but admittedly the consultation had not been especially broad, a mistake – but this is why this meeting is happening.
Debate:
- Mark Peppin commented that a few years ago, individuals tried to take the LGBT position off Committee, in a meeting about three times as busy as this one. A big committee is not necessarily a bad thing, and a concern with making it smaller should not be our primary reasoning.
- Alex Merry added that he was the one who brought the motion, given that there has been an extremely low uptake for the position of LGBT Officer and it has been a real struggle to justify the position. After all, there is no 'Ethnic Minorities' Officer, for example, is there? There is also a major overlap between the positions of Equal Opportunities and LGBT Officers, with the LGBT Officer largely just organising drinks.
- Adam Hadley was concerned about the lack of a viable alternative by the Proposition.
- Mark Hamid proposed bringing this motion again at the next meeting with a viable alternative proposed; the Constitution makes provisions for this and we can always chuck it out then, but at least then it would save us re-electing a position we will soon abolish later this term.
- Joe Macdonald believes that the position of LGBT Officer has almost always been filled, and provisions exist to fill the position even if nobody stands. The position is about meeting needs – there is no, say, 'Ethnic Minorities' Officer because there is no demand – but there is a demand for this. Roz answered this by saying that making it more informal IS meeting needs – this way the position will be filled, but more representatively outside of the JCR.
- Felicity commented that the provisions for LGBT support are guaranteed in the Standing Orders for the Equal Opportunities Officer, but more specific Standing Orders can always be revised. Adam believed that the Equal Opps Officer position specifically refers to “sexuality”
- Adam pointed out that an Equal Opportunities Officer is unlikely to deal with all different Equal Opportunities situations, to which Felicity reminded him that the likelihood of having “a gay black disabled woman” to fill Equal Opportunities is fairly unlikely, and a statistic which she herself does not fill.
- Adam was still aghast at the lack of consultation with the college's LGBT community
// Roz withdrew this motion owing to not having the time to facilitate the debate in the next term, and the lack of significant democratic support with the JCR
5. Amendments to the Constitution (First Reading)
Motion to be taken in parts
This JCR resolves:
- to amend the JCR Constitution so that the words “except for that of JCR Returning Officer” be removed from Clause 30 – Eligibility, Sub-clause (iv). - Defunct (MH)
- to amend the JCR Constitution so that Clause 2 – JCR Committee and Officers, Sub-clause (v) be attached to the end of the preceding sub-clause and that the subsequent sub-clauses be renumbered. - Unnecessarily confusing (MH)
Resolves pass Nem Con
This JCR further resolves:
to amend the JCR Constitution so that the words “, as well as non-committee officers as reasonably deemed appropriate by themselves or the JCR President. The MCR President will be a non-voting member.” be removed from Clause 2 – JCR Committee and Officers, Sub-clause (i) and that the new sentence “Non-committee officers and the MCR President may attend committee meetings, and non-committee officers may be required by the JCR President to do so.” be inserted in their place. Ambiguous. Now less so. (MH)
- to amend the JCR Constitution so that Clause 10 – Officers’ Reports, be replaced with the following clause:
“10 – Officers’ Reports”
“JCR Committee members must make brief verbal reports on their activities at the start of each JCR meeting (in accordance with clause 14 (i) etc.). Non-committee officers should make a verbal report to the 8th week JCR meeting, or submit a written report to the Vice-President if they do not attend, which shall be incorporated into the minutes.” - Verbal reports are pragmatically more likely to get done – this provision is not currently followed. (MH)
Resolves pass Nem Con
This JCR further resolves:
- to amend the JCR Constitution so that the sentence “The policy document must be reviewed in toto (sic.) every five years.” be removed from Clause 4 - Policy Document and Affiliations, Sub-clause (ii) and replaced with the sentences “The date of the meeting at which the section was added shall be recorded. The section must be renewed every three years, otherwise it shall lapse.” - This is wildly vague in the Policy Document. Automatic expiration is preferable. (MH)
Meg – Does somebody need to be appointed to watch policies and bring them or will they be brought individually? Mark answered, this depends on the competency of the Committee members.
Mark Peppin wanted to date Policy Statements. Yes.
Resolve passes Nem Con
- to amend the JCR Constitution so that the sentence “The result of this referendum may be overturned by a 2/3 majority decision at one ordinary JCR meeting.” be removed from Clause 4 - Policy Document and Affiliations, Sub-clause (v) – this gives too much power to the Committee (MH)
- Jonathan Smart reckons we need to stop pandering to people; we need to get them involved with politics instead of doing everything for them!
In favour: 6
Opposed: 6
Abstentions: 15
Resolves fails
- to amend the JCR Constitution so that the words “ shall be purely advisory and not binding on the JCR.” be removed from Clause 6 – Referendums, Sub-clause (ii) and be replaced by the words “shall be binding on the JCR for three terms providing that 50 members of the JCR cast their votes.” // withdrawn
- to hold a referendum on Thursday of 7th week to determine the following question:
This JCR resolves to amend the JCR Constitution so that Clause 7 - Amendments to the Constitution, Standing Orders and Policy Document, Sub Clause (ii) which reads:
“The JCR Constitution (except as in (i)) may be amended or repealed if the same motion for amendment or repeal is passed by a 2/3 majority at two consecutive meetings, of which only one may be an extraordinary meeting. Any such change will not take effect until after its second passage.”
Instead reads:
“The JCR Constitution (except as in (i)) may be amended or repealed if the same motion for amendment or repeal is passed by a 2/3 majority at two consecutive meetings, of which only one may be an extraordinary meeting. Any such change will not take effect until after its second passage. The Returning Officer shall supervise in order to ensure that the integrity of the Constitution be preserved and give a report to the JCR before any Short Factual Questions. A copy of the Constitution and all amendments shall be lodged with the President, the Returning Officer and the Dean by the Vice-President. These copies shall serve as typical editions.”
Debate:
- Mark Peppin pointed out that the whole purpose of the Returning Officer's existence is to scrutinise motions; he has no duty or need to codify the Constitution, as he is the interpreter of it. Why is the RO not being mandated to codify the Constitution?
- Alex Merry argued that it is worthwhile having something within the Constitution which suggests that the RO should be consulted on Constitutional, and allowing some kind of allowance for this pre-meeting.
- Mark Hamid just wanted the Constitution to be able to stand independently and 'take care of itself'
Move to Vote
In favour: 21
Opposed: 6
Resolves passes
This JCR further resolves:
to amend the JCR Constitution so that Clause 8 – Entertainments committee constitution be replaced with the following clause:
“8 – Entertainments Committee Constitution”
- The committee shall have 5 members. The president will be a member of the JCR committee.
- Members of the Entertainments Committee shall be elected by preference voting, using a system of transferable votes. - Voters shall rank up to five candidates in order of precedence. Votes shall be counted for each candidate, with each vote having equal value.
- The precedence among candidates shall be determined by the number of first preference votes they receive. The same shall be the case for the ranking of runners up.
- If a person resigns, a new member will be selected as follows: the post shall first be offered to the runners up, in order of precedence. If these refuse, or if NOTA is reached, any person may be co-opted, subject to the JCR committee’s approval.
- The position of President of the committee shall be offered by the Returning Officer to members of the committee in order of Precedence. Should the President resign, the Returning Officer shall offer it again to the committee, starting with the member with the highest precedence.
- The Entertainments committee shall stay within the financial limits set by the JCR.
Debate:
- Nick Hardy thought that this was a good idea, but the formality loses the sense of an Entz president who is “Primus Inter Pares” (First among equals), and wanted to avoid making it so monolothic as a position. Wasn't sure it was that big of a deal, certainly not big enough to formalise.
Resolves passes Nem Con
Proposed: Mark Hamid, Returning Officer
Seconded: Tom Carlisle, JCR Vice-President
6. Amendments to the Standing Orders
This JCR resolves to amend the JCR Standing Orders so that Standing Order Libraries and Academic Affairs Officer, Duties (v) & (vi) be replaced by the following Duties:
v) ensure, in accordance with the guidelines laid down in coordination with the
Senior Tutor, that all of the subjects agreed by Academic Committee have a
Subject Representative.
Proposed: Mark Hamid, Returning Officer
Seconded: Jonathan Smart, Libraries and Academic Affairs Officer
Motion passes Nem Con
7. Projectors and HD telly
This JCR notes:
- The JCR expressed “its willingness to spend up to £1500 on a projector, screen and brackets subject to confirmation at a motion confirming thing with details at the next JCR meeting” in the last JCR meeting of term
- The proposers of this previous motion have now done the requested research into projectors, security equipment and other relevant information and are here today
This JCR resolves:
To approve the proposals for buying an HD television to be brought by the proposers and presented at this meeting
[further details have not currently been provided for this]
Proposed: Arthur Worsley
Seconded: Mark Peppin
// Motion withdrawn by both Proposer and Seconder. Nobody else wishes to take it up
8. Ball Committee Commemoration
- This JCR resolves, in recognition of the immense amount of work put in by the Ball Committee and the amount of stress they've suffered, to donate £40 £110 towards a dinner or similar so the committee (including those who stepped down after the merge) can celebrate their hard work.
Proposed: Roz Brown
Seconded: Sophie Rees
Short Factual Questions:
- Paul Moody wanted to know how big the Committee was, and whether the money paid for the merged Committee or just the Corpus one. The total number is 21, plus 3 who resigned.
- Jonathan Smart wanted to know if we can give the Ball Committee a round of applause. We can.
Debate
Friendly amendment – change '£40 'to '£110' // upheld
Motion passes Nem Con
9. Student Play
This JCR notes:
- A performance called 'Student Play' is being put on at the BT in 4th week
- Ben Coopman, a Corpuscle, has a major role in this play as one of the three main characters
- The play is expected to break even if running at below capacity, and may generate a small profit
This JCR resolves:
- To give a £100 pro-rata loan to the production company behind 'Student Play' to allow them to hire the venue, to be paid back when the production's final profit is calculated
Proposed: Ben Coopman
Seconded: Tom Carlisle
Short Factual Questions:
- Joe Fallon wanted to know if the loan was pro-rata? Ben answered, no.
- Joe Macdonald wanted to know if it is actually called “Student Play”. It is.
Debate:
Friendly amendment proposed to change £100 loan to £100 pro-rata loan // upheld
Motion passes Nem Con
Meeting closes – next JCR meeting of term is TT08 wk 5