Nottingham Trent Students’ Union
Minutes of the ANNUAL MEETING
Held on Tuesday 6thMay 2014
Attendees
Jo Southwell-Sander (JSS) / PresidentLibby Farrier-Williams / Vice President Education & Representation
Marcus Boswell (MB) / Vice President Services & Communication
Patrick Atkinson / Vice President Sports
Katie Wright / Vice President Welfare & Community
Faisal Aziz Chikte / Postgraduate Students' Officer
Jem Lawal (JL) / BME Students' Officer
Laurynas Potiokinas / International Students' Officer
Ben King / LGBT Officer
Steve Ebeling / Mature Students' Officer
Lucy Orbell / Women's Officer
ID numbers
Apologies
Lucy Orbell, Women Students’ Officer
Accepting the agenda
Procedural Motion 12 – JB – proposes statements section at the end where people can make points which they think the Union should listen to and which should be debated in future meetings.
For- 75
Against- 2
Abstain- 12
Declarations
None
Appointment of a Vice-Chair
Jed Buxton- 55
Gavin Verity-Jones –33
Minutes and matters arising from previous Union Meeting
Accepted
Financial accounts of the Union for the forthcoming financial year
There has been an increase in the Union’s block grant,we are looking to gain £1.625million (yet to be approved). NTSU is putting more towards societies and Student Advice. Balance sheet was reviewed. NTSU forecasted to come slightly under on budget in trading. Reminder that everything the Union makes is put back into the Union. Although Union came in less than predicted, we managed to stay afloat due to Freshers Week success. NTSU had contingencies in place in case the building was not ready in time.
Vote to accept accounts .
FOR: 89
AGAINST: 0
ABSTAIN: 5
Vote passed
Appointment of the auditors of the Union for the forthcoming financial year (to note)
Vote to accept auditors .
FOR: 90
AGAINST: 0
ABSTAIN: 4
Vote passed
Union affiliations: NUS (to note)
Vote to continue NUS affiliation.
FOR: 89
AGAINST: 0
ABSTAIN: 2
Vote passed
Officer Trustee Reports
JSS- Has been focusing on elections and relationship building with the council and local MPs. Planting seeds for how powerful students can be when engaged with in local elections. JSS has been working with UoN to make sure there is a positive message about students. An employment agency run by NTSU is in development,elements have changed however NTSU is still aiming to achieve this but not sure in exactly what form. Next focus for JSS is improving handover to give new officers and opportunity to look at all information available to them, and have nice continuation. JSS also talking with university about implications of marking boycott and how can we minimise the impact. Other issues being worked on are the development of Hall Committees and provision of lighting at Brackenhurst.
Q – When is the employment agency opening?
JSS – aiming for September start but depends on what package we offer.
Q- RE marking boycott, why was SU’s position not communicated to all students?
JSS – NTSU communicate with 26000 students, the issue we ran by promoting it is that students would feel like they were at huge risk. Our position was to minimise the impact and not panic people.
Q – was it not important that students realise the long-term impact, and the devaluation of their degree?
JSS – As and Exec team, we needed to decide what we were going to spend more time on that would have most impact. Did not want to cause worry and concern when it could be avoided.
Harry – three universities had referendums on whether to support the marking boycott, why didn’t we?
JSS – we have more people engaging with issues about ocean tickets than marking boycotts, we are mandated by what our members are worried by.
Harry – if anything that increases the mandate that you should inform students better, student heard you refused to publicise a meeting…
JSS – we knew there were negotiations going on so there is a chance there would be less of an impact…
Q – in future years are you planning to give more information about these sorts of situations?
JSS – yes as we have learnt from this situation. We are learning that Trent are getting more political, for example you are holding me to account here, and now incoming officers know they can do more of the informing.
Q – what is your stance on working with political parties as you have been talking about working with local MPs?
JSS – we do not engage with a political party as we like to have a balanced view, we will talk to MPs about making change more than their political stance.
Kristen – would consider in the future having things in place that would educate students more about politic and things NUS are doing etc.?
JSS – this is a really valid point, we took officers to NUS conference who became really engaged, but we find it difficult to engage overall.
Libby Farrier-Williams (JSS taking in her place)
There is an increased number of Course Reps and a Course Rep guide & newsletter have been created. We are piloting running elections for the School of Education. LFW also introduced Feedback Week across all campuses. Working on a revised Assessment Policy on how staff can improve their regularity and make their feedback clearer. Also had input on the HEAR project to accredit students extra curricular activites and volunteering.
Q – why was an apology of absence not given, are there any more people not here?
JSS – We have two today, Libby Farrier-Williams & LizMcCluskey.
Marcus Boswell
There are three things on screen that you might not know. NTSU had a great Freshers Week with a large number of stakeholders such as UPP, Police etc. Give It A Go Week, is the rebranded version of Refreshers Week to make it more accessible.It did not take off like we wanted to, but we have gone back and looked at how we could promote it better in the future.NTSU have seen many live acts e.g. TinieTempah, Greg James, which has been a great success for the building as a venue. It has increased our reputation for Grad Ball and in the artists that we have you will see the difference between out Union and others in the country. Also held a Grad Ball survey for which we had many responses and will be taking all feedback on for the future.
Deputy Head Fresher Reps were introduced this year, designed to take pressure of Head Reps in Freshers Week. We had many first years and Hall Committee members applying for Deputy Rep position so hopefully next year they will have enough experience to be a Head Rep.
Event called Audition was held, this was an opportunity for DJs to play at NTSU events, and some students now have a permanent slot at First Base and are involved in Last Day of Term. DJs used to be paid but we are now giving opportunities to students.
NTU has a giant Communications team, we only have a few and less of a reach, so University always tends to take credit for our big events. NTSU has set up a social media meeting between the two. This stemmed from issues with TinieTempah. Now when we do events NTU are on board with promoting it as an NTSU event.
Jed – Asking as individual not as Vice Chair, had lots in President section about communication with the students RE marking boycott, as VP Services and Communications this year, do you think you made any bad decision and what would you tell the incoming officer?
MB- while the title has Communications in it, I am not the person writing all the communication. My job is to have a strategic view of the area.
Jed- NUS passed a joint operation with trade unions, is there a specific strategy you feel we could put into place next year as President to impact this issue, and make sure decisions aren’t being made in meeting rooms?
MB- make use of Emergency Meetings, and approach the necessary political societies. In these situations calling another meeting would be the most democratic way of doing it.
Katie Wright
Mental Health was a priority on my manifesto and Mental Health Awareness week isnext week so a video campaign will be released then. We received 241 responses to the Mental Health survey and the report is currently being written. This should be complete at the end of next week. Also held a Netball Tournament in aid of charity. KW potentially looking into Welfare Reps for sports clubs.KW worked to recruit Hall Committees with interviews similar to Fresher Reps. Tried to build volunteering week but it was not as successful as hoped. Worked with University to collect leftover food in halls to be donated to foodbanks. Currently working on the Take 5 campaign.
Harry – what support networks are you engaging for students who are using foodbanks?
KW – think doing the collection starts to promote where students can go, and that these resources are there. It is a good start for where we can go in the future.
Q-with the mental health campaign, students find it very difficult to contact counselling service and it took long time to get appointment, is anything being done to speed this up?
KW – at certain times of the year it does get busy. The service lost space to Santander so are looking to stabilise space.
Q- counselling service was badly advertised, anything being done about the promotion of it?
KW – we are promoting it alongside Take 5 and Mental Health campaign where you can follow links from the website. KW will look into getting website up to scratch in third term.
Q- regarding welfare in committees, how would you plan to put this into action? Also that is quite a lot of pressure for one person in a committee, how would you support this person?
KW – by giving contacts for who they can direct people to.Nightline are happy to provide same training as they do for their telephone operators.
Paddy Atkinson
Record breaking attendance at Varsity this year with a massive amount raised for charity. Table Tennis was introduced as a new tournament. Football varsity is happening next Monday. PA looking to bring back the Varsity season ticket next year.A Memorandum of Understanding between SU and Sports has been created, looking at representing students and running campaigns and for them to take a more operational approach in some events. Sports Ball made a pretty substantial loss financially, which we are looking to improve next year.PA also planning to make committee training more interactive.
Q- why isn’t Pub Sports recognised as a Sports Club?
PA- There are pros and cons with being a sports team or society, with being a sports club you have to pay for a sport and lifestyle subscription.
Q- they are not recognised but bring in substantial crowd for Varsity?
PA- clarified question was about not being recognised as Varsity sport not as sports club. Joint steering group has been created with UoN, there have been behavioural issues associated with Varsity so UoNare not keen to have it as part of official programme. PA has been relected so is looking to work with UoN VP Sports to have document created about what you have to do to become an official varsity sport.
Q – are there any specifics on how you plan to promote Carsity? There is no clear difference in games and a lot of teams disappointed by turnout.
PA- it would be a quick win to bring back the season ticket.
KG – in defence of Paddy, it was the decision of the people who started it to
Point of clarification, decision whether to be sports or soc comes from VP Sport, VP Acts etc.
Q- why are sports & lifestyle fees going up? This is not fair to students, cannot get engaged in these activities.
PA – University get a limited grant to run teams and services, there is a commercial side to what they do.
Procedural Motion – to remove person from the floor
For – MB – KW is constantly speaking in my ear and I cannot hear the questions.
Against – KW apologised
Procedural Motion 15 – request for a secret ballot FALLS
For:8
Against:41
Abstain:34
Procedural Motion 9 – Vote Of No Confidence
For – KG – everyone wants to go home, the chair should know there should not be so many unnecessary procedures and should not accept them
Against – JSS – Democracy is my heart, democracy is my soul, I love Trent, I have been here for 6 years, I would love to democratically chair this meeting so please keep your faith in me. Don’t make me leave.
For:17
Against: 55
Abstains: 15
Q- I feel it is not fair to pay for sports membership of any kind. Tuition fees are going up every year, and feel VP Sports has a duty to get more money from the University.
PA – can lobby university for money, but not sure they will listen to the argument that people do not want to pay membership if they are doing so this year.
Q- is there a way for societies to compete against each other as part of Varsity?
PA- have spoken to VP Activities regarding this, Varsity is collaborative group with UoN so it is up to us to persuade them to do this.
Q- women’s varsity does not attract as many people as men’s, do you have a way you can work with women’s sports to engage people to come to these?
PA- there havealways been women’s fixtures first so this has come at a non-accessible time. One of the proposals is to alternate timings every other year, again that is down to collaborative discussion. PA proposes having sub-event committees so sports committees would be more involved.
Liz McCluskey (JSS in her place)
Societies held most Freshers week events this year. LM implemented weekly societies training sessions all year around to ensure everyone received information. Massive society events have been held in the SU e.g. GHGH. Focus is on RAG week and a planned Volunteering restructure.
Vote to accept reports.
FOR: 77
AGAINST: 0
ABSTAIN: 1
Vote passed.
Changes to the Democratic Processes Document (DPD) (to note)
Accepted
Vote to .
FOR:
AGAINST:
ABSTAIN:
Vote
Big Ideas
A: To move to electronic voting for Union Meetings
For – Harry – limits peer pressure as it is anonymous and gets more opinions by involving those who cannot attend.
Against – Kristen – presumably on phones which wouldn’t always work and could cause more fuss. In terms of people being swayed, that’s why you can put in a PM for a secret ballot. Think electronic voting could slow down voting if it stops working.
For – Ben –if you’re in Brack getting here would be an enormous struggle, if we lower the barrier to getting people here we could get more people engaged.
Against – Kristen –is it really necessary to spend the costs you would need to implement that if we just only hit quoracy? For people to vote remotely we would need to look into these meetings being broadcast which they are not currently.
Vote to move to electronic voting.
FOR: 19
AGAINST: 46
ABSTAIN: 8
Vote falls.
Statements
Kristen Guthrie – The Procedural Motions were a bit of a laugh, but it just shows that if there are topics that are brought up that you feel passionate about, its good to know you can put in these PMs, VONC etc. It’s a shame if no one is really participating otherwise decisions do fall to only a few people, then you complain but it is your fault you did not participate to begin with.
Harry White- regarding the marking boycott, people are not engaged in politics, this is why the SU needed to promote the marking boycott. HW believes this is draconian VC we have, paid many times more than the PM. HW believes the SU are not willing to stand up against the VC and they should be more representative.
JSS – Fantastic that we have had procedural motions and been able to show how interesting democracy can be. SU should be held to account by students not VC as Harry said. NTU has a new VC and new strategic plan incoming. JSS hopes next year’s officers can do you justice. Please keep asking us questions.
Kes – outgoing PoliticssocPres – think SU this year has not done it’s upmost particularly in terms of 3rd year grievances e.g. marking boycott and graduations. There still needs to be a lot of support for the SU in order for it to work as hard as it can for the benefit of the students.
JedBuxton–NUS conference saw a lot of radical unions who have lost the trust of their universities. Theses unions are not able to make change as they are protesting every second of their time. That’s not what we’re about at NTSU, we are about working with the university to make little changes to chip away. Think point will come when University will want to take more from Union than they have given, think Union should have a strategy to deal with this.
Statement from International Officer Candidate – read by JSS
Rina – aims to make a memorable university experience for all international students. Coming to a different country from the one you have grown up is a considerable investment of time and money. RT firstly would like to improve awareness of available services.