Minutes of the Activities Council 2/11/2017 (Subject to formal approval)
Chairing the meeting: Mike Mayes
Officers Present:Ahtesham Mahmood (AM), Mollie Footitt (MF), Derrick Mensah (DM), Jessica Okwuonu, Mike Mayes (MM)
Part time reps:Sarah Burdett (SB), Demi Rixon (DR), Kelly Davies (KD)
Staff: Samuel Hilton, Jonny Whitney,Dave Whitlock (DW) (minute taker)
- Apologies
No apologies were received
- Election of the Chair
The Chair of the Council welcomed everyone to the first Council of the year and gave the overview of what would be covered in the council and encouraged members to activate the Polleverywhere voting application on their phones.
The Chair then explained what the Chair of Council role entails and called for nominations from the room, to which two candidates nominated themselves:
Lauren Thomas (Candidate 1)
Cameron Clarke (Candidate 2)
Each candidate gave a 30 second speech and then left the room whilst voting took place.
The results were as follows:
Candidate 1 – 75%
Candidate 2 – 25%
Therefore Lauren Thomas was duly elected the Chair of Activities Council for the Academic Year of 17/18.
- Questions to the Room
The first Question proposed to the room was ‘What do you count as a win’. The responses summarised were as follows:
-Lots more support on ensuring student voice is heard
-More global opportunities
-More diversity within the University
-Positive Change for students
The second question was ‘Do you have classes on Wednesday afternoons? (UG)’ The responses were as follows:
Yes: 37%
Sometimes: 0%
No: 63%
The Chair invited discussion from the room on what lectures these were. The room fed back that these were:
-Forensic Science: 9am– 6pm
-Dance: 2pm – 4pm
-Law: Those that have to do a legal advice clinic as part of their course
The DP Education and President offered to follow these courses up and see why they were not committing to the Universities Policy.
Action: President and DP Education to contact the courses respectively on Wednesday afternoons.
The third question asked was: ‘Do you have classes on Wednesday afternoons?’ The responses were as follows:
Yes: 67%
Sometimes: 0%
No: 33%
The fourth question was: ‘Should International Students pay the same tuition fee as UK and EU Students?’ The responses were as follows:
Yes: 46%
No: 27%
I don’t know: 27%
The fifth question was: ‘Are sustainability/green issues something the Union should push forward as an agenda to lobby on and would you be involved?’ The answers were as follows:
Yes and be involved: 63%
Yes but no involvement: 33%
No: 4%
The sixth question was: The DSU Trustee board exist to help shape the strategic direction of the union, ensuring the union meets the needs of all of its members. Should this board be chaired by the Students' Union President/ External Trustee / President (Chair) + External trustee (Deputy chair). The responses were as follows:
DSU President: 26%
External Trustee: 15%
DSU President (Chair) and External Trustee (Deputy): 59%
- Policy
The first lapsing policy was tabled by the VP Student Activities titled: ‘Activities Disciplinary Process for Misbehaviour’
The VP Student Activities explained that the current policy bans students from everything if they have one misdirection, which he felt was harsh. So had reworded the policy to ensure that students undergo a full disciplinary process.
There was a vote on the Policy and the results were:
For: 81%.
Against: 15%
Abstain: 4%
Therefore the Policy passed
The second policy was tabled by the DP Education titled: ‘Be Your Best at NUS’:
The policy outline was in regards to behaviour at NUS Conference and how there had been a lack of responsibility in the past by delegates and this policy was to enforce rules so it would be taken more seriously by those attending.
There were concerns raised by the Council on the point of students running directly in contrary to DSU Policy and how they are not effective representatives if they have to vote the way the Union tells them to. The DP Education explained that this was already in policy but could be removed and amended.
The council agreed on the amendment and therefore the line ‘Voting against adopted DSU policy unless otherwise stated in election manifesto’;was to be removed.
Another query was raised to point 13 of the policy which refers to NUS delegates prioritising attending conference over campaigning for NUS election and why this was needed. The DP Education clarified that this was to ensure delegates represented the Union they were attending for first and foremost. This was decided to be kept in the policy.
Another amendment was proposed in that ‘Being under the influence of intoxicating substances while on conference floor’ be moved from a minor offence to a major offence. This was accepted by the DP Education.
A vote to the policy with amendments went forward and the results were as follows:
For: 92%
Against: 4%
Abstain: 4%
Therefore the Policy passed.
The Third Policy was tabled by the BME Officer titled: ‘BAME Policy’
The policy outlined that the role of the Officer should be changed to BAME to be more in line with the University’s terminology and change the language the Union uses more generally.
The policy went to vote as the results were as follows:
For: 79%
Against: 4%
Abstain: 17%
Therefore the Policy passed.
- Lapsing Policy
The Chair explained that in an effort to clean up the Policy file the Executive had highlighted policies that were redundant or no longer relevant so were presenting recommendations for the policies to lapse or rewritten policies.
The first lapsing Policy was tabled by the VP Media and Communications titled: Communications Policy.
The VP Media and Communications said the reasoning for this policy to be lapsed was because it was already in the role’s job description and these were already things which the Union did anyway within the marketing team.
There were no questions and the policy went to vote, with the results as follows:
For Lapsing: 83%
Against Lapsing: 4%
Abstain: 13%
Therefore the policy was lapsed.
The second lapsing Policy was tabled by the VP Student Activities and titled ‘Walkover Policy for Sports Clubs’
The VP Student Activities explained the reasoning for lapsing this Policy was that since Sport had moved over to the University the Union had no control over this anymore so was redundant.
There were questions raised by Boxing as to how they are going to encourage students to participate in matches without the walkover policy. The VP Student Activities again reiterated that this issue would be taken up with DMUSport as they have the power now not the Union.
The policy went to vote and the results were as follows:
For lapsing: 92%
Against lapsing: 4%
Abstain: 4%
Therefore the policy was lapsed.
- Officer Scrutiny
President:
The Presidents video was played and questions were then taken from the floor.
-A couple of members has questions about DMU Global and the possibility of more course specific trips such as History and those for PhD students. The Chair expressed that this was a conversation for outside the room as Global trips were DMU owned.
-There was a further question about the role the President had in the library redevelopments. The President explained that he sat in the meetings in regards to the library and would be consulting with students in the near future and the Vice Chancellor will also be releasing plans soon.
-The Disability Representative asked a question in regards to accessibility in the library the President said he would speak to the Disability Team and consult with them.
Action: President to consult with students and the Disability Team on library changes.
Deputy President Education
The Deputy President’s video was played and then questions were taken from the floor.
-There was a question from the members about being a Course Rep for the previous year but was still being contacted. The DP Education explained that we had moved to a new system and were still sorting out the issues, but it will be corrected in the near future.
-There was a further question from a course rep explaining that they did not know what was involved in their role. The DP Education said that Course Rep Training was taking place on the week of the 20th November and will be Faculty specific.
Vice President Student Activities
The Vice President Student Activities video was played and then questions were taken from the floor.
-There was a question about banning society members from socials who do not train and whether this was possible. The VP Student Activities explained that this is why social membership exists and as a rule the Union cannot ban someone from a social because of non-attendance to training.
-There was a question on DMU Sport and their efficiency in the recent news of cheerleading losing lots of their funding due to being a non-BUCS sport and what the VP was doing to lobby them. The VP Student Activities explained that the University was prioritising BUCS sport but was willing to work with the society to make a business case for a minibus that sports clubs could use.
-Another member said that cheerleading was not the only sport and that the VP Student Activities had not been prioritizing sport this year and that clubs who pay the membership fee should receive some benefit. The VP Student Activities clarified that he was willing to work with the clubs but they should come to the Chairs meetings and raise these concerns outside the room.
-The Disability Rep raised a question on what was being done to encourage more disabled students in sport. The VP Student Activities responded by asking what the Disability Rep was doing, but would work with her to look at options for the future.
-There was also a question from the Law Society Chair on support for getting this group to Law Fairs across the country. The VP Student Activities mentioned again the possibility of a mini bus and using the Development fund.
Vice President Welfare and Community
The Vice President Welfare and Community video was played and then questions were taken from the floor.
-Praise was given to the VP Welfare and Community for the work she had done so far this year.
-There was a question on Health and Safety training for societies, the VP Welfare and Community responded explaining this was an Activities issue and to raise it with the relevant VP
-There was an announcement by the Chair that the VP Welfare and Community had recently been elected to the National Union of Students’ NEC Committee.
-The cocktail society expressed interest in undergoing drink aware training, the VP Welfare and Community said she would chase that up.
Action: VP Welfare and Community to look into Drink Aware training for the cocktail society.
Vice President Media and Communications
The Chair stood down at this point and the President took over.
The Vice President Media and Communications video was played and then questions were taken from the floor.
-There was praise on the cheaper printing win by the Officer
-A question was raised as to confusion for the printing structure. The VP Media and Communications said that the University will be sending out internal communications and top up stations will be available around campus.
The VP Media and Communications replaced the President as Chair
Postgraduate Representative
The Postgraduate Representative explained they had recently been to Nottingham to learn what PG Officers do, as well as Keele’s. She had also worked with the Mature Student’s Officer on the cake walk which had 45 sign ups with feedback taken to staff. A big win was that 52 week tenancies were also available at SULets now.
Women’s Representative
The Women’s Representative made Council aware that free sanitary products were available from the Students’ Union and is going to look into availability in the Vijay Patel building and Hugh Aston in the new year. They also spoke about This Girl Can which was taking place on the week of the 20th November and is also considering running a Women in Leadership Conference.
Disabled Students Representative
The Disabled Students Representative explained she had been speaking to disabled students about discrimination and accessibility issues and is planning on running an invisible disabilities week in January. The Representative is also planning to host a movie night in the next couple of weeks.
- Any Other Business
It was proposed that the Returning Officer of the March elections to be changed from NUS to Leicester University Students’ Union. This was because it was felt there should be more connection with the Returning Officer throughout the election rather than having someone offsite.
There was a question raised on fairness for non-Full Time Officers rerunning, it was explained by the Chair that this was not a relevant question but new purdah rules were coming into force to alleviate this concern.
The change was then taken to vote and the results were as follows:
For: 100%
Against: 0%
Abstain: 0%
Therefore the change in Returning Officer was approved.
Complaints Bye-law
The President tabled a bye-law change to the complaints bye-law but due to procedural rules the bye-law has to be presented in writing and notice of the meeting to allow others to see the changes. It was therefore decided to be tabled at the next council.
Question Time Debate
The Chair made the Council aware of a Question Time debate concerning issues of funding in higher education and the impact of Brexit taking place on the 10th November with high profile names such as AmateyDoku, the Deputy VC and the assistant City
- Ratification of Minutes
Action List:
President and DP Education to contact the courses respectively on Wednesday afternoons.
President to consult with students and the Disability Team on library changes.
VP Welfare and Community to look into Drink Aware training for the cocktail society.