ST. GEORGE’S STUDENTS’ UNION ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 15/06/15
ST. GEORGE’S STUDENTS’ UNION
ANNUAL
GENERAL MEETING
15th June 2015
AGENDA
* * *
1. Ratification of minutes from the previous AGM (2013-14)
2. Accounts of the Union for the financial year 2013-14 (PAPER A)
3. Appointment of the auditors (PAPER A)
4. Report of the Trustees on the Union's activities
5. End of Year Reports from the Executive
6. Financial Improvement Plan
7. Approval of the list of affiliations of the Union (PAPER A)
8. Amendments to the constitution of SGSU (PAPER B)
9. AOB
10. Ratification and Closure
PART 1: MINUTES FROM AGM 2014
ST. GEORGE’S STUDENTS’ UNION
MINUTES
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
15th May 2014 MONKTON LECTURE THEATRE
1. BUSINESS
1.1. Quorum achieved: 65
1.2. Apologies:
Naim Slim
Henry Gray Society
Gender Equality Society
1.3. Minutes 2012-13: PASSED BY SIMPLE MAJORITY WITH AMENDMENTS
2. REPORT FROM THE TRUSTEE BOARD
The report from the Trustee Board was circulated to the ordinary members, questions posed as follows:
Adam Jones asked who the other trustee is? Madeline Mackeand stated that it was her.
Georgina Chamberlain asked what headway they have made with sports facilities? Tom Arjomandi stated that they were looking at the Springfield ground as it is up for tender in a few years therefore they will be looking to use it as a home ground. He also stated that when Cobham as sold a million pounds was made by the University therefore this money has been ear-marked for future sport facility development.
3. OPEN QUESTIONS TO THE TRUSTEES
The following questions were posed to the Trustees in their absence:
REPORT PASSED
For: 59
Against: 0
Abstain: 1
4. END OF YEAR REPORTS FROM THE EXECUTIVE
End of year reports from each member/team of the Executive were circulated to ordinary members in turn. Questions as follows:
4.1. PRESIDENT: Mohamed Amer
· Steven Gilbert what plans do you have for the SU Office regarding the big project. Mohamed Amer stated that he sees the place as a quieter space that would resemble more of an office that would discourage individuals from sitting around. Mohamed Amer stated that he sees it as being more open plan with an office for Education and Welfare.
· Adam Jones asked if he could comment on the criminal damage that occurred at WW8? Mohamed Amer stated that they had to battle quite hard for a pub not to take the matter to the police. He stated that traditions within the families have caused issues to come up and perhaps an email should be sent out prior to the event to stop this from happening as this event will not happen in the future if it continues this way.
· Yan Leung stated that in his manifesto he mention brothers and sisters but the event itself had a low turnout. Mohamed Amer stated that he believed that the idea is good, and the ethos is to encourage people to integrate. One of the issues was that the event was held at the end of the week therefore Fresher’s were reluctant to attend.
· Dheemal Patel asked what was happening with the rebranding of St. Georges. Mohamed Amer stated that this has been put on hold as there was a lot of resistance from both staff and students.
· Ryan Salisbury asked if the rebranding has been taken off the table or if will be occurring in the future. Mohammed Amer stated that they had done the ground work for The rebranding but it has been ‘shelved’ due to the resistance.
· Sam De Neijs asked what the current situation is with the addition of new ablutions facility to the multi-faith room. Mohamed Amer stated that there have been issues regarding Fresher’s not knowing the correct etiquette. He also stated that this refurbishment needed to be confirmed by the higher ups who are resistant to this as they believe it might create a sense of ownership over the room towards one faith. There is also the issue of finding space and money.
REPORT PASSED BY SIMPLE MAJORITY
4.2. VICE-PRESIDENT (EDUCATION & WELFARE): Yan Leung
· Mohamed Amer stated that wellbeing week was a success this year and asked how this can be continued in the future. Yan Leung stated that pet therapy was very popular and it would be good to bring new ideas in every year.
· Adam Jones stated that it is mentioned in the report that they were looking at setting up a notice board between Kingston and George’s and asked if they were looking at a more technological joint faculty? Yan Leung stated that they are looking at a physical as Kingston are quite bad at replying to our SU and there is also a problem with IT as they currently do not get all the all student emails.
· Ruben Thumbadoo asked for clarification regarding the honour degree. Yan Leung stated that even though our students have higher entry requirements they are not achieving high grades in their degree. Therefore the university are looking at changing the weighting for certain degrees depending on the amount of teaching they receive. Yan Leung stated that there is currently a blanket rule declaring that if they are 1% below the grade line then they are automatically given the higher grade.
· Nicole Doonan asked if this was in place for all course. Yan Leung stated that this was the case apart for all degrees apart from the Medicine degrees.
· Yan Leung stated that in her report it was written that there is library refurbishment that was to occur this summer but this is no longer going to happen as the university cannot afford it. Therefore there will not be 24 hour access to the library. She stated that the space was meant to a flexible group study space.
· Matthew Farrant asked if there was reason that we cannot get 24 hour access to the base rooms. Yan Leung stated that currently they do not have enough money for security or for security cameras.
· Ryan Salisbury asked why the library refurbishment has been turned down. Yan Leung stated that at the beginning of the year they were given £500,000 but last Tuesday it was decided to decline the project as the university did not get the money ear marked from HEFCE therefore they needed to cut the money.
· Sam de Neijs asked how it would be possible to advertise the Welfare services as the beginning of the year? Yan Leung stated that it is mainly self -referral therefore it is hard to encourage people to partake but they have a talk at the beginning of the year to inform them of the services.
REPORT PASSED BY SIMPLE MAJORITY
4.3. VICE-PRESIDENT (FINANCE & STUDENT ACTIVITIES): Tom Arjomandi
· Chantell Umadia asked why the transition to Barclays occurred? Tom Arjomandi stated that this was due to university changing their banking system and as we are a subset of their account we had to transition too.
· Simi Akinwale asked if the £70 budget would continue on in the future? Tom Arjomandi stated that he has every intention to keep this going.
· Andrew Mott asked if the subvention grant from the university was increasing with inflation? Tom Arjomandi stated that the grant has remained static for the past 8 years, he also stated that SU will have to fight to keep the grant the same.
· Andrew Mott asked how many more students the SU has had to cater to in the recent years? Tom Arjomandi stated that he does not currently know but it true that the students we are catering to have gone up but the grant has remained stable. Yan Leung stated that there will be increasing numbers of student in the coming years as the international cap will be abolished.
· Charles Horn asked if the online minibus system will be set up this year or the year after? Tom Arjomandi stated that this was unlikely to be done this year but he has been looking into doing it but has not had time to set up the online system.
· Yan Leung asked how Tom Arjomandi sees his job progressing into the activities side as the SU will be moving to Agresso and therefore invoices would be done by the finance department of the University? Tom Arjomandi stated that his job will be more related to societies therefore he will be looking at budgets and society expenditures. Tom Arjomandi stated that this will have pros and cons related to societies therefore they will be less lenient on last minute payments
· Maeve Toner asked if it would be possible to give the SU bank account details to the treasurer of societies so that they would not need to come in. Tom Arjomandi stated that this would not be possible as these details are confidential, especially with the financing system downstairs.
· Tom Arjomandi stated that any company and charity accounts have to be zeroed, this allows one to see the losses and the gains. Tom Arjomandi stated that this means that any subs left in the accounts gets re-absorbed back into the SU. Tom Arjomandi stated that the subs fees are for the society but also for the SU therefore it pays for the background needs. Tom Arjomandi also stated that as we are a charity, we cannot have constituents of the charity making money. Tom Arjomandi also stated that if the money was ear marked for something in particular then it can be rolled over into the next year.
· Andrew Salmon asked for clarification regarding the VAT? Tom Arjomandi stated that VAT cannot be claimed back as in the past we have been claiming it back illegally. He stated that legally a business can claim back VAT but a charity cannot.
REPORT PASSED BY SIMPLE MAJORITY
4.4. GENERAL SECRETARY: Anjalie Rajapakse
· Georgina Chamberlain asks what is the thing you are most proud of? Anjalie Rajapakse says she is most proud of the website changes and that she can now write code.
· Corey Biffa asks how do you plan on handing over to the next General
· Secretary? Anjalie Rajapakse says she has already started a handover document but the main thing is that there will be now be a Webmaster position
· Mohamed Amer: You definitely went above and beyond your role, do you think the next officer should do the same? Anjalie Rajapakse stated that she wouldn’t put a campaign on that’s below par and that if she didn’t contribute then the week’s wouldn’t have been as good. But she does recognised that she needs to be stricter with the officers
· Eshan Ashcroft: How has it been balancing General Secretary and T Year? Anjalie Rajapakse says she has found it very difficult and at times may have put the SU above her academic work.
· Jordan Colman: What code are you using? Anjalie Rajapakse states that it is CSS and HTML5
REPORT PASSED BY SIMPLE MAJORITY
4.5. EVENTS OFFICERS: Kirsten Shoemaker, Kat Telford, Jack Grierson and Steven Gilbert
· Lucy O’Reilly asked what happened with the traffic light disco and how we could prevent this from happening in the future. Kirsten Shoemaker stated that they did not want to have this disco as they was very little uptake.
· Ester Breij asked in what terms their events were a success. Kirsten Shoemaker stated that this is based on event turn out and the lack of making a monetary loss.
· Georgina Chamberlain asked what happened after the events shake up meeting and what they would pass onto the next year? Kirsten Shoemaker stated that it was a re-structuring between President, the officers and the events Officers. Kirsten Shoemaker stated that from then on it has been better. Steven Gilbert stated that there has been restructuring within the group so that people are designated with certain roles.
· Ruth Varney asked if letterbox flyering was useful? Kirsten Shoemaker stated that they have had many complaints that too much of their advertising is on facebook hence why this was done.
· Adam Jones asked what the WKD forms mishap was? Steven Gilbert stated that this was completely his fault as he did not pick up the forms at the end of the event. Therefore he had to forge many forms.
· Adam Jones stated that this year’s family quiz events was poorly attended. Kirsten Shoemaker stated that on this night in particular families had promised to come to the events but they did not attend.
· Aaron O’Callaghan asked why the event organised by them was so poorly attended during RAG week. Steven Gilbert stated that it was because there was uncertainty between charities and events as to whom he event belonged to.
· Luke Alexander asked if there was a theme throughout as to why the events were poorly attended? Kirsten Shoemaker stated that apart from Post Graduate freshers and a couple of small events there has been nothing that has flopped
· Ryan Salisbury asked if they have considered using the Year Reps and creating groups of the heads of families so it can get the message further? Kirsten Shoemaker stated that this is relying on people to do the job where they sometimes they do not. KS stated that one of the mediums of media that people respond to is Facebook.
· Reuben Thumbadoo stated they mentioned the Tram and that they have more money but they charge more for drinks, therefore what it is reason for people going to the tram instead of the bar? Kirsten Shoemaker stated that part of it because people get so used to the Bar and being in this building therefore they go out for a change.