UNIVERSITY OF SUNDERLAND STUDENTS’ UNION

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

A meeting of the Executive Committee was held on Monday 12thSeptember 2016 at 10am in Room 8, The Gateway, City Campus.

Present:Abraham Obinna (President),Daniel Punch (VP Societies & Sports), Harry Chirnside (VP Community & Events), Lina Dobreva (VP Education), Kirsty Paterson (VP Wellbeing & Engagement)

In Attendance:Jason Bridgewater (Students Making Change Officer)

Sandra Tibbo (Activities Programmer)

  1. WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS

Noted:The President as Chair welcomed all members to the next Exec Meeting of the year and thanked JB and ST for attending.

  1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Received:None received

3.MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING

12/03Received:Not all present in the meeting had access to the previous minutes

Agreed: It was agreed that the minutes of 05-09-16 would be addressed at the following meeting.

4.MATTERS ARISING

Noted: The following issues were brought to the attention of the Committee by the President:

a.Freshers Week Programme

The schedule for freshers week has been sent out

ST reports on the variety and number of events and that they’ve pulled out all of the stops. Report to HC and ST if there are any problems.

The Exec went through the freshers week agenda assigning responsibility for various events and halls.

b.SU Space Presentation

AO to give a presentation to Steve Knight, Chief Operating Officer, regarding the need for a Students’ Union building/space on 13/09/16

c.AO/HC to meet with the Afro-Carribean Society to discuss Black History Month.

5. OFFICER REPORTS

President

Noted: AO:

  • Attended a HE festival the previous week
  • Has been invited to work on the University’s external website
  • [JB to look at and either accept the place or re-delegate it to Comms]
  • Library access over summer – AO has been asked to present a paper at the next Exec-Exec Meeting with the University to make a case for greater opening hours. (11th October)
  • Wants to discuss hate crime in the meeting with the PCC
  • Wants to also discuss sexual violence following the protest in Hendon and recent 4 recent reports
  • [HC suggests we should put out a statement regarding sexual violence]
  • Suggests that we should put greater responsibility for tutorials on the shoulders of the departments to make sure that it is a key priority in the year ahead.
  • The free water campaign is progressing such that the library should have it installed soon.
  • The World cap project is progressing with DP and the IoS
  • Exec minutes have gone live on the SU website.

6.VP Education

Noted:LD:

  • Not a lot to say regarding student reps.
  • To have a meeting regarding the Union wanting to install free printing and agree on how to progress this with the University
  • Attended a HE festival the previous week which was informative and had positive outcomes

7.VP Societies & Sports

Noted: DP:

  • Reported that he is having his meeting today with the DVC and Institute of Sport regarding society ownership. He intends to remain totally open and friendly about the topic, talking about it as his passion. He has integrated his proposal into the aims of the university focusing on retention, wellbeing, academic achievement and employability.
  • The project will have 3 possible outcomes
  • We take over the society offer at Sunderland, through a transition period of September – January
  • We are required to work in collaboration with the IoS
  • We offer a concurrent societies offer to the university
  • The first outcome is the ideal outcome

8.VP Community & Events

Noted: HC:

  • Freshers week updates have been covered previously
  • Has a meeting with Andrew Golding on venues in the city – to support student led events in partnership and possible opportunities for sponsorship
  • HC and KP to work on developing events with the intent of creating a financial surplus, such as a pub crawl which can be reinvested into future student groups and events.
  • AO and HC are working with international student groups to develop an events offer which would appeal to these students
  • Soon to be meeting with the T.H.E department to discuss events which the Union will be working with them to run this year.
  • Further discussions around the Project Society and finalising induction meetings
  • Working to develop volunteering incentive offer of the Union.

9.VP Wellbeing & Engagement

Noted: KP:

  • GP Update – KP has gotten the registration up on the Students’ Union website which direct them to their nearest GP for online registration.
  • KP to work with EF and the University in order to develop a registration system for students for the next academic year.
  • Speaking with SparkFM regarding graduation tax slots for the campaign
  • Doing an SWOT analysis of the competitors for a student magazine
  • Skyped in to the Union Web Development strategy meeting due to trains being cancelled.

10.STAFF REPORTS

Noted:No report was received.

11.ANY OTHER BUSINESS:

Noted:

No notes.

12.DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING:

Tentatively: 10am 19th September 2016, Room 8 but may change due to freshers week.

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