Minutes of the Students Council Meeting Held on Tuesday 12Th September 2014 at 2Pm in Ct101

MINUTES OF THE STUDENTS’ COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON TUESDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER 2014 AT 2PM IN CT101

Present

Mark Lee (Student’s Council Chair)

Lee Mac (President)

Lucy Haigh (Campaigns Officer)

Josie Linsel (Activities and Participation Officer)

Stevie Seymour (Education Officer)

Matt Murphy (Media Officer) –left early

Emili Peake (Women’s Rep)

John Meghen (Representative of Disabled Students)

Pam Jat (Black and Minority Ethnic Rep) –left early

Vincent Utchay (International Rep) – late

Sana Iqbal (Open Council)

Rachelle Cohen (Open Council)

Theodore James (School President of Art, Deign and Performance)

Jade Cannon (School President of Lancashire Business School) [JC] –left early

Abbie Bartlett (School President of Education and Social Science)

Jo Schumacher (School President of Lancashire Law School) –left early

Giulia Canigiani (School President of Languages, Literature and International Studies)

Ali Miah (School President of Pharmacy)

Carolina de Almeida (School President of Psychology)

In Attendance

Gareth Pye (Membership Services Manager)

Jennifer Colley (Union Researcher and Minute Taker) [JSC]

Joseph Cooper (Befriending Service Manager) [JAC] (part)

1. Welcome from Chair

Mark Lee welcomed Council to meeting

1a. (additional) Befriending

JAC attended asking for volunteers to sit on the Befriending Service Advisory Panel. GC, AB and RC volunteered.

Action: JAC to contact GC, AB and RC re: Befriending

2. Apologies for absence

Apologies of absence were received from:

Abigail Law(Ethics and Environmental Rep)

Nick Sanderson (Representative of LGBT Students)

Rebekkah Yates (Open Council)

Emma Li (School President of Computing, Engineering and Physical Science)

Fiona Burke (School President of Forensic and Investigative Science)

Jenean Laverty (School President of Social Work)

3. Election of Vice-Chair

EP, SI and JS put themselves forward for the role of Vice-Chair. A vote was conducted by GP, in which a tie between SI and JS was declared.

Council voted as to whether both candidates could become Co-Vice-Chairs. Council voted unanimously in favour of this.

SI and JS elected as Co-Vice-Chairs.

3a. (additional) Election of two Student Reps on Academic Board

JM, JS, EP, AB and AM volunteered themselves. GP explained about Student Reps on College Boards, JS and AB removed themselves from standing.

Council elected JM and AM as the two Student Reps on Academic Board

3b. (additional) Consideration of Honorary Lifetime Membership for SAC 2013/14

Ben Latham (President 2013/14) was granted Honorary Lifetime Membership with sixteen votes for and one abstention.

Sophie Bennett (Campaigns Officer 2013/14) was granted Honorary Lifetime Membership with fifteen votes for and two abstentions.

Sam Bloomfield (Activities and Participation Officer 2013/14) was granted Honorary Lifetime Membershipwith seven votes for, six votes against and four abstentions.

Michael Bailey (Media Officer 2013/14) was granted Honorary Lifetime Membershipwith fifteen votes for and two abstentions.

Adam Bland (Education Officer 2013/14) was NOTgranted Honorary Lifetime Membershipwith five votes for, ten votes against and two abstentions.

Action: GP to write to previous SAC to inform them of Council’s decisions re: Honorary lifetime membership.

Adiscussion took place about staff honorary lifetime memberships. Action:GP to find out more information about staff honorary lifetime memberships.

A discussion took place about volunteer honorary lifetime memberships. Action: Volunteer honorary lifetime memberships to be added onto Agenda for next Council by Matt Webber.

4. Approval of previous Council Minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on Friday 30th May 2014 were approved as a true and accurate record.

5. Approval of SAC minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on Friday 29th August 2014 were approved as a true and accurate record.

6. Hate Crime Report

LH gave a brief update and said stickers will be going in toilets across the Union and University. GP suggested the Advice Centre attend Council to talk about Hate Crime.

Action: Advice Centre to be invited to next Council meeting and this to be put on the Agenda by Matt Webber

7. Motion: A No Platform Policy for commission based only employment

EP spoke about No Platform Policy. Motion was found to be incomplete. GP apologised.

MM proposed amending, but withdrew amendment.

Council voted on the presented motion, with fifteen votes against and three abstaining. Not passed.

Motion to be amended and discussed at next Council.

Action: EP to amend motion to ensure it is complete and submit for next Council

Action: Matt Webber to add No Platform Policy for commission based only employment to next Council Agenda

8. Discussion: YBD

EP began the discussion and noted she could not locate meeting minutes and students are not aware of what happened. A discussion ensued about what had happened and why some members of Council believed YBD had no issued an acceptable apology. Council two years ago passed the Policy and policies lapse after three years unless they are overturned.

EP stated that there should be a better record of policies and when they lapse.

GP added that before Council meeting he had distributed a document with all policies on, including the date they passed and when they are due to expire.

ML suggested adding expiring policies as permanent Council Agenda point. This was agreed upon.

Action: Policies about to expire to be added as permanent agenda point by Matt Webber

9. Discussion: Forums (Promotion during Freshers and Allocation of a week each month dedicated to Forums)

SI explained forums. GP clarified there are six forums as Education Forum is separate forum.

GP reminded Council that they have a £2,000 budget.

SI proposed to have Forum Friday at some point. Forum Friday waspassed with thirteen votes for, one vote against and one abstention.

Money was discussed, and GP suggested allocating £250 for Forum Friday. Forum Friday was granted maximum of £250 unanimously with fifteen votes.

EP requested minutes from previous forums. ML said he would locate.

Action: ML to find minutes from previous forums.

10. Discussion: Student Written Submission

SS explained to Council what the Student Submission is and updated of progress. The draft is due to be submitted in December. SS welcomed feedback or questions. None at present.

12. (Swapped due to LM not in room) Discussion: Updated Societies and Sports Terms of Reference

JL explained changes to affiliation committees, and proposed for only Sports to decide on the Sports grants and only Societies to decide on Societies grants.

Council voted unanimously in favour with sixteen votes.

11. (Swapped due to LM not in room) Discussion: How SAC report to Council

LM had asked SAC to put document together to show to Council what they were doing. However, he would like to be different from the format of the SAC reports from previous years. ML suggested putting these in bullet point form and SI suggested this to be sent out to Council alongside Agenda and Council documents.

Council voted in favour for this unanimously with sixteen votes.

Action: SAC to write plan for year and then present other things not in plan in bullet point form.

13. Discussion: The Big Meeting

LM updated Council about The Big Meeting, and explained that the Annual Members Meeting had been split into two. The Big Meeting to take place on Monday 29th September 2014. LM asked for Council to help with promotion of this, and said he will post details of The Big Meeting in the Facebook group.

Action: Council to promoted The Big Meeting

Action: LM to add details about The Big Meeting to the Council Facebook group.

13a. (additional) Extenuating Circumstances

LM said he attended meeting about Extenuating Circumstances in which the University was considering bringing in a policy regarding Fit to Sit. To be re-evaluated in six months’ time.

SS explained what Fir to Sit is and due to time ML suggested adding this to future Council Agenda.

Action: Fit to Sit to be added to next Council Agenda by Matt Webber

14. Future Council Meeting Times

ML suggested discussing this on the Council Facebook group

Action: Council to liaise on Council Facebook group to decide next Council meeting

15. Any Other Business

ML informed Council he was stepping down as Chair of Council.

GP noted that the Sports Tour Policy is about to expire in October. Council to look at this.

EP asked for £20 to make a pledge board for her campaign during Freshers Week. Council granted this with ten votes for and four abstentions.

Action: Sports Tour Policy to be added to October Council Agenda by Matt Webber

ActionsTuesday 9th September 2014

JAC to contact GC, AB and RC re: Befriending.
GP to write to previous SAC to inform them of Council’s decisions re: Honorary lifetime membership.
GP to find out more information about staff honorary lifetime memberships
Volunteer honorary lifetime memberships to be added onto Agenda for next Council by Matt Webber.
Advice Centre to be invited to next Council meeting and this to be put on the Agenda by Matt Webber
EP to amend motion to ensure it is complete and submit for next Council
Matt Webber to add No Platform Policy for commission based only employment to next Council Agenda
Policies about to expire to be added as permanent agenda point by Matt Webber
ML to find minutes from previous forums.
SAC to write plan for year and then present other things not in plan in bullet point form.
Council to promote The Big Meeting
LM to add details about The Big Meeting to the Council Facebook group.
Fit to Sit to be added to next Council Agenda by Matt Webber
Council to liaise on Council Facebook group to decide next Council meeting
Sports Tour Policy to be added to October Council Agenda by Matt Webber