guild council - democracy and governance minutes 18 02 15

Change, Policy and Research

GUILD COUNCIL

Democracy and Governance Committee

18/02/15

Chair: Maria Finnerty


Apologies


AGENDA

1. Student Idea: Provide advertising space for societies on

campus

2. Student Idea: Unlock the new gates limiting pedestrian

access to Kingdom Mews and Bonhay Close

3. Student Idea: Support our initiative to make the University

of Exeter the UK's first 'University of Sanctuary‘

4. Discussion on structure of Guild Council


1. Student Idea: Provide advertising space for societies

on campus

349 votes

99.4% positive approval

Results:

http://www.exeterguild.org/change/ideas/idea129-posterspace/

Report:

http://www.exeterguild.org/pageassets/change/ideas/idea129-

posterspace/Student-Idea-Report-129-Posterspace.pdf

http://www.exeterguild.org/change/ideas/idea129-posterspace/

http://www.exeterguild.org/pageassets/change/ideas/idea129-posterspace/Student-Idea-Report-129-Posterspace.pdf


1. Student Idea: Provide advertising space for societies on campus

Max Maltby, the proposer, spoke for the idea, telling Council that there was hardly any

space for society posters left and it seemed that this has been replaced by paid external

advertising.

Natasha Laws, Director of Marketing and Communications at the Guild, told Council

that she agreed with the proposer and that, in hindsight, they had reduced the amount

of poster space too greatly in the refurbishment of DH1. She said that there were also

health and safety regulations that had prevented them installing more poster space (due

to having flammable materials in fire exit routes) but that they have worked hard to find

solutions to these. She apologised for this and said they were working on reinstating

poster space right away, including ideas for cork boards and a movable poster board. She

stated that were still exploring options and welcomed input from societies and the

proposer.

MM asked if outdoor poster space could be included; NL agreed to look into this,

though stressed that the Guild do not own the actual building. MM also asked about

screens in DH1, to which NL replied that the large screens were part of an external

advertising contract.


1. Student Idea: Provide advertising space for societies on campus

Ben Street told Council that an additional action to take from this idea could be to

review student poster space around University buildings. MM said that putting posters

up in halls took 5 days notice and state patrol to open up locked poster boards. BS said

that this could be something for the Sabbatical Team to work with the University on.

Milly Hindle raised the idea of using Guild outlets such as the Grove as poster space;

NL said she would look into this and as long as fire regulations were met, she was happy

with it in principle.

NL invited MM to contribute to the implementation of this idea and their contact

details were shared with each other.

PASS - 15

FAIL - 0

ABSTAIN - 5


2. Student Idea: Unlock the new gates limiting

pedestrian access to Kingdom Mews and Bonhay Close

113 votes

96.5% positive approval

Results:

http://www.exeterguild.org/change/ideas/idea119-gates/

Report:


gates/Student-Idea-Report-1119-Gates.pdf

http://www.exeterguild.org/change/ideas/idea119-gates/

http://www.exeterguild.org/pageassets/change/ideas/idea119-gates/Student-Idea-Report-1119-Gates.pdf


2. Student Idea: Unlock the new gates limiting

pedestrian access to Kingdom Mews and Bonhay Close

This idea was postponed until the proposer and Kate Hawkins

were available.


3. Student Idea: Support our initiative to make the

University of Exeter the UK's first 'University of

Sanctuary'

104 votes

76% positive approval

Results:

http://www.exeterguild.org/change/ideas/idea130-cityofsanctuary/

Report:


cityofsanctuary/Student-Idea-Report-130-Sanctuary.pdf

http://www.exeterguild.org/change/ideas/idea130-cityofsanctuary/

http://www.exeterguild.org/pageassets/change/ideas/idea130-cityofsanctuary/Student-Idea-Report-130-Sanctuary.pdf


3. Student Idea: Support our initiative to make the University of

Exeter the UK's first 'University of Sanctuary'

The proposer told Council that having the Guild’s support on this issue would be a

great help in lobbying the University. She said there were specific criteria to meet,

but at this point they were just looking for symbolic support to start momentum on

achieving this. Ben Street gave his support for the motion, saying that it would be

brilliant to be the first University to support this.

The Sabbatical Officers made it clear that any further action to meet the criteria

would need to be worked on and considered further, in case there was any

implication on the Guild’s resources. They suggested that the Guild support the idea

in principle and then the proposer work with Kate Hawkins and the University on

specific actions.

SUPPORT IDEA AND PASS TO KATE HAWKINS - 15

FAIL - 0

ABSTAIN - 5


4 . Structure of Council

• How Council used to and currently works

• What we think needs to be improved

• How we propose to improve it

• Your thoughts, suggestions, proposals and ideas


Council at the Moment

• Last year, Council’s role was not as clear and had fewer policies to vote on

• Council at the moment still follows the structure set before Student Ideas

were introduced

• ‘Guild Council’ as a whole only met to vote on policy three times a year, at

the start of each term

• The rest of the time, Councillors attended subcommittees – scrutiny

panels or ‘Democracy and Governance Committee’ – in groups of 3 or 4

• Democracy and Governance Committee had a vague role overseeing

democracy in the Guild and how elections were being planned


Since Student Ideas...

• We have far more policies to vote on, so Democracy and

Governance Committee have been used to vote on these and

therefore has needed to include all councillors, not just 3 or 4

• This is a great improvement on last year but means that the

old structure of Guild Council and it’s subcommittees isn’t

necessary any more

• Guild Council and Democracy and Governance Committee

are now exactly the same – there is no difference in how they

run or who can vote in them


Our reps

• Student Ideas has made the purpose of Guild Council and the roles

of Councillors clearer and more straightforward.

• We have other reps in the Guild who could benefit from these

changes and could contribute opinions the areas they represent.

• We also feel that these reps would benefit from having clear actions

to work on from the students

• Actioning some ideas to other reps would also help ideas be

reached sooner and could still involve support from staff and the

sabbs


So!

• Here are our ideas – but they are only a starting point and the

discussions and decisions should be led by you

Guild Councillors

Currently

• 16 including chair and officers

Proposed Change

• 20 Councillors (including chair, Student Ideas and Votes Officer

and Student Elections Officer) and 18 Councillors from other

areas (explained on next page)


Membership

Currently

• 4 Sabbs, 1 Guild Chair, 1 Student Votes Officer, 1 Student

Elections Officer, 13 Guild Councillors

• All have the same voting rights at every meeting

Proposed Change

• Include the Student Exec (International Officer, Postgrad

Officers etc), College Officers, ISC

• Confirm involvement from AU President

• Would benefit these reps and improve their work


Voting

Currently

• Just Sabbs and Councillors can vote

• Votes need 50% of councillors (not Sabbs) present +1 to pass

• This ensures that Sabbs can influence the vote, but never out-vote Council

• No limit to proxies

Proposed Change

• Consensus from last meeting to not grant voting rights to observers

• Decision last meeting to limit the total number of votes for one person to

three proxy votes

• Decision last meeting to keep each member having one vote

• Are these decisions still okay?


Scrutiny

Currently

• One hour a week, 4 themes

Proposed Change

• Is Scrutiny working? How could we improve it?

Meetings

Currently

• Need to be same place each week and accessible to all

Proposed Change

• Do the place and timings of meetings work?

• How should meetings be recorded?


As a result of these discussions, Council voted to:

• Bring AU representation into Guild Council

• Limit proxy votes to 3 votes per member (including their own) to only be

given to reps from the same group

• Bring college officers, ISC, Liberation Reps and Society Execs into Council

guild council - democracy and governance minutes 18 02 15

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