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Student Council Minutes: Monday 6 th October 2014

Student Council opened at 6.05

Attendees/Apologies:

38 voting reps in attendance and 28 required for quoracy and therefore we are quorate.

Minutes of the previous meeting:

Student Council agreed that the minutes were an accurate record of the previous meeting.

Introduction to Student Council:

Jamie describes the rules of Student Council as follows: • We aim to ensure that Student Council is accessible and

inclusive to all therefore: • Respect others points of view even if you don’t agree with it. • Don’t talk over others. • We have zero tolerance towards abusive or personal comments

towards others. • Please do not swear. • Please turn your mobiles onto silent and take any phone calls

outside.• If you need to leave early or if you arrive late please come in

quietly so you don’t disturb proceedings. • Please don’t mention individual staff members by name in a

negative way, any complaints about a staff member dealt with under the University’s complaints procedure.

• Staff Protocol is in place and all criticisms of the union and its work should be directed to the elected officers to hold them to account.

• Any criticisms of a Union Staff member should be submitted using the Unions Complaints Form and handed in to the sabbatical officers of the union.

• Any criticisms related to the conduct of a sabbatical officer should be submitted using the Unions Complaints Form and handed in to the SU Manager.

www.bgsu.co.uk >BE PART OF IT.

• Any criticisms related to the conduct of a Union part time exec member should be submitted using the Unions Complaints Form and handed in to the Sabbatical Officers of the union.

• Please not that a separate procedure is in place for removing elected officers from post and that you will be required to submit a resolution of no confidence for Student Council to consider.

Responses to the matters arising:

Placement on Wednesdays

Graham’s response:Barbara Murphy (Academic Coordinator) and I (as Head of Dept) have discussed the issue of scheduling L4 placements at some length and will continue to seek a solution.

There are many complexities when arranging placements for such a significant number of Education Studies students and this, coupled with the unavoidable constraints of the fixed timetable required to deliver a complex combined degree framework, has resulted in the need to schedule placements on some Wednesday afternoons: six days in Semester 1 and six days in Semester 2; the placement days are tied in to the assessment of each of the modules.

Barbara has: made it clear that the students are free to organise their own

placement if they feel this would create a better balance in their week

if they can’t do this, then the team will arrange one on a different day

if this isn’t possible students can agree with their placement to either miss the afternoon session or find another day

This message will be reiterated to all L4 students on Monday 6th Oct during the next taught session.As always both Barbara and I are happy to speak to individual students or to representatives from the SU if that would be helpful.

I will be reporting on this at the Dept Committee next week and am happy for this to be a response to the SU.


Closing of Programmes

Music and Visual Arts – the university is committed to ensuring that those already on these pathways still receive the quality of experience that all other courses do. Andrew Jackson (Head of the department for culture and creative arts) and Jayne Mitchell (DVC Academic) are overseeing the situation closely. Committed to staffing both courses appropriately throughout the next three years.

Procedural Motion:

We want to put in place a guillotine on council and proposing a guillotine of 90 minutes

34 votes cast for the motion, motion passed.

Formal Business:

Liberations officer Motion Proposal:

Name of Proposer: Chris Robertson (SU President)The Union Notes:

‘Liberation’ refers to groups in society who face discrimination because of the way they look or think. These groups, according the National Union of Students, are; Women, Disabled students, students of an ethnic minority or those who self-associate with being lesbian, gay, bi-sexual or transgender.

Minority groups have no specific welfare or academic support at BGU Groups including, women, LGBT, ethnic minorities and disabled students

statistically don’t do as well in their academic studies, than other students from ‘traditional’ backgrounds.

These groups of students face problems and struggles, completely different to those of other students, and can have adverse effects on their wellbeing.

These students suffer discrimination and abuse, which is significantly worse than those from other backgrounds.

The Union Believes:

Not enough is being done to combat the issues faced by these students. If we ignore these issues, we could be seriously under representing those

who need it most, in terms of welfare and academic services. The remit of other union officers has no specific focus on liberation groups,

meaning we could be under representing them.The Union Resolves:


To create a new role on the BGSU Executive team, known as Liberations Officer. This role will oversee minority groups, to empower and support them, during their time at BGU.

The role will be filled by one person from any background, but should sympathise with these groups, in order to deliver outstanding support and empowerment.

No one opposed the motion.

Question: what is the difference between this and the women's officer post?

Question: can anyone run for the role.

Answers: anyone can apply as long as they have an understanding of the people the role will represent.

Clear voting majority.Motion passed.

Job description:

Liberations Officer Job Description

1. To represent those students who are traditionally underrepresented by society.

2. To fight discrimination against liberation groups and ensure the BGU community is fair and inclusive.

3. To ensure underrepresented groups receive the same support and help from the institution as anyone else.

4. To create a support network for liberation students, to share experiences and campaign where necessary.

5. Work with NUS and BGU to deliver outstanding representation.6. Work with the Welfare and Community Hub to develop the equal

opportunities policy and ensure it is fair and relevant.

Any opposers: no.

Clear majority motion passed.

Student Voice Committee Motion Proposal:


Name of Proposer: Jamie Caress (SU Vice President Voice)The Union Notes:1. That the number of motions submitted to Student Council has been

unsatisfactory.2. That academic issues have previously been side-lined by the union in

favour of activities and events.3. That many academic issues have not been subject to the level of in-

depth discussion that is required to pass academic motions through council.

The Union Believes:1. That without intervention academic issues will still not be debated

to the level required.2. That many academic problems may not be identified and therefore

positive changes to teaching and learning practices may not happen.

The Union Resolves:1. That a new sub-committee off Student Council should be established

called the Student Voice Committee to discuss debate and write motions concerning academic issues for Council to consider.

2. The membership of the committee will include reps from all undergraduate levels, postgraduate and foundation degree students.

3. The sub-committee will meet monthly to discuss issues across cohorts and will report all business to Student Council.

Question: are there no motions being passed as we are doing our job properly.

Answer: No but because people don’t know how to.

Question, will course reps attend.

Answer: Yes and service reps and Jamie and the chair of Student Council.

Question: is the committee for just academic issues.

Answer: It’s for anything related to academic provision.

Question: why is it limited to course reps and service reps?


Tash: If anyone could go it would defeat the point of the subcommittee.

Question: would a random selection be better.Answer: Established committees are trained and will have consistency.

Question: What about people that want to write a motion but not part of the committee? Answer: support still be there to help those not in the committee

Any oppositions to the motion: no

Votes: 24 in favour10 against2 abstentionsMotion passed

Service rep:

Need approval as 2 people want to split the role of library service reps.

Hayley Prinn and Stephen Dawson.

Vote. Majority in favour motion passed.

Anyone wanting to be a service rep for learning development, BG futures, BG retail or IT services should contact the union.

Drama society Associate Membership:

2 alumni want to join the drama society, vote to delegate this decision to the drama society, as council don't really understand the concept of this decision, it's really only relevant to the drama society.

Motion passed.

Discussion of article 4:

Article 4d – Housing of multiple occupancy restrictions in Lincoln. Council, Lincoln City Council are currently in the process of trying to implement what is being known as Article 4. This article, which will become policy if it


is passed, will limit the amount of houses which have multiple occupancy. Particularly amongst Carholme area and Castle Ward (where BGU is situated) residents complain about litter, noise and messy gardens and have appealed to the council to help this stop. Council, limiting student housing is not the answer to this. We do accept that students by their nature are noisy however; trying to limit the amount of housing in Lincoln that students and young professionals can live in is not the way forward. If implemented, it will have serious effects on students, young skilled workers, those who cannot afford to buy housing and those on social housing waiting lists. We are seeking to fight the implementation with input from students of both BGU and Lincoln University by way of petition. This will show the council that we believe the article will have detrimental effects on the city, students and the universities. We welcome a discussion on the motion and ways in which you think we can help.

Student: we should definitely support it; but we need to offer a solution to the problem as well.

Currently we need to fight the implementation and work towards a solution

Student: anyway SU's could teach students how to be good neighbours and tell the council they are making an effort to help the problem.

We are actively involved in the SHUSH campaign it is a bit slow but we are promoting it.

Student: I lived in west end, made friends with neighbours and most of the problems were from people that don't live there, such as burglaries, it's not a safe area, can we work with the police to make it safer for everyone.

Student: is there any evidence that students are the problem.

A large petition presented and done through the summer when students are not there.

Train students how to complain about residents as students don't know who to complain to about issues with local residents.


Any mileage in a poster campaign in pubs students go to respect neighbours when they leave the premises.

There are some there need to be more though and increased visibility.

Can we communicate with students and come up with some common guidelines and further action can be taken by the council if not adhered to.

If you don't like where you live why don't these people move.

Students bring a lot of money into the economy.

Can't the council have a designated student area just for students, rather than us being distributed?

Unfortunately Carholme and Castle are the student’s areas. Lincoln uni are putting more into extending their accommodation we need to find out if we are doing the same.

Can we talk to landlords and make sure the landlords make the neighbours aware the house is for students, so they may need advice I when to put bins out etc.

In our housing contact if we get 3 noise complaints we get thrown out. Can't this be ironed out, it worked for us.

Is there not a police unit specifically for student noise complaints? This could work really well If police are on board.

Can't students and locals meet up and discuss the problems.

What are the university doing about this as they want to double the number of students in 5 years?

We will consult the university stance, the uni of Lincoln didn't like it.

Surely counterproductive to segregate students, or tell people to move out and we need to be able to live together in harmony.


SHUSH campaign gave statistics that the noise complaints in August was higher, And students are not in the city then. Its proof we are not the problem.

Students are such a big part of the population and surely they are stabbing themselves in the foot by doing this.

Both local Tory and Labour candidates are in favour of this motion.

Some people will look for noise problems just to get students out so the 3 warming system may not work.

Can we not just communicate with each other, forming different groups don't work, can we just sit down and commune pacts we need the housing, the economy needs us. Just talk to your neighbours. Say we are students; let us know if we are too noisy.

When and how are they going to implement it?

Landlords are in the loop and the vote is on 15th December.

Need to come up with a plan for next year’s housing if passed.

It's the city council that votes on this.

BGSUs response to the (National Student Survey) and BGSSS (Bishop Grosseteste Student Satisfaction Survey).

BGSSS and NSS Results for Bishop Grosseteste Students’ Union

The BGSSS (Bishop Grosseteste Student Satisfaction Survey) was run between April and May 2014 with all students being eligible to complete the survey. This year there were 226 respondents which is significantly less than in previous years and therefore may make comparisons difficult. The results were as follows:

The extent you feel represented by BGSU?

Very satisfied or satisfied (80.7%) Dissatisfied or very dissatisfied (19.3%) Difference compared to 2012/13 (4.7%)

Steps to improve this:


BGSU will run effective student led campaigns with the work being led by the new Communications and Campaigns Officer.

BGSU will communicate its services to students focusing especially on the academic support and representation work BGSU carries out.

BGSU will increase student voice through a new Council structure, a new student voice sub-committee and a newly developed student rep training programme with the addition of online resources.

The accessibility of the BGSU executive?


Steps to improve this: BGSU Exec training will include more on how to be approachable

and accessible to all students regardless of their individual needs. BGSU Exec will have an increased presence round campus as well

as improved marketing strategies.

The quality of advice from BGSU? Very satisfied or satisfied (82.9%) Dissatisfied or very dissatisfied (17.1%) Difference compared to 2012/13 (6.4%)

Steps to improve this: BGSU will increase awareness of the advice it can provide and how

to access support from the Students’ Union. More online information will be available to students requiring some

help and guidance.

The range of BGSU clubs and Societies? Very satisfied or satisfied (71.4%) Dissatisfied or very dissatisfied (28.5%) Difference compared to 2012/13 (7.3%)

Steps to improve this: BGSU will endeavour to improve the advertisement of current clubs

and societies as well as encourage and make students aware of how to set up new societies.

The entertainment provided by BGSU?



Steps to improve this: BGSU will provide a diverse range of events for students, including

events that are accessible to Postgraduate and Foundation Degree students.

BGSU will provide more events outside of the bar which are alcohol free.

BGSU will seek student opinion as to what events to provide for its students.

BGSU Overall?


Free Text comments: The Students’ Union is aimed at the younger generation/ first year

students. Communication/advertising problems. More clubs and societies. Confusion over the university owning the bar. Online voting. Mixed responses to staff some said helpful and friendly some others

said unfriendly and unapproachable. More information required on the services offered. Targeted support for Postgraduate and mature students needed.

BGSU Question 23 Result on the NSS (National Student Survey)

60% satisfaction Difference compared to 2012/13 (0%)

It is clear from the results that BGSU is in a similar position as last year in regards to the results achieved in these two surveys. The slight decrease in satisfaction may be explained by the significantly decreased response rate to the BGSSS. However it is clear that BGSU still has much work to do to improve the overall student experience and the services it provides.

Questions:


Question: You talked about increasing academic and welfare but you survey says societies and activities are what you get right why don't channel what you get right as well.

Answer: We are looking at everything and that's why we have spilt the exec into the two focused teams

Question: As there were so few, are the results valid?

Answer: If more people fill it out it would be more representative.

The university will use NSS figures in marketing, discussed at External Communications Oversight Group which Chris sits on.

President’s report:

Welcome to the first council of the year! This is the forum to discuss the issues and problems that pose a barrier to your learning and experience here at BGU. This report is not here as a ‘what’s on’; we have better means and ways of doing that. This report will get in to the inner workings of the union, and show you how we’re here to help, not hinder, your student experience. The union as an entity only exists to side with students. We don’t make money or have any shareholders. We don’t have to answer to the institution on matters concerning students; we only answer to the student body on our work. It’s been a very exciting and fast paced start to the year, with fresher’s week being an overwhelming success and the new team gelling really well. We hope you can feedback to our activities team any thoughts you had on any event we ran in the first week, so we can improve year on year. We have been campaigning hard on AB internet in halls, and on the provisions made for students who take part in the SCITT course. So far, BGU have agreed to look at other options for internet providers in BGU owned accommodation and have one in today, to do a site survey. AB have been given an ultimatum to sort out their internet, or they’ll be goneSCITT students study a PGCE at BGU but are based at a school elsewhere for their course. Even though they enrol as a BG student, they are not entitled to a library account, a Wi-Fi or internet account, computer access, car park access or to the new card payment system. This, we felt, was unacceptable, so we have called upon the university to ensure that these students receive the same support and resources as everyone else during


their time at BGU. I have received a response stating that they are going to look at moving their provision so it is in line with BGU’s values and policies. We are also trying to acquire full control of 3DY, the function room above the bar. We currently have no space in which to call our own, so we felt it was high time to do something about it. Watch this space for the decision which is due to made very son.Jamie has been cracking on with course rep elections and we will soon have a full quota of reps for every course. This is alongside him working on all levels of representation across the institution. Jamie has been a great source of help and support to the union since August having been a sabbatical officer for 12 months before hand, so for that the union thanks him. Speaking of representation, we have elections tomorrow! You can nominate yourself to stand for one of our open positions, which is currently one of our trustees, who are in place to look after the union’s finances and constitution. We then have 3 RAG Rep positions available on our almost-award winning RAG team (2 of which are reserved for first year students). Thanks to you our liberations officer is up for election too, with the job description available in print from tomorrow. Sports and societies should also be filling up any free spaces on their execs. If you’re not sure what’s left, come and see us after this and we can let you know. Please spread the word about elections, as we really need all positions full, so we can make sure we aren’t leaving anyone out! First years are allowed to stand, despite confusion over whether they can or not! Thanks for listening and I am now able to take questions and queries in connection to my report.

Question: Would you rent it out and still let societies use it for free?

Answer: Yes but more thought out and planning a business plan.

Elections:

The BGSU Autumn By-elections opens tomorrow with the following positions available:

Liberations Officer (Exec Committee) Student Trustee on the BGSU Trustee Board3 RAG Reps (2 reserved for first years)Club/Society exec members on selected clubs and societies.

Questions: Rag reps why only 2 first years that's selective?


Answer: Giving them a chance and we've already advertised it twice and 2nd and 3rd years have already had an opportunity.

Rag reps is a sub committee it's not a full committee and we are not in favour of positive discrimination.

If people in second and third year wanted to do it why not done it before.

University Council Report:

Jack Downey gave a report on the last University Council on the 30th September.

Discussion was centered around the following points:

Intro/recap to Student Governor role First Council Foundation Fund discussion Auditing/results of NSS/data optimisation International Students General Fundraising Vice Chancellor did a report commending all of the good work last

year as did the Chaplain detailing what they have been doing Noted SU contribution – President’s Report Discussion of “the Strategy” and how best to implement it Change in structure of Uni Council and efficacy committee

Question: Why drop courses when you want to increase the number of students at the university?

Answer: The student numbers for these courses are low and struggling to recruit and therefore the courses are no longer viable to offer. These courses not recruiting nationally either.

Question: With the University looking to expand have they taken article 4 into account with this plan?

Answer: Will take this to the next university council.

Question: With fresher’s reaching capacity on 4 nights with 2500 students how is the SU going to cope with 4500 students.


Answer: The University are going to have to give us more space. Link with 3DY business plan for more student space.

Question: Capacity of campus itself going to be a problem when the university expands.

Answer: The University will be offering more part time and provision in the evening and on weekends in line with the University Strategy.

Question: Are the university converting Connies dining hall into teaching and learning space?

Answer: Yes.

Matters Arising:

Please place any matters arising in the ballot box at the front and they will be actioned and reported back to the next student council.

Any Other Business:

None Received.

Closed Meeting: 7.25


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