Minutes of General Meeting, Sunday of 3^rd Week MT06

Committee Apologies: Becca Baron, Luke Tryl, Kat Hunter

Committee Absentees: Flora Carmichael, Punts Reps, Ben Bellamy, Phoebe Rutter, Roly Wickenden, Kieran Porter

Meeting commenced: 8.01pm

Committee Reports

President

I’ve been to loads of meetings, am hoping to do some good work at cases committee, and have sorted out freshers stuff and stuff about laundry. I also secured us some funding from Waltons gown people and have looked at the plans for the new library. I’ve also been in talks with the catering manager about food issues.

Treasurer

Did the VAT returns. I am a cool person. Have been working with Jess on laundry and rent issues, gathering information and liaising with other colleges. Have also been sorting out budgets for this term, and working on projecting the budget surplus for the year.

Secretary

I have done the Michaelmas termcard, which hopefully everyone has a copy of now. I have also minuted all the meetings that have taken place so far this term, as well as creating an inventory of equipment required for the JCR Dining Room. Have been working on the rent and laundry issues which Eiram mentions above, and I have been editing and updating the JCR website - if anyone has any suggestions for this, please let me know.

Charities

Charities have been finalising plans for our charity beer and wine tasting competition which will be on Saturday of 5th week - more information to come!

Admissions

I've been trying to form a team of student helpers to work on the JCR Team at interviews this Christmas. Apply by Monday morning if you want to help out.

Publications

I have not done very much, the students have done it all for me - I made 2 bogsheets and as always am keeping my ears and eyes open...

Food and Fac Rep

I have ordered food for brunch and pizza for the general meetings. I have also had a meeting with the catering manager at which I discussed various issues and potential solutions to concerns of the JCR and I have purchased replacement items to restock the JCR Dining Room following the disappearance of what seems like practically everything in it. I have also purchased pool balls and a replacement Sky remote.

Art Rep

I bought and framed JCR idols, organised and held the art auction and am planning an art sale for next week.

Sports and Societies Rep

In Freshers' Week I organised college Freshers' Fair. I went to a Sports and Societies meeting with senior members of college and also attended a VERY dull university sports meeting. Am giving out last year's sports photos to captains now to circulate, so if anyone wants one, give your name to them!

Overseas Reps

We had a tea for the WISC students this week - we introduced ourselves and got to know them a bit. We are planning a drinks party for all overseas students (full-time, Stanford and WISC) in the near future, as well as another Stanford- JCR committee dinner.

First Year Rep

Organised Freshers’ week - which included planning events in vac, drawing up timetable, buying stuff for events, selling tickets, organising teams of people to help at events etc.....

LGBT Rep

On Friday of Freshers’ week LGBT hosted freshers drinks, reasonably well attended! I also put on pre-drinks the following

Monday so that people could meet up prior to lgbsoc drinks and arrive together.

‘Carousel’ Motion

This JCR notes that:

1. Six members of the JCR are involved in a production of ‘Carousel’ this term, in 5th week, at the OFS.

2. Student productions are always in need of funding.

3. This production needs a budget of £2,921.

4. The Magdalen Players have given funding of £100, standard for an OFS show, for which the production is very grateful.

5. Other College JCRs whose members are involved have given extra funding to the show (Brasenose, LMH, Hertford). Some have been a gift, some have been a straight loan. The loans will be repaid in full when the show closes.

6. £100 from Magdalen JCR would be very, very useful.

7. While this would usually come under the ‘Creative Projects Fund’, that fund is only assigned to causes in 8th week and ‘Carousel’ needs the money sooner.

This JCR believes:

1. It is really great when JCR members get involved in extra-curricular activities, such as student theatre.

2. That it is really nice when the JCR supports its members in extra-curricular activities, for example, student theatre.

This JCR resolves to:

1. Give ‘Carousel’ a loan of £100, matching the Magdalen Players funding.

Proposed by Rebecca Lee

Seconded by Ruth Harley

Proposition Speech

We need some money, and the JCR has money available so it would be nice to lend us some. It’s going to be an awesome show.

SFQs

What is ‘Carousel’?

It’s a musical about domestic violence.

Is it a loan or a grant you’re after?

A loan

No opposition.

Motion passes nem con.

PremPlus Motion

This JCR notes that:

1.One of the main uses of the JCR television is to watch live football matches.

2.It does not currently subscribe to PremPlus (the Sky Sports football subscription channel)

3.JCR members cannot currently watch all the football matches broadcast on Sky Sports

4.Pub Oxford had a subscription to PremPlus but it no longer exists.

5.A PremPlus subscription would cost £800 a year.

6.The JCR ran a £8000 surplus last year.

This JCR believes that:

1. The college gives the JCR money to provide services for JCR members.

2. The JCR does not need a surplus of £8000

3. The JCR has an obligation to examine all ways it could use this surplus to provide extra services for its members.

4. There was never a justifiable need for a subscription when Pub Oxford existed.

5. The JCR cannot hope to replace Pub Oxford but PremPlus would be a nice service it could provide for its members in Pub Oxford’s absence.

6. PremPlus is a luxury but it is a luxury we can afford.

This JCR resolves to:

1. Subscribe to PremPlus for this year.

2. Reassess our subscription in a year’s time to see if we can still afford it.

3. Cancel the subscription if we ever find new and better ways of spending our surplus.

4. Mandate Oscar to invite all of his mascot pals to join him in staging a sit in at the Cape of Good Hope in protest against the closure of Pub Oxford.

Proposed by Chris North

Seconded by Chris Rigby

Proposition Speech

Some people may oppose this on the grounds that it’s lots of money – it is a lot of money, but that’s not really the point. Some people might oppose it on the grounds that it’s not value for money, but I’d say they’re missing the point again. The money that the JCR is given is supposed to be used to improve the lives of the JCR members, so every pound we still have in the bank at the end of the year is a pound not spent as it should be. And so if we have enough money for this, it’d be better to go for it then to have the money sat doing nothing.

SFQs

How are we doing financially?

Good. We’re looking at a similar sort of surplus as last year.

How long would we be tied in for?

1 year.

Would it mean there’d be non-stop football in the JCR?

It would only really be on Saturday afternoons, and there don’t tend to be other people in the JCR then anyway.

How many people actually want this channel?

I guess we’ll find out when we vote.

Have we been classified as a pub or something, because at home you can get this for £100?

Yes, we have been, because there are so many people who watch it it doesn’t count as a home.

Is there nowhere else in Oxford you could watch it?

Yes, lots of the pubs have it but they’re either very far away or not everyone can fit in, like at the White Horse.

Opposition

I’m going to get nothing out of this motion.

Debate

• I quite enjoy watching football, and there are lots of JCR members who are big football fans. But there are better things that could be done with the money, such as improving laundry facilities, and until things like that that actually affect the lives of the JCR are sorted out, we shouldn’t spend so much money catering to what is a significant minority but a minority nonetheless.

• Yes, but noone’s actually brought any other suggestions forward as to how we can spend the money, so we might as well spend it on this.

• I think it’s a lot of money and I don’t like football, but it’s a good motion because we do need people to come forward with options on how we can get rid of this surplus. I would suggest deferring this motion until next week and have a meeting specifically on how to spend our extra money so that this can be assessed in the context of how else we could be spending the money.

• Is everyone aware that you can actually stream all the matches off the internet for free?

• This might be a significant minority who are in favour of the motion, but it still renders the JCR out of use for every single other JCR member.

• It’s also possible to subscribe to individual matches.

• That works out massively more expensive – it only takes about five matches to equal the £800 general subscription fee.

Move to vote.

Opposed.

Vote on move to vote:

For: lots of people

Against: not many people

Move to vote passes.

Vote on motion

For: 36

Against: 19

Abstentions: 9

Motion passes.

Food Motion:

This JCR notes that:

1. Many students have very active academic and extra-curricular lives; they need to be able to eat healthily and often do not have time to cook for themselves.

2. College wants us to use Hall.

3. We are fortunate that the chefs in Hall are talented and are able to cook very good food.

4. The government is currently changing food standards in primary and secondary schools, to make children healthier.

This JCR believes that:

1. College should provide its students with cheap (i.e. not making a profit), good food.

2. Many students are currently unhappy with Hall and would like to see changes made quickly.

3.The following main points need to be addressed.

• Food Quality. (with regard to: fresh (not frozen) well-cooked vegetables, that go well with main dish; non-processed meats; better vegetarian dishes, without so much cheese; more healthy options so that those who come late are not always stuck with chips etc.).

• Food Ethic. Hall should try and get simple, coordinated and tasty dishes right first; trying more adventurous foods such as sushi is not necessarily wanted. Variety is important over a week, but on individual nights it is not so important (i.e. each night quality should be put before quantity).

• Food Pricing. In Hall, this is often fine. But: 40p for fresh fruit is a big mark-up on market price; 62p for a bowl of cereal is expensive; orange juice too is poor quality and over-priced; paying for sauce is done very little elsewhere. The Bar prices are expensive and should be looked at.

• Environmental Issues. With regard to: Sauces in sachets for which we pay 10p; salt and pepper sachets which get thrown away, often with salt or pepper still in them. There is no reason not to provide sauce in bottles and salt and pepper in cellars and grinders for free just before you pay (it is not unhealthy and it would be cheaper). Providing cereals in small boxes is also expensive; buying in big packets would be cheaper and less wasteful.

4. Since people are unhappy at the moment College should be prepared to try changing menus and making adjustments now. A survey is useful, in the long-run, but there is no reason certain issues cannot be addressed very soon (i.e. sachets, breakfast cereals, processed meats, fresh veg).

This JCR resolves to:

1. Mandate the JCR President to compile a paper on food for House Committee, so that these issues can be brought up properly with college.

2. Encourage JCR members to express their food concerns on the JCR message board so that these can be included in the paper.

Proposed by: Sam Dixon

Seconded by: James Chapman

Proposition Speech

I’m fed up with hall and I know that lots of other people are too. This motion addresses the four main points; we’re trying to keep this quite general and just tackling major issues at the moment. Specific concerns can be posted on the JCR Forum, and Iain will include them in his paper.

SFQs

How much money does hall lose?

I don’t know. With the prices they charge, I don’t know how they can be making a loss, and I’ve spoken to senior members of college and they don’t understand how it can be, either.

Is this motion just about hall or about the bar too?

If you read it you’ll see that it’s about quality in hall and prices in the bar.

Are bar and hall run by the same company?

Yes, by Magdalen College. You might have heard of it.

No opposition.

Motion passes nem con.

Meeting closed 8.45pm