Downing JCR > The JCR > Minutes > Open Meeting 28/10/2003
JCR Open Meeting Minutes for 28th October 2003
1. Minutes of last meeting
The minutes of the last open meeting held on May 13th 2003 were approved
2. Executive reports
- Ian Redding, President: Freshers week went well, Boogie nights well-attended, KFC negotiations may lead to cut in next term's bill. No DCAC meeting tonight, there will be one soon.
- James Bell, Treasury: Writing the budget. Details at DCAC meeting.
- Matt Mayer, Communications: freshers' forum very popular. FAQ section being written for applicants.
- Tony Evans, Men's: Quality of Life survey ongoing (!)
- Katie Lawson, Welfare: Discussions with college about disclosing disabilities of applicants; drop in sessions and yoga meditation planned
- Josh Lewison, Vice-President: Harry Potter formal went well (though not financially). In the Pink made £213 for breast cancer research
3. Motions
Since less than 40 members were present, the motions were inquorate.
3a. Support One World Week
The JCR Notes:
- One World Week is a university-wide week of events run by students for students to raise awareness of environmental, political, cultural and social issues.
- The only outgoing of One World Week is on publicity. Every college gets posters and timetables and every student in the University is pigeon-holed with a timetable flier.
- One World Week relies entirely on donations to fund itself.
- One World Week costs approximately £1500 to publicise.
The JCR Believes:
- We have a duty to represent our students in pushing for a fairer, harmonious, more sustainable world. Therefore we need to raise awareness of environmental, cultural and social issues.
- If every college donated £50 to One World Week - £1500 divided by roughly 30 colleges - this would pay for publicity and ensure the event was a success.
The JCR Resolves:
- To donate £50 to One World Week
Proposed by: Rachel Reeves. Seconded by: Colin Dowse
- Views raised included
- A good cause, by students for students
- Will it fit in with budget plans? Yes
- What if all the colleges don't give £50, will it be a flop? Would that mean less pigeonhole junkmail?
- We gave them £50 last year
- Vote: 19 for, 1 against, 3 abstentions. Motion passed inquorately.
3b. Bring the IT department to account
The JCR Notes That:
- Many students had to wait an unacceptable period of time to connect to the network.
- Communication from the IT Department during that time was often sparse or poor.
The JCR Believes:
- The IT Department should have anticipated high demand at the beginning of the academic year.
- More could have been done prior to and since the beginning of the year to prevent bad feeling.
The JCR Resolves to:
- Call another Open Meeting
- Invite a College representative to explain the problems encountered.
- Demand action to prevent recurrence of such problems.
Proposed by: Ed Cumming. Seconded by: Ellen Burgess
- Views raised included
- We accept that the IT department have a tough job and start of term is hectic
- But this year has seen serious problems
- Individuals had to wait two to three weeks for connection
- We are paying £25, shouldn't we be getting a better service?
- Could connection be made opt-out, and connections pre-approved?
- This year (and probably in future), the need to ensure people were virus-protected before connecting slowed things down
- Not all problems are IT department's fault: eg IP conflicts are caused by individual users using wrong IP addresses
- Is two weeks really that long to wait? It's only once per year. We do have good alternatives, eg Computer Room.
- Other colleges (Christ's?) manage to sort out connections over the summer.
- Are priorities assigned to connection requests? Some of the Freshers Committee and people with dissertations were fast-tracked, but not generally.
- Even the Freshers Committee had to ask 5 times!
- There were about 260/330 connections done in first seven days of term
- How many complaints have there been? How many have been resolved?
- Period of time without connection, whilst still paying, is too long.
- Having an IT department member to explain situation would allow us to resolve these questions and ensure there is a better quality of service next year.
- Don't want to "water down" the motion.
- Vote: 27 for, 0 against, 4 abstentions. Motion passed inquorately.
3c. Support CUSU Primate Research motion
The motion was amended to read
The JCR Notes:
- That there is a proposal to build a new University building which will contain, among other things, a primate research lab.
- That the vote at CUSU Council was so close that they are accepting postal votes.
- That Downing hasn't voted yet.
The JCR Believes:
- That before voting, the members of the JCR should have an open opportunity to decide on how Downing votes.
The JCR Resolves:
- To vote in favour of the "in favour" motion at CUSU council.
Proposed by: Josh Lewison. Seconded by: Nick Drinnan
- There were two motions at CUSU council. The "against" motion, opposing the building of the primate research facility, was rejected. The "in favour" motion was too close to call, so postal votes were permitted. How should the two Downing voters (Ian and Nick) be guided?
- Views raised included
- Animal rights protesters would relish the opportunity to disrupt university and college life. Are we asking for trouble? Especially as we're near the Downing site. [etc etc etc]
- Protesters might leave us alone if students don't support building.
- Ben Brinded, CUSU President says University are very concerned to have student support
- Primate research is a cause worth supporting, shouldn't be blackmailed. It's worth causing some animal suffering to research important cures to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
- Animal research is surrounded by red tape. You could only experiment on primates if other possibilities really weren't feasible.
- Note: primate research is only one part (room 302) of a larger building
- Vote: 19 for, 5 against, 5 abstentions. Motion passed inquorately.
3d. Change gate hours
The JCR Notes That:
- At Monday's General Purposes Committee meeting, the issue of earlier closing times for the college gates was raised.
The JCR Resolves:
- To canvass JCR opinion as to earlier closing times so that a view can be taken to College.
Proposed by: Ian Redding. Seconded by: Josh Lewison
- A recent incident saw an intruder gain entrance to a student room in L staircase, steal keys, vandalise a kitchen and cause minor damage to a noticeboard. Should gate hours be changed to prevent a repeat, possibly more serious, incident?
- Views raised included
- Closing earlier would prevent people wandering in after pub closing times
- Not much inconvenience to have to punch in a PIN
- We'll be able to leave through the new glass door in the plodge
- Head porter is in favour: "our drunks are nicer than Wetherspoons drunks!"
- Will it make much difference? More incidents during the day?
- Shouldn't people take responsibility about locking doors etc?
- But every small improvement to safety is good and this doesn't seem to have too many down sides.
A short discussion led to a consensus to add an amendment:
The JCR Resolves That
- The JCR should support the changing of the main gate closing time to 11pm.
- Vote: 19 for, 5 against, 5 abstentions. Motion passed inquorately.
4. More Officers' Reports
- James Moore, June Event:
- Plan to build up reputation of Downing event over several years
- This year will probably be quite small-scale. Spend less on infrastructure, more on entertainment.
- Probably Downing only. Back to the drawing board (like Emma 2 years ago)
- Bigger than Boogie Nights, using Great Hall
- We owe College £14,000 or so (£2200 from Climax, £11700 from Groundzero. Solstice broke even).
- College should be supportive, but probably only for a smaller-scale event. Need assurances we will not make same mistakes.
- Malcolm Parry, Services: needs to give up temporary Sports Officer role. Is anyone interested in taking over?
5. Meeting closed
There was no other business, so the meeting was closed.