SMSU Council Minutes 6 October 4pm SU K217 1/ Welcome and Apologies In Attendance: SU President (Chair), VP Sports and Societies, VP Community, Societies Chair, School Rep (SHAS), School Rep (SETL), School Rep (A&H), 1 Student Trustees, students SU CEO, Representation, Democracy and Communications Intern (note-taker), SU Sports and Societies Administrator. Apologies – School Rep (MSS) Declarations of interest There were no declarations noted.
2/ Minutes of the last meeting (29/01/2015) The council approved the minutes as an accurate record.
3/ Chair’s Business Nothing to report The CEO gave an overview of the March management Accounts which show’s SMSU at a current break even situation. The CEO reported that this is a worst case scenario picture and that the April accounts should include surpluses from SIMMStock. There were no further questions about the SMSU accounts.
4/ SU Finance Update The CEO gave an overview of the 2015/16 accounts, highlighting that the SU made a surplus of 26k, increasing the reserve to 69k. She emphasised to the council that this money goes straight back to improving services for students and mentioned the redevelopment of the SU lounge area. The CEO mentioned that the August and September accounts are still being finalised- to be reported at the next meeting. This years Welcome Fortnight event made a surplus of 42k. SMSU receive a block grant from the University of 426k, with 86k for student sports, the rest is for smsu costs. The CEO
SMSU Council Minutes 6 October 4pm SU K217 highlighted to the council that the grant only covers a third of the costs of the union for the year, so it is important that events generate good income. The CEO and SUP emphasised to the council that the union accounts are completely transparent and open for any member to view and ask questions about how the union is run.
5/ Ratify/ De-ratify Clubs and Societies None to report
6/ Upcoming Events and updates - Mental Health Awareness Week 10-15 October SUP informed the council that the puppy rooms will return - £2 donation. Chaplaincy will be running guided meditation, rugby league will be completing a 24hour row to raise money for the charity – CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) - Programme Rep Training 17-28 October Opportunity for students to voice their opinions. Dates of training are already on the website and will be circulated on social media soon. - RAG Week 14-18 November The chosen charities are Children in Need, Molly’s Smile Fund and Team Aidan (CLICSargeant and CanTeen!). The council were invited by VPC to provide suggestions for events. - Christmas Community Festival 2-4 December Meetings are about to start and the VPC asks for suggestions should students have them.
7/ Degree+ VPC explains to the council that they will all be inputted to the Degree+ system. The initiative is aimed at logging the volunteering and involvement hours that they have within the SU and wider community to provide a transcript of skills that they would receive alongside their degree certificate. 8/ NSS Paper SUP discussed the report and where St Mary’s now stands in the tables. Highlighted to the council that scores have dropped by 3 points compared to last year. Focus groups will be conducted with the programmes that had the lowest scores to gain an insight as to why that was. The SUP discussed with the council that we want the students to understand the NSS
SMSU Council Minutes 6 October 4pm SU K217 and how it can benefit them with regards to the improvements and investments that are made as a result to the feedback. SUP highlighted where St Mary’s sits within the Teaching Excellence Framework, which be later discussed in AOB. If students wish for more information, email the SU President.
9/ Sabbatical Officers Activity Report VPC: Welcome Fortnight was extremely successful with good feedback of SU events as well as the smaller events such as the Games night and Home Comforts Café which will be increased to fortnightly rather than monthly. Further feedback is welcomed from students, whether it’s good or bad. Attended NUS small and specialist meeting and decided to join a Green Sustainability scheme. Fundraiser on Blood Cancer Awareness raised £881.61 for CLICSargeant and CanTeen. VPSS: Sports and Societies are now split and treated as separate entities. This seems successful and has been producing good feedback with regards to the separate training conferences and welcome fairs. A new societies development committee has been formed. 25 new coaches have been hired, and fees have been reduced to £95 with centrally funded travel and accommodation. Ski trip has proved popular already. Minibus paper was taken to the board, but rejected for re-evaluation to look at other use and funding options. SU President: Delete Blood Cancer Now were on campus testing students for blood and bone marrow donations, very popular with the charity running out of swabs. They were also recruiting students to be Delete Cancer Ambassadors. The volunteer fair is in the SU Lounge on 18 October- students should let the SU know if they are volunteering in the local community so they can be entered into the degree+ database. SUP is to take a paper to SMT for 24 hour library access to both main campus and the Naylor library. Hopefully they will agree to the 40k investment to provide this service for students as it proved very popular and valuable to students last year. The NSS paper was presented to the board of governors. Mental Health Awareness Week and LUSH week are coming up. For the first time, the SUP has been invited to a Corporate Plan meeting with SMT.
10/ Sports Round-Up Rugby League won their match this week. President commented that accommodation was not provided for them, when their match was quite a distance away, in Exeter. Sports and Societies Administrator highlighted that accommodation is only provided to teams that would
SMSU Council Minutes 6 October 4pm SU K217 need to travel before 7am to get there in time. The RL squad was leaving later than this for that match. 11/ Societies Round-Up Radio Society asked if they could change the name of the radio to ‘The Jam’ to make it more current, linking with the local ‘Strawberry Hill’ (strawberry jam). SUP proposed that the council voted for this today. 62 votes for 1 vote against 1 abstain
12/ Programme Rep Round Up. None to report.
13/ Exec Round Up Societies Chair- Successful start to the year, with development meetings set up in the pipeline. A&H School Rep – Already had meetings with head of school and preparing for Programme Rep training. Asking for suggestions from students to take to next meetings. ETL School Rep – Already met with head of school, 3rd years are to get a personal tutor for extra support this year. SHAS School Rep – Meeting with head of school to discuss the new personal tutoring system. Looking for feedback from students regarding registry.
14/ AOB 1. National Demo – There is a demo on 19 November against the rise of tuition fees, there is an opportunity for our students to get involved with this. SUP will form a
SMSU Council Minutes 6 October 4pm SU K217
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petition to take to the Vice Chancellor, about not raising the fees any further. The council was invited to discuss this and to voice any queries to the SUP. Hidden Costs and Unfair assessments – At the Small and Specialist Universities meeting it was highlighted that there are often hidden costs associated with a course that are not advertised at the application stage. Working alongside another London Arts university, SMSU will research into the hidden costs of sports courses and provide some data as a result of this. Council members are invited to provide suggestions and send them in. Welcome Fortnight Feedback – Some students have voiced that they think 2 weeks is too long, and would prefer a 1 week event. Students to think about this and provide feedback. Accommodation – SUP will create another petition against the rise of accommodation fees, as it has been increasing at a steady rate over the past 5 years with not much improvement. The council were asked to provide information regarding how much they pay for off-campus accommodation, the locations and costs of travel. Ref Food (halal) – The chicken served in the ref is halal, and this is not currently advertised to students. This is an issue as it should be advertised due to student preferences for and against eating halal. Ashika addressed the council to advise that a certificate to state halal food will be placed on the wall in the ref soon.
SUP introduced Anthony O’Reilly and Aisling Carey as the new Residence Life Mentors. Students to email the officer teams with any questions about topics brought up in this council meeting.
Date and Time of next meeting – 10 November 4pm K217
Date and Time of next meeting TBC 2016/17 SIGNED AND DATED BY THE CHAIR: