Minutes

Name of Committee Student Communities Zone
Date and time 6th February 2015, 14:00
Place Meeting Room 2
Present Members
(voting)
Vice President Student Communities Anjit Aulakh
International Officer Shailesh Agarwal
Post-Graduate (Taught) Students Officer Ed Baird
PGR Students' Officer Ioan Alexandru Barbu
JCR Officer Frankie Mouat
National Oceanography Centre Officer David Allwright
Equality & Diversity Officer Sam Bailey
Rebecca Lake
Student Group Representative Jithin Mullappillil
Absent with Apologies Union President David Mendoza-Wolfson
Vice President Welfare Beckie Thomas
Winchester Site Officer Juliette Bijoux
Absent without Apologies Vansha Sethi
Southampton General Hospital Officer Leo McCormick Matthews
Non-members Charlotte Graham
Christopher Small

Actions and Decisions

TypeDescriptionWho
Action Check SharePoint for the International Women's Week calendar Sam Bailey
Action Karik sending out a bylaw regarding the MSSPN Union Group to be approved by the committee Karik Isichei
Action Send Persian Soc funding spreadsheet to Anjit and Karik Jithin Mullappillil
Action Remove all non-fundable items/ retrospective funding applications from the Persian Soc spreadsheet, and round robin it to the rest of the committee Anjit Aulakh, Karik Isichei
Action Send out example funding application again Karik Isichei
Action Facilitate Chris Small to have a 1:1 with each committee member Charlotte Graham
Introduction
1. Apologies

See above.

2. Minutes of previous meeting

Approved.

Matters Arising
3. Anjit will advise committee of any matters arising

None. 

International Students
4. Update

On 18/2, we are holding a Chinese New Year event with Confucious and Chinese Students and Scholars Association. There is currently an issue with the Concourse booking that needs resolving (another group has booked a part of it, and the CSSA would prefer to have the whole space).

On the same day there is the International Forum. There is a FB event, and SUSU comms. This will hopefully lead to a clear procedure and to the formation of an International Committee.

March events:

  • Holi (Festival of Colour) on 15th 
  • International Culture Night on 17th if we can get confirmation from the Nuffield
  • Global Village is also on 17th
Post Graduates
5. PGR

The university is creating a PGR doctoral college, and the structure of this is still under discussion. 

  • We need to focus on how the representation structure from this will work. The university needs to have their structure in place before this is created though. 
  • The QAA results will determine how much influence SUSU can have in this

There needs to be a meeting with Aline to discuss the current issues Alex is having with the PGR structure. 

There is a university lecturer who runs TEDx Talks, and we are now looking at organising a series of talks for post-graduate students. 

6. PGT

They are organising a PGT careers session, and are currently looking for a suitable venue: potentially the Bridge if a suitable date can be booked. 

JCRs
7. Update

None given.

Student Sites
8. NOC

Karik, Anjit and the CEO went to the NOC.

David has had a meeting with the head of the library regarding the use of a screen in the library to advertise SUSU events.

  • David suggests 3 multimedia screens, with a stream from SUSU to NOC so the NOC students get the same information on the same timescale as Highfield-based students do.
  • He would also like a more localised set of information that David can control, so NOC students can get direct updates on what is being done for them and what is going on.

The Student Centre needs refurbishing

  • There needs to be an area advertising welfare help, and a 'chill out' area
  • Currently, part of it appears to be being used as a storage room

There should also ideally be a SUSU themed wall, much like the one in building 42, and regardless of this the branding at the NOC needs to be broguht in line with the current SUSU branding.

Finally, there is still a need for a U6 bus to go to the NOC in the mornings.

This all still needs costing.

9. SGH

Leo is not in attendance. 

10. WSA

There is a now a Winchester Manager, Michelle Keeley. 

Juliette is not in attendance.

Equality and Diversity
11. Update

It is LGBT History Month currently, and the following events are taking place:

  • Launch party for the LGBT issue of The Edge
  • Pride screening on 15/2

Hopefully this will set a precedent for other awareness months/ days, as more has been done for this than has ever been done before and now can hopefully be replicated.

There is a subtitled screening of Interstellar, and that has now gone out on the SUSU comms channels.

The Equality Impact Assessment work has been passed and they are now discussing how this can be taken forward. The first area of focus is going to be students with disabilities, particularly tying in with the work on the university side on the Disabled Student Allowance, and also access issues.

International Women's Week is currently being planned with FemSoc and Women In Business. It is in the SUSU elections voting week (9th-13th March). Sam has been talking to the Student Groups representative regarding getting faith societies involved. 

Action Check SharePoint for the International Women's Week calendar (Sam Bailey)
Any Other Business
12. Mature Student and Student Parent Enrolment Tick Box

SUSU classes mature students as over 21 for undergraduates, and over 25 for postgraduates. The university classes mature students as over 21, regardless of level of study.

Sarah Howard and Sarah Aitchinson would like the committee to approve this so it can then be lobbied at the university. 

This information would only be given as a mailing list, or througb Student Activities. 

Would a set up like this be unusual?

  • Disenfranchised groups are the ones who need this, and mature students are one of these groups
  • SUSU activities are mostly aimed at the 18 year olds joining them, and this could help prevent the isolation mature students tend to feel when joining the university.

There is already an option to subscribe to the Mature Student and Student Parent Network on the SUSU website, but this isn't a well-publicised option (and is available for all societies). Could an alternative be to promote this?

It was PASSED to lobby the university for a Mature Student and Student Parent Enrolment Tick Box.

Action Karik sending out a bylaw regarding the MSSPN Union Group to be approved by the committee (Karik Isichei)
Next Meeting
13. Looking to arrange the meeting for the next block 2nd-6th March

Key: P (Papers Provided), PF (Papers to Follow)