Minutes

Name of Committee Democracy Zone
Date and time 24th March 2017, 15:00
Place Meeting Room 2
Present Members
(voting)
Chair of Senate Ben Franklin
Clubs and Societies Officer Michael Sims
Vice President Democracy and Creative Industries Cameron Meldrum
Democracy Zone Open Place Emily Harrison
Absent with Apologies Union President Alex Hovden
Absent without Apologies Thomas Webber
Vice President Welfare David Allwright
Nickola Moore
Vice President Sports Tom Provan
Scott Mccarthy
Non-members Evie Reilly

Actions and Decisions

TypeDescriptionWho
Action Request that the technical team update the members list for the Democracy Zone Committee as the the list of voting members is not correct.
Decision Changes to the Student Groups passed unanimously.
Action Redraft of Rule 2 to be voted on by Democracy Zone Committee in the next meeting. Cameron Meldrum
Action Redraft of Rule 10 to be voted on by Democracy Zone Committee in the next meeting. Cameron Meldrum
Decision The total number of You Make Change submissions between Democracy Zone Committee meetings are to be recorded in the minutes. Passed unanimously.
1. Attendance/Apologies

Cameron welcomed everyone to the Democracy Zone Committee meeting. Apologies have been recieved from the Union President, VP Sports Development and VP Welfare.

Action Request that the technical team update the members list for the Democracy Zone Committee as the the list of voting members is not correct.
2. Minutes from the previous meeting

The minutes from the previous meeting were agreed unanimously by those present.

3. Update on Spring Elections

Cameron updated the committee on the results of the Spring Elections and provided a breakdown of voter statistics as presented in the attached report.

4. Student Groups Rule Changes

Changes to the Student Groups review, as stated in the attached document, were passed unanimously by those present.

Decision Changes to the Student Groups passed unanimously.
5. Membership Rule Changes

Giles clarified that Rule 2 has become ambiguous since the change from Union Council to Senate. He reported to the committee that the the new draft of the rules could potentially result in a full time officer being voted out of their role by a simple majority at Senate.

Giles has requested that the Democracy Zone look into changing this rule to reflect the old wording that confirms a full time officer must be subject to a disciplinary first. Cameron brought forward the suggestion that he, Giles and the Democracy Coordinator should redraft this and bring this new wording to the Democracy Zone in the next meeting.

Cameron additionally spoke to the zone about Rule 10 which was discussed in the previous Democracy Zone Committee meeting. He reported that Rule 10 currently stipulates that the Union President is able to suspend officers from their roles for misconduct but there is no specific rule that their membership to the union will also be suspended. Cameron suggested that a change in the wording for Rule 10 also be brought to the next Democracy Zone Committee meeting. – See Actions.

Action Redraft of Rule 2 to be voted on by Democracy Zone Committee in the next meeting. (Cameron Meldrum)
Action Redraft of Rule 10 to be voted on by Democracy Zone Committee in the next meeting. (Cameron Meldrum)
6. Discussion: EVAs

Cameron updated the Committee with regards to the EVAs. He asked for it to be noted in the minutes that the Democracy Zone Volunteer of the Year has a very low take up due to the zone not having much volunteer involvement. 

7. AOB

Cameron updated the Committee on the Summer Elections that are currently underway. He confirmed for the committee that this election period is for Student Leader roles which were not filled by the Spring Elections, the Academic Presidents, Trustees, Chair of Senate and Medicine Course Reps.

Cameron will also be sending via round-robin the updated By-Law for the Summer Elections to the zone to be agreed.

A vote was brought by Ben to ask if the Committee would like to be updated on the number of You Make Change submissions being responded to by the Democracy Zone between Committee meetings. This was passed unanimously by those present and will now be recorded in the minutes going forward.

Decision The total number of You Make Change submissions between Democracy Zone Committee meetings are to be recorded in the minutes. Passed unanimously.

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