2016 General Meeting
Date: Saturday 2nd week, Trinity 2016 (2016-05-07)Agenda
Trinity Term 2nd Week GM Agenda
a) Matters arising
1. Submission and distribution of Termly Reports [Darryl Braier-Lorimer] [Passes]
2. Updating the Constitution to Reflect the Online Charity Ballot [Rivka Shaw & Sophie Conquest] [Passes]
b) Amendments to the Governing Documents
c) Motions relating to financial matters
3. TV Room subscriptions [Oli Johnson-Munday & Darryl Braier-Lorimer] [Deferred]
d) Any other motions
4. Molly Rogers Hero [Richard Ware, Al Bassett, Ian MacFarlane] [Passes]
a) Matters arising
1. Submission and distribution of Termly Reports [Darryl Braier-Lorimer] [Passes]
This JCR notes:
1. Part V Clause 3.1.f) reads
“f) All Committee Offices shall, no later than Sunday of the Seventh Week of each term, submit to the Secretary a report detailing their activities for that term. These reports shall be compiled by the Secretary, who shall:
i) present it to the last General Meeting of the term; and
ii)ensure that they are preserved at least six years after their creation.”
2. Many Offices continue doing work in the last two weeks of term that would be worth reporting to the JCR in their termly report.
3. In practice, termly reports are not presented at GMs and they are not typically submit by the last GM of term.
4. Committee Officers do work relating to their Offices and degrees during term time.
This JCR believes:
1. It is more useful to the JCR to have the activities of the entire term reported to them.
2. It is more useful to the Committee Officers to allow them time in the vac to write their reports.
3. The Constitution should reflect practice.
This JCR resolves:
1. To amend Part V Clause 3.1.f) to read
“f) All Committee Offices shall, no later than Sunday of Eleventh week, submit to the Secretary a report detailing their activities for that term. These reports shall be compiled by the Secretary, who shall:
i) distribute the reports to the JCR before Sunday of 0th week of the following term; and
ii) ensure that they are preserves at least six years after their creation.”
2. Updating the Constitution to Reflect The Online Charity Ballot [Rivka Shaw & Sophie Conquest] [Passes]
This JCR notes:
1. That Part VII Clause 1.4.b) of the Constitution reads
“b) Charitable donations may only be made at the final Ordinary General Meeting of each Full Term, excepting motions brought under clause 1.4 c).”
2. That Part VII Clause 1.4.c) of the Constitution reads
“c) charitable donation to a cause which would suffer if the motion were delayed until the the final Ordinary General Meeting of each Academic Term, they may bring the motion to the next Ordinary General Meeting at the discretion of the Chair.”
3. These clauses reflect the outdated practice of voting to pass money to charities at the last GM of term after conducting a ballot, which has since been superseded by the practice of employing an online ballot, and hence contradicts current practice.
This JCR believes:
1. That the Governing Documents should reflect current practice.
This JCR resolves:
1. To amend Part VII Clause 1.4.b) of the Constitution to read
“b) Motions to make charitable donations may not be brought to a GM, excepting motions brought under clause 1.4.c).”
i) To amend Part VII Clause 1.4.c) of the Constitution to read
“In the event that an Ordinary Member wishes to propose a charitable donation to a cause which would suffer if the motion were delayed until the online charities ballot as arranged by the Charities & RAG Officer in accordance with Part III Clause 13.1.d), they may bring the motion to the next Ordinary General Meeting.”
b) Amendments to the Governing Documents
c) Motions relating to financial matters
4. TV Room Subscriptions [Oli Johnson-Munday & Darryl Braier-Lorimer] [Deferred]
The JCR notes:
1. Daz was mandated to buy BT Sport ages ago.
2. He hasn’t.
3. He was mandated to spend £24 per month.
4. The reason he hasn’t bought it is because the quote was in fact £130 per month.
5. £130 is objectively a lot more that £24.
6. Darryl emailed OUSU 3 times and they didn’t reply.
7. Darryl told me he wants this issue “to go away”.
8. OJ-M has no way of proving beyond reasonable doubt that Darryl said this.
This JCR believes:
1. We shouldn’t be deprived of BT Sport because Darryl’s estimate at the cost of BT Sport was allegedly pulled out of thin air.
2. We should establish an upper limit of money we are prepared to mandate Darryl to spend per month for BT Sport so we know whether we’re getting it or not.
3. The Balliol Laundry Twitter account is funny.
The JCR resolves:
1. To mandate Darryl to spend no more than £24 on BT Sport per month.
2. To mandate Darryl to spend up to £130 on BT Sport per month.
3. To mandate Darryl to spend up to an amount between £24 and £130 on BT Sport per month as decided at the GM.
Procedural Motion [Withdrawn]
Vote on the resolves in parts.
Amendment 1 [Passes]
Change resolves 3 to “..up to £65…”
e) Any other motions
4. Molly Rogers Hero [Richard Ware, Al Bassett, Ian MacFarlane] [Passes]
This JCR notes:
1. The existence of Molly Rogers.
2. Molly has held the positions of Environment and Ethics officer, Welfare officer, and SDO (twice) on the JCR committee.
3. Molly has helped to organise events for the JCR including, but not restricted to:
i) Many ‘Welfare Craft’s
ii) Many Welfare/JCR teas
iii) Balliol does TED talks
iv) Mirrorless Mondays
v) Speaker events
vi) Disabilities Awareness week
4. Molly has literally built the craft cupboard.
5. Molly created the costumes for the charity musical, including a massive fuck-off teapot (see appendix).
This JCR believes:
1. Molly is great.
2. Molly has made a huge positive contribution to the JCR.
3. Molly has made a huge impact on how many members of the JCR think and talk about mental health.
4. People who talk to Molly generally become happier.
5. Molly is an absolute Hero.
This JCR resolves:
1. To make Molly Rogers a Hero of the JCR.
Minutes
Ste brought a procedural motion to move motion four to motion one. Oli asked why; Ste responded that people don't care about the Constitution.
Richard assumed that the JCR would agree that Molly is fantastic. He noted that she does a lot of stuff for the JCR that aren't really CV-able but makes peoples' lives better, referencing the list of things that Molly have done for the JCR in the notes section of the motion.
Al pointed out that Molly has held all of her positions on Committee very actively and enthusiastically (as opposed to simply sitting on Committee); Richard presumed Ste would have figures to back this assertion that were included in the termly report.
Oli noted that Molly has often provided great insights into debates at GMs, and that he is grateful for her contributions, and thanked her.
Al told the JCR that there had been a message from Meg in support of the motion.
Ste noted there had been many requests for proxy votes (which sadly could not be counted).
James told the JCR that there have been many late and long GMs at which Molly has provided contributions that have been vital.
Darryl requested a motion of no confidence in the Secretary due to a lack of appendices available.
The GM agreed to informally mandate Ste to share the appendices with the JCR.
Darryl screwed Constitution to observe that Molly has spent most at Committee lunches, and reported the massive effort and time contribution that Molly has made.
Ryan expressed that he is delighted that this motion has been presented. He expressed his belief that the atmosphere that Molly has created regarding openness in the JCR has been unparalelled.
A move to a vote was called. This passed without opposition.
The motion passed unanimously.
The JCR agreed to let Ste present the motion.
Ste told the JCR that the motion was useful for the preservation of practice for future Committees.
Motion passes without opposition.
The JCR agreed to let Nicky present the motion.
Nicky reiterated that the motion was to update the Constitution.
Motion passes without opposition.
Oli told the JCR that his motion is light Darryl-bashing due to the flawed mandate of the previous BT sport motion. He brought the procedural motion to have the motion taken by parts to choose the JCR's preferred choice from the three resolves. Tom offered that it would be simpler to debate the motion and then have it amended as is appropriate. Oli agreed and withdrew his procedural motion.
It was noted that OUSU had been unresponsive.
Molly asked the Treasurer how much she believes would be reasonable. Darryl responded that the over 100 channels offered by Sky are offered for ninety-two pound monthly; the BT package offers only three new channels. He estimated that the most it could be worth was two-thirds of what is currently paid for Sky.
Will asked how the mandate of the motion was affected given that the resolves of the motion was open ended; Oli replied it was for Committee to interpret whether the mandate became invalid due to the inaccurate notes.
Richard asked if BT Vision would be available. It would not. The three channels would, however, be HD.
Oli brought an amendment to amend resolves three to change the upper limit to be two-thirds of the price for the Sky package, which is ninety-two pounds monthly. Numbers were discussed, figures were said; he chose to ask for the upper limit to be raised to sixty-five pound monthly.
Will asked for clarification regarding the numbers; Darryl responded this was based on conversations with BT centred around a deal for the Oxfordshire area. Will asked what the point would be mandating the treasurer to pay less than the asking price. Darryl responded that the mandate would be to continue negotiating with BT sport.
Amendment passed without opposition.
Oli offered that he believes the offered one-hundred and thirty pounds a month is too much, but he noted that BT sport shows a lot of womens' sport which Sky does not do quite so much, and wanted people to bear in mind this qualitative difference.
Richard asked if there would be a possibility of reducing the Sky package. Darryl responded that our current Sky package is the basic level.
Matt told the JCR that the money that comes in from the Entz optional levies contributes to the Sky payments, and hence this motion would drain that budget. Darryl told the JCR that the Entz budget was declining.
Richard asked if it would be possible to ask for money from college to show sport; Oli replied this would be possible but it would be unlikely given that the TV is the JCR's.
Hugo told the JCR that he appreciates the motion for the purpose of clarification, however the question of asking how high would you be willing to pay was not one that was equivalent to asking if the JCR was willing to accept or reject a specific offer from BT. He suggested that the JCR vote against the motion and have the possibilities investigated further by Darryl. Oli replied that this was a fair enough decision. He noted that he hadn't considered some of the possibilities suggested. He offered that this mandate would provide greater opportunity for the purpose of negotiation. Hugo replied that it doesn't help Darryl to have the number from the JCR, and hence questioned why this would be easier that having him independently investigate the possibility. Oli noted that the motion was largely to kick Darryl for a laugh.
Matt seconded Hugo's point that it would be easier for the JCR to debate a precise figure, particularly with reference borderline figures, and that he doubts that a number mandated by a GM would be a bargaining tool for the Treasurer.
Oli offered that the amount the JCR is willing to spend provides Darryl a tool of ascertaining how much the JCR wants BT sports.
Will expressed his appreciation of Hugo's points, however he believes that the lack of clarity in the previous motion has been unhelpful. He also questioned whether the JCR would be comfortable allowing the officers to act without the JCR's instruction.
Nicky offered his perception that the principal feature of the debate was the inaccuracy of the notes of the previous motion and their influence on the mandate of the motion. He offered the possibility of giving a time-frame for investigation rather than purchasing power, as it seems unusual to provide a running mandate for an impossible task.
Hugo replied to Will that asking an officer to investigate a possibility isn't the same as allowing the Treasurer to do as they please.
Richard asked if Darryl would attempt to purchase BT sports without a motion passed. Darryl told the JCR that this is the best number that he will be able to get, noting that this was the figure he attained after four attempts to negotiate the figure down.
Sarah asked why this is being debated if the figure from BT cannot be made lower; Oli replied that there exist other avenues such as OUSU that have yet to be used.
Ste called for a quorum count.
Quorum was not reached.
The motion was deferred to a future GM.