2018 Committee Lunch
Date: Wednesday 3rd week, Michaelmas 2018 (2018-10-24)Attendance
Present: Leah Mitchell (President), Henrique Aguiar (Treasurer), Gregory Brinkworth (Lindsay), Hannah Williams (Dr. WHO), Ellen Cropley (Dr. WHO), Thomas Laver (Foody), Joseph Al-Khalili (Foody), Athravan Sett (Access and Admissions Officer), Mia Liyanage (Access and Admissions Officer), Amrita Khandpur (Design & Maintenance Officer), Eleanor Cook (Student Disabilities Officer), Pria Bourne (Student Disabilities Officer), Helena Cox-Smith (Entz Officer), Joshua Tilley (Environment & Ethics Officer), Safia Khan (Ethnic Minorities Officer), Alexander Gruen (Housing Officer), Mick Yang (LGBTQ Officer), Tanja Gunther (LGBTQ Officer), Antonia Siu (Website & Computing Officer), Francesca Back (Women's Officer), Lauren Tavriger (Women's Officer)
Absent with apologies: Charlotte Lee (Vice-President (Administrative)), Rebecca Clark (Charities and RAG Officer), Jack Weatherilt (Entz Officer), Avnish Nijjar (Ethnic Minorities Officer)
Absent without explanation: Beth Thomas (Secretary), Dylan Behr (Environment & Ethics Officer), Xinyu Luo (International Students Officer)
Agenda
- Matters Arising
- Committee Retention, Recruitment and Transparency
- FIFA 19
- JCR Renovation
Minutes
JCR Renovation
Leah began by asking how we could reduce resignations and encourage freshers to stand for election. Amrita noted that the large degree of turnover was primarily due to workload. Lauren suggested that the fundamental problem was to do with committee perception. Leah also emphasised that most resignations were to do with workload and the prioritisation of extra-curricular activities rather than welfare concerns within committee. Amrita noted that the precedent set by resignations was particularly problematic. Mia noted that if you’re referred to academic progress committee then you have to resign, which does in itself explain resignations. Lauren suggested that part of the reason why so many freshers ran last year was that second years were reluctant to stand for election in the wake of the JdeB scandal. In turn, the number of . Isis suggested that CAFGO should be women’s officer role. Updated role descriptions and starred list of roles, with stars indicating fresher roles. (Particularly supported by Mia)
Thomas suggested implementing a committee leave scheme that would allow committee officers to delegate their roles to other committee officers or trained understudies for a certain period of time, thus reducing the workload during high-stress periods. Amrita and Leah suggested that this should not be adopted given the existence of sub-committees, the fact that many roles are dual nomination and the fact that the committee is already quite large. Dominic also noted that welfare roles should not be delegated due to confidentiality concerns, and Mia said that access and admissions requires a great deal of specialised knowledge and so should not be delegated. Leah suggested that the best way to ease committee workload would be to expand the various sub-committees.
Leah suggested holding an open committee lunch to discuss retention and recruitment as well as the JCR's opinions of the committee. Amrita thought that an open lunch would not necessarily make sense in the short term given the possibility that it might give a poor impression of the committee’s function to freshers. She suggested that JCR members should be invited to the next committee lunch so that they can see how committee works. Lauren suggested that this may be a trough in a cycle, and that a) the lack of contestation at the last elections is due to the controversy of the past year (CU, JdB etc) and b) the number of resignation is due to the precedent set early on in the year and the number of freshers standing due to a). Amrita suggested emphasizing the positive role of the committee at the next committee lunch; Ellen thought that this could be achieved by passing the money for welfare week.
Mia suggested that a google form might be an effective way to elicit feedback. The committee could then consider possible changes in response to this feedback But Isis noted that such forms can sometimes result in responses that targeting individual committee members. Leah noted that she meant to send out a feedback form anyway. Amrita suggested that exec should read any responses. This was agreed to. Leah suggested that the committee should decide to hold an open committee lunch (with normal agenda items, including welfare week). Amrita agreed with this, and suggested that productive motions should be included on the agenda. It was suggested that welfare week events could be discussed as an agenda item. Leah asked if anybody was willing to post about this open committee lunch. Dom and Ellen were suggested as possible candidates.
FIFA 19
Nathan wanted to pass £49.99 to purchase FIFA 19. It was suggested that the game might be kept in the library, in the TV room lockers or in the porters lodge. The first of these options was suggested as the most sensible one since it would be difficult to control access to the locker. The motion was passed, with the proviso that some system should be developed to control access to the game to ensure that it does not get lost.
JCR Renovation
Charlotte noted that the JCR renovation is currently on hold because the college wants to make us pay for it. The porters lodge renovation is also on hold, but JCR renovation will take precedence. It was noted that the only period during which a renovation could occur is during Hilary vac. Concerns were raised regarding exams, but it was noted that this was the period during which any building work was least likely to distract those with exams. Isis asked whether or not there is a possibility that the renovation could run over. Leah noted that contingencies will be built in to ensure that it does not overrun. Isis suggested putting in place a JCR renovation working group to ensure that the renovation remains under JCR supervision.