2020 General Meeting
Date: 15th November 2020 (2020-11-15)Agenda
Matters Arising
Amendments to Governing Documents
Motions Relating to Financial Matters
- Donating to Movember fundraiser (JP)
- Increasing BME society’s yearly budget (KM)
Any Other Motions
- Endorsing Disarm Oxford and Amnesty International’s ‘Stop Killer Robots’ campaign (IR)
Appendices
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Matters Arising
Amendments to Governing Documents
Motions Relating to Financial Matters
- Donating to Movember fundraiser (JP)
This JCR notes that:
- The Movember Foundation is the leading charity changing the face of men’s health, tackling issues such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer and male mental health and suicide prevention.
- By 2030, Movember aims to reduce the number of men dying prematurely by 25%.
- Alongside individual fundraising, student reps at other colleges have asked their JCRs to donate to their Movember team pages. This year, Lincoln College’s JCR have already donated £500. Last year, Lincoln College, St John’s College, St Peter’s College and many others each pledged £400.
This JCR believes that:
- We should follow suit and support our fundraisers via a donation from the Balliol JCR main funds.
- A large sum of money is justifiable not only because other colleges have pledged similar figures, but because there are also over 30 members of college involved already. While this is also a large lump sum, we only fundraise for Movember one month each year and this is the first year in recent times that it has been a collective college effort with members of lots of different societies taking part.
- This year, more than ever, mental health and suicide prevention are crucially important with COVID having really exacerbated these issues.
This JCR therefore resolves to:
- Donate £300-500 to the College Movember fundraising effort.
- Increasing BME society’s yearly budget (KM)
This JCR notes that:
- During Andi Burton-Marsh's survey of the treatment of the BME student body in Balliol, it was shown that the experience of BME students at Balliol was less than adequate, with many facing micro-aggressions inflicted by staff and students, among many other things.
- In light of the revival of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement, the BME community has been affected in many ways; mental health, sense of belonging, isolation, etc
- Balliol BME society was founded on the hope of acknowledging, praising and encouraging participation in the different cultural festivities our BME community abode by. It was built on the hope of demonstrating through acts of service, that each and every BME student belonged in an institution like Oxford.
This JCR believes that:
- A yearly budget of £50 is not enough to support our BME student body in Balliol.
- We should increase BME society’s yearly budget to accommodate the celebration of traditional festivities.
- Though this year has not necessarily been much different than any other years in terms of police brutality towards black people in the UK, it is so much more mediatised, gravely affecting the mental health of our black student body in Oxford/Balliol. An increase in budget will help us support our Black students in a variety of ways during this time and forevermore.
This JCR therefore resolves to:
- Increase Balliol BME Society’s yearly budget from £50 to £200.
Any Other Motions
- Endorsing Disarm Oxford and Amnesty International’s ‘Stop Killer Robots’ campaign (IR)
This JCR notes that:
- Internal Oxford University guidelines state that “funding is only requested or accepted if it will not result in the University or any of its members acting illegally, improperly, or unethically”. This includes money that “originates from or is associated with unethical activity”, while all donations and research funding that “raise issues of a reputation, ethical or similar nature” are referred to the Committee to Review Donations and Research Funding. [1]
- The Committee accepts over 95% of the funding it considers
- There is evidence of extensive University funding originating from unethical activity:
- This week’s Cherwell reveals that Oxford University accepted at least £726,706 from the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), the designer and producer of the UK’s nuclear warheads, in 2017-19 alone.
- The Director of Scientists for Global Responsibility said the findings “point very clearly to Oxford University researchers being involved in the development of mass destruction”
- Yemen offensive:
- Saudi Arabia is the UK's biggest arms customer. The Saudi-led war on Yemen has created the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Around 85,000 children in Yemen have died of starvation since the start of this war. The UN states that the Saudi-led military coalition (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait) has “targeted civilians … in a widespread and systematic manner”
- BAE Systems sponsors research at Oxford and supplies weapons, training and engineers to the military in Saudi Arabia during its ongoing Yemen offensive [2]
- In September 2019, Amnesty International accused seven arms companies linked to Oxford of an “alarming indifference to the human cost of their business” in a manner that could “expose these companies and their bosses to prosecution for war crimes”. [3]
- MoD funding at Oxford University totals over £6 million for research contracts active in the last three financial years. This includes six-figure grants for research projects with specified applications including electronic warfare and drones.
- Lethal Autonomous Weapons:
- Lethal autonomous Weapons ( ‘killer robots’) are labelled by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as “politically unacceptable and morally repugnant”. [4]
- Drone Wars UK found “tangible evidence” that the MoD, military contractors, and universities are “actively engaged in research and the development of technology which would enable weaponised drones to undertake autonomous missions.” [5]
- Currently funding at the University from defence-partnered grants related to autonomy totals at least £22 million, with Thales, QinetiQ, and BAE Systems – leading developers of drone technologies – providing significant financial support. Meanwhile, MoD-funded Oxford projects include a number of PhDs relating to unmanned flight control and sensor development.
This JCR believes that:
- Based on its own internal policy regarding funding, the University of Oxford should refuse funding originating from unethical activity.
- The University of Oxford should prioritise the academic freedom of its students and staff over its affiliations with the arms trade.
- As a centre for academic excellence, the University has a duty to remain independent of the military, which actively seeks to influence its research initiatives. [6]
- Making a public statement about this and encouraging involvement in the Disarm Oxford and Stop Killer Robots Campaign would be a great way for this JCR to demonstrate its commitment to human rights and the condemnation of war crimes, as well as academic freedom and anti-corruption. [7],[8]
This JCR resolves to:
- Publicly endorse Disarm Oxford in demanding that the University review its policies for accepting funding from companies that profit from the arms trade and human rights abuses.
- Publicly endorse the campaign to Stop Killer Robots in demanding that the University review its policies for accepting funding and research grants from companies working to develop lethal autonomous weapons
- Publicly endorse Disarm Oxford and Stop Killer Robots in demanding that, in line with internal regulations and international law, the University stops accepting funding that “originates from or is associated with unethical activity”.
- Encourage involvement of students in the Disarm Oxford and Stop Killer Robots Campaigns.
Appendices
[1] https://governance.admin.ox.ac.uk/legislation/regulations
[4] https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/03/1035381
[5] https://dronewars.net/2018/11/10/off-the-leash-autonomous-drones/
[7] https://isismagazine.org.uk/2019/11/funding-under-fire/
[8] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13646036
Minutes
Donating to Movember fundraiser
Josh introduces the motion; he’s balliol’s Movember rep. Movember is a charity focused on men’s health, and balliol’s campaign is specifically focused on men’s mental health, and a lot of colleges and societies are doing fundraisers for it this year. They want to see a 25% reduction in the number of men dying prematurely by 2030. He wants the jcr to donate £500 to balliol’s campaign; they’ve raised £4000 already, and over 30 people across the jcr and mcr are involved in fundraising.
Conor says that this is a really great idea. Our finances are in the position to do it, and he’d happily use his exec powers to pass the money anyway.
Josh says donations of £25 made from the 27th will be matched; we could maybe make the donation in £25 increments to double it to £1000.
Conor says he’s happy to look into that.
A vote is taken. The motion passes.
Increasing BME society’s yearly budget
Keren introduces the motion. Balliol BME soc currently has a £50 yearly budget to use for events. This really isn’t very much; they’re running an event next Friday and have already had to ask Bruce for help. She thinks the budget should be raised to £200; BME soc has a higher expenditure compared to other societies, and they want to run a lot of events this year.
Danish agrees. When Andi set up BME soc, the BME community at balliol was much smaller; there are loads more people now, and it’s really hard to make the budget stretch far. BME soc didn’t do anything for Diwali for example. Natalina organised something with college. They want to run more cultural events this year, and they need funding for this.
Michael asks which roles on committee have a budget; he knows e&e officers have no budget, but some have £50, how does this work?
Cerian says this motion isn’t about BME officers, but BME society; the ethnic minorities officers have a £50 termly budget, and can also use the welfare budget.
Conor says he thinks the budget for the society is so low because the jcr was in a very different financial position three years ago when BME soc was founded. We can afford to spend more now, and we could even go higher as £200 a year is still not a lot. He’ll look over the finances more closely before the end of his term, and see if there’s scope for further increases in the future.
A vote is taken. The motion passes.
Endorsing Disarm Oxford and Amnesty International’s ‘Stop Killer Robots’ campaign
Imogen introduces the motion. She wants the jcr to support disarm oxford and the campaign to stop killer robots; it’s a symbolic motion to endorse rather than request any specific action.
The uni has internal guidelines to refuse funding from sources acting illegally, improperly or unethically. Evidence has been found that these guidelines are being broken; Cherwell found that the uni accepted £720,000 from the producer of the UK’s nuclear warheads, and thus that Oxford researchers were involved in developing weapons of mass destruction.
Killer robots refer to lethal autonomous weapons. The UN secretary general was called these politically unacceptable and morally repugnant. They challenge accountability in warfare. There’s evidence that research has been done into developing such weapon systems, funded by the ministry of defence. There’s more detail on both campaigns in the motion.
The campaigns are working with Oxford’s own internal policy - they should refuse unethical funding. Refusal would mean more academic freedom. The jcr should make a public statement of support for these campaigns, and thus for the protection of human rights, refusing to endorse war crimes.
A vote is taken. The motion passes.