2014 General Meeting

By admin, 30 March, 2022
Date of Meeting

    2014 General Meeting

    Date: Sunday 5th week, Trinity 2014 (2014-05-25)

    Agenda


    1. Divestment Campaign [Rivka Micklethwaite]
    2. Consent Workshops [Claudia Freemantle and Isabel Williams]
    3. Drama Society [Richard May]

     

    1 Divestment Campaign (Rivka Micklethwaite)

    This JCR notes that:

    1. The JCR voted to support OUSU E&E’s divestment campaign in Michaelmas.
    2. There is a demonstration (Fossil Free Future) on Saturday 31st May which aims to bring together the people of Oxford to call on the University and the Council to divest from fossil fuels.

    This JCR believes that:

    1. The Council and the University should not be investing in fossil fuel companies who continue to search for new fuel reserves.

    This JCR resolves:

    1. To take the Balliol JCR banner to the demonstration on Saturday 31st May.

     

     

    2 Compulsory consent workshops in Freshers’ Week [Claudia Freemantle and Izzy Williams]

     

    This JCR Notes

    1. OUSU co-ordinates the training and provides resources for MCRs and JCRs to run sexual consent workshops in their communities.
    2. Feedback on the workshops is overwhelmingly positive.
    3. That several common rooms have made these workshops compulsory for incoming students.
    4. That sexual consent is necessary, not optional for sexual interactions

     

    This JCR Believes

    1. That consent workshops are an appropriate and desirable way of highlighting the issues for incoming students
    2. That Balliol JCR should be a community in which sexual consent is respected and sexual violence is not tolerated.

     

    This JCR Resolves

    1. To hold consent workshops for incoming students in Freshers’ weeks.
    2. To include them in Freshers’ week timetables as compulsory events
    3. The mandate the women’s officer and relevant welfare officers to attend training to facilitate the workshops
    4. To invite all interested parties to attend trainings to help the JCR officers facilitate the workshops.

     

    3.Drama Society [Richard May]

    This JCR notes:

    1. The ongoing process of Charitable Registration.
    2. The Balliol JCR Dramatic Society, which is a semi-autonomous group that loans money to plays involving JCR members.
    3. That so far the fate of the Drama Society post-Charitable-Registration has been unclear. 
    4. That all JCR members are members of the Drama Society, and that the Drama Society is run by JCR members elected to JCR posts in JCR elections. 
    5. That the Drama Society President has full control over the making of loans, because loans may need to be made at short notice without time for a GM or Committee meeting. 
    6. That post-Charitable-Registration, the JCR will be required to provide full statements of audited accounts to the Charity Commission.
    7. That Trustees of a charity have fiduciary duties, which compels them to put the charity’s interests first, to avoid conflicts of interest and to ensure that the charity’s resources are directed solely towards fulfilling the aims of the charity.
    8. That post-Charitable-Registration, Trustees of the JCR are Committee Members and vice versa.

    This JCR believes:

    1. That bringing the Drama Society fully into the JCR would best enable us to provide statements of accounts, and would make the most sense given notes 4.  
    2. That if the Drama Society President is to loan money under their own authorization, they must put the JCR’s interests first, avoid conflicts of interest and ensure that their loans are used only to promote drama – in other words, they must hold fiduciary duties, which requires them to be a Trustee and thus a Committee member.

    This JCR resolves:

    1. To make the following amendments to the current Constitution, to take effect at the end of the current Committee’s term of office:
      1. Amend Constitution 4.2: Add ‘Drama Society President’ to the list of Committee offices.
      2. Strike Standing Orders 6.1 b) (remove Drama Society President from the list of Non-Committee offices).
      3. Amend Standing Orders 6.2.2: “The Dramatic Society Treasurer and Secretary will run the Dramatic Society in accordance with its own constitution.”
      4. Adds Constitution 4.32: “The Drama Society President shall be responsible for the running of the Dramatic Society in accordance with the Drama Society Constitution, and the promotion of dramatic productions and events within the JCR.”
    2. To mandate the drafters of the new Constitution to include a clause to the same effect in the new Constitution.
    3. To mandate the drafters of the new Constitution to bring the Drama Society fully into the JCR in the new Constitution.

    Amendment [Max Dalton]

    Adds notes 9. That other position holders within the JCR, including non-committee members can and do put the interests of the JCR first, avoid conflicts of interest, and ensure that the charity’s resources are properly directed, even though they are, and will be, under no legal mandate to do so.

    Adds notes 10. That the Drama Society President currently has control over the spending of money on JCR drama subject to authorisation from the JCR Treasurer or JCR President, who are members of the JCR committee, accountable to the JCR, and will be trustees of the JCR. (see Drama society constitution 6A: 6. The Society may use its funds to: a) promote and support dramatic productions and events within the Junior Common Room, subject to the approval of the JCR Treasurer and the Arts Subcommittee;

    Adds notes 11. That the Drama Society can currently issue loans without the explicit approval of the JCR Treasurer or President, but that since the Treasurer and President, not the Drama Society president, are signatories to the Drama Fund account, implicit approval must be granted, since the cheque must be signed by either treasurer or president. (See Drama society constitution 6B: The Society may use its funds to b) award loans to dramatic productions under their own authority, subject to Article 9.)

    Adds notes 12. That the JCR currently creates audited accounts, which are presented to college meetings, and accessible to members in the JCR office.

    Adds notes 13. That there are currently 33 committee members, that this is higher than has previously been the case, and that the JCR has recently consistently voted not to increase the number of committee members

    Adds notes 14. That there are other committee and non-committee positions, with access to larger budgets, who act autonomously, subject to approval of spending from the JCR Treasurer or JCR President.

    Strikes believes 2

    Adds believes 2.That if the Drama Society President passes money only with authorisation from the JCR Treasurer or JCR President, the Treasurer or President, as a trustee, could take full legal responsibility for ensuring that they put the JCR’s interests first, avoid conflicts of interest and ensure that their loans are used only to promote drama.

    Adds believes 3. That the JCR Treasurer or President taking legal responsibility for passing the money does not generally necessitate them carrying out detailed investigation, or hindering the freedom of the Drama society.

    Adds believes 4. That Drama society loans can’t be passed at a GM or committee lunch, but could be authorised by The JCR treasurer or JCR President at short notice.

    Strikes resolves 1 (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, and 1.4)

    Adds resolves 1. To alter the drama society constitution 6 to read: The Society may use its funds, subject to the approval of the JCR President or JCR Treasurer, to: a) promote and support dramatic productions and events within the Junior Common Room; b) award loans to dramatic productions, subject to Article 9.

    Minutes


    Divestment Campaign [Rivka Micklethwaite] passed without opposition

    Consent Workshops [Claudia F and Izzy F]

    Claudia explained that the Women’s Officers thought it very important that compulsory workshops take place in Freshers Week. There is a precedent for this in other Colleges, including Wadham where the workshops have been very well received.

    MD asked how they would make sure that people for whom it might trigger unpleasant memories would not be forced to go. CF said that it would be made clear at the beginning that you could leave any time no questions asked.

    RW asked who would run them; CF explained that they would take place in small groups, ran by other trained students.

    SB asked which colleges have them; CF named St Anne’s, St Johns and some others. HE asked if they had other evidence apart from anecdote to support the positive results of the workshops. CF said that it was very hard to quantify effect, but reiterated that feedback was overwhelmingly positive in other Colleges. TP asked if there were other activities that the Women’s Officers wanted to do to raise awareness about consent. CF pointed out that in a few years everyone in College would have attended one. IW pointed out that it would also be heavily reiterated that anyone could be trained to take a workshop.

    The motion passed without opposition.

     

    Motion 3

    RM explained that we needed for formalise the legal standing of Drama Society. This would include bringing the Drama President onto the Committee. RH asked if RW had consulted with the Chair on this motion; RW said that he had, but DT said that he had had no great impact on the motion to render his chairing partial.

    MD then explained his amendment; that rather than making the Drama Society present a member of Committee, they could instead bring the Drama Society under the command of the Treasurer. This wouldn’t mean that the Treasurer ran the Drama Society, they would just be legally responsible for the money, exactly the same as the welfare Committee. MD said that this was preferable to adding another committee member to the already overcrowded committee. There were no more factual questions or opposition to the motion and the motion passed.