2015 General Meeting

Date: Sunday 5th week, Hilary 2015 (2015-02-15)

Agenda

1. The Kennel [Oli Johnson-Munday]: Postponed
This JCR notes:

1. A group of 2nd year undergraduates, namely Oliver Johnson-Munday, Thomas Posa, William Beynon, Joshua Warwick and Alex Potten all live together in a house in Cowley.
2. This house has been named ‘The Kennel’
3. Last year Huw Charles, Christian Elliott, Daniel Harcombe and Math Williams lived in a house together.
4. They named this house 10D, as it was located at 10 Denmark Street
5. Last year, Denvar Antonyrajah, Thomas McDonald, Robert Wight and others not concerned in this motion lived in Jowett Walk.
6. They named their house faction “The Kings of Jowett Walk”.
7. On the 24th January 2015, ‘The Kennel’ held a house party.
8. ‘The Kennel’ has spent a concerning amount of their own money on house stash.
9. This stash includes bespoke pint glasses, snapbacks, stickers and a clock.
10. One snapback and the clock were stolen on the night of the party.
11. The snapback was begrudgingly returned by Math Williams.
12. The clock is still being held captive.
13. Timekeeping is important.
14. The clock has been defaced with images so graphic and tasteless we cannot show photographs of it.

This JCR believes:

1. ‘The Kennel’ is an amusing, self-mocking name.
2. 10D and the Kings of Jowett walk are comparatively unimaginative and boring names.
3. Calling yourself 10D instead of 10Den when you live on Denmark Street, it rhymes and is a den is stupid and unforgiveable.
4. 10D and the Kings of Jowett walk are peanut butter and jealous of the Kennel.
5. 10D and the Kings of Jowett walk hate us because they ain’t us.
6. It is absolutely appalling to disrespect the hosts of a party by stealing their clock.
7. It is wrong to steal.
8. The last GM was really boring.
9. This motion is fun.
10. 10D and the Kings of Jowett Walk are not bad people, but rather good people who have done bad things.
11. Cheap replicas of The Kennel, including but not limited to, ‘The Warren’ and ‘The Den’ are unfunny.
12. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

This JCR resolves:

1. To mandate 10D and the Kings of Jowett Walk to return our clock.
2. To mandate them to pay for any repairs necessitated by their doodling.
3. To make them temporary villains of the JCR until the clock is returned safe and sound.
4. To mandate JCR members to not like any of Denvar’s fresher group posts until the clock is returned.

Amendment 1 [Oli Johnson-Munday]: Accepted as Friendly
Strike Resolves 1, 2, and 4 as unconstitutional
Add Resolves:

1. To mandate the president to write to 10D and the Kings of Jowett and ask them to return our clock.
2. To mandate the president to write them a letter to ask them to pay for any repairs.
3. To mandate the president to put a post on the facebook page asking all JCR members not to like Denvar’s posts.

Amendment 2 [George Badger]: Failed
Strike Believes 11.

2. Standing Policy Amendments
a) Abortion [Richard May]: Passed
This JCR notes:

1. The Standing Policy items ‘Abortion – Choice’, ‘Abortion – Time Limits’, and ‘Directional Advice’.
2. That the item ‘Abortion – Time Limits’ mandates us as a JCR to support the current 24-week limit on abortions.

This JCR believes:

1. That Standing Policy should be coherent.
2. That there is likely to be disagreement amongst JCR members about term limits.

This JCR resolves:

1. To strike the Standing Policy items ‘Abortion – Choice’, ‘Abortion – Term Limits’ and ‘Directional Advice’.
2. To add the following as an item of Standing Policy under the title ‘Abortion’:

This JCR believes:

1. That everyone has a right to impartial and neutral advice on abortion.
2. That people who are pregnant should be assisted in making the decision that is right for them.

This JCR resolves:

1. To support a pregnant person's right to choose abortion.
2. To condemn directional advice groups such as Life.
3. To instigate a ban on advertising helplines such as Life in the JCR and its publications.

b) Campaigns [Richard May]: Passed
This JCR notes:

1. The Standing Policy item ‘Campaigns’.
2. That this item is extremely vague.

This JCR believes:

1. That vague Standing Policy items are not particularly helpful.

This JCR resolves:

1. To strike the Standing Policy item ‘Campaigns’.

c) Fire Safety [Richard May]: Failed
This JCR notes:

1. The Standing Policy items ‘Fire Safety’ and ‘Fire Safety & Toast’.
2. That College test the fire alarm in the early morning so as to minimize disruption to tutorials and meetings. 
3. That the fire alarm is tested at 8am on Wednesday of each 0th Week. 

This JCR believes:

1. That College’s restrictions on toasters are more likely to stem from insurance concerns than a desire to deprive us of toast.
2. That as nice as a lie-in is, it would be worse to disrupt tutorials and work with a fire drill.

This JCR resolves:

1. To strike the Standing Policy items ‘Fire Safety’ and ‘Fire Safety & Toast’.

Amendment 1 [Richard May]: Accepted as Friendly
Amend Notes 3, changing "0th Week" to "1st Week".

d) Set-Splitting in College [Richard May]: Passed
This JCR notes:

1. The Standing Policy item ‘Set-Splitting in College’.

This JCR believes:

1. That set splitting is not necessarily a bad thing.
2. That College haven’t done this in a long time.

This JCR resolves:

1. To strike the Standing Policy item ‘Set-Splitting in College’.

e) Tutor for Women [Richard May]: Passed
This JCR notes:

1. The Standing Policy item ‘Tutor for Women’.
2. That we have a SCR Women’s Officer, Lisa Walker.

This JCR believes:

1. That this Standing Policy item has served its purpose.

This JCR resolves:

1. To strike the Standing Policy item ‘Tutor for Women’.

3. Constitutional Errata [Richard May]: Passed

This JCR notes:

1. That as part of a Secret Santa present, Richard May received a fill-in-the-gaps copy of the first section of the Constitution.
2. That as well as being a fantastic and incredibly entertaining present, it led to the discovery of a mistake in the Constitution.
3. That Part I, Section 1 of the Constitution states that “Ordinary General Meeting means a General Meeting other than the Annual General Meeting”.
4. That Annual General Meetings (AGMs) and Emergency General Meetings (EGMs) are not defined in this section either.

This JCR believes:

1. That EGMs are not Ordinary General Meetings.
2. That we should define AGMs and EGMs, since we make reference to them in the body of the Constitution.

This JCR resolves:

1. To amend Part I, Section 1 of the Constitution, striking the definition of the Ordinary General Meeting and adding the following with the following:

Annual General Meeting means the General Meeting held in 8th week of Michaelmas Term, as defined in part VII, subsection 1.2.

Emergency General Meeting means a time-sensitive General Meeting, as defined in part VII, subsection 1.3.

Ordinary General Meeting means a General Meeting other than an Annual General Meeting or Emergency General Meeting.

4. Whaleliol [James Rainey]: Passed

This JCR notes: 

1. Wadham owns a cottage in Cornwall where finalists can stay for free during pre-Trinity vac
2. Wadham serves chips in hall almost every day
3. Wadham provides its students with free Zumba classes
4. Wadham has Queerfest
5. Balliol does not own a cottage in Cornwall where finalists can stay for free during pre-Trinity vac
6. Balliol does not serve chips in hall almost every day
7. Balliol does not provide its students with free Zumba classes (mainly due to lack of suitable space)
8. Balliol does not have Queerfest

This JCR believes: 

1. A finalist cottage, more chips, free Zumba classes and Queerfest are desirable things to have at Balliol
2. Although tempting, war with Wadham and subsequent colonisation are not appropriate responses to gain access to these resources
3. Unification between Balliol and Wadham is an appropriate response to gain access to these resources
4. Displays of affection could woo Wadham into unification

This JCR resolves:

1. To buy a tank
2. To decorate the tank colourfully and make adjustments to it such that it can fire glitter.
3. To use the tank to shower Wadham with glitter
4. Subsequently propose that Wadham and Balliol unify under the name “Whaleliol”
5. To draft a Whaleliol flag depicting a friendly whale, as depicted in Appendix 1.
6. To draft plans for a tunnel between Balliol and Wadham (or alternatively invade and demolish Trinity, replacing it with a path to Wadham)

Amendment 1 [John Clark Maxwell]: Accepted as Friendly
Strike Resolves 1.
Add Resolves 1: To mandate the treasurer to investigate options for buying a tank.

Amendment 2 [Richard May]: Accepted as Friendly
Strike Resolves 2.
Add Resolves 2: To mandate the D&Ms to decorate the tank colourfully and make adjustments to it such that it can fire glitter.

5. Queer Consent Workshops [Izzy Williams]: Passed

This JCR notes:

1. That sexual consent workshops have been made compulsory in freshers’ week.
2. That the motion applied to all future freshers’ weeks.
3. That the feedback from the workshops in Freshers’ week 2014 was overwhelmingly positive.
4. That OUSU has compiled and begun training facilitators for a “Queer Consent Workshop”.
5. That the Queer consent workshop covers issues surrounding consent not covered by the standard workshop, relating to people who identify as LGBTQ+ but also other types of relationship and sexual identity such as polyamory and kink.
6. That the queer consent workshop is intended to be attended only by those who identify as LGBTQ+ and other non-mainstream sexual or relationship identities.
7. That according to the 2010 NUS Hidden Marks Survey, Mankind, SurvivorsUK and Rape Crisis: Lesbian women have a 46% chance and bisexual women a 75% chance of experiencing sexual violence; 4 in 10 gay men and 1 in 2 bisexual men have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime; 64% of trans individuals have experienced sexual assault in their lifetime.

This JCR believes: 

1. That people who identify as LGBTQ or other non-mainstream sexual identities are likely to make up a significant proportion of the JCR.
2. That the standard sexual consent workshops are not sufficient to cover issues surrounding consent that apply to these identities.
3. That Balliol should be inclusive of sexual identities and a community where sexual consent is respected, and sexual violence not tolerated.
4. That consent workshops are an appropriate and desirable way of highlighting issues surrounding sexual consent for incoming students. 
5. That a queer consent workshop should be held in freshers’ week as well as the compulsory standard workshops.

This JCR resolves: 

1. To mandate the Vice-President to include an optional Queer Consent Workshop in every Freshers’ Week timetable, on top of the compulsory standard workshops.

Amendment 1 [Izzy Williams]: Accepted as Friendly
Add Resolves 2: To mandate the LGBTQ reps to assist the Vice-President in organising the workshop.

Amendment 2 [Amy Ford]: Accepted as Friendly
Add Resolves 3: To mandate LGBTQ reps to run a similar workshop in Hilary or Trinity.

6. Suspended Status Students [Ryan Diamond, Jess Poole, Richard May]: Passed

This JCR notes:

1. That section 3.2 of the College Handbook states that suspended students ‘may not participate in the activities of any College society, represent the College in any team, obtain credit in college, or vote in JCR elections whilst on leave’, but does not explicitly forbid them from remaining as members of the JCR.
2. That College decides whether suspended students can use College facilities or enter College grounds on a case-by-case basis.
3. The Constitution states that JCR members must be current members of the College, but is unclear about the status of suspended students. 
4. That many suspended students require access to JCR services (particularly welfare support).
5. That the paying of levies would disproportionately affect suspended students, who are less likely to use the facilities which the levies support, and who do not receive student loans.
6. That the JCR can easily cover the cost of the levies for suspended students.
7. That students on years abroad are able to vote in JCR elections.

This JCR believes:

1. That if the JCR granted suspended students rights that College has not granted them, the only obstacle remaining would be College’s policies.
2. That the Constitution should make clear that all Balliol students are an important part of the Balliol community and the JCR, including those that have been suspended.
3. That suspended students should have the right to access JCR facilities as often as is deemed appropriate.
4. It is right that students on years abroad are able to vote; and it is unfair that suspended students cannot.
5. Suspended students are directly and indirectly affected by JCR elections, both whilst away and if they return.
6. That suspended students should not have to pay JCR levies, but should keep full access to JCR services and facilities.
7. That it would be inappropriate for a suspended student to hold an elected JCR position, or to be a member of a JCR subcommittee, as they would most likely be unable to fulfil their duties.
8. That a wider awareness of how suspension works would help destigmatize the topic.

This JCR resolves:

1. To amend Constitution I 1: Define "Suspended Status Student” as “An undergraduate student who has been temporarily granted suspension of their studies by the College's Academic Progress Committee”.
2. To amend Constitution III 1.2b) from “is an undergraduate student currently a member of the college” to: "is an undergraduate student who: i: is currently a member of the College; or ii: is a Suspended Status Student.”
3. To amend Constitution III 1.3c) from “stand or vote in JCR elections” to ”vote in JCR elections”; and to add Constitution III 1.3d): "stand in JCR elections, unless they are a Suspended Status Student.”
4. To support a change to section 3.2 of the College handbook, which would strike the prohibition of suspended students’ voting.
5. To amend Constitution III 1.4 from “An Ordinary Member is obligated to pay all JCR compulsory levies” to "An Ordinary Member is obligated to pay all JCR compulsory levies, unless they are a Suspended Status Student.”
6. To amend Constitution V 3.3a) from “Subject to the restrictions in this clause, all Ordinary Members shall have the right to stand for any Committee Office.” to "Subject to the restrictions in this clause, all Ordinary Members who are not Suspended Status Students shall have the right to stand for any Committee Office.”
7. To amend Constitution VI 1.3 from “Supporting Committees may contain both Committee Officers and Non-Committee Officers.” to “Supporting Committees may only contain Ordinary Members who are not Suspended Status Students.”
8. To amend Constitution VI 3.3a) from “Subject to the restrictions in this clause, all Ordinary Members shall have the right to stand for any Non-Committee Office.” to “Subject to the restrictions in this clause, all Ordinary Members who are not Suspended Status Students shall have the right to stand for any Non-Committee Office.”

7. Laundry Room [John Clark-Maxwell]: Passed

This JCR notes:

1. There is a compulsory levy of £5 for the Joint Refurbishment Fund.
2. The Joint Refurbishment Fund is a fund which is jointly funded by college, the JCR, and the members of the JCR.
3. The purpose of the Joint Refurbishment Fund is to pay for occasional refurbishment of the JCR.
4. For example, this fund paid for the comfortable blue chairs in the JCR.
5. A secondary purpose of the fund is to pay for the maintenance of the laundry room, and utilities for the JCR, TV room, and Bar.
6. In order to achieve its purpose, this fund ought to accumulate money.
7. This fund has lately been losing money.
8. The Laundry Room makes available 3 washing machines and 3 tumble driers to JCR members.
9. The Laundry Room currently costs around £4000 per year.
10. Running the Laundry room on an ad hoc basis causes long delays in fixing machines, and unpredictable cashflow.
11. PHS Laundryserv are willing to take on the maintenance of the Laundry room.
12. While our existing machines are all still working, this will cost £2800 per year.
13. When our existing machines break down, we can rent new ones, at a higher price than extended warrantee.
14. When all of our machines have broken down, we expect the annual cost to be around £5000.
15. To cover these costs, and to allow accumulation for refurbishment, it is recommended that the income to the fund be increased by 60%.
16. College are happy to increase their contribution by 60% if JCR members match this increase.

This JCR believes:

1. The Laundry room is an excellent and reasonably priced service.
2. The Laundry room would be even better and still quite reasonably priced if we have it managed by PHS Laundryserv.
3. That £8 is not a great deal to pay for a term of Laundry, especially as it includes a contribution to the fabric of the JCR.

This JCR resolves:

1. To agree an increase of the levy from £5 to £8, conditional on college increasing their contribution by 60%.
2. To make arrangements for the management of the Laundry Room by PHS Laundryserv.

8. Zine Fair [Ruby Breward]: Passed

This JCR notes:

1. The organisation of a Zine Fair, which will be held in Trinity term.
2. That the Zine Fair will be a non-profit event to make feminism-oriented zines available at reasonable prices and without added postage costs.
3. That Ruby Breward, a Balliol undergraduate, is involved with the organisation of this event.
4. That in order to buy the zines from the creators, the organisers need a loan.
5. That issues of zines are often published infrequently, and sell out quickly.
6. That the Scrawl accounts contain £874.91.
7. That printing copies of an issue of Scrawl for the JCR costs around £200.
8. That contributions from Scrawl to the Zine Fair would be paid back in full.
9. That in the event the contributions could not be paid back, Ruby Breward would be liable.

This JCR believes:

1. That this Zine Fair will give students access to new and interesting writings by women, many with an intersectional aspect, for less money than they would usually cost.
2. That because of the involvement of a Balliol undergraduate, it would be appropriate for the Scrawl to support the Zine Fair.
3. That supporting this Zine Fair would be a good use of Scrawl’s funds.

This JCR resolves:

1. To loan £200 to the organisers of the Zine Fair from the Scrawl funds, to be repaid in full after the event, in two payments of £100 in Trinity and Hilary.

Amendment I [John Clark-Maxwell] – [Friendly]
Strike Notes 6 through 9.
Adds:
Notes 6: It is not within the remit of the Scrawl fund to fund any publications other than scrawl.
Notes 7: The funding of an event promoting feminism-oriented zines is within the remit of the political campaigning fund.
Notes 8: In the event of the Fair being unable to pay back the whole of the loan, the Fair will pay back as much as it is able, and the Political Campaigning Fund will consider any shortfall as a donation to the event.
 
Strike Notes 2 and 3.
Adds Notes 3: that because of the involvement of a Balliol undergraduate, it is especially appropriate for the Political Campaigning Fund to support the Zine Fair.
 
Strikes Resolves 1.
Adds Resolves 1: To loan £200 to the organisers of the Zine Fair from the Political Campaigning Fund, to be repaid after the event, in two payments of £100 in Trinity and Hilary.

Minutes

Campaigns, Set-splitting in College, and Tutor for Women passed with no opposition.

1. The Kennel

Max Dalton called for a move to debate, but it was opposed. It was asked what the clock looked like now; Oli responded that he could not say. Rob Wadsworth asked what the name ‘The Kennel’ was intended to mock; Oli said it was intended to mock the idea that they thought they were ‘big dogs’.

Rose Hadshar asked if it was allowed for people not proposing a motion to stand with the proposer and speak in support of the motion, and requested that Oli’s compatriots sit down (they duly did so).

An amendment was proposed by George Badger to strike the believes about the Den not being an amusing name. The amendment failed.

Max requested a move to a vote on the ground that the motion was unfunny and a waste of the JCR’s time. The procedural motion failed.

George Badger asked why the amendment had failed; it was explained that it failed because it was voted down.

Alex Potten argued that private property is important.

It was requested that voting be conducted by secret ballot, and this passed. The ballot was delayed until the end of the GM to allow time for the ballot papers to be printed.

2(a) Abortion

Rose Hadshar argued that there was a lack of substantive discussion on the removal of the Abortion – Time Limits policy. 

We moved to a vote, and the motion passed.

2(c) Fire Safety

Joe Timmis said that he disagreed with the motion, on the grounds that he’d rather miss a tutorial than have to get out of bed at 8am. 

Alex McKenzie asked if there were toasters in the kitchenettes; it was clarified that this is the case, but that the toasters in the kitchenettes are provided by students and not College. 

It was correctly pointed out that the fire alarm actually took place in 1st week; Richard amended the motion to reflect this.

John Clark-Maxwell argued that the original item of Standing Policy accurately reflected the fact that some people ignored early fire drills. 

We moved to a vote. The motion failed. 

3. Constitutional Errata

The motion passed without opposition, and will be heard for the second time at the next GM.

4. Whaleliol

James summarised the motion, and said that the previously the JCR had considered passing money for a ‘big chair made of swords’ from ‘Games of Throne’, so in his opinion we had the money necessary accomplish this plan.

Claudia Freemantle asked whether the motion had been run past people at Wadham; James responded that it was intended to be a surprise.

Math Williams asked why it was ‘Whaleliol’ rather then ‘Ballham’; it was clarified that the choice of name allowed us to have a whale on the logo.

John Clark-Maxwell brought an amendment to replace Resolves 1 with a less absolute mandate for the Treasurer to investigate the purchase of a tank. It was accepted as friendly.

Richard May brought an amendment to reword Resolves 2 with a mandate for the D&Ms to outfit the tank. It was accepted as friendly.

Max Dalton pointed out that the motion simply specified a ‘tank’: it was entirely possible for the JCR to buy a fish tank in order to fulfil the motion.

The motion passed.

5. Queer Consent Workshops

An amendment was brought to clarify that the VP and the LGBTQ officers would both be involved in organising the workshops. It was accepted as friendly.

Tom Posa asked why the standard workshop should not simply be made more queer-friendly. It was clarified that this was to provide a safe space for discussion.

Richard May asked whether it would be problematic to require people to come out as ‘queer’ in Freshers’ Week; Izzy said that she did not feel this would be a significant problem, and that the advantages afforded by a safe space would outweigh the potential disadvantages.

Aisha Simon said that time in Freshers’ Week was tight, and asked if it could be done in a later week instead. 

Amy Ford brought an amendment to mandate the LGBTQ reps to run a similar workshop in Hilary or Trinity, and the amendment passed.

Tom called for a move to a vote, but withdrew this when someone had a question. It was asked whether people attending the queer workshop would still be required to attend the standard workshop. Izzy said that they would be, but that the standard workshop also covered LGBTQ relationships (with the queer workshop extending this further).

Tom Posa called for a move to a vote. The motion passed.

6. Suspended Student Status

Jess brought an amendment to clarify that the changes would be dependent on College’s approval. It was accepted as friendly.

Ryan outlined the purpose of the motion, and explained the aims of the constitutional amendment and the desired changes to the College Handbook.

Anna Hufton asked if we had met with College over this; Jess explained that we had, and that the Dean was overall undecided on her stance, although an argument against the motion was that of votes being diluted by suspended students.

Richard Ware had a point of information: the working group put the motion together to show that the JCR was happy to grant Suspended Status Students all possible rights, and that it would then be explicitly up to College to choose which rights of access the students have - the decision would (appropriately) rest with informed officials.

Megan Birch asked what ‘JCR facilities’ suspended students lost the right of access to; it was clarified that this would be Pantry, the Bar, welfare supplies etc.

Amy Ford asked how voting would be accomplished for suspended status students; it was clarified that it would work in the same way as voting for year-abroad students, with a proxy vote submitted to the Junior Dean.

It was asked what was meant by the phrase ‘Suspended Status Students’. Ryan clarified that it referred to students who had taken temporary leave from their studies with College’s approval.

We moved to a vote, and the motion passed without opposition.

7. Laundry Room

John explained the purpose of the motion, and that it was difficult to change the income of the fund (which is making a loss of about £2000 a year). He explained that under the current system, Denise is notified about issues and will then contact PHS Laundryserv to request an engineer. There are several issues with this, including the slow response time, the high level of use the machines are subjected to, and the unpredictability of repair costs. 

Richard May asked why we couldn’t simply increase the levy, and John explained that he did not want to increase the levy drastically without a similar contribution from College. College have expressed a willingness to increase their contribution to the fund by 60% if we match that increase.

Dan Turner asked how much money is currently in the fund; John said there was approximately -£1600.

Claudia Freemantle asked whether John hadn’t just asked College to cover the entire costs. John explained that officially the laundry room was the JCR’s responsibility, and that College were similarly unwilling to increase their contribution without a similar increase from the JCR.

Tushar Kelkar asked where College’s increased contribution would come from, and whether it would be reassigned from other financial support by College. John said that he did not believe that this would be the case, given it would only cost College in the region of £1600 a year.

Joe Spearing asked if the workers at PHS Laundryserv were unionized; John responded that he had no idea.

Alex McKenzie asked how expensive we could expect the machines to be in the long room, and whether costs might rise above those predicted by the motion. John said that he did not believe this would be the case, based on past expenditure.

Tom Posa asked whether we would see an increase in quality of service following this change; John explained that we would, in that 95% of problems were fixed by PHS Laundryserv within 48 hours. 

James Rainey asked whether it would be cheaper to buy the washing machines in bulk, and whether collaboration with Wadham might result in bigger discounts.

Dan said that we already pay PHS Laundryserv to run our machines, and that we were not observing anything close to a 95% repair rate. John explained that this was expected, as engineer priority was given to subscription customers by PHS Laundryserv.

James asked whether we could use students studying engineering in College instead of contracting repair engineers; John did not feel this was a viable option.

Dan proceeded to give a long and moving speech in which he proclaimed his opposition to the motion on both ideological and “hegemonic” grounds. He posited a situation in which the “fat cats” at PHS Laundryserv demanded £9 a year, and denounced the fact that after eight years this would mean nothing. He apologised for getting polemical, but asked who had heard of British Rail. He stated that when John Major’s government privatised British Rail (an event which we were informed we should all remember), we were promised increased quality of service. He admitted that this might actually have happened, but that nevertheless costs had increased. He quoted his predecessor, Alex Bartram, who had said that ‘farming out our machines’ would result in increased costs and the new laundry room being less ‘nice’.

Rose Hadshar said that if people weren’t sure which way to vote, they should ignore Dan’s dramatic performance. 

Max said that if people felt strongly on this matter, we could take the motion in parts, but that at the current time he did not wish to bring this as a procedural motion.

Aisha Simon asked Dan to clarify his stance; he responded that he was opposed to Resolves 2, which concerned contracting out management to PHS Laundryserv, but that he had no objections to Resolves 1 (increasing the levy).

Alex asked how long the extended warranty would be. John explained that it would last approximately five years, since that is the extended lifetime of the machine. 

Matt Lynch said that Pantry ran at a loss every year because we were not focused on making profit. He asked if we should privatise Pantry, to which John responded “no”. He then asked if Pantry was different; John responded “yes”.

Tom McDonald said he didn’t understand how you could argue against the motion, given the poor maintenance situation with the laundry room last term (in that for a substantial part of the term, only two machines were functional).

Joe Timmis said that he didn’t fully understand the figures John had provided, and asked if it would really be cheaper. John said that in practical terms it would make little difference to individual costs, that in the short term it would decrease the JCR’s costs and that in the long term it would probably slightly increase the JCR’s costs.

Joe Spearing expressed a concern regarding the inflation rates that would be used to assess our costs, and that we might be tying ourselves into a long-term contract. John said that this was not the case, since the minimum warranty length was short (on the order of six months to a year).

There was a call to move to a vote. It was opposed on the grounds that the motion should be taken in parts. There was a show of hands, and we moved to a vote. The motion passed.

8. Zine Fair

John’s amendment (to take the money from the political campaigning fund rather than from the Scrawl fund) was taken as friendly.

The motion passed with no opposition.

 

There was a mass exodus at this point, and the GM became inquorate. The secret ballot for Motion 1, "The Kennel", was delayed until the next GM.

The meeting ended.