2014 Committee Lunch

Date: Wednesday 3rd week, Hilary 2014 (2014-02-05)

Present: Dan Turner (President), Krista Halttunen (Vice-President (Administrative)), Georgina Wilson (Secretary), Max Dalton (Treasurer), Alex Mullan (Lindsay), Anna Hufton (Dr. WHO), Joe Mansour (Dr. WHO), Darryl Braier-Lorimer (Foody), Matthew Lynch (Foody), Caitlin Tickell (Academic Affairs and Careers Officer), Isaac Rose (Academic Affairs and Careers Officer), Sam Bumby (Access and Admissions Officer), Anonymous (Access and Admissions Officer), Robert Walmsley (Affiliations Officer), Nina Plowfields (Affiliations Officer), Henry Wisbey-Broom (Charities and RAG Officer), Aisha Simon (Charities and RAG Officer), Colm Britchfield (Design & Maintenance Officer), James Kavanagh (Design & Maintenance Officer), Elizabeth Tulloch (Student Disabilities Officer), Alex Cheng (Entz Officer), Kelly Brotherhood (Entz Officer), Xavier Cohen (Environment & Ethics Officer), Rivka Micklethwaite (Environment & Ethics Officer), Holly Marriott-Webb (John de Balliol), Harry Rimmer (John de Balliol), Thomas Posa (Ethnic Minorities Officer), Eniola Oyesanya (Ethnic Minorities Officer), Ian McFarlane (LGBTQ Officer), Alastair Bassett (LGBTQ Officer), Richard May (Website & Computing Officer), Claudia Freemantle (Women's Officer)

Agenda

1. Matters Arising
2. Constitutional Changes Discussion [Chessy Whalen]
3. MCR Relations [Dan Turner]
4. JdeB: what next? [Anna Hufton]
5. Freshers' week T-shirts [Rivka Micklethwaite]
6. PS4 and safe [Alex Cheng]
7. AOB

Minutes

1.  Matters Arising
   • Co-option. Sam Bealing was co-opted onto Entz Committee.
   • Taxi fund [Caitlin] CF reported that Doug had been emailed re the taxi fund but not yet replied.
   • OUSU photos [Robert and Nina] CW reported having sent new OUSU photos which had not yet been put up.
   • Handover packs [Isaac] IR established that many people had not yet received handover packs, and said that he would "get on it".
2. Constitutional Changes Discussion [Chessy Whalen]
   • Chessy raised the possibility that some changes to the constitution had no impact on other changes and could be brought to GMs. It was suggested that other issues (men voting on women's officer/having a men's officer) would have an impact on each other and should be discussed together. CF raised the point that it might be problematic to have changes to committee roles implemented whilst the current committee were still in place, given that they had husted for and been voted in to fill certain positions. It was decided that we should have another committee meeting before next Wednesday to discuss holistic constitutional changes.
3. MCR Relations [Dan Turner]
   • DT raised the possibility of having a meal with the MCR committee so that people could meet their MCR counterparts. The MRC also worry that Balliol has lost its radical edge, so we might hold an event in which to discuss Balliol history. The MCR would like members of the JCR to be involved with the organisation of this event.
4. JdeB: what next? [Anna Hufton]
   • AH filled us in on the last GM, and the fact that the JdeB was not abolished but we had lots of useful discussions. She pointed out that the vote not to abolish compromised the extent to which the DRs WHO could veto the JdeB. AH suggested a drop-in meeting to gather ideas about how we would like the JdeB to be in future. HR said that he thought there was a clear agreement that there should be no more sex stories in the JdeB. CB said that there was a need for the whole JCR to debate what kind of (satiric) magazine we might like in the future, and that for him the GM seemed to militate against a strictly personal mode of gossip. IR pointed out that many people had thanked him for the JdeB discussion post-GM.
   • HMW said that she would like to experiment with new forms of the JdeB before strict rules were set in stone. AH suggested a drop-in discussion where people could go and talk to HMW and HR before the 5th week JdeB. AH asked if it were possible for the JdeB to be done the day before. HR said that they usually emailed at least 24 hrs before the bop, and that if less notice was given there should be an opt-in as opposed to an opt-out system. RM gave support for an opt-in system. DT said that not talking about sex lives was not the same as not being funny.
5. Freshers week T-shirts [Rivka Micklethwaite]
   • RM gave support for using a company which we knew to have good ethical values. The trade-off would be a slight increase in price. RM said we should think about what we care about most in sourcing T shirts, and asked how much we pay for Freshers week T Shirts. KH said she though the price was about £5 last year.
6. PS4 and safe [Alex Cheng]
   • AC and KB asked about how we might store the PS4, and who we should give the code to. It was suggested that we might use the safe in the holidays when the PS4 was most likely to be stolen. HR said that PS4 was stolen last time from being bolted down rather than using a safe. HR said that Fifa has also been stolen. We decided to lock the PS4 in the safe in the holidays but not in term, and everything else would always be in the safe. AO suggested having controllers that were fixed so the PS4 couldn't be taken out of the room.RM said there was a larger issue with games being stolen rather than controllers.
7. AOB
   • CF said that Catherine Roe, the first Balliol female president is coming to speak next week and encouraged attendance.
   • DT said that OUSU meetings required a representative view of the JCR. He asked the committee what the committee thought the JCR would think about giving money to a left-wing charity, supporting an access programme, and letting temporarily suspended students use University facilities. We decided that the JCR was likely to be overall in favour, but discussed the need to vote as representatives.
   • DT said that at a building meeting, the College had decided to prioritize loft insulation. The College will make sure the lighting is all LED. We congratulated the E&E officers.
   • AH encouraged people to decorate their notice boards.