UNIVERSITY OF SALFORD STUDENTS’ UNION

STUDENT COUNCIL

WEDNESDAY 25 MAY 2011

MINUTES

COUNCILLORS PRESENT: Daniel Walton, Stephen Mann, David Heaton, John Hart, Liam McLoughlin,

Chetan Mali, Kevin Rowswell, Tom Hughes Roberts, Mosami Sayare, Dilip Das, Harriet Phipps, Katie

Taylor, Robert Barr, Donna Woolley, Sebastian Pal, Matthew Metcalfe, Heather Sharp.

IN ATTENDANCE: Ricky Chotai (President), Caroline Dangerfield (Vice President), Maros Kravec (Vice

President), Jim Dale (Vice President), Christabel Brown (Vice President), Sophie Atkinson (Vice President

elect), Phil Benton (Chief Executive), Rhiannon Cruse (Student Engagement Manager), Marco Galea, Ray

Eckersley.

1. Received: Apologies for absence from Councillors Reetu Zarora, Joe Woods and Holly Brunt.

2. Received: Resignation from Christine Merry.

3. The Chair accepted a request to move paper SC11/10 ‘Peel Hall issue’ to earlier in the agenda, to

enable the student presenting the paper to attend an examination.

4. Received: Paper SC11/10 ‘Peel Hall’ issue, presented by Marco Galea, a student from the school of

Music, Media and Performance. The paper outlined issues regarding the use of Peel Hall as a lecture

theatre for the academic year 2011/12 whilst the Chapman lecture theatres are being refurbished. The

student asked the Union to request that the University stop its plans to use Peel Hall as a lecture space.

Sabbatical Officers have already been involved in meetings about temporary lecture spaces and in

discussion it was noted that because of the Chapman building refurbishment, various alternatives are

due to be used for lecture space, including Peel Hall and Maxwell. Semi-permanent desks were

considered more appropriate than lap trays for these alternative venues. It was further noted that

alternative performance spaces have been arranged for MMP students in the local area, as well as at

the University’s new facilities at Media City. Peel Hall is also due to undergo significant improvements

following its use as a lecture space. The Sabbatical Officers expressed the view that while this is not an

ideal situation, it is a short term issue which will result in long term benefits for all students. Marco

Galea commented that communication from the University had been poor, and that many affected

students were not aware of plans. Resolved: While it is not possible to prevent Peel Hall being used as

a temporary lecture space for next academic year, Council asked the Sabbatical Officers to lobby for

improved communication between the staff and students affected.

5. The election for a Council Chair was conducted using the Alternative Vote system. In the first round of

votes, Kevin Rowswell was duly elected and took the place of Chair for the remainder of the meeting.

a. In discussion and following a suggestion by Council, the post of ‘Vice Chair’ was offered and

accepted by the Councillor coming second in the election for Chair, Stephen Mann.

6. Received: ‘Student Officer Reports’ (SC11/01), ‘Trustee Board Report’ (SC11/02), ‘University

Committees Report’ (SC11/03) and ‘NUS Report’ (SC11/04).

a. The Chair commented that the content of the Committees Report had been decided by the

Sabbatical Officers and asked that Council be given an opportunity to decide whether future

issues are of student interest. The President commented that while this may be possible in

some cases, the Sabbatical Officers are bound by confidentiality, meaning that some issues

discussed at University Committees cannot be shared with Council.

7. Considered: A paper entitled ‘The Salford Bill of Student Rights: Feedback time’ presented by Vice

President Arts, Media and Social Science (SC11/05). asking Council, in the light of feedback and

criticism from academics, to decide whether to keep the Bill’s proposed feedback time limit of three

weeks, or alter the Bill to bring it in line with the University policy of four weeks.

In discussion, the evidence base for the Bill of Rights was questioned, and suggestions were made that

further research could be done to determine the current state of feedback times across the University.

The Vice President Health & Social Care explained that NSS data had been used throughout the Bill of

Rights, and that although further research had not been done, the extremely low scoring for ‘feedback

and assessment’ in the NSS sufficiently demonstrates the problem.

The Chair suggested that Council take a vote on the Sabbatical Officers original request, but included

an alternative option of recommending further research. The Chief Executive alerted the chair to the

fact that the Sabbatical Officers’ request was for a decision between two options, and that a vote for a

third option would be detrimental to the political power of the Bill of Rights. The Chair gave Council

three options and conducted the vote.

Resolved: To retain the three week feedback limit demand.

8. Considered: A paper entitled ‘The Salford Student Charter’ presented by the President (SC11/06). The

paper explained the University’s plans to create a student charter which would outline the rights and

responsibilities of the University and students, and included a draft charter. The University’s charter is

due to be completed by September 2011. The Sabbatical Officers asked Councillors to give feedback

on the draft charter and make suggestions or recommendations. During discussion it was noted that a

key difference between the Union’s Bill of Rights and the University’s charter is that the charter will be

concerned with responsibilities, while the Bill of Rights highlights problems or gaps in quality and is

written predominantly for students. The Bill of Rights will continue to be the Union’s campaign

document. Councillors discussed that differences between Schools will make an institution-wide

charter difficult, but there was general agreement that the draft charter was a good model document.

Resolved: The Vice President Health & Social Care will update Council on the progress of the charter.

9. Considered: A paper entitled ‘University Restructure’ presented by the President (SC11/07). The

paper outlined the University’s restructuring plans and the potential impact on students, particularly with

regard to School mergers. During discussion, it was noted that Schools have agreed longer office

hours in order to ensure that students are not disadvantaged by the mergers. The Vice President

Business, Law & Languages stated that an email update would be sent to reps in the affected schools

this week. On behalf of Council, the Chair thanked the Sabbatical Officers for their work on this issue

so far. Resolved: To mandate the new Sabbatical Team to make this a priority campaign issue for the

next academic year.

10. Considered: A paper entitled ‘LGBT issues’ presented by K. Taylor and H. Phipps (SC11/08). The

paper outlined a number of campaign issues currently being dealt with by the LGBT society. The first

issue ‘gender neutral toilets’ was described as the priority campaign. During discussion it was noted

that this issue is backed by the NUS LGBT campaign, and that to introduce the concept to University

House would not require significant changes to the building, but merely the changing of the door signs.

The use of disabled access toilets was suggested, but strongly challenged by Council members who felt

that these facilities should be kept as designated disabled toilets.

The President commented that because the Students’ Union does not own University House, it is not

immediately possible to implement this change, and that more consultation must be done to ensure that

other minority groups are not negatively affected. The example of Muslim students who would be

uncomfortable with mixed facilities was given. The President added that while the Union is affiliated to

NUS, it is not bound by its policies or campaigns, and must act in the best interest of its members at

Salford.

When asked whether they wished to mandate the Officers to dedicate resource to this issue, KT and

HP stated that this was not necessary as the LGBT society would be campaigning on the issue, and

they would like to report back on progress to Council.

11. Considered: A paper entitled ‘Halls issues’ presented by Stephen Mann (SC11/09). The paper outlined

the view that students living in halls are underrepresented and face specific issues like cleaning

charges. During discussion it was noted that a University email introducing the cleaning charges

suggested the Union had been complicit in the decision. The President and the Vice President Health

& Social Care assured Council that this was not the case, and that the University often inaccurately

exaggerated Union support for unpopular decisions. Councillors discussed the potential for a forum or

system of reps within halls, and it was noted that forums of this kind had been tried before, and fairly

recently by Student Life with no success.

Resolved: To use the Better University forum to explore this issue further.

Next meeting date to be arranged when timetables are released.

Close of meeting