Agenda

Content Lead

1 Apologies for absence Jo Southwell-Sander

2 Accepting the agenda/declarations Jo Southwell-Sander

3 Minutes from previous meeting Jo Southwell-Sander

4Matters arising not covered elsewhere on the agenda Jo Southwell-Sander

5 Students’ Union Financial position Jo Southwell-Sander

6

Accountability and questionsJem Lawal (BME Students’ Officer) and Chantelle Farr (Clifton Liaison Officer) will present the report from the Student Council.Members present will have the opportunity to ask questions of the Council.

Jem Lawal & Chantelle Farr

7

Big Ideas discussion and votinga. Ban ‘Blurred Lines’ from SU venuesb. Reallocation of 300 Ocean tickets held by SU during peak timesc. Ocean tickets to be distributed in smaller books

Jo Southwell-Sander

8 Any other business Jo Southwell-Sander

9 Notices Jo Southwell-Sander

10Date and time of next meeting/sTuesday 4th March Jo Southwell-Sander

How to vote

When asked to vote, you will have three options to choose from:

Please keep your voting cards high in the air whilst counting takes place. The chairperson will notify you when the count is complete.

Procedural Motions

At any point during the meeting a member may call for one of the following procedural motions:

PM1 That the question now be put;

PM2 That the question not be put;

PM3 Referral of the matter or matters under discussion back to a specified body or specified elected Union representative;

PM4 That the Big Idea be amended;

PM5 That the operation of specified Standing Orders be suspended for a definite period;

PM6 That the meeting be adjourned or closed;

PM7 Request for Chairperson’s ruling;

PM8 That the Chairperson’s ruling be overturned;

PM9 That the meeting has no confidence in the Chair;

PM10 That the agenda be varied;

PM11 That the meeting move into Closed Session;

PM12 Request for a quorum count;

PM13 Request for a re-vote;

PM14 A motion of Censure on specified elected Union representatives;

PM15 Request for a secret ballot;

PM16 A specified body or persons be removed from the floor.

For Against AbstainYou agree with/ are in favour of the item.

You disagree with/ are against the item.

You have no opinion/ do not want to vote on the item.

Jo Southwell-SanderPresidentpresident@su.ntu.ac.uk • 0115 848 2917

So far this term I have been working on several things. Firstly we have been linking up with our counterparts at UoN to talk about how we can work together to make some big changes for all the students in Nottingham that we represent. The majority of the discussions are based around the car parking fee for students and community relations in Nottingham.

We have also been joining up with the university to discuss the criteria for the hardship fund that is available for students. Along with our Student Advice team we have now ensured there is a fair distribution of the fund that helps students through difficult financial times.

This term has also seen the Elections Committee in full swing, meeting every week to discuss the elections for the coming year. We discuss time frames, dos and don’ts, and ensure there are equal opportunities for all. We recently ensured the election of some of our student officers ran smoothly. We can successfully say we have three new student officers!

Finally we hosted the extraordinary meeting, which went extremely well and we have been able to move to a company limited by guarantee which is fantastic. We can endeavor to keep the prices low and be a strong organisation for our members.

Katie WrightVP Welfare & Communityvpwelfare@su.ntu.ac.uk • 0115 848 2914

Over the first term, I have been mainly focusing on planning and setting things up for the mental health campaign. As part of this, I released a survey around mid October, I am currently holding focus groups and also busy processing the results. I am in the process of planning for videos to be part of the mental health campaign; these videos will be released after Christmas.

I have also been working to get Halls committees up and running. This included interviewing and then an induction. The majority of positions are filled and many of them have started thinking about the events they can run and also volunteering and RaG projects. I am helping the committees organise their own volunteer days within their local area and also organise an all day Christmas event in the City SU.

Paddy AtkinsonVP Sportsvpsport@su.ntu.ac.uk • 0115 848 2918

Varsity

The series this year will be kicked off with the Ice Hockey on the 27th of January. Myself and Uni of’s VP Sports want to condense the varsity into a shorter period of time (other than cricket) to keep a buzz going with more frequent fixtures. There are fewer females’ sports in the series than men’s so we are introducing cheerleading to count as a point this year.

Tour

A member of the Sports Exec and I received presentations from each tour company- in order to make an as informed as possible decision. We then reported back to the rest of the Sports Exec to make a decision- 5-11th of April with SportsVest to Lloret de Mar. The Staff came across as very supportive and this resort appears to be very compact so more or less everything is on the hotels doorstep! £249 including breakfast and dinner as well as a boat party!

Libby Farrier-WilliamsVP Education & Representationvpeducation@su.ntu.ac.uk • 0115 848 2915

Alongside the regular meetings with the University to ensure the quality of your learning, I have been focusing on achieving my manifesto and working on new developments.

One major part of my role has been electing and training school and course reps. We have over 800 reps, which is the most we have ever had! One point on my manifesto was to make the reps more visual, in order to achieve this I am starting a ‘feedback campaign’ for a week in November. I have also started the ‘academic newsletter’, and produced a course rep video. Hopefully all of these projects will be successful and we will be able to continue them throughout the year.

Another big topic has been increasing video lectures, and improving the quality of feedback on assessments. I will be collecting evidence and talking to students to get their opinions on these things as well as other education issues.

Marcus 'Patches' BoswellVP Services & Communcationvpservices@su.ntu.ac.uk • 0115 848 2913

Freshers Week• Most difficult year to date with the New SU, very successful week; NTSU/NTU/UPP overall satisfaction very high.• Almost 600 student volunteers, over 450 daytime and nighttime events

Entertainments• Big names performing in the New SU; Tinie Tempah, Wretch 32, MistaJam, Matt Edmondson very well received.• Student DJ Platform successful; 1 student already performed at Climax, continued interest from student DJs to perform at SU events.• Last Day of Term plans on each Campus; Ents Committees and Halls Committees having an input into activities showing this is student led

Give It A Go Week• Formally called ReFreshers Week, will be 13th – 17th January• Opportunity to take part in activities, volunteering events, competitions to win prizes such as Free Tour Space

Liz McCluskeyVP Activitiesvpactivities@su.ntu.ac.uk • 0115 848 2916

Societies

Society memberships have dramatically increased this year mirroring the numbers reached at the end of last academic year; almost 5,000 students have signed up online to a society (1 in 5 students). This increase was a result of a very active fresher’s week for societies hosting 110 events. This momentum has continued with societies making good use of the new space in the City Students’ Union.

Over the past term my focus has been on making improvements to: the overall procedures and democratic structure, Society House Executive and the training of committees. These have all been tightened up to ensure societies are managed efficiently.

After moving all society elections online, the main election week will now run adjacent with the Executive Officer Election. This opens up opportunities to increase awareness of societies, committees and democracy within the Union.

Costa CharalambousCity Liaison Officercosta.charalambous@su.ntu.ac.uk

• Created a Code of Practice to be able to start the City Campus Committee with 6 committee members working alongside me.• 2 members of the group have already been selected. • Going to hold an online election, then from that shortlist the most appropriate candidates for the remaining roles.• Arranging the first meeting of the City Campus Committee before the end of term.• In talks with numerous professionals about trying to bring in a well known figure into the SU for a talk.• Waiting on confirmation from an upcoming artist to check availability to be able to perform live at the SU if the idea seems viable.• Holding information with various event organisers about introducing something new to the SU.

RaG

RaG relished in success at the Childreach Awards Ceremony where NTSU students won seven awards. The recently recruited team-leaders have been busy securing students for RaG’s four new Big Climb Events and International Volunteering project in Morocco.

The RaG calendar is full with students signing-up to the Partybus, Escape and Evade and the Skydive. The committee were trained and present throughout Welcome Week and have started planning for RaG Week which falls in February 2014.

Students chose The Jon Van Geest Cancer Research Centre located at Clifton to be the nominated charity this year and plans are underway to join up and increase student participation in RunNTU in April.

RaG is branching out to work with more charities this year. I am regularly updating the website advertising a wide range of charity events for students to get involved with.

Volunteering

Our volunteer calendar has been filled with One Day Projects. As well as the Volunteer committee organising and running volunteering events, we have opened up this opportunity to any student who wants to run a student led volunteering project.

There is a large focus on students volunteering in halls to improve our relationship with the community and local residents. We will be holding a halls volunteering event in the last week of term, food bank collections as well as volunteering projects for second and third year students.

My attention this year is to recognise those students who are already volunteering through sports, societies and fundraising to insure they are aware of the skills they are attaining. I aim to get students throughout societies, RaG and Volunteering to complete the NTSU Leadership and Skills award to achieve this.

Hannah NicholsonBrackenhurst Liaison Officer hannah.nicholson@su.ntu.ac.uk

This term so far I have:

• Re-drafted the code of practice, and initiated committees• Started to organise these committees and set up meetings already etc – sports, ents, halls• Started to organise reps for each block by getting people to nominate themselves for the positions etc so I can start the inter-block competitions• Been talking with Clifton Liaison and the Ents team about the buses from Brack to Clifton/City etc• Organised a rep party which raised over £160 for Movember and the money has been put on the Brack Movember page• Helped organise the Halls Committee with the Halls Co-ordinator

I will be:

• Starting to meet with the Ents Committee to start talking about the summer ball• Organising a bus for the last day of term to the City event• Organising live acoustic nights at Brackenhurst with the Ents team (got some students who are interested)• Asking the Ents Committee what events they would like for next term so we can start to organise all of these with the Ents team.

Chantelle FarrClifton Liaison Officerchantelle.farr@su.ntu.ac.uk

Hi guys! So this term, for me, has been all about successfully building a brand new committee to represent Clifton campus!

It’s finally all falling into place with the nominations opening for the committee elections later this week so if you are interested, then find out more atwww.trentstudents.org.

Also I have been working with Hannah (Brackenhurst Liaison Officer) and the Clifton Ents committee on the Cliftmas event on the last day of term to make it the best ever!

Jem LawalBME Students' Officerjem.lawal@su.ntu.ac.uk

Since coming into office on 25th October I have tried to take all the opportunities possible to find out the views of those I represent.

It is not enough to assume that because I fit into that category I will be able to identify with all the views expressed and that I will necessarily feel the same.Therefore I have been talking to those who fit into the demographic and trying to gather what their views are on how they are represented or underrepresented in the university.

I feel like - in the early stages which I am currently in now - talking with people is crucial not only to make your role clear but to allow people to voice their opinion and of course steer towards the direction which needs to be taken.

During this initial beginning process I will also be making plans/targets and laying down the necessary ground works.

Ben KingLGBT Students' Officerben.king@su.ntu.ac.uk

Hi, I’m Ben and I have been elected as the new LGBT Students’ Officer for NTSU.

I began my term on the 25th of October, and since then I have established links with the union’s existing organisations such as the Pride society in order to begin shaping a plan of action for my term in office.

I look forward to meeting and representing the students that I have been elected to serve for this exciting new academic year.

Faisal ChiktePostgraduate Students' Officerfaisal.chikte@su.ntu.ac.uk

Since attending the student council meeting on 25th October, which was the first meeting for me to come to that reaches across union and meet with other fellow officers. This meeting unquestionably allows me to understand how the student union works to improve student experience. Not only do we consider how we can enlighten the student experience but we discuss students’ Big ideas. We also consider the advantages and downsides of those ideas and then end up with appropriate solutions.

Being fresh to the student union, I am laying the ground work for my objectives for the coming year and will come up with the best ideas through websites to improve the student experience as a post graduate student.

Steve EbelingMature Students' Officersteve.ebeling@su.ntu.ac.uk

Last month the first Mature Students’ Assembly was held which brought a few issues to light. Firstly, with few mature students attending the assembly and feedback from the NTSU Mature Students Facebook Group, future assembly dates will from now on be determined through a voting poll on the group and announced with more notice time.

In general, communication between NTSU and mature students will be looked at, as students would also like to be contacted about such events through emails, and perhaps this can be improved despite data protection policies of the university.

Mature students have expressed the desire to have several, 3-5, mature students in one seminar group rather than being spread out in different groups on their course, and I would like to campaign for this next term. The assembly also introduced the Mature Students’ Association, and positions in respect to the association shall be advertised soon

Lucy OrbellWomen's Officerlucy.orbell@su.ntu.ac.uk

Hi, I’m Lucy and I am your Women’s Officer this year at Trent.

So far this term I have held a successful assembly, allowing students to put forward Big Ideas and air their opinions and worries with me. As a result of feedback from this assembly, we have updated the code of practice; which will allow a more inclusive invitation for a wider range of under-represented students to attend, and to come to me for support.

I have also arranged for free Zumba sessions to be held once a week in the SU for all students as of next term: to promote well-being, both physical and mental. This will be run by me and so I am looking forward to meeting lots of the students I represent! I am also planning campaigns and action points for the upcoming year. Watch this space!

Mark NaylorDisabled Students' Officermark.naylor@su.ntu.ac.uk

To-date this year I have prioritised working towards establishment of a Disabled Students Association - this presents an exciting and significant opportunity to increase and retain worthwhile levels of disabled student engagement through development of a structured organisation with defined committee positions and hosting representation-orientated events and functions.

Progress has been made towards identifying accessibility failures in the new Byron building, resolution of which provides for notable accessibility improvements for various disabled students – this is something which both NTSU and UPP have committed to implementing.

Challenges remain in the form of attracting and retaining interest from the 2,400+ disabled students of NTU without a single distribution and promotion route in-place; however, a strategy is being developed to rectify this and provide for increases in the availability and accessibility of communications.

Inclusion of self-defining disabled students is crucial to enable member-driven representation, and I would encourage anyone whom is interested to email me via mark.naylor@su.ntu.ac.uk.

Laury PotiomkinasInternational Students' Officerlaurynas.potiomkinas@su.ntu.ac.uk

Hi, I’m Laury and I sit on Student Council as an International Students’ Officer. So far this year I’ve held an open International Students’ Assembly and started working on one of my key manifesto points of establishing International Students’ Association at NTSU. Right now I am in the process of selecting a committee for which you can still apply through the union website. This association will allow me to lobby my other manifesto points, such as an increased number of cultural events for international students during the rest of academic year.

My other key interest right now is to expand international students involvement in sports available at university. Working with the Sports Department I am hoping we soon will be able to attract higher participation through a scheme directly focused at international students.

Bernadette WalshSchool Rep Forum Student Councillorbernadette.walsh2009@my.ntu.ac.uk

This month I have attended several meetings as both the representative of the School of Science and Technology and the elected School Rep Forum Student Councillor. I have been involved with the NTSU, the SST student forum and the VP of Education & Representation led School Forum.

The meetings I have been involved with are as follows:

• 16th October: School Rep training with VP Education & Representation

• 30th October: School of Science & Technology Forum & Introductory Meeting

• 4th November: NTSU Student Council to discuss Big Ideas & Plans

• 8th November: School Rep Forum with VP Education & Representation

This month I have also produced a SST newsletter which provides an insight into my role and plans for the year. I hope to work effectively between the three groups to maintain communication and ensure that the issues are addressed accordingly.

Harrison Dunlop-ClarkHalls Assembly Student Councillorharrison.dunlop-clark2013@my.ntu.ac.uk

Molly RedmondSports Executive Student Councillormolly.redmond2011@my.ntu.ac.uk

So far this year the sports exec have been working with Paddy to help start organising the main events of the year; Varsity, Sports Balls and Wednesday Sports & Societies socials. We meet regularly to discuss any issues our clubs have approached us with and to plan the afore mentioned events.

One of our main focuses has been the Ocean ticket system as every year there are problems and clubs are too often left without tickets. As a group we submitted two big ideas; one to split the books into books of 10 and reallocate all the tickets in a fairer way and to take the individual tickets sold through the SU and put them into books. These ideas have been discussed at the Sports Council with committee members ready for the voting at the Union meeting. We’re also planning a full re-allocation of the books as many of the current allocations aren’t realistic any more.

Varsity kicks off this year on the 27th of January with Ice Hockey so we’ll be starting the big promotions for the Varsity series soon but this year we’re also going to be helping promote other non-Varsity sporting events throughout the year that Trent are involved in, for example the recent Xplosion event.

Phillippa CashionSocieties Executive Student Councillorphillippa.cashion2012@my.ntu.ac.uk

This Councillor has not submitted a report.

This Councillor has not submitted a report.

Papers B:Big Ideas for discussion

A.) Ban "Blurred Lines" from SU venues

I believe that the song “Blurred Lines” should not be played at the Students’ Union, events or locations. I believe the song is offensive for many reasons and although there are many offensive songs that are about, this one I have heard in the Students’ Union and is very popular currently so is likely to be played a lot. This isn’t only a song that we believe is offensive for women, but also has been known as a trigger for victims of sexual assault, sexual violence and rape. We believe that the song makes events at the SU less inclusive as it can ruin someone’s night if it plays, however it wouldn’t ruin anyone’s night if it didn’t play. Lines such as “I hate them blurred lines,” “I know you want it,” and “I got something that can split your ass in two,” are horribly offensive and are not representative of Nottingham Trent’s views on sex and equality.

Here are some reasons why people have signed our petition:

• “Our culture is misogynistic enough. It doesn’t need catchy tunes promoting rape on top of it. Telling girls (without asking) that ‘you know they want it’ is basically denying them the choice to say no, as well as reaffirming a self-righteous, self-entitled belief that it’s ok to think that women are animals to be tamed, constantly wanting sex but pretending that they don’t.”

• “On my year abroad so I myself (and luckily so) am not subjected to hearing Blurred Lines played in the student union. That said, I would like to think that nobody should have to have to tolerate such misogynistic lyrics whilst trying to enjoy a night out. Surely, the university (and it’s student’s union) is obliged to promote and maintain gender equality among the student population. NTU should follow other universities which have already banned this song.”

• “I have seen this song ruin someone’s evening. Having it seem like an entire room of people are singing along and dancing to an experience that has had such a dreadful impact to a life makes it seem like you are alone and being made fun of. I didn’t really get the hype with this song until I saw it happen. It made me very upset and I fully support the ban. I don’t want it to happen to anyone else.”

• “This is a huge trigger for me, as a woman who has been raped and was told it was because ‘I wanted it’.”

• “Because in 2013 we should not be listening to songs which glorifies rape culture, objectifies women, and promotes ‘lad culture’ on campus.”

I hope the Students’ Union will vote to ban this song. As I said, it has the potential to ruin someone’s night and we should instead be encouraging students to have healthy, enjoyable and consensual sex, not telling them they “want it.”

B.) Reallocation of 300 Ocean tickets held by SU during peak times

There are 300 ocean tickets sold separately (either through the box office or online). I propose that these tickets get put into books at the peak times- All of first term, the last/first days of each term, and key events e.g. Valentines day, which will be notified by the VP Sports to the ents department. Doing this will ensure that societies and Sports clubs receive the books they are allocated when they need them most.

C.) Ocean tickets to be distributed in smaller books

I propose that the 50 ocean books (of 20 tickets) get split into 100 with 10 tickets in each book. There are many clubs and societies that barely achieve 10 members on the socials yet they are able to reserve a book of 20. Having books of ten will mean more sports clubs and societies will have at least one book, and with the number of tickets closer to what they actually require. This wont affect the biggest clubs i.e. Hockey as they will be allocated 6 books. There are over 70 different clubs/societies allocated books, yet there are only 50 books, it doesnt make sense.

The next UM will be:Tuesday 4th March 2014

6pm at The Level, City Campus.