Student Groups Committee (20th February 2017)

Minutes

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Name of Committee	Student Groups Committee
Date and time	20th February 2017, 13:00
Place	Meeting Room 1
Present Members (voting)	Nic Eldred Student Enterprise Officer Serban Berariu Clubs and Societies Officer Michael Sims Vice President Democracy and Creative Industries Cameron Meldrum Performing Arts Officer George Smith Christelle Li San Cheung Community & Volunteering Officer Jessica Parkes Sports Participation Officer Olivia Owen
Absent without Apologies	AU Officer Jack Harvey Andrew Bamford Christopher Wright

Actions and Decisions

Type	Description	Who
Decision	This group was affiliated to the Education zone
Decision	Committee voted to affiliate to the External Engagement Zone
Decision	Committee voted not to affiliate this group
Decision	Committee voted to affiliate to the Student Communities Zone
Decision	Committee voted to affiliate to the Education Zone
Decision	The committee voted to not affiliate this group
Action	Deferred until next meeting
Action	Reps to ask groups when the best time for conferences is
Action	CM will set drop in’s for student group consultations and advertise	Cameron Meldrum
Action	NE to send categories from 2016 now and to inform committee when further information is released	Nic Eldred
Decision	This cannot be approved in it's current form
Action	Policy on fines and student groups to be drafted as committee feel that policy is necessary CM and MS to do this.	Michael Sims, Cameron Meldrum
Action	Send out AGM deadlines	Nic Eldred
Action	Arrange next meeting	Nic Eldred

Affiliations

Geophysics Society

Motor Neurone Society

Facebook Games Society

Turkic and Baltic Society

Crime and Forensics Society

Cocktail Society

Miracle Messages (Written)

The committee felt that this could be a project within an existing group as was mentioned in the application (already working with HOMED and Society of St James)

Decision

The committee voted to not affiliate this group

Student Groups Project

Update and Consultation

CM and TP presented an update to student group’s project

There was discussion and questions around the presentation, however overall the changes were received positively. Some specific comments and feedback is noted below. There will be further consultation

Key changes

Grants
Health and Wellbeing role and training
3 development levels (Developing, Established and Plus) and no support packages
Name change back to Clubs and Societies
Groups Hub changes and updates

Zone Campaigns grants

Groups Reps should be involved in setting those to avoid clashing priorities
What happens if a groups wants to join a campaigning and we don’t fund them - could lead to apathy rather than advocacy
Felt that all groups should at least have the opportunity to attend the Bunfight, but not necessarily guaranteed space

Zone conference timings

After some discussion and feedback this should take place just after Taster Weekend (2^nd week of Freshers) and not before or during freshers

Action	Reps to ask groups when the best time for conferences is
Action	CM will set drop in’s for student group consultations and advertise (Cameron Meldrum)

National Societies Awards

Nominations

MS highlighted the 2^nd Annual National Society Awards and that we want to submit nominations this year. It is NUS supported, but we can access it. This years will be hosted at the University of Nottingham Students’ Union.

NE reminded committee that this is for Societies and not Sports Clubs (the national distinction)

Action

NE to send categories from 2016 now and to inform committee when further information is released (Nic Eldred)

Any Other Business

10.

Vixen's Constitution

TP submitted Vixen’s updated constitution.

There was a lot of discussion around the issues of fining members and discipline and whether this was appropriate and when

In summary,

Fining of members, and how appropriate this was, regarding the circumstances - missing sessions and bag packing does not seem appropriate. Damage of equipment is understandable. Consistent missing of sessions, can be handled in other manners
Issues with the strike system - matters such as attitude are confusing, and bring about the wrong idea
Only women, by constitution, are punishable
There was concern about the welfare of members, as fines can put mental and financial difficulties on members
This does not fit with the open, and fair atmosphere we aim to produce at the Union

NE noted that the use of gender pronouns ‘girls’ was inappropriate and should be changed to reflect an open and diverse membership

NE highlighted that it might be best not to include all committee positions as it means it can’t be changed easily year to year based on priorities and demands

Decision	This cannot be approved in it's current form
Action	Policy on fines and student groups to be drafted as committee feel that policy is necessary CM and MS to do this. (Michael Sims, Cameron Meldrum)

11.

Date of next meeting

Week Commencing 20th March

Action	Send out AGM deadlines (Nic Eldred)
Action	Arrange next meeting (Nic Eldred)

Key: P (Papers Provided), PF (Papers to Follow)