Halls Committee (11th February 2014)

Apologies Read

As this was the first committee meeting of the new JCRs there were no matters arising.

David Gunns [DG] explained to the committee the general layout of these committee meetings.

Oli Coles [OC] discussed the JCR budget. [OC] explained that any requests to spend money need to be approved in the individual JCR minutes. The minutes can then be sent to Karik Isichei [KI]. If the amount is small then the spend can be approved. If it is a large amount the spend needs to be approved by this committee.

[DG] enquired about getting additional shirts for JCR. [OC] stated that any additional shirts could not be taken out of the budget and needed to be purchased with the JCR's own money.

Flora Noble [FN] asked if money for RAG events came out of a different budget [OC] confirmed this.

Joel Foreman [JF] asked if money for the common room comes out of the budget. [OC] explained that request for money on common rooms goes through resident support.

The committee were also informed of the difference between the Private Rented JCR's budget to the rest of the JCR.

[OC] states that the halls bars are losing money. As SUSU is a charity it cannot subsidise commercial outlets. Therefore to save money some of the bars are running at reduced opening times. The Monte bar will be closed on Mondays and Fridays. The Highfield bar will be closed at weekends and on Wednesdays. This is a trial run to see how it works. If the committee have any issues they should email barsman@soton.ac.uk. 

Leighton Osbourne [LO] and Michael Pope [MP] reported on the behalf of Archers Road:

• Refreshers' Week went well.
• They had a non-drinking event at Playzone which also went well.
• They have plans in motion for future drinking and non-drinking events.

Joel Foreman [JF] reported on the behalf of Bencraft:

• Refreshers' Week was a bit of a hit and miss.
• One of the events had a good turnout but it didn't go as planned everyone just ended up going to one venue.
• The people who went on the night out also went to the quiz and curry.

Aimee Atkinson [AA] reported on the behalf of Chamberlain:

• Playzone went really well. 
• Welfare is currently trying to sort out an issue with their washing machines.
• There has been a high interest in Hockey and Dodgeball from their students.
• The committee are currently discussing issues with Hartley Common Room.

Ruphina Ochanda [OC] and Patrick Whyte [PW] reported on the behalf of Connaught:

• Welcome Back Week was pretty successful especially the in house Friday event (Block Party). 
• Haven't had many meetings yet.
• Have a RAG idea that will be brought up in agenda item 8.c.

Flora Noble [FN] reported on the behalf of Glen Eyre:

• Had an unsuccessful Refreshers' Week.
• Resident support shut the laundry room for one to two weeks without informing the students.
• Students are interested in Hockey and Rugby.

Alex McGregor [AM] reported on the behalf of Monte:

• Monte saw 50 people turn up to one of their events.
• The JCR feel their main issue is advertising.
• [DG] noted that the event didn't get put onto the Facebook halls page.

Daniel Varley [DV] and Niamh Merrigan [NM] reported on the behalf of Liberty Point:

• Refreshers’ Week was not that great for them. 
• As liberty point is so close to town all the students head out to the venues they want to go to. In future they want to plan events a further in advance so that no-one needs to cancel any of their original plans to come to a JCR event.
• Have a Mean Girls inspired Valentine’s Day event for RAG.
• They realised that Liberty Point did not recycle. So they worked with resident support to change this and now Liberty point recycles.

Jamie Wilson [JW] and Nathan Ruttley [NR] reported on the behalf of Private Rented:

• Welcome Back Week went well especially Cafe Parfait.
• They find it hard to reach their residents.
• Their non-alcoholic event did not get a good turnout.

Emily Postle [EP] reported on the behalf of Erasmus Park:

• They had a good turnout for an event that was at a local pub in Winchester.
• They have not had any meetings yet. [EP] is worried that there is a lack of engagement with her JCR.
• No one turned up for the non-alcoholic event.

[DG] states that there wasn't a large turnout for SUSU's Oceana and Stateside events and wants the committee's input on why they think this happened.

[LO] thinks it is because they had large events earlier on in the week so students were too tired to go to the main SUSU events. The main Archers Road night out was the night before the Oceana event.

[EP] felt that there was a good turn out to these events from the Erasmus Park students mainly because SUSU had provided a good means of transport. [EP] reckons that the reason why these events did not go as well as the Xmas Ball was because Erasmus Park students have a lot of contact hours for their course during Welcome Back Week.

[MP] suggested that students were confused by the dress code because the Stateside Ball was not a proper ball.

[DV] stated that a lot of students went home on the weekend so missed the Stateside Ball.

[PW] felt that there are too many balls which then diminishes their prestige. 

[FN] mentioned that the students at Glen Eyre skipped the ball because they wanted to watch the Superbowl.

[DG] Felt that items on the poster were not clear and the message of what the event was about was also unclear. He also thought that it should have been held on the previous Saturday.

Some committee members said they enjoyed the Mariachi band while others felt that the tribute acts put people off the event. 

[MP] and [LO] informed the committee that students at Archers Road do not know how to get into contact with Resident Support. They would like to see Resident Support at both Romero and Gateley Halls. They also state that it would be better if students could have a key or fob system (like Liberty Point) which gives them access to only their section block, hallway and room to stop others from entering areas they do not live in.

[DG] informed them that they can email ressup@soton.ac.uk to get in contact with Resident Support. 

(a) Increase the Number of Washing Machines

[RO] wanted to know what the JCR could do to get more washing machines.

[DG] suggested that the welfare officer works on this and find out more information about the washing machines. The welfare officers should hold a meeting about laundry needs of their halls. 

(b) Wireless Internet

[RO] Explains that students have been told that wireless internet will be provided in halls but there has been no official date. Students have been getting snippets of information on the installation date of the wireless but the information floating around is contradictory and so thus the students are no closer to knowing when they will get wireless internet. 

[DG] states they will need to talk directly to Residents Support or Wessex reception and get them to give a definitive date.

(c) RAG Idea

[PW] wants to run the idea of a sponsored jailbreak event for RAG. Connaught are interested in it and would also like to get other halls involved, potentially making it a collaborative event for all halls. Committee are interested and will pass the information onto their committees.

As previously stated in the JCR update; Monte JCR felt that their welcome week was hindered by a lack of advertisement. They would like to put up a noticeboard in Monte to inform students of JCR events. 

[DG] suggests that they discuss this with Resident Support.

[JF] informs the committee that a lot of students are on last warnings for covering smoke alarms because the alarms are extremely load. 

The next meeting will be in a month's time.