Peterhouse JCR Meeting – Thursday 09/03/06 – 5.00pm in the Bar

 

Minutes

Absent without apologies:

  • Dave Kerr
  • Krzysztof Honowski
  • Nat Slater

 

 

Actions Summary

 

Pete

Get Housekeeping to approve a Bedders’ Contract, publicise JCR minutes and events in toilets/kitchens around College, relabel JCR pigeonholes more clearly, and sort out JCR stash

Paul & Sean

Put up a page on the JCR website providing information about CUSU stuff

Katy

Investigate the financial basis of college’s claims regarding signouts

Mark

Scrap the jukebox

Krzys & Nat

Get iPod for bar

Pete

File noticeboard keys so that they are usable

Sean

Prepare agenda for Open Meeting and motions, collate results of survey over the Easter holidays

Lady

Put together a motion on the second-year room ballot for the Open Meeting

Jenny

Email the Bursar – why no recycling boxes allowed in SPT? Email around college.

Jamie

Talk to Duncan about the rooms ballot

Emma

Lady

Dave/Laila

Dave

Steal back Twister set from the MCR.

Organise marriage dinner for the freshers and other happy couples

Put a magazine rack in the Upper Sex

Get money from the coffee machine

 

 

Full Minutes

 

We went through the action points from the last meeting. Those which have not been done yet are highlighted in bold in the Actions Summary above. As for those which have been acted upon:

 

  • The new noticeboard keys have been made, but are not of good quality, and hence don’t work. They need filing – Pete will see to this.
  • The JCR survey has been completed and was distributed today. It will also be sent out by email.
  • Paul hasn’t gone to any CUSU meetings yet, so has nothing to put on the website at the moment, but will try to get this done before the end of Lent Term.
  • Emma has received a reply from Mr Golding about the library; he says that there are usually a maximum of seven people in the Law Library at closing time. Surveys will be conducted at 12 pm and 1 am; if the Law Library is found to be too crowded then the main library may be opened for an extra hour.
  • Some recruitment brochures have been sent to the MCR.
  • Jenny has emailed the Housekeeper about recycling boxes in SPT, but it seems that the Bursar doesn’t like this. Jenny is to email the Bursar about this.
  • Ben has investigated the room rebate. The Domestic Bursar has replied, and said that the rent rebate would be given in the Lent Term bill or the Easter Term bill.
  • The jukebox in the bar probably won’t be scrapped until the end of term at the earliest.

 

Sean, Ben and Paul stood for Vice-President. Ben was duly elected Vice-President.

 

The Open Meeting was discussed. It will be on Monday night in the JCR, and the deadline for motions is 7 pm on Sunday. Motions proposed were:

  • To ask College to send a list of room rents which they have authorised to all undergraduates
  • It was suggested that students should be given more time to decide on their rooms, as it can be very stressful trying to choose a room in 1 – 2 minutes with a huge crowd of people looking on and waiting for a decision. Lady is to put together a motion on this. Jamie is to talk to Duncan about the rooms ballot.

 

Pete and Xander have had a meeting with Dr White, who chairs the College Coordinating Committee. The main issues include:

  • College wants to impose a heating surcharge of £50 on all undergraduates – they say this is the simplest way to recoup costs. However, Pete thinks this is unfair because people in, e.g., WSB are already paying for heating charges via their electricity bills, whereas people in, e.g., Parkside, aren’t.
  • The price of formal hall will increase to £4.85. This is reasonable.
  • The college has been making cutbacks in the past three years or so, and while these have improved its financial deficit, it must be noted that these measures have also affected a particular batch of students (i.e. those who matriculated in 2003).

 

Paul suggests cutbacks on staff – e.g. servery, bedders. Sean queries some points raised in the Bursar’s report – inflation, formal hall, etc. Pete explains that inflation in Cambridge is quite a bit higher than the national average, and increases in undergraduate charges are needed to offset these costs.

 

There will be a meeting to discuss rents in early Easter term.

 

JCR Stash

We change our mind and decide to have it the same as last year (blue and white), but with a different design. The captions on the back of the hoodies will be decided via email. Pete is to investigate the prices and settle this before the end of term.

 

Welfare Budget 

It seems that Peterhouse has the one of the lowest Welfare Budgets in the university. Emma suggested trying to increase it through the installation of a condom machine.

 

AoB

Laila can’t organise a Cleopetrean event because there isn’t enough money. It was suggested that the income from ents could be used to subsidise the Women’s Officer’s budget. However, this is not an option, as the ents budget is meant to be used for the benefit of all College members, regardless of sex. The only way to increase the Women’s Officer budget is via AMALS.

 

It was suggested that a magazine rack could be put in the Upper Sex.

 

Sean says that many of the board games from the Quiet Room are now missing. Emma is to steal back the Twister set from the MCR. We need to ask Dave to give Ben the money from the coffee machine.

 

Lady suggests a marriage dinner for the freshers. There is general agreement.

 

The last Peterhouse bop earned a total of 137.05 pounds.

 

The date of the next meeting will be arranged by email.