Minutes of The Sexcentenary Club (Peterhouse JCR) Open Meeting 10/11/06 – 8:00pm – Upper Sex

 

The meeting was chaired by Pete Davies, JCR President.

The minutes were taken by Keith Grimes, Boat Club Captain.

 

There were 31 members of the Sexcentenary Club present at the start of the meeting, and it was therefore declared quorate.

 

Announcements by the Committee

Pete asked what people thought of the new Gamecube in the JCR. Some people thought it was a good improvement, but most were of no opinion. Nobody had any objections to it.

 

It was explained that due to budget cuts from AMALs, the JCR could no longer afford to provide agendas for everyone on paper. A PowerPoint presentation delivered via the JCR TV was therefore used instead.

 

Questions to the Committee

There were no questions to the committee

 

Address by Mark Ferguson, CUSU President

Mark spoke about the services CUSU provides to students. Dave Kerr discussed the benefits of the inordinate about of lubricant supplied by CUSU. There was general agreement that CUSU provides far too much ‘junk mail’ and unnecessary publications. Mark took this onboard and then left the meeting.

 

Ordinary Motions:

  1. JCR Committee Accountability
  2. Office Hours in College
  3. Glass Refuse Removal from Rooms
  4. Bar Prices

 

a. JCR Committee Accountability

 

Proposed by: Pete Davies. Sex Club President

Seconded by: Mark Powell, AMALs President

 

The Sexcentenary Club notes that:

  1. There have been issues in this and previous years with the fulfilment of essential duties by members of the JCR committee, particularly in, but not limited to, Ents and Amenities.
  2. The JCR committee currently has a unique position in the rooms ballot process in that they receive points before they start their terms in office.
  3. The only disciplinary measure available to deal with the non-fulfilment of roles is dismissal.
  4. The current dismissal procedure currently constitutionally requires a majority vote of one quarter of the current Sex Club membership:

“Either a deliberate breach of duties or a consistent failure to carry out responsibilities as detailed in Appendix C shall render any Committee member liable to dismissal by a majority vote at an Open Meeting, provided that at least one quarter of the entire membership of the Sexcentenary Club votes in favour of such a dismissal.”

  1. This currently requires around 70 undergraduates, twice the average open meeting attendance.

 

The Sexcentenary Club believes that:

  1. Dismissal is highly unlikely for JCR committee members at present.
  2. This creates feelings of complacency, and there is no other disciplinary procedure for failure to carry out responsibilities.
  3. Room points should be a reward for services rendered as well as an attraction to stand for positions.

 

The Sexcentenary Club resolves:

  1. To amend the JCR constitution Section D paragraph 11 to read:

“Either a deliberate breach of duties or a consistent failure to carry out responsibilities as detailed in Appendix C shall render any Committee member liable to dismissal by a majority vote at a quorate Open Meeting.”

  1. To amend the rooms ballot procedure such that points for JCR committee positions are awarded over 2 ballots, half given at the start of the terms in office and half for the following year, this second half being forfeit if the committee member is dismissed during their term. This will also encourage more 1st and 2nd years to stand for positions, improving their representation in college.

Lara Stewart pointed out, correctly, that dividing points over two rooms ballots would only work for first years standing for positions, as second years only have one ballot left to go.

The motion was therefore split into two, the first containing Resolves 1 and the second Resolves 2.

Motion A1 – the amendment to the constitution – was passed, with 18 for, 0 against and 13 abstentions.

Motion A2 – the splitting of room points – was not passed, with 0 for, 30 against and 1 abstention.

b. Office Opening Hours 

 

Proposed by: Paul Powlesland, Sex Club External Officer

Seconded by: Dave Kerr, Sex Club Amenities Officer

 

The Sex Club Notes: 

  1. The available hours for junior members’ enquiries to the college offices are as follows:
    • College Office 10:00-13:00.

·        College Secretaries Office: 11:30- 12:00 and 14:30- 15:00.

·        Tutorial Office: 12:00- 13:00 and 14:15- 15:00. 

  1. The important administrative functions (e.g. exam entries and student loan processing) that these offices carry out for junior members. 
  2. The utter frustration of going to one of the offices, only to discover that you were thinking of the opening time of a different office.

 

The Sex Club Believes: 

  1. That although it is important for the various offices to have restrictions on the times that junior members can make enquiries, it is inefficient and frustrating to have all the offices having different and seemingly random opening hours.

 

The Sex Club Resolves: 

  1. To mandate the JCR to negotiate with college to have all the offices accept enquiries from junior members at the same times.
  2. To mandate the JCR to request that the regularised opening time(s) be suitably for students (e.g. lunchtime, when most are in college).

 

Tabi Hutton said that it was unlikely college offices would open over lunchtime. Paul said the plan wasn’t to get them all to open at lunchtime, but simply to get them to all open at the same times.

 

The motion passed, with 16 for, 0 against and 15 abstentions


c. Glass Refuse Removal from Rooms

 

Proposed by: Dave Kerr, Sex Club Amenities Officer

Seconded by: Krzys Honowski, Sex Club Ents Officer

 

The Sex Club Notes:

  1. Glassware is not being taken from college staircase kitchens and rooms.
  2. When asked, bedders generally state it is not their responsibility to remove empty bottles as rubbish from rooms and kitchens.
  3. Glass jars from cooking are removed without any problems.
  4. It is beyond the duties of bedders to clear up after undergraduate parties.

 

The Sex Club Believes:

  1. The origin of this ‘no glass bottles’ rule is in clearing up after parties, which is indeed not part of the bedders’ job.
  2. Small amounts of glass bottles could be removed by bedders without much effort, much as glass jars in bins are at present
  3. If recycling boxes could be provided in staircases, as they are in many college houses, the problem would be eliminated and recycling of glass would increase.

 

The Sex Club Resolves:

  1. To discuss with housekeeping the removal of the odd glass bottle from rooms/kitchens as part of bedders’ duties.
  2. If this is not possible, to demand glass recycling bins in all staircase kitchens from Housekeeping.

 

The motion passed, with 29 for, 0 against and 2 abstentions.

 

d. College Bar Prices

 

Proposed by: Katy Griffiths, Sex Club Bar & Buttery Officer

Seconded by: Krzys Honowski, Sex Club Ents Officer

 

The Sex Club Notes:

  1. College bar prices have significantly risen over the past year.
  2. Popularity of the college bar has decreased compared to previous years.
  3. Undergraduates now often bring their own drinks into the bar.
  4. Other college bars are considerably cheaper than Peterhouse.
  5. Other college bars often have restrictions on their use for people from other colleges.

 

The Sex Club Believes:

  1. The bar should be a busy and vibrant hub of college social life.
  2. In order to make a profit, the bar must attract custom from undergraduates.
  3. The bar should be more economical for Peterhouse students.

 

The Sex Club Resolves:

  1. For the Bar and Buttery officer to protest the current price rises with the bursar.
  2. To ask the bursar about discounts for drinks purchased using a Peterhouse university card.

3.      If the need arises, to allow further price rises for cash drinks purchases in order to allow for the discounts on card drinks purchases.

 

It was asked whether we could have more ‘cheap drinks nights’. This could be looked into in the future, but the problem is college would have to see a considerable improvement in attendance in the bar to make these profitable. At present the bar just isn’t popular enough. Resolves 4 was added to the motion to read:

“For the Bar and Buttery officer to look into increasing the number of drinks offers run in the bar”.

 

It was asked whether this lack of popularity was due to the general state of the bar, and whether it could be redecorated. When the new building is built (in the distant future) on the 4th side of Gisbourne court, there will be a brand new bar and JCR. College is therefore not planning to redecorate the bar before it is converted into whatever they decide once the new building is open.

 

Will Richards suggested rooms points to be allocated for bar attendance. This was considered a good idea, but difficult to implement. It could also result in runaway numbers of cumulative points for certain members of college.

 

Discussion on the idea of having different prices for Petreans and non-Petreans via the university card billing option ensued. The consensus was this was a bad idea which would greatly damage the already shaky reputation of the bar to friends outside college. A vote was taken, and unanimously decided to strike Resolves 2 and Resolves 3 from the motion.

 

The modified motion passed (Resolves 1 and the added Resolves 4 only). [Voting figures unknown]

AMALs Open Meeting

Chris Hopkins explained the current funding problems AMALs is facing with the costs of the Bentley Road sports ground. Budgets given to college societies are unlikely to increase, and people should definitely look into ways of saving money.

 

Lacrosse Affiliation

Motion passed. Lacrosse is now affiliated to AMALs.

 

Amnesty Affiliation

Pete raised concerns about the hugely growing popularity of Amnesty letter writing, and the increasing postage costs that will ensue. Douglas wasn’t sure how much further the letter writing would increase in output, but said the costs probably wouldn’t exceed around £80 a year.

 

Motion passed. Amnesty is now affiliated to AMALs