Hertford College MCR
General Meeting
18th of October 2015
Committee member attendance
Position
President
Secretary
Treasurer
Computer Clerk
Food and Housing Officer
Steward
Social Secretary
Welfare
Women’s Officer
Bar Manager
Academic Affairs Rep
Sommelier
Sommelier
Sports Rep
Environment Rep
Art Rep
Name
Andrew Walker
Bas Bavelaar
Rory Nolan
Laura Cimoli
Tanzil Rahman
Tetyana Vasylyeva
Guy Pilbeam
Sophia Valaris
Tea Kecman
Francis Chmiel
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
Status
Present
Present
Present
Apologies
Present
Apologies
Present
Apologies
Present
Apologies
Called to order 20.05
Minutes
1. Accepting previous minutes
N/A. President: Because this is the first meeting of the year, we will not review the previous
meetings’ minutes.
2. Matters arising from previous minutes
President: from the previous minutes, it is worth emphasising two points:
• New MacBook has arrived
In the previous meeting, we agreed to buy a new MacBook to be available for all
MCR members to borrow in case of need. We now own two Macbooks, and two
Dells. Please contact Laura Cimoli in case you are in need of one.
• Release of Magazine ‘The Hart’
The second issue of the MCR magazine ‘The Hart’ will be released. Please contact
Georgia Hole in case you are interested in contributing for the next issue.
3. Reports
President: In the future, we will expect committee officers to have submitted a written report
to the MCR prior to the GM. However, due to the pressure of the Freshers’ week, we have not
done this for this meeting. Excuse us therefore for this verbal report.
3.1 Group 1 Officers
President
President explains his duties as described in the constitution:
• To convene and chair General Meetings:
• To convene and chair Committee meetings;
• To represent the MCR within the College and the University;
• To maintain the daily smooth running of the MCR;
• To ensure that Committee members are carrying out their duties as laid out in the
Constitution;
• To organise a Freshers' Week;
• To act as a Returning Officer in elections;
• To respond to any suggestions made by Members.
He especially calls for members to flag issues to him, so that he can escalate this to the
various college committees he is in. Lastly, he thanks the committee and the MCR for the
great Freshers’ weeks.
Secretary
The secretary explains that he has a function as sub for the president, as well as various
administrative functions. In case you want a college locker, please contact him for more
information.
Treasurer
The treasurer shortly explains the finances of the MCR. The Freshers’ week was budgeted
7000 pounds. The same budget is calculated for Michaelmas term and Hillary term. In Trinity
term, the budget is halved due to the exams that are held during that period. We are in
budget and on track of spending the money that college has given us.
1.
Resolved to accept the reports of the group 1 officers (Motion by president, seconded
by treasurer)
3.2 Group 2 officers
Women’s officer
Women’s officer explains function for the MCR. Tasks include:
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To offer Members support and advice relating to welfare;
To raise overall awareness of women’s and equity issues in the MCR;
To organize meetings pertaining to women’s issues for Members;
To provide a social focus for MCR women;
To work closely with the MCR Welfare Officer and LGBT Representative, and to
liaise with the Tutor for Women and the JCR Welfare Officers;
To sit on the College Advisory Panel on harassment;
To sit on the College Welfare Panel;
To liaise with OUSU Women’s Committee and advertise campaigns;
To be one of the MCR Charities Representatives
She calls for all members to come to her in case of any concern regarding above-mentioned
matters. Specifically, she pointed out that anti-rape alarms are available for free upon request,
as well as condoms
Food and Housing Officer
F&H officer explains that the coffee list is now there. Coffee capsules can be used by all MCR
members for a small charge, but use must be checked off on the coffee list, so that the coffee
can be batteled. Moreover, he raised the point of food for communal use. Every unlabelled
food in the MCR is for communal use. This does, however, not mean that you can take
everything for yourself. Two pieces of fruit a day are acceptable, but not half of the bowl. In
line with this, the MCR spaces can be seen as part of a club. Try to clean your stuff up when
you have used it. If you see stuff lying around, please take an effort to clean it up, because
only in that way we can keep the space liveable. The F&H officer went through great effort,
and because of that, we now can enjoy the fireplaces again in the Octagon and Tea room. So
far, we will not follow a sign in, sign out system for the remote, but we might need it in the
future. Please don’t put anything in the fire, including marshmallows.
The F&H officer publishes the menu of Hall weekly. Warnock House, although offering
superior food, is only publishing their menu daily. Please let the F&H officer know if you
have any dietary requirements.
Lastly, he points out the important issue of housing. Since college has let in more students
than they can house, 40% of the students is not in college accommodation. It is the opinion of
the MCR committee that this is unacceptable. The College sees the problem, and already has
confirmed to reduce the uptake of students significantly next year. Although the current
master students will not benefit from this, it is important to know that the committee is
working on this. In Hilary, when the survey is filled in, the committee will present the
findings to the college, and will also do some recommendations for next year. One
recommendation will be to make Winchester Road a large Northern Annexe for graduate
students. Another recommendation will be to give back a larger part of the Graduate centre
to the students, since an entire wing is now used for visiting students and conference visitors.
Social Secretary
The social secretary explains that he has been organising a lot of events during the Freshers’
week. He is happy how everything went. The treasurer gives the social secretary a
compliment for his efforts.
2.
Resolved to accept the reports of the group 2 officers (Motion by president, seconded
by treasurer)
Group 3 Officers
N/A
6.
General Business and Motions on Notice
6.1 Acceptance of new Group Three committee members
The president explains he is very grateful for so many applications. It made it very difficult
for the committee to decide. The following positions are proposed to the GM.
Academic rep
Junnan Jiang
Arts rep
Nirmalie Mulloli
Environmental rep
Annabelle Cardoso
Sommeliers
Helen Baxendale
Fabrizio Romano Genovese
Sports rep
Steven Crabb
3.
Resolved to accept the named Members for the tier 3 officer functions (proposed by
president, seconded by treasurer)
6.2 Acceptance of new non-committee members
Social Reps
Rebecca Beattie
Liisa Parts
Elisabeth (Eline) Bos
Alexander Jurczynsk
Postal clerks
Moritz Kraemer
Georgia Hole
Junnan Jiang
4.
Resolved to accept the named Members for the non-committee positions (proposed by
president, seconded by treasurer)
6.3 Acceptance of Michaelmas term budget
The treasurer explains the proposed budget (see agenda). The main difference with earlier
budgets is a contingency budget of 2500 pounds. He explains that he finds this necessary,
because of the need of calling a meeting before the committee can spend money for
refurbishments etc. The F&H officer raises principle concerns with this idea. In order to keep
the budget on the table, he suggests an amendment in which 10% of the total budget is used
for contingency.
5.
Fail to accept the budget with 10% allocation for contingency instead of 2500 pounds
(proposed by F&H officer, seconded by secretary). (For 9, against 10)
Member Rory hill expresses that he thinks the treasurers request is sensible, since the current
system does not work properly. Member Annabelle says she understand the motion of the
treasurer, since the current budget of 200 pounds does not allow for buying fridges, etc. The
F&H officer explains that in case of high need, the committee is already allowed to buy these
things. The secretary proposed that the budget is accepted without contingency, and that the
discussion about contingency is moved to the next meeting. This proposal was not put to a
vote. A new motion is put to the table, in which the GM allows 20 percent contingency of the
Michaelmas Term budget.
6.
Resolved to accept the budget with 20% allocation for contingency instead of 2500
pounds for Michaelmas Term only (proposed by F&H officer, seconded by secretary).
(For 20, against 3)
6.4 Freshers’ Budget review
The spending remained within the budget.
6.5 The biscuit bill
7.
Resolved that the MCR should spend up to £200 per term on biscuits, potentially
including, but not limited to, Jaffa Cakes. (Proposed by President, seconded by
Secretary and Jonathan Lockett) (Everyone in favour)
7.
AOB
N/A.
7. Date and time of next general meeting
The next meeting will take on the 22 of November at 8.00pm.
nd
Meeting adjourned 21.25