JCR Committee Minutes – 20th May 2022

JCR Committee Meeting     20th May 2022

Present:

Alex Levy (Co-Pres), Kate Valentine (Co-Pres), Kailan Hanson (VP), Nancy Bird (Welfare), Shihab Ahmed (Welfare), Megan Jenkins (LGBTQ+), Ryan Ko (Green and Ethics), Louisa Yapp (ASO), Georgia Martin (Women + NB), Lauren Smewing (Women + NB), Joseph Burns (Class Act), Angel Jobson (Treasurer), Tim McGilly (Webmaster), Safy Oshoala (Access), Nicholas Leonard (Ents), Reema Pujari (Frep), Lily Ainslie (Ents), Torsten Archer (Secretary).

Points of Discussion: 

1. Welcome: Mastership selection panels have been conducted. Elections have been finished with the Webmaster election. 
2. Issue: Publish constitution and Bar and Buttery Officer
   1. Concerns: So people can understand how things work, with added JCR transparency. A bar and buttery officer has been suggested. A vote would be needed. This could discuss food and the bar. Isaac Hall has been suggested as a candidate. The wider JCR needs to be consulted. A referendum may be easier to do. 
3. Issue: Weekly Liberation Events
   1. Concerns: This could open the bar more often and use the JCR. This would help provide more structure to events. 
4. Issue: Upping Wage for the Bar
   1. Concerns: Could help encourage more people to work there. 
5. Issue: Bike Fund
   1. Concerns: This could help with buying and fixing bikes. Could provide more structured funds than currently. This could also be broadened out to bus passes. St Catz have a welfare taxi fund. 
   2. Action: Class Act could think about this.
6. Issue: Bike Stealing
   1. Concerns: CCTV cannot be accessed from porters following these incidents.
7. Finance Committee
   1. Update: More transparency on budget suggested. All allocations were made by the previous Treasurer. £7,100 was allocated to the committee for liberation officers and garden party. Over £2,000 spent already. £12,000 was allocated to committees. £9,000 will be given in MT which can then be allocated for Freshers’ Week. This will be decided in the summer. Attempts to change banks have been unsuccessful so far. Co-op Bank will now be looked at. 
   2. Concerns: Angel suggests more welfare spending. She suggests a £500 increase. Liberation officers also need more. They were allocated £250 and much more has been spent. It could then be made £500 which is in line with what has been spent already. Welfare and liberation officers used to be the same budget but has been separated. Currently £1,200 was allocated to welfare which has been spent. The Constitution is specific on reimbursing. Freps raised paying for flowers for marriage formal. Receipts should always be aimed for. 
8. Webmaster
   1. Concerns:
      1. JCR website is being updated for Committee.
      2. Also minutes can be put up, including past minutes. VP can provide some of these. 
      3. IT Advisory Committee had little to report. They are preparing for start of overhauling college website. JCR website is not included within this. 
   2. Action: Please have photos taken and have bios placed on Google drive for this. Bios can be shorter for the drive. Another date will be organised for photo taking. 
9. Access
   1. Update: 
      1. Meeting has been delayed to exam season. Access budget is often unused. Working with other colleges can be more helpful due to Trinity Hall’s small size. 
      2. A BME open day is in the process of being arranged. A residential trip has been suggested. 
   2. Action: Other ideas can be put forward for spending access budget.
10. Ents
    1. Update: Garden Party and Bop are upcoming. 
    2. Concerns: Further discussion of bar and buttery officer. More transparency on the menu is required, especially noted on halal options. Allergens also could be noted on formal food. Halal chicken is going to be brought in twice a week. This is regarded as insufficient.
    3. Action: The process will be started promptly as it would take time to pass. 
11. ASO
    1. Update: 
       1. Gates were discussed with Glenn (Junior Bursar) for automatic opening which would help those unable to open them. It may be an issue due to the nature of the building at Central, but will be looked into. S
       2. idegates often cannot be used, which ASO would like to change. Issues of security were raised by Glenn. This will be pushed further. 
       3. The Kitchen Advisory Committee issued a survey and there was a positive response on the whole. Medical exceptions for gowns at formals have been suggested. This has been resisted on grounds of tradition. The advisory committee suggested doing another survey in two years. Room ballot is also progressing. Information will go up on Instagram. Posts on booking facilities would also be useful with limited awareness. Vegan menus are also not up for formals. Vegan prices have gone up which may mean that less incentive is provided. There are limited vegan options on meat-free Monday. 
       4. Bursaries are not going to increase but accommodation and food seems likely. A fund could be used to help people with this in MT. This could be under Class Act. There is a lack of transparency here. Anonymity on forms could also help people come forward. This issue also exists with the Gender Expression Fund. This is personal and people may be put off from applying. 
       5. Rent will probably go up £10 a week. There is nothing to be done on this but bursaries can fill the gaps. The new scheme for internship has replaced reduced rent during the summer, which may make it more expensive in the long run. 
    2. Action: A separate meeting can further discuss these issues of rent. 
12. Green and Ethics
    1. Update: 
       1. Pesticides are still being used even if more limited. 
       2. There is an energy meeting this weekend. The energy situation is better than it seems. We pay for green energy but that from solar power goes from a grid. Therefore, it cannot be ensured that it is green. They are doing the best possible though. 
       3. Consumption can be reduced such as with lights on all the time. Motion sensors could be used. This would be finished a job.
       4. The single use cups are not disposed well and therefore can be replaced with glasses. Washing capacity has been mentioned as a problem in changing to glass. There is a vegware scheme to put these in a compostable location. This can be pushed. 
       5. Green formals could become termly. 
       6. More vegan choice is proposed for the canteen. 
       7. There is now a food waste bin at Wychfield. It will be a sign up scheme. 
       8. A microsoft team for Green officers will help with transferring the role
       9. The college could be audited. This would provide proper data on waste and the like. This can be brought up at the next meeting.
13. Welfare
    1. Update
       1. Mindfulness has struggled but yoga is being pursued. Pet therapy is also going to be done. It will be on the 8th of June. Assistance would be useful. 
       2. Student Handbook may be moved more online in part.
    2. Concerns: Welfare flow charts need to be done.
    3. Action: These flow charts will be completed seen. They will look through reusable drink covers. 
14. Class Act
    1. Concerns: 
       1. More liberation collaboration for an event is sought. Some people may be less willing to come if it just Class Act. 
       2. Anonymising bursary application is needed.
       3. There is a lack of transparency on intermission and other study options. 
       4. Accommodation can be sought over the summer even without an internship. 
15. LGBTQ Officer
    1. Update:
       1. Formal hall uses legal name and not a given name. The officer has tried to change it to given names as on other university functions but this has been unsuccessful so far. 
       2. June is Pride Month. A film night has been proposed. A queer club night will also follow the Garden Party. 
       3. LGBTQ Officers from other colleges want to go to Brighton, stay over and go to a drag show. There is skepticism on this. 
       4. A LGBTQ swap has been proposed for the end of term.
    2. Action: Film Soc can be talked to for film night. 
16. Women / NB Officers
    1. Update
       1. Period reusable cups scheme was very popular. This could be revisited for MT. 
       2. Balloting options are available for special considerations, such as not being near a certain person. It should be made clear there can be anonymity following one person on the committee being made aware. 
       3. Everyone could be provided with reusable drink covers during Freshers’ Week. Welfare can provide assistance with this. This may be possible following trial with current year groups. A survey on this can be done. 
       4. Training for sport societes on consent is not currently provided but would be useful.