Rescheduled: Annual Union Meeting

Tuesday 6th December 2016, 17:30 – 20:00

Contents

Page

Agenda 1

Minutes of the Previous Meeting 2

Motions to revoke or amend the Constitution and Bye-Laws:

None

Motions:

a. To approve the Student Charter b. Zero tolerance to substance abuse

7

8

Student Matters 9

Trustee Report 12

Executive Report 16

Student Assembly Report 18

Union Accounts

Affiliations

supplementary document

20

Honorary Memberships

None

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AGENDA Rescheduled: Annual Union Meeting Meeting: AUM 01 - 2016 Date: Tuesday the 6th December 2016, 17:30 – 20:00

1. Minutes of the Previous Meeting – Thursday 24th May 2016

2. Motions to revoke or amend the Constitution and Bye-Laws:

None

3. Motions: a. To approve the Student Charter– See supplementary document for charter b. Zero tolerance to substance abuse

4. Student Matters (An opportunity for any Student to ask a question to the panel or Assembly members).

5. Trustee Report Presented by Chair of Trustees

6. Student Assembly Report Presented by Student Assembly Chair

7. Executive Report Presented by SU President

8. Union Accounts – See supplementary document Presented by the CEO

9. Affiliations Presented by the CEO

10. Honorary Memberships None

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UBS UNION MINUTES Union Meeting: 2 Date: Thursday 24th May 2016, 12pm Location: Lecture Centre E Student Assembly Members in Attendance

President Ali Milani

Vice President Student Activities Michael Darlow

Vice President College (CBASS) Yousef Mohamed

Vice President College (CEDPS) Marcus Stein

Vice President College (CHLS) Aaron Lowman

Vice President Postgraduate Students Pauldy Otermans

Media Association Chair Becky Collins

Rag Chair Yasmin Simsek

Women’s Officer Christina Franklin

Electronic and computer engineering department Christiana Kellari

Maths department Jack Mcmahon

Student Assembly Community Members Mohammad Khan

Student Assembly Community Members Katherine Kneebone

Student Assembly Community Members Adam White

Student Assembly Community Members Miss Indra Warnes

Non Assembly Members in Attendance

Irtiza Rub Chowdhury 1313481

Elisabeth Mahase 1309586

Bobby Jake Harrop 1500826

Rachel Farringdon 1409246

Harvey Chandler 1443549

Jack McMahon 1403566

Sintija Deksne 1520893

Mohammed Salemkhalita 1443069

Carden Davis 1540269

Kushti Westwood 1440728

Adam White 1007309

Mohammed Omar Khan 1340191

Parika Pathak 1541088

Maryan Mussa 1513255

Apologies Sent By:

Chair Of Student Assembly Yohanna Sallberg

Student Assembly Vice Chair George Hudson

Environmental Chair Mehvish Maghribi

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UBS Staff in attendance:

Chief Executive Craig Lithgow

Director of Membership Engagement Richard Walker

Director of Operations Andy Proudfoot

Student Voice Manager Rebecca Davies

Community Development Coordinator Kerri Prince

Communications Manager Joe Nicell

The meeting opened at 12.15pm and was declared inquorate. The Union Trustees decided that as per the bye-laws they were able to re-open the meeting at 12.16pm on the same date and commence with the agenda. The President Ali Milani opened the meeting as Chair and Michael Darlow was declared the Vice-Chair for the meeting as both the Elected Chair and Vice-Chair where unable to attend this meeting.

1. Minutes of the Previous Meeting

Minutes Approved

2. Motions to revoke or amend the constitution and Bye Laws

a. College for College; Motion to amend Bye Law B Adam White spoke for the motion. No one spoke against the motion Q. Marcus Stein asked is the new VPCEDPS exempt? A. Yes as there will be transition period so the new VPCEDPS will be able to stand in the 2017 elections is they wish to do so. All other candidates must be from their respective colleges. Q. Harvey Chandler asked how this stands with voting for your college? A. Ali Milani explained that the education act limits out ability to have only the relevant colleges voting for the post if we wish to retain the VP Colleges as principle Office holders. Other Unions that can do it manage to do so due to their very different union set up where each college is its own institution. Vote: Motion Passed indicatively b. Motion to amend Bye Law G, scrap Bye Law L and Fix Our Democracy Ali Milani stepped down as Chair for this debate and passed the responsibility to Michael Darlow. Ali Milani Spoke for the motion. No one spoke against the motion Q. Yasmin Simsek asked what are the benefits of the vice chair chairing the scrutiny committee? A. Ali informed the meeting that this was a mistake and should read chair. The motion is to be amended accordingly. Q. Harvey Chandler asked is everyone will have an equal vote? A. Yes

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Vote: Motion Passed Indicatively Reform Document An additional document was submitted ahead of the meeting proposing a reform to the current part-time officers’ structure. This was debated on as a motion. Ali Milani spoke for the changes. No one spoke against. Q. Harvey Chandler asked how the role of volunteering chair is being covered in this new structure? A. The University provided the volunteering service, so instead of focussing on delivering volunteering opportunities it will become issue based and be picked up by the other chair posts. Q. Rachel Farringdon asked when the new role will be in place? A. Ali Milani informed the meeting that they would be in place immediately following a transitional period with existing chairs being co-opted into the new roles. Q. Yasmin Simsek asked why Rag Chair has changed to RAG President. A. This is to show that RAG is a separate entity. Vote: Motion Passed Indicatively

3. Motions

a. Motion to Make Brunel a #FreePeriod Campus Christina Franklin gave a speech for. There were no speeches against. Q. Rachel Farringdon asked about the sanitary dispensing machines on campus that currently don’t work, will these work, and how will the products be distributed? A. Christina hope the machines will be replaced and working, but is currently not sure how the products will be dispensed. This is something that is still being investigated. Q. Kush Westwood took issue with the use of the term “female sanitary” and made a request for this to be amended to be gender neutral. A. Christina Agreed to the amendment. The Motion to be amended in line with this request. Q. Becky Collins asked what effect the cost will have on the Union and if the Union will scrimp on quality to save money. A. The union are looking for good products which are also from environmental and gender friendly providers. Q. Becky Collins enquired about how the products would be collected. A. we are still looking into this but we aim to have them available in a range of locations. Vote: Motion Passed Indicatively b. Motion of commendation for Ali Milani Ali Milani stepped down as Chair for this debate and passed the responsibility to Michael Darlow.

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Aaron Lowman spoke for this motion. There were no speeches against. Q. Harvey Chandler commended the Union on activities such as the refugee scholarship, although he does have an issue with the prioritisation of campaigns. The University has a range of issues with resources and rankings that need to be given focus, but the focus seems to be given to international issues. A. Aaron agreed for the need to focus on local issues, but for the sake of this motion it doesn’t affect what’s being put forward. Q. Harvey Chandler commented that many members want to be involved in these local campaigns, but need the support and resources. Students want to pressure the University about teaching standards. A. Ali agreed but feels the Union have done a lot locally. He asked for Harvey not to see his answer as a cop out but we are in dialogue about issues such as the change in catering contract and the working with the teach Brunel task force. Q. Rachel Farringdon mentioned that she wants to see the Union focus on local issues. She suggested the Officers take the VC around the library, and show her how poor the resources are. When students have raised issues with lecturers they have been told that the University can’t replace or recruit lecturers. Vote: Motion Passed Indicatively

4. Student Matters

Kush Westwood requested that the campus cat be put forward for honorary president. Kush was informed that this was not possible as the post no longer exists. Adam White asked what happened to the EU debate. Ali informed him that it was withdrawn after the publicity had been sent to print. Adam White asked whether we need to state that we are defiantly in NUS considering the current referenda’s going on around the country. Ali mentioned that we have recently had a referenda so there is no need for a motion. Ali was happy to reiterate that we are in if the meeting wishes it. The meeting voted to not discuss the NUS membership any further.

5. Trustee Report Ali Milani gave a brief speech detailing the contents of the Trustee report. The Report was included in the papers of the meeting. No questions were asked. Aaron Lowman called a procedural motion to change the order of the agenda to discuss Honorary Life memberships as the next item on the agenda. Vote: Passed.

6. Student Assembly Report

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A written copy of the report was provided, this was passed.

7. Executive Report

A written copy of the report was provided, this was passed.

8. Union Budget Ratification Ali Milani talked through the Union Budget. A budget forecast was included in the AUM papers and shown on the projector screen in the room. Questions invited: Q. Harvey Chandler Asked what areas the Union is looking to invest in. A. (Craig Lithgow was invited to answer) We are looking at low risk, short term investments, such as Hillingdon Credit Union. The investments will be no more than a yearlong In case we need to access the funds. We are looking at a 1.5% - 2% return. Ali Milani added that the Risk Committee of the Union is constantly reviewing the options. Vote; Budget Ratified

9. Honorary Memberships

This was discussed after the trustee board report following a procedural motion to move the item up the agenda. a. Hannah Jones Michael Darlow gave a speech for, there were no speeches against Vote: Motion Passed Indicatively b. Beth Graham and Emily Timmins Aaron Lowman gave speech for, there were no speeches against. Vote: Motion Passed indicatively.

10. Urgent Other Business

None.

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MOTION

Title: To approve the Student Charter To: Annual Union meeting Meeting: (AUM 01 - 2016) From: Aaron Lowman Date: 10/11/2016

This Union Notes

1. Brunel University London is made up of staff and students who live, study and work within a multicultural society.

2. We all support the right to study and participate in a community where equality is promoted, diversity and inclusivity is respected, and where student representation and engagement opportunities are values as a vital contribution to continuous improvement in the quality of teaching and learning.

3. Students and Staff have worked together to develop and update the Student charter. This Union Believes

1. The Brunel Student Charter summarises the way that the University, our students and the Union of Brunel Students work in partnership to develop a high quality educational experience. This is done by generating employable and community aware graduates who are responsible for themselves as learners and individuals.

2. This new version of the Charter is designed to be more student friendly. This Union Resolves

1. To approve this new version of the student charter This Union Mandates

1. The Union to work in partnership with the University to ensure it is circulated and publicised to both Student and Staff.

Proposed by: Aaron Lowman Seconded by: Ceri Williams Signature: Signature:

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MOTION Title: Zero tolerance to substance abuse To: Annual Union meeting Meeting: (AUM 01 - 2016) From: Naomi Taiwo Date: 10/11/2016

This Union Notes 1. The prevalence of recreational drug-taking on campus has reached an all-time high 2. Students are plagued with the scent of drugs all the time, all over campus

This Union Believes

1. Illegal substances such as cannabis can not only have physical effects such as triggering asthma but has also been linked to psychological problems such as schizophrenia, psychosis, paranoia, confusion, lethargy

2. Not only are those taking such substances on campus affected, but the student body as a whole. This affects how safe campus is deemed by the students that live in it, particularly in the evenings

3. The union already has a zero tolerance policy against drugs if a person is caught in possession of them, but more preventative measures need to be put in place as this is not seeming to be effective enough in preventing the rise of illegal substance use on campus

This Union Resolves

1. The union as a whole to launch a collective drug awareness campaign aimed at all students / as many students as possible – in order to best tackle to problem.

2. The campaign should focus not only on raising awareness on drugs but all illegal substances that are hazardous, along with signposting individuals who may be struggling, to the appropriate services and charities.

This Union Mandates

1. The Vice President Student Activities to work with Sports clubs launching a campaign on drugs in sport.

2. The Women’s Officer to raise awareness on drug-taking amongst women and some of the reasons why.

3. The BME Officer to raise awareness on drug issues within the BME community. 4. The Disabilities officer to launch a campaign raising awareness on the effects of drug

taking on mental health

Proposed by: Naomi Taiwo Seconded by: Natasha Kamuna

Signature: Signature:

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STUDENT MATTERS:

Questions asked in meeting on the 24th November 2016

Q: Normally, if you organise a meeting the papers need to be attached?

YS: They were published on the website.

Q: When an email comes into the Brunel inbox people read it and I am a rep. The personal

email is not looked at. As this is university business, this should come via the email.

MD: We have found that the best way to communicate is face to face rather than emails

and hopefully this will improve attendance.

Q: if I have an issue to contact someone, i.e. Biosciences, is there any way to find everyone’s

contact information?

Ali: If you are looking for a list of contacts for Brunel look at brunel.ac.uk. However, if you

require Union contacts these will be on the brunelstudents.com website.

Q. You have been doing a great job. However, on the action log for reps there is no way of

looking back of what has been put in. Is there a way to access history of what we have

done?

AL: The action log is provided by website and we can see the history. However, for you we

can work on this now and get on to that straightaway to provide a log history.

Q. Relating to parking policy- Students arrive later at 10am but staff spaces are free. There

are hardly any student spaces for them to park.

Ali: Space and cost are problems. They have a pay and display, as well as a parking permit

and it was something we were unsuccessful in opposing. Spaces are not distributed in the

right way. Ceri is working on an audit and how to tackle space.

Q: Some of the student spaces have been lost of the summer.

Ali: We are working on an audit.

Q. You are doing an amazing job as someone said before. However, within societies there

needs to be a handbook at the end of the year? The presentation didn’t get sent round.

With my role as a rep, I wasn’t told what to do when I started. I want other reps to have a

helping hand. With the finance area there needs to be something done about forms.

Finance was annoyed that forms kept being submitted to them. Mark needs to be telling us

more about this area.

MD: In my 1st year I had the same issue with not being aware of what to do. We have

created a handbook and I will forward this to you. In terms of finance, we will do this

through the app but will take time. We sent an email out about the handbook.

Q. Costcutter- Firstly the prices do not reflect the name. Another point is that when we have

a break from a lecture, we only have five minutes to get a drink and the queues are

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horrendous. It seems like a health and safety hazard for too many people in an enclosed

space?

Ali: Costcutter prices we needed to address in my first term. This is why we opened up the

student store in Isambard amenities. You could get a sandwich, crisps and drink to match

high street retailers. There is a level of contingency for this. Our powers were limited as the

contract for costcutter lay with my predecessors.

We have decided that Brunel Volunteers can go into the library or bannerman centre and

the retail outlet costcutter can be extended. We are looking at more food, drink and coffee

spaces in the lecture centre. We will inform you on the 23rd of Dec.

CL: The university runs it and it is owned by Brunel Commercial.

Q. It is ironic as surely the university has to think about things that have an impact. It feels

short-sighted?

Ali: That is part of the problem with things like the NSS survey and certain issues that

students deal with. We have had a level of success with that but are looking forward to you

explaining what the Union does and what has happened in the union. We have

endeavoured to make the Union more accessible. The campaigns include: Free sanitary

products and you will get exam feedback for the first time.

There has been a comprehensive review of the food and we have renegotiated the contracts

with university. There will be a branch change of all food.

Submissions of coursework and sports forms will be reformed. Rent on campus for lower

income families will get a £300 reduction. We have also just agreed refugee bursary. We are

working on Black History Month, Islamophobia an introduced a team Brunel brand.

Aaron wrote the quality assurance statement and we have over 60% reps filled. This is not

just about the Student Union but the entire cohort. We have just introduced the Brunel app.

Lecture captures and audio will be recorded and put on Blackboard and is just another

initiative we are working on.

We are looking at PG timetables. These things possible due to the Union and we have been

able to practically change things. We can only do this if you help us and I am sincerely

grateful you have come today.

We are getting wind of mass cuts of library resources. This is unacceptable and on the 6th of

Dec at 1pm we have organised a forum for discontent. Please book this and it will take

place in ESGW 111. We are looking at an approx 30% cut and we need you there.

Q. Is there space for a prayer room?

YM: This is something that I am working on. There should be a washing facility and prayer

room. I am trying to have more than one space around the campus. There is a demand for it

like any other provision on campus. In June, there was a severe shortage of spaces left and I

acknowledge this. However, this year is difficult to work on this but I’m going to keep

pushing for this.

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Q. Can we at least get the right to pray in the library?

YM: No one has the right to stop you from prayers, unless there is a health and safety

hazard but you should go to the prayer room. Time is short between lectures but prayers

should be in the prayer room.

Q. You guys are doing a fantastic job. I am not sure if it’s related to AUM. There is a gap of

how to go about Finance. I.e. scholarships and the information has not been communicated

well if you want to apply. When you apply the information is also confusing.

Ali: If you apply in the 1st year then you get it. If not you do not then you will not have this

for the remainder of study. The website is being worked on. Sometimes the availability of

scholarships remains unheard of. Do speak to your rep and bring it up in SSLCs.

Q. People don’t know about scholarships and emails can be scam emails.

Ali: We have been hacked twice and this is something cybersecurity needs to look into. I do

not like filing in forms. The scholarships which are new will have an easy streamline process,

or will not need to apply. £300 bursaries should be automatic and you should receive a

letter from Union.

Q. How do you hear about SSLCs information? There seems to be a barrier and I need to find

out who my course reps are.

AL: We changed the structure of reps. The VPS are new. It’s been a struggle to engage with

new structure. We are ex officio and can turn up at any SSLC. A concerted effort has been

made to attend them. The minutes are fed to the college education committee. Some things

are individualised to a course and kept to the module assessment board. It is concerning

that there is a disparity in the rep system and the university are unsure about it.

Answer: It is much better this year. However, it is the teaching departments that do not

understand.

AL: We are having opposition from departments. They are resistant to change and we are

now working higher up in the university. It is a process and I am glad that you are feeding

back. If the university doesn’t comply then we will need to intervene. Speak to VPC and

Christina to feedback.

YM: You have seen improvement as we worked over the summer and learnt what happened

during the year. If there is something on your course then come to the Union. I am taking

care of the several concerns from CBASS and this is taken higher.

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Union of Brunel Students Trustee

Annual Report Achievements and Performance This academic year has significant representational and organisational change in the Union of Brunel Students. Both within the internal structures as well as the external market, the organisation has taken significant steps to adjust its position and method of achieving its desired results. This has been the first year we have moved into college specific representation; as we introduced Vice Presidents for CEDPS, CHLS and CBASS. We have also seen the introduction of part time liberation officers - BME, Women, LGBT+ and DDS. These new positions coupled with our brand new rep scheme has caused significant increased activity. The purpose of this paper is to serve as recommendations of the key achievements and performance to be included in our annual trustee report. The ambition has been to keep these as holistic as possible, avoiding individual achievements where possible. Vice President Post Graduate Students In October 2015 we elected our first ever Vice President Post Graduate students - Pauldy Otermans. The aim of this new position was to provide a paid sabbatical position to represent the post graduate students on campus that had often been overlooked. While the VP PG works on a part time basis, her inclusion in our executive meetings as well as many high profile university positions has meant a post graduate voice in key decision making bodies. It also means a number of works has become a priority for the Union where it wouldn't have been in previous years. A good anecdotal evidence of this is the work being done by the VP PG in partnership with the VPSA to have Wednesday afternoons free for all PG T students. Grassroots campaigning There has been a real drive within the current officer team to create a culture within the Union that supports and facilitates grassroots campaigning on our campus. It was our belief that we could be more ambitious and achieve more long term success for the union if we fostered an atmosphere where not only we ran and developed successful campaigns; but students felt empowered to do so

also. #GetInvolved To kickstart this new “campaigning” focus we developed a #GetInvolved campaign to be run throughout freshers week. The objective of the campaign was to encourage our students in the busiest communication period to register themselves in different areas of interest and provide efficient communication data so we can help organise key activity. The options included activity around free education, preventing prevent all the way to the liberation groups. We received just over 1,000 registered ballots as a result of the #GetInvolved campaign and that allowed us to immediately organise the largest anti maintenance grants cuts demonstration in the country. This was meant to serve as a meta-campaign to all future campaigns run both by the Union or self-organised by the students.

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On Initial evaluation the campaign was quite successful. As a result of the data we received we were able to contact 269 registered students on our Refugee Crisis campaign, and 102 attended the event. For our Islamophobia awareness month we sent out 380 messages to registered students and were able to recruit 50 volunteers and 210 students attending our final event. The campaign also assisted our Black History Month campaign as we contacted 161 people and had 110 students attended our

open mic night and perform. Union run campaigns As well as encouraging students to run grassroots campaigns the Union executive has also developed and run a number of campaigns. A key area of focus has been bigotry and discrimination. With our new liberation officers we were provided with advice and assistance that allowed us to run an incredibly successful Black History Month and an Islamophobia awareness month that was recognised by FOSIS (Federation of Student Islamic Societies) as one of the most successful in the country. The Vice President Student Activities also ran a rainbow laces campaign to kick homophobia out of sport, successfully getting every competing member of our sports team to wear the branded laces. Media and Organisational reputation As a result of increase campaigning and political activity, the organisation has been subject to an unprecedented amount of public attention. The most notable being the student walk out of the “Big Debate” with Katie Hopkins which was covered by all major news outlets in the country. The organisations officers and staff were able to deal with the intense scrutiny and media attention allowing for the Unions reputation to be elevated as a result. Of all the coverage we found that 90%

of the press was positive or neutral with only around 10% being negative reporting. In addition to the walk out, the President of the Union has represented the members on national media in regards to our work around the Prevent strategy, free education and the boycotts, divestment and sanctions movement. Regular interaction with the media is important for a political, campaigning organisation as it can often be an extremely useful tool to pressure our parent institution. Strategic Planning This year we underwent a review of our strategic plan and the Union’s cabinet has been extensively reviewing organisational priorities for the upcoming year. We have brought in an external

organisation (RedBrick) to assist us in the process including consulting with our membership. The Cabinet has reviewed the research and agreed the plan with the Board. We are very much looking forward to the publication and communication of our new Strategy will be from January 2017. . Quality Assurance Review This year Brunel University London has been subject to a quality assurance review by the QAA (quality assurance agency). As the institution undergoes a thorough quality review the Students’ Union has been tasked with writing a student submission on quality and assist the review process.

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The student submission has been compiled over the course of the year with the lead written being

the Vice President of the College of Health and life Sciences Aaron Lowman. It has been a priority of the Union cabinet and executive board to ensure that the comments made in the student submission and the recommendations presented were an accurate reflection of the membership. We therefore consulted with numerous focus groups and key engaged stakeholders to ensure the views captured were accurate and representative of the student body. The final draft of the document was presented to our executive committee and student assembly to note and

comment. The student submission was written and delivered on time and has been generally well received. It has already resulted in actions being taken as a result of many recommendations that were made; including the full implementation of exam feedback for all students. The week long review began on Monday 14th March 2016. Staff Restructure At the start of this academic year the President and Chief Executive identified that the organisations structure was not fit for purpose and therefore was not delivering in the way it was expected. As a result the CE began working on an expansive staff restructure, ensuring that departments were

resources and managed effectively and that and gaps in support were filled. This restructure was implemented in November 2015 and is the current structure in which the organisation works. It has seen the creation of a full time business development coordinator, a new union wide central administrator and a policy analyst. Changes to the Trustee Board The membership of the Trustee Board has seen some changes since last academic year. Jatin Patel was recruited to fill a new space on the Trustee Board for an Independent Trustee; this space became available as a result of the governance review which took place in early 2016. In addition to this new appointment we are now in the process for recruiting 2 new Independent Trustees due to the departure of both Emily Thomlinson and Matthew Bruce. We are also currently holding elections for a new Student Trustee. The Chair would like to note the collective 10 years of service by both Emily and Matthew and their enormous contribution to the Union, particularly in helping us develop and implement governance changes in line with our registration as a charity in 2011. The Board extends its gratitude to both of them and wishes them well in the future. Future Plans There is a key drive within the organisation to ensure that we build on the success’ of the current year and ensure that the union is in a strong position for the next 5 years. As we publish our new strategic plan, we are looking towards ensuring that the union maintains its position as a strong, campaigning and political organisation in future years. This will be done with a strong strategic direction but also a cultural normalisation of active lobbying and campaigning on issues pertinent to

our members.

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The importance of harbouring and training talented and engaged members is also a critical component. While we have extremely engaged and dedicated full and part time officers working within specific remits, to have the best chance of success we have to reach out to the wider membership for student leaders. Once contact is made and a relationship is established we can not only begin to work on interacting on areas that the union executive believes to be important but also

facilitating student led campaigns and actions. Following the revamp of the student representative system in 2015, we have seen major improvements in both numbers and quality of our reps. It is essential that work on enhancement and continued improvements to our representative system is a major priority for the organisation in the coming months and years. Finally, our methods and modes of communication is an area of priority. While the work that the union does and its enhancement on the student experience is undoubtable, this is often unseen and unheard of by our membership. This not only results in a lack of future engagement, but also a loss of political legitimacy. We have to look towards new ways of communicating with our members as well as using new and innovative ways to get our message out to the student body.

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Union of Brunel Students Executive Committee Report

Achievements and Performance

The Executive committee creates and develops campaigns that are to the benefit of our members and implements policies past at our most consistent democratic arena - Student Assembly. The membership of the committee includes: President (chair), Vice President Student Activities (deputy-chair), Vice President CHLS, CBASS, CEDPS, Vice President Post

Graduates, BME Officer, LGBT+ Officer, Women’s Officer, Disabled Students Officer,

Environment and Ethics Officer, Mature and Part Time Officer, Community Campaigns Officer and International Students Officer. The posts of Community Campaigns Officer and Mature and Part Time Officer are new to the committee this year. The committee has been greatly successful in developing campaigns that are important and pertinent to our membership and have also implemented policies that have been passed at Student Assembly. Some of the most prominent work and campaigns developed and approved by the Executive so far this year have been: Black History Month As part of Black history month a number of events where held. However; we believe Black history is more than just a month, so we are holding events throughout the year. We held a film screening of ‘The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution’. This is a 2015 American documentary film directed and written by Stanley Nelson Jr. The film combines archival footage and interviews with surviving Panthers and FBI agents to tell the story of the revolutionary black organization Black Panther Party. This film shows the rise of the movement and its successes and why it is relevant in this day and age. We also held an event called ‘Black His Story’, which was a journey through Black history in the form of a play, giving an insight into the events that shaped black culture. Finally; we also held an event called ‘Is Politics Racist’. This was an insight into the state of the Bame community in politics on a macro level followed by a discussion on how we as BAME people can overcome these barriers, looking at examples of the past and people's experiences, whilst looking at different methods so everyone can begin to influence on a local and national level.

This BUCS Girl Can This BUCS girl can is a campaign that took place from the 7th to the 13th November. The campaign highlights gender inequality in sport and is about encouraging and empowering women to be active in sport and physical activity during their time at University and beyond. During the week we held a number of sports taster sessions for women only, and release a video to highlight women in sport.

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#Iam - Islamophobia Awareness Month

Over the past month the Union have been running a campaign to raise awareness of islamophobia. As part of Islamophobia Awareness Month several events were taking place. There was an exhibition in 3 venues around campus, this was generally well received. There was a Students not Suspects panel discussion on the highly divisive counter terrorism strategy – PREVENT. A window into Friday prayers was also held I order to allow people to observe the prayer ceremony.

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Student Assembly Chairs report to Union Meeting

Since the last Union Meeting 28TH May 2016 student assembly has met two times, on the

11th October and the 3rd of November. During these meeting quoracy was met. These

meetings have been following the new democratic structures for Student Assembly, with

the first meeting of the year being an Accountability session.

The new Jury system is in place and has so far proved successful with both positive feedback

and a good level of attendance.

Since the last Union Meeting the following motions have been passed:

Motion of No Confidence in the Volunteering Chair

That Student Assembly pass a motion of no confidence in the chair, removing her

from her current position in office, thusly banning her from running for any future

position (as outlined in our bye laws)

Motion for standing committees to report the same way as all other part time officers

That the reporting structure should be changed to be the same for all part time

officers.

That this should be enacted by the next accountability meeting of student assembly.

Update the Zero Tolerance on Sexual Harassment policy

Seek further partnership with the University, and interested parties within the

Brunel Community in reviewing, developing and implementing appropriate

interventions against harassment and violence and further enhancing the support of

victims/ survivors

Develop a declaration of behaviour outlining expectations of students during their

time at Brunel

Run a series of activities celebrating and supporting the positive contributions of our

diverse community at Brunel- building on I AM and Black History month. These

events are to include engaging with the national “This BUCS girl can” campaign and

developing a “This Girl can- LEAD” campaign.

Continue ongoing research regarding the Brunel student experience of Hate Crime,

Sexual violence and harassment, driven by priority areas identified in the initial

survey, and existing national data.

Review our marketing, publicity and communications policies, ensuring they reflect

positive representations of all of our members, and prohibit any derogatory,

demeaning or offensive language and imagery.

Explore and audit our internal processes (including complaints and support

structures) relating to hate crime, sexual harassment and violence, with particular

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focus on creating safe (licensed) venues and union experiences (i.e. clubs, societies,

events), delivering improvements as necessary.

Motion to approve updated Bye-laws

That Student Assembly ratify the new Bye-laws which had been updated following

the mandates of the last Union Meeting.

The key changes made where:

Democracy Committee take over all the functions of ERC. The RO continues to have

overall legal responsibility for elections.

Union Meetings have a new section outlining how to call a Union meeting under the

Emergency Union meeting sections

Appointments committee has been added to the bye-laws under select committees

of student assembly in order to make its function clearer (previously it was not in the

bye-laws at all). All other select committees also have their roles and responsibilities

now outlined in this section.

The roles and responsibilities of the members of executive have been updated to

reflect the new roles.

Democracy committee has been added to the elections section along with the new

rules of VP colleges.

The Student Assembly bye-laws have been edited to include the new jury system

Union meeting bye-laws have been edited to have 1 Union meeting a year this is

scheduled in for November. This will be the Annual Union meeting.

Motion to join the national boycott of the NSS

That the Union should vote in favour of the national ballot for an NSS boycott.

The Union should campaign for students to disrupt the rise in tuition fees and

boycott the NSS.

Postgrad for Postgrad; Motion to amend Bye Law B

To amend Bye Law B effective December 2016 to ensure only Postgraduate Students

can stand for the post of Vice President Postgraduate Students.

To oppose a rise in accommodation costs

For the Union to oppose any increase in the costs of halls on campus.

20

Union of Brunel Students AFFILIATIONS 2015-16

Period Date Narrative Amount

01/2015 13/08/2015 BUCS AFFILIATION FEE 2015-16 10,509.76

01/2015 13/08/2015 THE JIU JITSU FOUNDATION-AFFILIATION 2015/16 300.00

02/2015 04/09/2015 LONDON ABA-BOXING AFFILIATION FEE 2015/16 341.00

02/2015 17/09/2015 NATIONAL HINDU STUDENTS FORUM (UK)-2015/16 187.50

02/2015 18/09/2015 RUISLIP RIFLE CLUB-AFFILIATION FEE 2015/16 & 300.00

02/2015 18/09/2015 BRITISH GYMNASTICS-MEMBERSHIP FEES 75.00

02/2015 30/09/2015 RUGBY FOOTBALL LEAGUE LTD-AFFILIATION FEE 2015/16 195.00

02/2015 24/09/2015 ENGLISH LACROSSE 2015-16 100.00

03/2015 02/10/2015 BASKETBALL ENGLAND 1,575.00

03/2015 02/10/2015 WEMBLEY & HARROW TABLE TENNIS LEAGUE- TEAM REG 54.00

03/2015 22/10/2015 BRITISH UNIVERSITIES SAILING ASSO-SUBSCRIPTION 150.00

03/2015 28/10/2015 JIU JITSU FOUNDATION-X23 NEW & RENEWED LICENCES 575.00

03/2015 23/10/2015 BASKETBALL ENGLAND-AIVIARS BRUVERIS DUCKS PLAYER 100.00

03/2015 26/10/2015 MIDDX FA - CLUB AFFILIATION MIDWEEK 148.00

04/2015 04/11/2015 BASKETBALL ENGLAND-MEMBERSHIP 2015-16 105.00

04/2015 04/11/2015 BASKETBALL ENGLAND-BUCS PLAYERS REGISTRATIONS 220.00

04/2015 11/11/2015 THE JIU JITSU FOUNDATION-NEW & RENEWAL LICENCES X 125.00

04/2015 17/11/2015 BWLA LTD-UNIVERSITY BLOCK MEMBERSHIP 50.00

04/2015 19/11/2015 BASKETBALL ENGLAND-DUCKS PLAYER MOHAMMED GIFFA 25.00

04/2015 19/11/2015 BASKETBALL ENGLAND-X1 CLUB FEE,X4 TEAM FEES,X11 360.00

04/2015 23/11/2015 CTA UK-COMMUNITY TRANSPORT PERMIT FOR 3 MINIBUSE 33.00

04/2015 26/11/2015 ENGLAND NETBALL 2015-16 AFFILIATION - 330.46

05/2015 09/12/2015 FRAN RYAN-LIV PHELAN NETBALL AFFILIATION 8/12/15 22.00

05/2015 03/12/2015 UL BOATHOUSE LTD-ANNUAL FEE 1/8/15-31/7/16 1,202.61

05/2015 03/12/2015 THE JIU JITSU FOUNDATION-SAMUEL ROWSON LICENCE 25.00

05/2015 10/12/2015 CAMERAN NABEEL-WARRIOR MATCHMAKING BOXING DAT 45.00

06/2015 04/01/2016 COMMUNITY TRANSPORT ASSO-SAFE & LEGAL EDUCATION 40.83

06/2015 05/01/2016 MIDDX COUNTY LTA-2015/16 REGISTRATION FEE 200.00

06/2015 22/01/2016 NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION-X4 PROBATIONARY MANUA 35.00

06/2015 22/01/2016 YAAGNI PATEL-SOCIETY DROP ZONE MEMBERSHIP 35.00

06/2015 26/01/2016 NATIONAL SMALLBORE RIFLE ASSO-AFFILIATION & 423.50

07/2015 09/02/2016 DATCHET WATER SAILING CLUB LTD-X20 MEMBERSHIPS & 1,850.00

07/2015 25/02/2016 BASKETBALL ENGLAND-KIERAN WILKINSON PLAYER 35.00

07/2015 24/02/2016 BASKETBALL ENGLAND- TRANSFER FEE X 2 150.00

08/2015 02/03/2016 BRITISH ROWING LTD-AFFILIATION FEES 2016 266.20

08/2015 08/03/2016 BRITISH MOUNTAINEERING COUNCIL-MEMBERSHIP 994.50

08/2015 11/03/2016 THE JIU JITSU FOUNDATION-ZACARY BISHOP & JORDAN 50.00

09/2015 15/04/2016 BUCS-VOLLEYBALL REGISTRATION & AFFILIATION 2015-16 132.00

10/2015 25/05/2016 BAFA-MEMBERSHIP FEES 2015/16 1,355.00

NUS 2015/16

TOTAL 22,720.36

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APPENDIX 1

Student Charter, see supplementary document

22

APPENDIX 2

Accounts see supplementary document