silent majority meeting - the pear

8/2/2019 Silent Majority Meeting - The Pear

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22nd January 2012, The Bristol Pear

The Silent Majority Meeting Minutes

Thanks to all who came!

1. Role of the Group

2. Up-coming Officer Elections

3. Questionnaire

4. Guild Council

5. AGM

6. Summary of Main Points

1. ROLE OF THE GROUP

- Who we are, who we stand to represent:

students who dont realise what impact the Guild has on them

students who arent engaged with the Guild but still benefit from its support and services

students who support the Guild in a positive way, embrace its opportunities and want for it to continue being as

good as it can be (and better)

--> Variety of ages, backgrounds, levels of involvement with Guild/Uni, political interests (or lack of interest!)

- Positive message, we are not an anti group, this is NOT an us vs. them situation:

Weve come together because we care

Want to make sure that the Guild resources are being used for the benefit of all 28,000 students

Raise awareness amongst ourselves as a group to support each other

Raise awareness of our group to others as well

- Communication great way for us to share information

- Power of our group is that it has such a strong, positive vibe (cheesy but true), combined with good

organisation this has caused surprise and panic

Focuses for the moment:

- VONC in Mark Harrop, President

Continue showing positive support

Continue efforts to get more signatures on our Student Statement

- Up-coming Guild Council Thursday 2nd February, 5:30pm, Guild Council Chambers

- Up-coming Officer Elections Offer support to campaigns, share this support

Potential problem = is splitting of the moderate vote

Encouraging more candidates to stand for positions (= increasing engagement and student involvement)

VS. putting all efforts into supporting particular campaigns

Honesty and openness candidates need strong self-belief, we can help them with support, but they honestly

need to believe they can win

Good idea for candidates going for same positions to meet together and discuss?

2. UP-COMING OFFICER ELECTIONS

So far, we know pretty much for certain that the following people are running:

- President


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David Franklin: 2nd Year (International Relations and Politics), Open Place Guild Councillor, Chair of Lib Dem

Society - strong campaign team including people from all over uni/guild

Alex Lane: 3rd Year (Law), Law Guild Councillor a strong support base outside of Guild

Tom DeFraine: 3rd Year (Political Science and Philosophy), Open Place Guild Councillor, ex-Carnival President (=

lots of Guild knowledge and contacts) - had to back-track recently on the VONC (blog post about how he intends to

vote againstVONC at next Guild Council) trying to regain moderate vote?

Potential 4th candidate

- VP Democracy and Resources

Rob Sassoon

Vici Royle

Leander Jones

James Robertson?

- VP Education

Sandhya Trott

Simon Furse

Dave Glenwright

- VP Welfare

Katharine Binny East

Claire Lister

Alice Swift

Matt Rolfe

- VP Housing and Community

John Hilliard

James Robertson?

Others unknown?

- VP Activities and Development Chris Bates

James Roberston?

- VP Sport

Unknown

VOTEMATCH specific questions are given to all candidates to answer, the candidates appear in order according

to relevance of their answer

- Having more people running for a position could confuse people?

--> importance of 2nd PREFERANCE VOTE

3. QUESTIONNAIRE

- Motion for VONC still has to go through and be passed Scrutiny Committee (1 Lay Trustee, 1 Student

Trustee, 1 University Representative)

This means it may not even get to Guild Council

We need to be prepared if it does!

- David Franklin has constructed a non-biased, concise and clear questionnaire relating the situation with

relevant arguments from each side

has seeked approval of this questionnaire from Edd Bauer, Mark Harrop and Tim Lucas (author of motion of VONC)

(this was VITAL as the credibility of the results from this survey could have been questioned if these people did notagree with its content)

he shall post it on internet (via SM facebook group) when it is ready, which is very soon


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there is a bullet-point version and an extended version

it is a paper questionnaire (will use Open Place Guild Councillor budget (about 100) to help with the printing

costs)

this will require a lot of volunteering in door-knocking in halls, in Selly, and surveying on campus

GET RAs ON BOARD!!! And Department Guild Councillors

Each group (RA, Guild Councillor) responsible for collecting results

Name, year, course and email address needed for each survey result (so there arent doubles)

On another note, reminder to:

- Support each other on Facebook Department group debates keep it positive!

- SIGNATURES for our Student Statement

Important for everyones signature to be backed up with a direct, personal message to either Franko or myself,

confirming their approval of their signature being used!!!!!

4. GUILD COUNCIL

Censures

- Thursday 2nd February, 2012

- 5:30pm, Guild Council Chambers

- We need a strong presence of normal people (= us!)

- Censures: propose a number of censure to the Sabb Team

This shows we are open to criticism and the improvement of the Guild by accepting that the Sabbs sometimes

make mistakes well be the first to propose censures

The Sabbs are OKAY with this (and will be accepting these censures, Edd might not though unsure)

Example of censure: Tim VPS for his Edd, were a team comment; other Sabbs (Luke, Mark, Zuki, Edd) for using

facebook to voice their opinions on the matter

For this type of censure, all Sabbs will be told in advance about it

VONC Motion

- A Vote Of No Confidence needs 2/3 majority to pass

- BUT proposers and supporters of the motion will think of it as a victory even if they get 51%

We need to smash this!

- Points that we can bring up to support Mark and bring down allegations:

Missing deadline with VC (failing to meet with him within two days of Guild Council)

Mistake when explaining the bye-laws about rules on normal students being allowed to attend the RAs Residents

Executive (ResExec)

They are not expected to know the bye-laws by heart

--> both of these mistakes are arguably not serious enough to deserve a VONC

- One of the main points being made against Mark is to do with his witness statement

Mark made a verbal statement, it was an interview (of which there was a transcript)

This statement was for the University

Supposed to be an honest account of his observations of the night

Simon had already been identified by the University

Mark was asked directly if he had seen Simon

(correct me if Im wrong) Simon faces two committee panels as part of his disciplinary

1 to assess whether he made a mistake

1 to assess how big the mistake was

Marks statement WAS not IS not and WILL not ever be seen/used as evidence in any of the panel meetings


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- Other points we can make:

Edd naming two people at the Occupation in November in a letter to the VC (if you discipline Simon Furse, youll

have to discipline us all)

The Mark HarropPotter Appreciation Society Facebook page is not necessarily any form of proof/evidence of Marks

support that we will use to argue against the VONC, it is more a personal way of showing support to Mark at a time

when he was strongly considering resigning as President.

If Mark is removed as President, Hugo VPDR becomes temporary President.

5. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (AGM) CAMPAIGN

- Branded as reclaim the Guild Very organised (website, facebook and twitter)

- Aims:

Change the composition of the Trustee Board ( all students)

Introduce an AGM once a year

Reduce number of students needed to call an AGM (currently its legally at 5% needed?)

Reduce number of students needed to attend an AGM for it to be valid

- As students this is more of a personal choice as to whether you want to support this idea

6. MAIN POINTS TO MAKE

- QUESTIONNAIRE

Volunteers will be needed to help collect results

- GUILD COUNCIL

Need numbers for support! Censures: for public displays of unprofessionalism, Edd for posting article on brightgreenscotland

- AGM

General vibe is to get behind it and support it!

The End. x

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silent majority meeting - the pear

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