Agenda for Council I

7.00pm, Wednesday 17 October 2001
Winstanley Lecture Theatre, Trinity College

AGENDA

1)              Corrections to Minutes of Last Council

2)              Matters Arising from Last Council

3)              Date & Venue of Next Meeting: 7 November, Homerton

4)              Announcements by The Executive

5)              Questions to The Executive

6)              Objections to The Order Paper

7)              Ordinary Motions

i)                   Condemnation of terrorism

ii)                 Anti-War

iii)                Anti-Racism

iv)               Higher Education Funding Policy

v)                 Publications Working Party

vi)               TCS Constitution

8)              Emergency Motions

9)              Elections

i)                   Chair of CUSU Council

ii)                 Mature Students' Officer

iii)                Anti-Racism Officer

iv)               HIV/AIDS Officer

v)                 Graduate Students' Rep

vi)               Standing Committee on Ethical Policy implementation (2)

vii)              TCS Directors (2)

viii)            NUS Regional Conference
(13 places)

ix)               Funding and Access Campaign Team (6)

10)         AOB

Ordinary Motions

CUSU notes:

1) The terrorist attacks perpetrated in America on the 11th September that resulted in the death of almost 7000 innocent civilians.

2) The real shock and grief felt by peoples of all nations, religions and ethnicities across the globe in the wake of these attacks.

CUSU believes:

1) That the attacks of the 11th of September were abhorrent, and without justification

2) That Cambridge Students share a sense of deep outrage at the deaths of so many innocent civilians.

CUSU resolves:

1) To offer our fullest condolences and to all those affected by the tragic events of September 11th.

2) To condemn unreservedly all terrorist attacks, and all violence against civilians.

Proposed:          Pav Akhtar, CUSU President

Seconded:         CUSU Executive

CUSU notes:

1) The commencement of hostilities against Afghanistan on Sunday 7 October, and the involvement of British Forces in the attacks.

2) The extreme hardship already suffered by the Afghan People, after two decades of war and three years of drought, and UN descriptions of a pre-existing "humanitarian crisis" in the region.

3) UNHCR predictions that millions more Afghans will be displaced and made dependent on Aid as a result of the bombing campaign, regardless of whether or not civilians are specifically "targeted".

CUSU notes also:

1) That past military intervention from external powers, including the Soviet Union and the USA, has greatly destabilised Afghanistan, propelling the Taliban to power and furnishing "Islamic" fundamentalists with equipment and support.

CUSU believes:

1) That military action will inflict unjustifiable and unnecessary suffering upon the Afghan people.

2) That civilian deaths and suffering in America should not be followed by yet more such suffering in Afghanistan.

3) That military action in Afghanistan will further undermine global stability, fuelling the resentment of the West amongst non-western peoples which is so easily exploited by extremist groups and oppressive regimes.

4) That the threat of international terrorism will exist as long as there are peoples that suffer situations of extreme poverty, oppression and violence, in which Western nations are complicit.

5) That America and her allies would best combat the threat of international terrorism by seeking to resolve existing conflicts peacefully and justly, with an equitable application of international law to all nations and peoples, and by acting globally to relieve poverty and reduce oppression and violence.

CUSU resolves:

1) To oppose the current war against Afghanistan, and to support students that campaign against it.

Proposed:          David Babbs
CUSU Ethical Investment Officer

Seconded:         Pav Akhtar, CUSU President

CUSU notes:

1) That since the events of September 11 in America, Cambridge students have been harassed and racially abused.

2) Individuals who propagate racial hatred have been invited to speak, and have spoken, in Cambridge on more than one occasion despite intervention by the Anti-Racism Officer.

3) That incitement to racial hatred is illegal.

4) That recent student media reporting of Omar Bakri's visits was unnecessarily alarmist and exploited prejudice.

CUSU believes:

1) That all students have the right to freedom from racial abuse or harassment.

2) That racial harassment and abuse of students is totally unacceptable.

3) That those who come to Cambridge in order to incite people to racial hatred should not be given a platform

4) That student media should not pander to or exploit stereotypes.

5) That the exploitation of prejudice by media validates the expression of language and attitudes which in any other circumstances would be seen as totally unacceptable.

6) That colleges do not perform enough checks to see who is actually coming to speak at their college.

7) That the University and the Colleges have a duty under the Race Relations Amendment (RRA) Act 2001 to prevent the dissemination of racial hatred.

CUSU resolves

1) To offer our fullest support to students who have been racially harassed or abused through college student unions and raising awareness.

2) To condemn all racial harassment and abuse of students

3) To issue good practise guidelines written by the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) to student newspapers

4) To contact colleges with our concerns regarding whom they allow to speak at their colleges

5) To point Senior Tutors of colleges in the direction of Section 10, page 43 of the 'White Book', which specifically says that "a speaker who incites an assembly of persons to violence or to breach of the peace or to racial hatred commits a criminal offence."

6) To remind Colleges of their duties under the RRA Act 2001 and to seek assurances that procedures are in place to fulfil them.

7) To ask colleges to tighten their procedures for people booking rooms or lecture halls for outside speakers to come and speak in.

Proposed:          Lola Adesioye
 CUSU Anti-Racism Officer

Seconded:         CUSU Executive

CUSU welcomes:

1) The recent announcement that the Labour government is considering a form of maintenance grant for students and a change in the tuition fee system.

CUSU believes:

1) That participation in Higher Education from all areas of society should be increased to promote social mobility and the education of civil society.

2) That student debt deters applicants and increases the university drop-out rate.

3) That current funding of higher education is not adequate to meet the needs of society.

4) That students are adults and should be independent of parental support.

5) That higher education has benefits for all of society, not just for those individuals going through the system.

6) That there is more to higher education than increased employment opportunities.

7) That a focus on higher education funding should review all the costs of studying - tuition, maintenance, incidental, printing, catering, accommodation and other costs.

CUSU further believes:

1) That as the government has only announced a review of the system and not the final details, it is vital to lobby the government over different systems of student finance, and the various benefits.

2) The new maintenance support system should allay fears of unaffordable costs and ensure students have the financial provision to stay on at university.

3) Currently, parents earning over £20,000 are required to make up the short fall in maintenance and tuition fees not covered by the student loan; this assumes that all parents above a certain income threshold are willing and able to provide financial assistance to their adult children. Problems arise when this is not the case - when parents no longer consider it to be their responsibility to support their children, when parents fall out with children and withdraw support; or when parents do not consider it suitable for their child to enter higher education. These problems disproportionately disadvantage certain groups including LGB, women and ethnic minority students.

4) That problems of the means testing of maintenance support can be best solved by a universal maintenance grant.

5) That a targeted (means tested) system of non-repayable maintenance grants would however reduce many of the problems that the current loans system poses in terms of access and debt aversion.

6) Currently the student contribution to tuition fees is levied upfront and thus adds to student hardship and difficulties in maintenance support; it is charged to a student when they are likely to be at the poorest stage of their career. It creates further problems with debt aversion and conceptions of the unaffordability of higher education.

7) Higher education funding requires drastically more input than can be levied on students; yet if more funding is to be raised from those receiving higher education it should be charged after graduation when it is more easily affordable; that although this would be cheaper, more easily administered and generally fairer if coming from general taxation, a graduate tax, (or Scottish style graduate endowment) would be preferable to an upfront fee.

8) That the affordability of higher education, and the conception of the affordability of higher education, is as much linked to rising costs as it is to reduced maintenance support. Reduced government support of higher education institutions has led to costs being passed on to students.

9) The private sector can, in certain controlled circumstances, offer a viable source of much needed extra funding into higher education ;  it does however, prove problematic in terms of accountability, the stifling of control out of public hands and the intellectual property rights of students.

CUSU calls for:

1) A universal maintenance grant and the abolition of tuition fees; for increased government provision for the Higher Education sector.

CUSU mandates the Executive and the Funding and Access Campaign Team (FACT):

1) Working with college student unions, to lobby the University, Colleges, Government and other relevant bodies in five key areas

·     Grants not Fees

·     Top-up Fees

·     Rent Rises

·     Top-up fees through the back door

·     The College Fee.

CUSU resolves:

1) To help organise the NUS Anglia Regional Rally on "Grants not Fees" to be held in Cambridge on 20th November.

2) To promote the "Grants not Fees" gold ribbons amongst students and others, to encourage JCRs and MCRs to be involved in the distribution of the gold ribbons.

3) To adopt the colour gold as a theme for the Higher Education Funding Campaign.

4) To organise a "Grants not Fees" gold balloon release.

5) To purchase banners for CUSU, at least one "Grants not Fees" and one general purpose CUSU banner.

6) To investigate (and purchase if feasible) a town banner advertising the rally on 20th November.

7) To send representation to the NUS-organised December lobby of parliament.

8) To re-elect FACT to co-ordinate the campaign; that FACT adopt a new planning committee consisting of the HE Funding Officer, Access Officer, and Academic Affairs Officer; that FACT liase with a student union contact within each college.

9) To conduct a review, in consultation with student unions, of rising costs across the university, including accommodation, catering, computing costs etc.

10) To allocate funds within the HE funding budget heading accordingly.

Proposed:          Joshua Reddaway
CUSU HE Funding Officer

Seconded:         CUSU Executive

CUSU notes:

1) That CUSU is one of the two largest student publishers in Europe.

2) That sabbaticals are rarely professionally qualified in desktop publishing or production.

3) That sabbaticals spend the majority of the summer producing publications.

4) That CUSU publications are often delayed.

CUSU believes:

1) That publications are a vital part of the service that CUSU provides to its members, providing reference material on issues as diverse as entertainment, careers information, welfare support, childcare, green issues and anti-racism.

2) That partly due to the lack of a central union building, CUSU constantly faces the problem of how to communicate to its members. Informative publications, delivered by college student unions to their members, offer a unique opportunity to communicate with every member of CUSU.

3) That while individual college student unions produce much valuable information, they cannot be expected to produce such comprehensive information about the whole of Cambridge for their members.

4) That the existence of the CUSU publications relieves this pressure on individual college officers, freeing them to provide additional information as they see fit that is particular to their college.

5) That, nevertheless, too much sabbatical time is spent producing publications.

6) That CUSU would be more efficient and more useful with more time set aside for non-publications work.

Council resolves:

1) To set up a Publications Working Party, consisting of the sabbaticals, two students elected at Council, and two from the Executive.

2) To mandate the Working Party to review CUSU's publications provision, and to recommend a course of action to Council not later than Lent I.

3) To suggest to the Working Party that they investigate the feasibility and desirability of the following:

·         the employment of a Publications Manager (whether part-time, full-time or temporary)

·         the transferral of some publications to the web

·         a reduction in the quantity, size and/or frequency of publications produced

·         more guaranteed input into publications from outgoing sabbs

·         desktop publishing training for the Executive

·         other improvements as decided by the Working Party

Proposed:          Stewart Morris
CUSU Services Officer

Seconded:         CUSU Executive

Council notes:

1) That the CUSU President took his post off the Board of Directors of The Cambridge Student ("TCS Board") last term, with no replacement.

2) That there are currently 6 posts on the TCS Board.

3) That this could result in a split vote.

4) That changes to the Constitution of The Cambridge Student ("TCS Constitution") must be agreed by a two-thirds majority of Council

Council believes:

1) That split votes are undesirable.

Council resolves:

1) To add an extra member to the TCS Board.

2) To update C.1 of the TCS Constitution to read:

Proposed: Stewart Morris, CUSU Services Officer & Ed Whiting, TCS Editor

Seconded: CUSU Executive