Minutes of the Committee Meeting of the LGBT Students Association

Held on Wednesday 18th December 2002 in Committee Room 2 of the Queen Margaret Union

Contents
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Those present and apologies received Bank Accounts Chancellors Fund and Befriendment Scheme training Financial Position and Receipts Pride Week Affiliation to the Unions Next Term Womens Events Listings and Liaison with other LGBT Organisations

1.

Those Present

Persons present: Robert McLaggan, Bob Peacock, Craig Muir, Paul Jordan, Bebba Vaughan, Craig Milne, John Wallace, Daniel Donaldson, Kenny Duffus, Ali King Apologies received from: John-Andrew Murray, Ruth Kaplan, Ruth Lloyd Note present: Roald Oines

2.

Bank Accounts

It was agreed that the three members of the Executive (Robert, Bob and Craig) would be the authorised signatories on the Bank Accounts at the Clydesdale Bank and the Bank of Scotland. Forms were then filled out to that effect.

3.

Chancellors Fund with Befriendment Scheme

Daniel brought along a copy of the proposal that he submitted to the Chancellors Fund and also some background info in relation to what has happened, is happening and is planned under the Chancellors fund umbrella. The proposal covered seven main areas; 1. Training and Development (1000) 2. Production of a General University LGBT Support Leaflet (2000 folded A4) (372) 3. Production of a Coming Out Guide (2000 A5 booklets) (573) 4. Website Development / Advertising (2000) 5. Campus Noticeboards (1500) 6. LGBT support Phone Line (550) 7. Purchase of a Computer, Printer and Scanner (1500) He stated that that reply he received from the Chancellors fund refused number 7 because there was no base on campus for this resource. He also stated that the proposal in respect of the phone was verbally refused by the Chancellors fund.

The remaining proposals were accepted, however, the total money that was granted to the project was 5000, which is slightly less than the total of numbers 1-5 above. Some has money been spent on icebreakers which it was generally agreed were successful events. The Coming Out Guide is under development. Daniel has been interviewing people in relation to their specific experiences, a designer has been contacted in connection with producing a professional looking final version of the guide. Noticeboards are in the pipeline these are paid for by the chancellors fund and are fully locking and secure in order to prevent people ripping down and defacing posters etc... A couple of noticeboards look set to be sited in the John McIntyre Building and the Boyd Orr Building. There are various obstacles to the noticeboards being put up (like health and safety reviews and various pieces of paperwork from the estates and buildings department) but it seems to be progressing. A third noticeboard may be sited in the Hub. Due to the proposed redevelopment of that part of campus in the next 12 to 18 months, this is not being carried forward at the moment, however, it appears that a noticeboard may be incorporated in plans for the buildings redevelopment. Money is available for Befriending Scheme training under the Chancellors fund. The consensus at the meeting was that it would be best to hold this sometime in the early new year. Daniel undertook to arrange this, ideally for the first week of February preferably Thursday 6th, but it may have to be Monday or Tuesday of that week, depending on the factors. In order to allow any participants to change shifts, Daniel is to try and get a date and time finalised by around the 6th of January. Around ten or so would be a good number of participants, however, it was specifically noted that there it would be desirable for more women to volunteer for this. As noted above, the Chancellors fund verbally refused to pay for the Phone. Daniel said that it appeared that the lack of a fixed base was the main factor in this refusal. The Nightline service was mentioned, but collaboration was not possible due to their strict confidentiality rules. Their volunteers receive training on LGBT issues as well as sexual health issues and can advise callers where to get further support.

4.

Financial Position and Receipts

Robert brought along a brief financial statement showing the receipts that he had been presented with and a rundown of the financial position of the association. Costs of Freshers Week Costs of Food and Drink for the Chill out Room Costs Relating to the Mobile Phone 226.17 24.01 148.00

Robert stated that he had been in contact with Jo Odds in relation to a Special Submission that had been submitted by Daniel in relation to the expenses that were incurred in this time as President. Jo stated that the SRC refused to pay for a lot of these expenses because the committee that considered the application felt that they were excessive for what they were and that the SRC did not want to fund extravagance. However, it appears that the SRC will make a contribution of around 52.81 towards the costs of the week. Robert also stated that this years grant has been decided upon by the committee but that he is waiting to be told how much this grant is for last year it was 275. This year it is envisaged that it will be something similar to this.

Daniel stated that the photocopying costs were minimised as much as possible, given the fact that the flyers were on coloured paper. He also stated that those parties who were involved with the LGBT preparations for freshers week agreed to the expenses that were made. It was agreed that things which are reusable, in particular the t-shirts, will be used as much as possible so as to keep future costs down. The committee accepted that freshers week was a successful week and that those expenses which were incurred in relation to that week would be paid out when the grant came in. The payment for the food has to come from reserves since SRC rules prohibit the use of the SRC grant for food and drink. The mobile phone was dealt with separately (99 handset, 39 coverplan and 10 top-up) There was a question as to Daniels decision to buy the phone without consultation, however, he had consulted David Hay and Craig Muir in relation to its purchase. The committee agreed that a mobile phone was desirable for the LGBT association. There were a few points raised in relation to the cost of the phone. It was questioned as to why 140 be spent on a mobile phone when you can get them a lot cheaper than this. As Robert had earlier stated, the SRC refused to pay for this in the special submission since it seemed to be very expensive, however, they may have been willing to pay a fair and reasonable amount for the phone. The committee unanimously agreed that Daniel acted in good faith when buying the phone. Craig Milne asked what the point of a 39 coverplan was on the mobile phone given the fact that it was a pay as you go phone under manufacturers guarantee for the one year of the plan. Daniel conceded that this was perhaps questionable. Again the committee unanimously agreed that Daniel had been acting in good faith. It was agreed to defer decision as regards the mobile phone to a later date.

5.

Pride Week (10th to 14th February 2003)

The Committee were brought up to speed on events at a Pride Week Meeting on Thursday 5th December organised by Roald Oines. It was stressed that that meeting was merely one to discuss ideas and that Roald has the final decision as regards all issues relating to Pride Week events which is an SRC event. The meeting was a planning meeting which was designed to discuss ideas which would subsequently be investigated by Roald. It was discussed that there would possibly be a launch party in the GUU with the closing event being at the QM at Fridays Cheesy Pop. There was the possibility of an event with free entry being negotiated in Mercury, Bennets etc.. Possibly a night at the Stand, a Film Night with an independent cinema, a talk from Amnesty International or STAR. There was also the possibility discussed of inviting other Universities from the Glasgow area along to events. (Just to stress again, and so as not to cause confusion, these are merely those IDEAS which were raised at the meeting organised by Roald. Any decisions to be taken as regarding this week are those of Roald alone and it is an SRC event.) There was a consensus among those present that they would lend assistance during the week as and when they could depending on what assistance was sought. The possibility of doing an LGBT flyer in relation to this week was also discussed and it was seen as desirable that there be a few weeks of future events listed on this flyer. This is referred to under Next Term below.

6.

Affiliation to the Unions

It was believed at the previous COM meeting that the GUU did not have disabled access. It appears that the GUU does indeed have disabled access to the Beer Bar. It was generally agreed that whilst it had disabled access, the quality of disabled access was poor. It appeared, after a discussion with a member of the GUU board that it may be possible to affiliate to the GUU if they were shown a partial membership list with matriculation numbers and a statement of which Union the person was a member of. It also appears that there is a requirement that 50% of our members have to be members of the GUU. Robert had already sent an email out to the membership with a view to attempting to affiliate to the GUU which the committee agreed was appropriately worded given the confidentiality issues it raised. Bebba raised the question of why this could not be done in relation to affiliation to the QM. It was agreed that this issue should be pursued further by Robert. It was also generally agreed to wait and see how many responses are received in relation to that email and to discuss these issues further at the next COM. Daniel raised the point that our membership is around 225 which is the figure which is divulged to the SRC. He warned that the Unions share information with the SRC and that we should not try to present information to a Union as a membership list, rather as a partial membership list.

7.

Next Term

There was a general agreement for the executive to take a lead in arranging events and there was a consensus that there needed to be more forward planning than has taken place this term. Pride week is week 5 of term 2. There appears to be a possibility of a talk on civil partnership rights which could be held jointly with the Liberal Democrat Students Association in order to cut costs. The tentative agreement for the first five weeks of next term is as follows; Week One: Committee Meeting Week Two: Video Night Week Three: Drinks (due to exams) Week Four: Partnership Talk??? Week Five: Pride Week (Although what was actually agreed as regards this was hard to minute accurately) The idea of some sort of flyer to be distributed in Pride week with a list of future LGBT events was not disagreeable to the COM. Daniel raised the possibility of using the Chancellors fund fopr publicity costs. He stated that they will pay for adverts in GUM or the Guardian, but they will not pay for flyers that is their position. In general it was agreed that discussion of next term will be left until the Committee Meeting in week one of term two.

8.

Womens Events

Robert stated that based on the information he had received from Genevieve, the womens events which she had been organising through the mailing list had been successful. There was agreement to thank Genevieve for arranging these. However, serious misgivings were raised by Bebba (and to a lesser extent by Craig Muir and Craig Milne) as regards the use of the mailing list for advertising what appeared to be a private party at Genevieves flat. Discussion of this issue was cut short due to certain time constraints and consequently will probably be raised at the next COM meeting.

9.

Listings and Liaison with other LGBT Organisations

Bob agreed to look at the listings of the LGBT-SA in various magazines Centerpoint, Scotsgay, Gay Times etcwhich are quite out of date and inaccurate. Robert showed the Christmas Card we received from the Ab-Fab Society the Aberdeen University Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Society.

10. Other Matters

Daniel thanked all people who participated in the organisation of Freshers Week and in the organisation of events in term one before the AGM. It was agreed to hold a COM meeting in week one of term two in the Wednesday night slot.

As compiled by, Craig Milne 19/12/2002