The document discusses proposed changes to the structure of the Guild Council at the University of Exeter. It suggests expanding the Council to include more student representatives from areas like colleges, societies, and liberation groups. It also proposes limiting proxy votes to three per member and continuing to have one vote per member. The changes aim to make the Council more inclusive and aligned with its expanded role in reviewing more policy ideas from students.

1. Change, Policy and Research
GUILD COUNCIL
Democracy and Governance Committee
18/02/15
Chair: Maria Finnerty

2. Change, Policy and Research
Apologies

3. Change, Policy and Research
AGENDA
1. Student Idea: Provide advertising space for societies on
campus
2. Student Idea: Unlock the new gates limiting pedestrian
access to Kingdom Mews and Bonhay Close
3. Student Idea: Support our initiative to make the University
of Exeter the UK's first 'University of Sanctuary‘
4. Discussion on structure of Guild Council

4. Change, Policy and Research
1. Student Idea: Provide advertising space for societies
on campus
349 votes
99.4% positive approval
Results:
http://www.exeterguild.org/change/ideas/idea129-posterspace/
Report:
http://www.exeterguild.org/pageassets/change/ideas/idea129-
posterspace/Student-Idea-Report-129-Posterspace.pdf

5. Change, Policy and Research
1. Student Idea: Provide advertising space for societies on campus
Max Maltby, the proposer, spoke for the idea, telling Council that there was hardly any
space for society posters left and it seemed that this has been replaced by paid external
advertising.
Natasha Laws, Director of Marketing and Communications at the Guild, told Council
that she agreed with the proposer and that, in hindsight, they had reduced the amount
of poster space too greatly in the refurbishment of DH1. She said that there were also
health and safety regulations that had prevented them installing more poster space (due
to having flammable materials in fire exit routes) but that they have worked hard to find
solutions to these. She apologised for this and said they were working on reinstating
poster space right away, including ideas for cork boards and a movable poster board. She
stated that were still exploring options and welcomed input from societies and the
proposer.
MM asked if outdoor poster space could be included; NL agreed to look into this,
though stressed that the Guild do not own the actual building. MM also asked about
screens in DH1, to which NL replied that the large screens were part of an external
advertising contract.

6. Change, Policy and Research
1. Student Idea: Provide advertising space for societies on campus
Ben Street told Council that an additional action to take from this idea could be to
review student poster space around University buildings. MM said that putting posters
up in halls took 5 days notice and state patrol to open up locked poster boards. BS said
that this could be something for the SabbaticalTeam to work with the University on.
Milly Hindle raised the idea of using Guild outlets such as the Grove as poster space;
NL said she would look into this and as long as fire regulations were met, she was happy
with it in principle.
NL invited MM to contribute to the implementation of this idea and their contact
details were shared with each other.
PASS - 15
FAIL - 0
ABSTAIN - 5

7. Change, Policy and Research
2. Student Idea: Unlock the new gates limiting
pedestrian access to Kingdom Mews and Bonhay Close
113 votes
96.5% positive approval
Results:
http://www.exeterguild.org/change/ideas/idea119-gates/
Report:
http://www.exeterguild.org/pageassets/change/ideas/idea119-
gates/Student-Idea-Report-1119-Gates.pdf

8. Change, Policy and Research
2. Student Idea: Unlock the new gates limiting
pedestrian access to Kingdom Mews and Bonhay Close
This idea was postponed until the proposer and Kate Hawkins
were available.

9. Change, Policy and Research
3. Student Idea: Support our initiative to make the
University of Exeter the UK's first 'University of
Sanctuary'
104 votes
76% positive approval
Results:
http://www.exeterguild.org/change/ideas/idea130-cityofsanctuary/
Report:
http://www.exeterguild.org/pageassets/change/ideas/idea130-
cityofsanctuary/Student-Idea-Report-130-Sanctuary.pdf

10. Change, Policy and Research
3. Student Idea: Support our initiative to make the University of
Exeter the UK's first 'University of Sanctuary'
The proposer told Council that having the Guild’s support on this issue would be a
great help in lobbying the University. She said there were specific criteria to meet,
but at this point they were just looking for symbolic support to start momentum on
achieving this. Ben Street gave his support for the motion, saying that it would be
brilliant to be the first University to support this.
The Sabbatical Officers made it clear that any further action to meet the criteria
would need to be worked on and considered further, in case there was any
implication on the Guild’s resources. They suggested that the Guild support the idea
in principle and then the proposer work with Kate Hawkins and the University on
specific actions.
SUPPORT IDEA AND PASSTO KATE HAWKINS - 15
FAIL - 0
ABSTAIN - 5

11. Change, Policy and Research
4 . Structure of Council
• How Council used to and currently works
• What we think needs to be improved
• How we propose to improve it
• Your thoughts, suggestions, proposals and ideas

12. Change, Policy and Research
Council at the Moment
• Last year, Council’s role was not as clear and had fewer policies to vote on
• Council at the moment still follows the structure set before Student Ideas
were introduced
• ‘Guild Council’ as a whole only met to vote on policy three times a year, at
the start of each term
• The rest of the time, Councillors attended subcommittees – scrutiny
panels or ‘Democracy and Governance Committee’ – in groups of 3 or 4
• Democracy and Governance Committee had a vague role overseeing
democracy in the Guild and how elections were being planned

13. Change, Policy and Research
Since Student Ideas...
• We have far more policies to vote on, so Democracy and
Governance Committee have been used to vote on these and
therefore has needed to include all councillors, not just 3 or 4
• This is a great improvement on last year but means that the
old structure of Guild Council and it’s subcommittees isn’t
necessary any more
• Guild Council and Democracy and Governance Committee
are now exactly the same – there is no difference in how they
run or who can vote in them

14. Change, Policy and Research
Our reps
• Student Ideas has made the purpose of Guild Council and the roles
of Councillors clearer and more straightforward.
• We have other reps in the Guild who could benefit from these
changes and could contribute opinions the areas they represent.
• We also feel that these reps would benefit from having clear actions
to work on from the students
• Actioning some ideas to other reps would also help ideas be
reached sooner and could still involve support from staff and the
sabbs

15. Change, Policy and Research
So!
• Here are our ideas – but they are only a starting point and the
discussions and decisions should be led by you
Guild Councillors
Currently
• 16 including chair and officers
Proposed Change
• 20 Councillors (including chair, Student Ideas and Votes Officer
and Student Elections Officer) and 18 Councillors from other
areas (explained on next page)

16. Change, Policy and Research
Membership
Currently
• 4 Sabbs, 1 Guild Chair, 1 Student Votes Officer, 1 Student
Elections Officer, 13 Guild Councillors
• All have the same voting rights at every meeting
Proposed Change
• Include the Student Exec (International Officer, Postgrad
Officers etc), College Officers, ISC
• Confirm involvement from AU President
• Would benefit these reps and improve their work

17. Change, Policy and Research
Voting
Currently
• Just Sabbs and Councillors can vote
• Votes need 50% of councillors (not Sabbs) present +1 to pass
• This ensures that Sabbs can influence the vote, but never out-vote Council
• No limit to proxies
Proposed Change
• Consensus from last meeting to not grant voting rights to observers
• Decision last meeting to limit the total number of votes for one person to
three proxy votes
• Decision last meeting to keep each member having one vote
• Are these decisions still okay?

18. Change, Policy and Research
Scrutiny
Currently
• One hour a week, 4 themes
Proposed Change
• Is Scrutiny working? How could we improve it?
Meetings
Currently
• Need to be same place each week and accessible to all
Proposed Change
• Do the place and timings of meetings work?
• How should meetings be recorded?

19. Change, Policy and Research
As a result of these discussions, Council voted to:
• Bring AU representation into Guild Council
• Limit proxy votes to 3 votes per member (including their own) to only be
given to reps from the same group
• Bring college officers, ISC, Liberation Reps and Society Execs into Council