Comms and DemocracyRound 2

Mike Potter

-GOAL Days moved closer to Student Council to consult on key issues, all staff GOAL day held in January and better engagement with halls of residences. - NU:Life Committee appointed in October 2014 and involved with 5 of 6 editions this year. Subeditors responsible for editing making it more relevant to students. - Space agreed and rest of NU:TV budget to be spent on equipment for 2014/15. Equipment for podcasting for radio put in annual budget - Motion process changed from 50 to 20 students.- Voter Registration now central to University’s Induction. Students registered for local and european elections.

-Podcasting to launch in September. Foundations for radio have been laid with research undertaken, risk register written for trustee board and mac blagged from IT department to reduce costs. - SU on Tour ran in January and February – engaged with a variety of different students but still evaluating effectiveness. - Not a huge amount of progress as we are waiting for results on a funding bid for additional staff to push progress forward. - Elections, Welcome Team etc put on snapcomms. Built good relationship with university comms department.

-Lots of my reports to the trustees have been verbal, I will be taking the radio risk register in June and have amended the Student Council by-laws at Trustees. - Verbal elections update at each meeting

-Attended CopsOffCampus and Stop the Selloff meetings but they didn’t seem to progress much further. Supported EDL counter march- HE Debate held, Housing campaign successful and continuing next year. SHAG week did not happen. - NUS Community Organiser quit and Electoral Services unresponsive, however I’ve done by own work around this.

-Coach Lane bus campaign resulted in double decker bus and bus stops in Heaton. - 33% in voter turnout - Student Council led by first ever steering committee , 28 sabbatical candidates.

-NU:Life student led, Radio not established. - GOAL feeding into democratic direction of Union. Format of GOAL Days changed so tended to feed more into Councillors votes. - Amendments process added and Council Review voted on at this council

Other achievements:

- Helped University deliver National Student Survey campaign-Refreshers Week- Abseiled down the library- NUS Conference Delegate- Appointed Digital Marketing Coordinator (twice), Duty Bars Manager, NUS Community Organiser, Marketing Manager and student staff- Periodic Review of Nursing and Allied Health- Sat on a capital project to improve Coach Lane- Lobbied for Metro passes for Coach Lane students to Trinity Square- Got electronic voting for Student Council- Commissioned the You Said, SU Did brand- Recruited a record number of elections candidates- Sat on Review, Induction Planning Group, International Committee- Welcome Week and lots of induction talks- Supported NU:TV to make lots of videos and helped organise Northumbria’s Got Talent- Activities Awards/ Annual Awards- Made Media a more central part of the Activities department- Suggested changes to how we use social media and proposed changes for the website- Built strong relationships with campus services and IT departments- Helped get cheaper food on campus- Welcome Week research leading to big changes for the pass- Chaired Coach Lane Action Group- Planned more social activities for Coach Lane- Got a new desk at Coach Lane to increase engagement in the cafe. - Attended NUS Union Development Zone Conference- Sat on HR and Remuneration sub-committee of Trustee Board. - Worked with an incredible sabbatical team

Any questions?