Committee Report

Committee: Ombudsperson

Committee Report Number: 3

Date: Nov. 15, 2010

Ombudsperson: Elisabeth Stevens

The office of the Ombudsperson is new to this year’s Undergraduate Student Government. The
Ombudsperson is responsible for complaints concerning university policies. She mediates
between undergraduate students and faculty/admin. All complaints made are held in the
strictest confidence.
 COMMITTEE REPORT

Committee: Sports Committee

Committee Report Number: 3

Date: 15.11.2010

Chair: Stephan Huerholz

Evaluation of aims from last report

Unfortunately there has been little progress during the last two weeks since it was midterm
time and meeting couldn’t be held due to conflicting schedules and events.
Account of work and progress of the last 14 days
I was present at the club leader meeting and was establish as a contact person for all sports
clubs. Furthermore was sports discussed in the Parliament meetings and will be brought up
during the AC meeting on the 16th of November. A regular meeting time with the committee
has been established.
Aims for the upcoming 14 days
The meeting with clubs and events still has to be held in order to take over all forms and
responsibilities. The draft for the Olympix still has to be made and a meeting with a GSA
member will be set up soon. Furthermore regular meeting times with the Sports coordinator
are to be established. The sports concept that was developed in 2008 by a task force in admin
will be brought to parliament and reviewed with the intention to revive it.
 Committee Report

Committee: Environmental Affairs Committee

Committee Report Number: 3

Date: 15.11.2010

Chair: Hannah Schwarz and Matthias Seel

Evaluation of aims from last report and account of work and progress of the last 14
days:

The EAC has ordered three trial thermo cups that should come this week. If they are suited
and work well, we’ll order about 120 thermo cups to stimulate the demand of students.

The recycling in Mercator is unfortunately still not going, since Sammy (Mercatorian College
Office Manager) was sick the last week and Monday. We need to get information, which bins
they bought last year for the paper disposal. Once we have this information (so that we can
buy a similar one for recycling), we’ll draft up financial applications. Hopefully, the recycling
bins should be in every Mercator apartment by the beginning of December.

In Nordmetall, the drying rack proposal is put on ice due to no cooperation with the College
Masters and little interest of the students.

Aims for the upcoming 14 days:

Starting the recycling trial phase in Mercator within the next two weeks. Handing out the
thermo cups. Together with the pulse, trying to find more environmentally friendly consumer
goods.
 Committee  Report  
Committee:        University  Finance  Committee  
Report  Number:      3  
Date:      November  15,  2010  
Chairs:      Rainer  Fiege-­‐Köllmann  &  Adriana  Trutzenberg  
 
Evaluation  of  aims  from  last  report  

• The  UFC  had  one  previous  meeting  on  November  3rd.  One  meeting  was  canceled  
due  to  illness  of  committee  members.    
• Majority  of  time  has  gone  into  the  food  issues  and  caterer  contract.  
• Issues  that  were  postponed  with  the  focus  on  food  issues  will  be  worked  on  
throughout  the  upcoming  weeks.    
Account  of  work  and  progress  of  the  last  14  days  

• Food  Surveys:  the  committee  conducted  surveys  throughout  the  university  with  
online  feedback  and  in  servery  surveys  which  allowed  students  to  give  their  
input  on  issues  in  regards  to  the  food  quality  and  meal  plan.  The  results  can  be  
found  in  the  official  results  statement  made  by  the  UFC  Chairs.  
• ATM  -­‐    further  contact  has  been  made  with  Sparkasse  Bremen.  Sparkasse  is  
interested  in  visiting  the  campus  and  doing  the  necessary  process  to  maybe  get  
a  ATM  on  campus.  The  committee  needs  to  find  a  contact  person  with  the  
administration  to  do  the  official  dealings  with  the  bank  for  the  future.  
• Food  Committee-­‐    the  UFC  chairs,  who  sit  on  the  Food  Committee,  attended  a  
meeting  in  which  meal  plan  issues  were  on  the  agenda,  but  were  not  able  to  be  
brought  up  on  the  meeting.  The  Food  Committee  only  discussed  the  upcoming  
catering  decision.  The  UFC  Chairs  will  have  some  impact  on  this  by  sitting  in  on  
the  proposals  of  the  two  catering  companies  making  offers,  as  well  as  having  the  
opportunity  to  give  feedback  to  administration  on  the  companies.      
• Funding  and  budgets  –  The  UFC  has  made  contact  with  the  administration  
regarding  obtaining  information  about  the  university/college  budgets  as  well  as  
the  scholarship  information,  but  no  meetings  have  been  held.  This  is  still  in  
progress.  
• University  Communication  –  the  UFC  has  made  agenda  points  and  effort  to  get  
information  out  to  the  university  in  regards  to  financial  issues.  The  upcoming  AC  
and  Student  Assembly  meetings  will  have  appropriate  financial  issues  discussed.    
Aims  for  the  upcoming  14  days  

• Set  up  meetings  and  refer  the  ATM  banks  with  the  official  university  facilities  
person.  This  may  including  turning  over  the  ATM  issue  as  its  entirety  to  the  
administration.    
• Communicate  the  food  survey  and  feedback  results  with  the  USG,  administration  
and  food  committee.    
• Continue  follow  up  with  College  Masters  and  university  administration  in  
regards  to  creating  budget  and  finance  transparency  among  the  student  body.  
 
 Secretariat Report 3
Date: November 15, 2010
Secretariat Report Number: 3
Position: President
Name: Johannes Deselaers

Account of work and progress of the last 14 days:

 Planned and chaired all meetings

 Submitted a complaint regarding the procedure of the Works Council elections to the
Electoral Board; upon reception of a dissatisfying response formed a student taskforce
that will take over the issue (in cooperation with GSA)
 Arranged a meeting of Parliament with the College Masters and Student Court
 Attended the Food Committee meeting
 Conducted a survey regarding problems with the Registrar’s office
 Met with one candidate for the position of Provost
 Prepared the upcoming AC meeting
 Planned the Undergraduate Student Assembly

Aims for the upcoming 14 days:

 Prepare meetings
 Participate and stress Parliament’s points in the AC meeting on November 16
 Advertise and hold the Undergraduate Student Assembly on November 17
 Follow up on ideas/issues originating from the AC meeting and the Undergraduate
Students Assembly
 Have representatives from parliament present the results of the survey regarding
problems with the Registrar’s office to the Registrar’s office
 Meet with further candidates for the position of Provost
 Together with the food committee - attend the presentations of the two tenders and
jointly prepare a recommendation statement for the university leadership
 Investigate on the status of the Awards Proposal passed by the AC last semester
 Committee Report

Committee: Public Relations Committee

Committee Report Number: 3

Date: 15th November 2010

Chair: Tilak KC

Account of work and progress in last fourteen days

1. PR for Student Assembly

a. Poster
b. Fliers
c. Spamming
2. Call for the additional members for PR Committee (Deadline 17 th November)
3. Completion of Poster preparation for Student Representative Visiting Hours
4. Preliminary person to person talk on whether USG needs the website.

Aims for the future 14 days

1. Interview of the new PR committee members

2. Preliminary introduction of Video Series
3. Collecting information on whether we need USG website or not
4. Continuing the normal tasks of PR committee
 Committee Report
Date: 15th November 2010
Committee Report Number: 3
Committee: Parliament Finance Committee
Chair(s): Lisa Begusch

Evaluation of Aims from Last Report

 All aims from last report were picked up on, and completed successfully.
o Further Funding Applications were reviewed (Christmas Market, Dialog im Dunkeln,
Brazil/Portugal CID) and partially approved and partially asked to be resubmitted.
o Two further meetings with the PFC occurred in which Funding Applications and PFC
matters were discussed.
o A Budget Plan was also devised, and presented before the USG, including requested
and approved event budgets for the last two years. This will be beneficial for future
reference for the USG on event funding.

Account of Work and Progress of Last 14 Days

1. Funding Applications were reviewed:
a. Nordmetall Christmas Market (Full amount approved)
b. Amnesty Club – Dialog im Dunkeln (Full amount approved)
c. Brazil/Portugal CID (Asked to resubmit application)
2. Delivery of Budget updates
3. Meeting with the PF Committee Members to discuss current pending Funding Applications
etc.

Aims for the Upcoming 14 Days

1. Review of further Funding Applications
2. Meetings PFC members to discuss Funding Applications
 Committee Report
Committee: Campus Facilities & Housing Committee

Committee Report Number: 31

Date: 15.11.2010

Chair: George Bugan

Evaluation of aims from last report

First and second meetings of the FHC – responsibilities and positions split within the committee.

Discussion with the College Masters of Nordmetall regarding the issue of a water machine outside of the
servery was held – problem incurred due to complications resulted from the original design of the
servery. Progress seems unlikely without Aramark’s imput.

No tangible progress to report on the bike proposal.

Account of work and progress of the last 14 days

Standard booking procedure of the Blue Lounge – no major damage or anything out of the ordinary to
report.

Attempts to make contact with a out-of-campus source (at the recommendation of Sigrid) to discuss
possible acquisition and maintenance of bikes.

FHC meetings covered:

- small brainstorming sessions regarding organizational details regarding the bike proposal

- idea of granting Normetall elevator access to non-Nordmetall students as well (COM and CM’s both
approve)

-idea to research possible improvements to the Blue Lounge

1
Though this is the second report of this year’s FHC, for organizational purposes (to be in line with other
rd
committees’ report count) this report will be considered the 3 and the ones that follow will succeed accordingly
Aims for the upcoming 14 days

Further looking into the current issues of interest the Committee is covering, particularly the bike
proposal.

Attempts to organize a meeting with Claudia Krüger of Aramark for further clarification on the water
machine issue.

Attempts to organize a meeting with Andreas Pape to discuss the elevator accessibility idea.
 COMMITTEE  REPORT  
 
Committee:  External  Relations  Committee  
 
Committee  Report  Number:  3    
 
Date:  15.11.2010    
 
Chair:  Benedikt  Blomeyer-­‐Bartenstein  
 
Evaluation  of  aims  from  last  report  
 
The  aims  from  Committeee  Report  2  were  the  following:  
  1)  Meet  Uni  Bremen  representatives  on  the  4th  of  November  
    a)  Initiate  a  series  of  projects  discussed  in  the  Committee  
    b)  Write  a  Report  for  the  Student  Body  
  2)  Update  the  Teamwork  page  
  3)  Create  a  logo  for  the  Committee  
  4)  Develop  the  ‘Art  Cooperation’  Idea  
  5)  The  “Committee  Transition  Issue”  
 
Meeting  Uni  Bremen  (1)  representatives  was  very  successful.  Besides  getting  to  know  the  
representatives  of  the  AsTA,  ideas  on  the  four  major  topics  (Academic,  Sports,  
Environmental,  Other)  were  exchanged.  Perspective  fields  of  cooperation  were  discussed.  
Find  more  information  about  the  current  status  in  the  next  section.  
 
The  update  of  Teamwork  might  be  unnecessary  in  future  when  considering  the  future  
‘newsletter’  project  that  the  External  Relations  Committee  is  forming.  
 
Creation  of  a  Logo  was  discussed  in  the  Committee  and  it’s  conception  is  considered  
inevitable,  especially  when  considering  the  future  public  position  that  the  External  Relations  
Committee  is  aiming  for.  
 
The  ‘Art  Cooperation’  Issue  was  postponed  to  the  next  meeting  with  all  student  
government’s;  see  the  next  section  for  further  details.  
 
The  ‘Committee  Transition’  Issue  was  laid  aside  for  the  next  weeks  because  it  was  deemed  
to  hard  to  predict  what  issues  the  External  Relations  Committee  will  look  like  and  what  it  will  
have  to  ‘transition’  by  the  end  of  this  year.  
 
Account  of  work  and  progress  of  the  last  14  days  
The  External  Relations  Committee  met  three  times  in  the  last  14  days  (On  the  4nd,  the  5th  and  
12th  of  November).  
During  these  meetings,  one  of  which  was  with  the  AsTA,  the  following  issues  were  handled:  
1) Uni  Bremen  
a. As  mentioned  before,  cooperation  issues  were  discussed  and  the  following  
steps  were  initiated:  
  
The  External  Relations  Committee  invited  the  representatives  from  AsTA  to  visit  our  campus  
on  the  2nd  of  December.  For  this  meeting  it  is  planned  that  the  direct  equivalent  
representatives  of  both  institutions  meet  up  and  exchange  contact  details  so  that  the  
External  Relations  Committee  does  not  have  to  mediate/  create  an  extra  bureaucratic  bridge  
in  future.  For  example,  we  want  our  Environmental  Club  representatives  to  meet  the  Uni  
Bremen  equivalent  so  that  they  can  directly  connect.    
 
Besides  that,  AsTA  representatives  informed  us  about  a  potential  meeting  with  all  student  
governments  in  the  State  of  Bremen.  This  would  also  be  an  opportunity  to  bring  up  the  ‘Art  
cooperation’  Issue.    
2) ‘Newsletter’  Proposal  
a. Once  the  system  is  established  whereby  we  inform  Uni  Bremen  
representatives  of  our  ongoings  and  vice  versa  it  will  become  necessary  to  
find  a  method  of  spreading  this  information  to  the  student  body.  
b. In  the  External  Relations    Committee  meeting  it  was  suggested  that  a  
(roughly)  monthly  newsletter  should  be  compiled  and  sent  to  the  students  
with  all  the  events  and  ongoings  around  Bremen.  This  should  not  only  
contain  Uni  Bremen,  but  also  cultural  events  and  sports  from  our  
community.  
c. This  would  require  a  series  of  new  jobs  for  the  Committee:  
i. Someone  to  compile  and  send  our  events  to  the  Uni  Bremen  
representative  
ii. Someone  to  receive  (i.e.  a  fixed  email  address  so  that  it  doesn’t  have  
to  be  changed  every  month)  an  events  calendar  from  Uni  Bremen.  
iii. Someone  to  collect  Events  other  than  Uni  Bremen  
iv. Someone  to  write/edit  the  newsletter  and  
v. Someone  to  send  around/publish  the  newsletter.  
d. A  future  breakdown  of  jobs/working  model  is  currently  being  discussed  in  
the  Committee.  
3) The  logo  is  still  in  progress.  
a. It  should  be  in  line  with  other  Committee  logos  and  resemble  ‘External  
Relations’  of  the  Undergraduate  Student  Body.  
b. Potentially  it  should  be  the  header  of  our  ‘Newsletter’  and  might  be  
finished  simultaneously.  
   
Aims  for  the  upcoming  14  days  
1) Prepare  for  the  next  meeting  with  Uni  Bremen  
a. Invite  Club  representatives  from  our  Undergraduate  Institutions  and  invite  
Uni  Bremen  to  do  likewise.  
b. Invite  GSA  representatives  and  get  them  updated  on  the  issues.  
c. Find  a  location  and  work  out  a  plan  for  the  event.  
d. Finish  by  setting  an  Agenda  for  the  meeting.  
2) Develop  the  Newsletter  Proposal  
a. Future  positions/workloads  will  be  distributed  within  the  Committee  
b. Inter-­‐Committee  work  will  be  brought  to  the  respective  representatives.  
c. Style/Format  of  the  Newsletter  will  be  developed.  
d. A  logo  will  be  created.  
 e. Prepare  a  proposal/update  for  parliament  about  the  new  public  position  of  
the  Committee/and  thus  of  itself.  
 
Please  do  not  hesitate  to  contact  us  if  you  have  questions  or  concerns.  
 
The  External  Relations  Committee  
 
 
 
 COMMITTEE REPORT

Committee: Academic Affairs Committee

Committee Report Number: 3

Date: 15.11.2010

Chair: Anna-Lena Schindl

Evaluation of aims from last report

Foundation year students:
E-mails were sent out to them to gather more information but no replies were received.
Another final e-mail will be sent out to them though.

Meeting with Prof. Elkana:

By the time I received his e-mail address and could contact him, he was not on campus
anymore. He will be back in February; a meeting with him will be set up then.

Teaching Evaluations on UEC agenda:

Topic was discussed in parliament and has been set back on the agenda of the UEC. Priorities
will be the creation of a taskforce to renew the questionnaire, as well as the possibilities of
feedback (possibility of feedback report by professors, introduced by Prof. Boogards last
year).

Account of work and progress of the last 14 days

Additional topics/ideas that were worked on/came up in the past 14 days:
- Major evaluations: One major topic that is worked on in the committee is the setting-up of
discussions within specific majors (following the model of the Physics major last year)
- CHE ranking: information e-mail was sent out to all students, informing ISS and IPH
students of the ranking and the letters distributed
- Scholarship information fair (to be set up in the first week of the next semester, informing
students about scholarship opportunities off-campus)

Aims for the upcoming 14 days

- UEC meeting: settle the issue of readers in the IRC and start the discussion on teaching
evaluations
- set up all four planned major evaluations (incl. date/location) starting early next semester