[committee] The Stairwell and SOC situation

[Daniel Axtens]

Hi all,

My apologies for not formally bringing this to your attention earlier. As with my email regarding the constitution, every paragraph is ended with a tl;dr one line summary.

As you're hopefully aware, Matt and Bob repainted the main Cameron Hall stairwell just before ODay. The walls were repainted in the same colour as they were originally. This painting was done with the knowledge and approval of relevant guild staff: a senior guild staff member gave Matt and Bob key access for the weekend in order to undertake the work.
 => tl;dr: Matt and Bob repainted the Cameron Hall stairwell.

The Guild president was notified of our intention to paint. This intention was passed on to SOC[1], and to the best of our knowledge, the Tenancy Committee[2]. The SOC president acknowledged our intention by email and said it would be placed on Tenancy Committee agenda.  However, no tenancy committee meeting was held before O'Day. The SOC president's email did not evince any obvious objections.
 => tl;dr: The tenancy committee knew we wanted to repaint, but because there was no meeting, didn't formally approve it.

The SOC president has taken issue with us for not  getting their full approval. We have had some discussion with the SOC president by email. We have brought to her attention the following points: [3]
 - The club had an honest and reasonable belief that its acts were permitted as a result of the actions of Guild staff
 - The club was acting in the interests of the Guild and all tenants
 - The act was, we argue, not breach of the Tenancy Agreement
 - The act was in accordance with the spirit of the agreement
As such, we politely asked for the issue to be dropped, however, the SOC president was unwilling to do this.
 => tl;dr: We believe SOC is being a bit excessive. However, they're not willing to drop it.

The issue will be formally discussed at a meeting of the Tenancy committee tomorrow (Thursday). I will be representing the club. We will *not* be in the business of attacking SOC or the tenancy committee, but rather in defusing the situation. I will update the club on the progress of the meeting in due course.
 => tl;dr: There's a formal meeting which will discuss it tomorrow - hopefully we will be able to defuse the situation then. 

In the mean time, please be aware that this is a sensitive situation. PLEASE DO NOT discuss it on your favourite social network. PLEASE DO NOT harass anyone in the Guild, SOC, or the Tenancy Committee. PLEASE DO NOT do anything that would make our lives harder.

Please contact me if you have any questions.

Best regards,
Daniel Axtens

[1] SOC = Societies Council, the Guild sub-council in charge of clubs and societies. UCC is SOC affiliated. SOC gives us grants and is in some stage of the hierarchy about clubroom allocations.

[2] Tenancy Committee = the long-invisible committee charged with clubroom and building upkeep, etc. The initial group responsible for clubroom allocations, etc.

[3] If anyone is interested in the full details of SOC objections, our response, the tenancy agreement, etc. please contact me directly.