[dundee] Update

Sat Jan 15 13:23:05 UTC 2011

Hi Guys,

Update from the last meeting;

Well crappy bit first i suppose; I've had a meeting with the students
association with regards to the society a number of issues where raised
either side of it.

FIRSTLY

A complaint was made by one of our members with regards to my
involvement with the society; Long story short that I am not a student
so ineligible to be president (or any other official officer position),
that I have taken over the society without election, and that society is
nontransparent with regards to its finance.  After speaking with the
Students Association Vice-President all of the above has been
clarified.  My understanding that the complainant was not present at the
meetings in question.  However let me be clear

I am a student, i have been enrolled at Abertay since September.

I did not nominate myself for the position of president, the only
position that i considered was events.  I have been called a
self-elected president behind my back before, and this was a large
reason of why i was unsure of accepting the nomination.  I don't mind
people calling me things, i'm actually quite used to it over the years,
but i take great annoyance when it is someone who doesn't put THEIR
money where THEIR mouth is, talk is cheap ladies and gentleman because
supply exceeds demand. 

It was made clear to myself and the society members present at the AGM
and EGM which everyone was invited to, that our then President did not
feel that he could continue in the position, and would only continue if
there where no other option. 

I was elected without opposition, however if members feel that i have
been taken control by coup or something, then feel free to request
another AGM and we can all get around the table and discuss it.  However
we are a group and you will need to accept what other members say, even
though it maybe against what you think is right.

As with regards to the financial situation i am unable to answer
questions prior to my re-election (more to the point between me stepping
down nearly 18 odd months ago and the period upto me coming back this
January), i have been given some facts and i can't really make any
personal judgment on them.  As ALL MEMBERS know, NO ONE has paid any
membership dues for well over a year.  Thus meaning that no funds have
entered the account since i left INCLUDING our budget from the
university (last paid in October 2009), we have only had deductions,
namely the purchases of USB pens, and the payment for our historical tour. 

Our new treasurer is Wernel Nel who i haven't had a chance to speak to,
however when i do i will be asking that as under my previous management
of the society i will be asking for a yearly overview of funds to be
made available on the society site.

However i can confirm that the society has £625 in its account.  I will
be making deductions over the next couple of weeks, i will make those
records available, however it is the cost of two new domain names
(approx. £7 x2), and the payment for the scheduled historical tour of
Dundee (approx. £75).

The UADSA (University of Abertay Dundee Students Association) where
concerned with regards to the lack of communication from the society, an
issue that i have given my personal guarantee will be addressed

SECONDLY

I am required to submit a constitution by Monday evening for the
society, we need the name change ratified by the university's executive
committee, it will be based largely on the last constitution changes and
addition after Monday can be raised and voted on in meeting(s) as long
as a enough time is given for non-attending members to view, make
suggestions, and/or vote via proxy.

THIRDLY

Due to the fact that i need to collect membership dues with a matter of
urgency, even though we are half way through the academic year.  I
raised and it was passed that membership dues be slashed to £1 for the
year, and that this matter be raised in the next AGM.

FOURTHLY

It seems i do get to bring good news, as of the next meeting we will be
moving back to the Hannah McClure Centre and the UADSA have agreed that
we will be no charge for this

FIFTHLY

I have asked for requests for talks; These talks have been asked for
directly, i have not had anything for new one's yet.  However i think we
should look at getting a list with subjects that people are interested
in.  I think this will help people who want to do a talk but are unsure
what to talk about.  Maybe we could ask Gordon Dunlop to maintain a list
on the dundeelug.org.uk site. 

So to this note these talk have been requested to be re-heard

Gordon Dunlop - Postgres Talk.  as it was missed by a number of people
(i think everyone wouldn't be too far off the guess).  I also think that
this would be very interesting to a number of first years, as they are
about to embark on a module in database fundamentals, and i feel
confident that i would be able to drum up some very good PR ergo have a
decent attendance for it.

Robert Ladyman - Inside a highland ISP - Personally probably one of my
favorite society talks, however a number of people hadn't even heard of
the society or were at Abertay when that one happened.

Kris Findlay's - SSH - I know there is a number of first years that
would jump at the chance to see this talk, so to that ends good to get
some more bods along.

Personally  I have also asked James Carter if he could do a talk on
being a new guy to Android, i think it would be an interesting perspective

However this message goes out to seasoned members; If you can think of a
previous talk that you think worthy of hitting the tiles again then FFS
let us know.

However this message is to the new dudes, if there is a talk you think
we should be doing to help then FFS let us know

SIXTHLY

Robert Ladyman was left holding the baby once again for the grey-beard
TayLUG "RAPID ACTION TEAM", and it was felt that TayLUG
will/should/needs to organise a coffee morning one Saturday.  I'm sure
the "silver badger" will be making contact with you guys about this soon 

IN ADDITION

Instead of Christmas parties, blar, blar, blar.  That in fairness hardly
any of you turn upto, we're having a summer BBQ before the students go
back.  I have no more details on this other than the society will pay
for the meat, as we are not allowed to buy booze with the funds.  You
will be responsible for your bevy and mine!  Roddy is in charge of the
cooking, my suggestion is that one of the previous officers does the
decent thing and offer themselves up as the spit roast (now knowing a
few of you, i'm quite sure some perverts out there will totally get the
wrong end of the stick).

Have a good weekend

p.s As you may or may not know, i've started a new podcast.  Robert
Ladyman, aka Swifty, aka The Silver Badger, aka Grey-Beard Supreme,
Ubuntard-Fan-Boi is on the show talking about borderless networking and
the likes, the show can be found in my sig, also there is links to his
Linux Society talk on my site too.

-- 
Arron "finux" Finnon

Finux.co.uk - Twitter.com/f1nux - facebook.com/finux		

PGP: http://finux.co.uk/finux.asc