College Record 2019

Chair of the General Meeting
ETIENNE HANELT
The General Meeting
occupies a special
place in Wolfson’s
institutional structure.
It transacts Common
Room business
(Statute VIII, 3),
but also receives
reports from College
committees and may
be used to bring
items before Governing Body (Regulations III,
5). This dual purpose, and its being open to
all members of College and Common Room,
makes it unique and puts it at the heart of
democratic and egalitarian Wolfson.
The social and cultural centre of the College
is the Common Room. There is much to
say about the many activities and events
of the past year, and the many clubs and
societies, but I will let those responsible for
these amazing things speak for themselves
in the ‘Clubs and Societies’ section of this
Record. But here, I think, is the place to thank
everyone who volunteered their time to
make Wolfson such a special place.
This year’s General Meetings were quite
political gatherings. A few examples: members
of College and Common Room debated
two proposals for a new flag policy and
came down in favour of one which regulates
the flying of special flags rather than bans
them altogether. Governing Body eventually
followed the suggestion of General Meeting,
over one favoured by the General Purposes
Committee. Second, General Meeting
repeatedly called for the College to sign
up to the Oxford Living Wage. With some
success, too. Governing Body approved
paying the Voluntary National Living Wage,
which gave members of staff on the lowest
pay grade a steep and well-deserved pay
rise. Third, with the backing of General
Meeting, the College has started the
tradition of a family-friendly formal hall. But
General Meeting has not always prevailed.
Despite student resistance, a requirement
has been added to Battels that students
need to top-up credit before incurring
expenditure such as meals in Hall.
Not all our work is public. Lobbying behind
the scenes ensured that Governing Body
agreed to increase transparency by ensuring
that only the bare minimum of its agenda (as
required by the Statutes) would be handled
as reserved business in the absence of the
elected members.
It has been a dynamic year. Having many
new people at the College presents both
opportunity and risk. It is an opportunity
to look afresh at our ways and procedures,
to question the status quo. But it is also a
risk: the loss of institutional memory means
that it is all too easy to forget what is worth
preserving. Our community defines itself not
just by outcomes, but also by the process of
consultation and egalitarian participation. A
confident General Meeting will help Wolfson
College steer its course firmly into the next
year and into the future.
INTRODUCTION
WOLFSON.OX.AC.UK
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