Council meeting minutes from 2025-01-22

minutes of the students' representative council for study programs of computer science

Algorithms and Data Structures: Insufficient study materials

Harry has brought it to our attention that there are too few resources with which to study for Algorithms and Data Structures, taught by Prof. Dr. Seidel. Additionally, the midterm grades are taking a long time to come in and Harry emphasizes the importance of getting those grades back to see the eligibility to take the final exam. It was mentioned that Prof. Dr. Seidel has an administrative role on campus, and Prof. Dr. Seidel wants to grade the exams himself, as well as a small teaching assistant team, which may explain the long time it's taking to get the grades back.

Lukas says that this has been a recurring theme for this lecture and that we should bring this up to the Dean of Studies, as well as at the next Dean's Lunch. Manuel also adds that there has not been a campus evaluation form for this course. Lukas says that there is a request form that lectures must fill out to obtain an evaluation form at the end of the course for students. The council members suggest emailing the teaching team with these concerns, as well as notifying the Dean of Studies. We also suggest notifying the teaching team about applying for a QUALIS evaluation form. Daniel also suggests adding these updates to the course forum. Harry explains to us that the forum is not used often.

Taskforce Minutetaker status report

Anton gives us an update on the minute taker taskforce. During the winter semester the taskforce kinda went into hibernation. Lukas and Kevin informally took over "adequately".
Anton now has a topic details pad where people that have topics are supposed to amend some words. Minutetaker 3.0 will be finished "in a long time ago".
A person unbeknowst to Anton (Kevin) implemented alternating meeting slots for our website. Yay.

Manu reminds us that there are only roughly two meetings left for this legislature of FSR.

Lunar New Year celebration

Tuesday (next week) will be Lunar New Year! Many East Asian students celebrate and In spirit of the season, Harry suggests hanging up some "spring couplets", which are red celebratory banners with good luck wishes written on them. Harry says he has some prepared that he can print out. Daniel suggests an English translation to them, whether it be translated banners or inscriptions for the posters.

Manuel suggests a vote. Out of the elected members, 7 voted yes. There was 1 abstention and 0 nos.

New Dishwasher Updates

Lukas said that for commerical machines, they do not dry dishes well, but they wash very quickly. The FIS has approved acquisition of a non-commercial machine, with a budget of 650 Euros. Ferdinand found a Siemens machine for around 630 Euros on Amazon. The new machine will not have the previous wooden facade attached to it that we have on our current machine, which will allow us to put magnets on them. Daniel suggests purchasing from a local shop, for face-to-face customer service in the case the new machine has issues. Lukas says that Amazon is the cheapest retailer.

Manu says he would be willing to pay a higher premium for buying locally for this reason. Daniel mentions that many storefronts offer price matching services if we find a cheaper price online. Manu proposes a vote for which avenue we can take. Unanimously, everyone voted yes to buying the Siemens model.

Dishwasher Sticker Policy

Manu mentions that at one point, stickers were not allowed on the dishwasher. Manuel says that being able to add stickers to the dishwasher would be fun and cool. But, if adding stickers would affect the warranty, then maybe it wouldn't be the best idea.

Max says he is in favor of revoking the policy. Manu proposes a vote about revoking this rule. 7 people voted yes, 0 abstained, and 1 voted no. Someone states that we should avoid putting stickers on other applicances.

FSR Breakfast Updates

Lukas reminds everyone that our next FSR breakfast is coming up soon, on next Friday, Jan. 31st. ince we wil not have a functional dishwasher, Lukas suggests using paper plates for the breakfast. Jenny says we can also give out napkins, too. Manu suggests renting out the MMCI to use their dishwasher for the event. Manu also emphasizes that people need to start washing used dishes by hand, instead of leaving them in the sink for someone else to clean up.

Fachschaft Credit Point Certificate

Lizzie, Manu, Kevin, and Alex are looking to get a certificate affirming their roles in the Fachschaft. For the Bioinformatics Examination Board, Lizzie needs a council vote for her to get credit points for her time in the council,

Manu proposes votes for each member.

Kevin: 7 yesses, 1 abstention, 0 nos
Alex: 5 yesses, 3 abstentions, 0 nos
Lizzie: 7 yesses, 1 abstention, 0 nos
Manuel: 6 yesses, 1 abstention, 1 no

Everyone gets a majority vote to obtain credit points.

FIS Midgliederverrsammlung (member general assembly)

Manu mentions that the next FIS Mitgliederversammlung will be on March 19th, 18:00, in E1.1 room 407. Lukas mentions that an FSR membership is not required to participate, you only need to be within the Saarland Informatics Campus.

Alex says that being a part of the FIS is a great way to get more involved and get to know how to manage our organization's finances behind the scenes. Joining is free! Alex encourages everyone to join.