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Report of the General Board on the Directorship of the Institute of Criminology

The GENERAL BOARD beg leave to report to the University as follows:

1. In August 1996 the General Board announced the establishment of a Review Committee to consider matters relating to the current and future activities of the Institute of Criminology (Reporter, 1995-96, p. 1026). The Review Committee reported in December 1997, and their Report has now been considered by the Board, in consultation with the staff of the Institute, the Faculty Board of Law, and the Council of the School of the Humanities and Social Sciences. The Board and the bodies consulted recognize the particular importance attached by the Review Committee to the urgent revision of the arrangements for the Directorship of the Institute, including the need for a separate, substantive office of Director.

2. Under the present regulations for the staff of the Institute (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 573) there is provision for the Director, who is also designated Head of the Department, to hold that office until retirement concurrently with another University office in the Institute, subject to the requirement that he or she should vacate the Directorship when a newly elected Wolfson Professor of Criminology enters upon the duties of the Professorship. The regulations for the Wolfson Professorship (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 654) make provision for, but do not require, the Wolfson Professor to be appointed to the Directorship. Professor A. E. Bottoms, the present Wolfson Professor of Criminology, has held the office of Director of the Institute since October 1984 but has now declared his intention to relinquish the Directorship on 31 December 1998, while continuing to hold the Wolfson Professorship, from which he is due to retire on 30 September 2006.

3. In recent years, the size and scope of the Institute's activities have increased significantly, but without the development of a supporting administrative infrastructure. This, together with the fact that the Institute is now operating in a rapidly changing external environment, encompassing both enhanced academic expectations and the need for greater public accountability, has resulted in a substantial increase in the administrative workload of the Director. The Board agree with their Review Committee that the retirement of Professor Bottoms from the Directorship provides an opportunity to reassess the role of the Director. The Board also propose to take this opportunity to remove certain anomalies in the regulations governing the Directorship.

4. The General Board have accepted the view of their Review Committee, which has been endorsed by the Committee of Management of the Institute, the Faculty Board of Law, and the Council of the School of the Humanities and Social Sciences, that the Institute's immediate needs will best be met by an appointment to a substantive office of Director of the Institute. In addition to playing a key role in leading the Institute through a crucial phase of its development, the Director will be expected to give direction to the development of appropriate organizational structures within the Institute and to provide leadership in promoting enhanced interaction with both internal and external bodies. Candidates for the Directorship will therefore need good management skills, together with proven academic credentials in the field of Criminology.

5. The Board have accordingly agreed to propose that the office of Director of the Institute should be formally detached from the Wolfson Professorship with effect from 1 January 1999. From that date they propose the establishment of a separate and substantive office of Director. The office would be tenable for ten years in the first instance, with the possibility of reappointment for a period of up to five years thereafter, and, in exceptional circumstances, for a further period. The Board are persuaded that the duties of the Directorship justify a stipend at professorial level. The cost of the office would be met until 1 October 2001 from a non-recurrent grant and from Departmental and Faculty funds, and thereafter from compensating savings in recurrent expenditure in the Faculty of Law, with appropriate supplementation from other funds available to the Institute and the Faculty of Law.

6. At present, appointments to the Directorship of the Institute are made by the Appointments Committee for the Faculty of Law. The General Board consider that it would be more appropriate, and in accordance with the arrangements for offices of comparable seniority, for the appointment to the new substantive office of Director to be made by the Board themselves on the advice of a committee specially constituted for that purpose. Subject to the approval of the recommendations of this Report, the Board will appoint for the purpose an Advisory Committee consisting of the Vice-Chancellor, or a deputy, as Chairman, three members nominated by the Faculty Board of Law, and five members appointed by the General Board themselves, of whom at least two would be from outside the University. The Committee would meet at a sufficiently early stage in the recruitment process to enable them to explore the various options that might best achieve the desired outcome, and subsequently to advise the Board on the choice of a suitable person for appointment.

7. The General Board recommend:

 I. That the regulations for the staff of the Institute of Criminology (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 573) be rescinded and replaced by those set out in the Annex to this Report.

 II. That, subject to the approval of Recommendation I, Regulation 1 of the regulations for the Wolfson Professor of Criminology (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 654) be rescinded and the remaining regulations renumbered accordingly.

 III. That the Directorship of the Institute of Criminology be placed in Schedules B and J of the Statutes.

22 July 1998

ALEC N. BROERS, Vice-Chancellor N. J. MACKINTOSH ADRIAN POOLE
JOHN E. CARROLL D. H. MELLOR KATE PRETTY
D. A. GOOD A. C. MINSON N. O. WEISS
JOHN A. LEAKE MICHAEL PEPPER
ANNEX

Staff of the Institute of Criminology

1. There shall be a University office of Director of the Institute of Criminology.1 The Director shall be appointed by the General Board who, on each initial appointment but not on reappointments, shall be advised by a committee specially constituted for the purpose.

2. The Director shall be appointed to hold office in the first instance for ten years; reappointments shall be for periods not exceeding five years at a time, as the General Board shall determine. The maximum tenure of the Directorship shall be fifteen years, provided that in exceptional circumstances the General Board may approve an extension of tenure for a further period or periods.

3. Appointments and reappointments to a University office of University Lecturer, University Assistant Lecturer, Assistant Director of Research, or Senior Assistant in Research in the Institute shall be made by the Appointments Committee for the Faculty of Law as constituted for the particular office in accordance with Statute D, XVII, 3, or, if the General Board have determined that the duties of the office concern more than one Faculty or Department and have specified those Faculties or Departments, by an Appointments Committee constituted in accordance with Statute D, XVII, 4.

4. The Director shall be the Head of the Department of the Institute of Criminology. Under the general control of the Committee of Management he or she shall carry out the duties specified for the Head of a Department in Statute C, V, 3.

5. The Director shall conform to such conditions of residence as may be determined by the Committee of Management with the approval of the General Board.

6. The Director shall not be a Tutor, Assistant Tutor, Bursar, Assistant Bursar, or Steward of a College.

1 This is an office specified in Schedules B and J of the Statutes.


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Cambridge University Reporter, 29 July 1998
Copyright © 1998 The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge.