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Report of the Council on the composition of the General Board (election of student members of the Board and interim election of student observers)

The COUNCIL beg leave to report to the University as follows:

1. After extensive discussions in the Joint Committee of the Council and the General Board on Student Matters, under the chairmanship of the Vice-Chancellor, the Council, with the full agreement of the General Board, propose that provision should be made for the election of student members of the Board, and that until the necessary Statute has been approved, there should be a non-statutory scheme approved by Grace for the election of student observers.

2. This provision completes the arrangements for student representation in the line of educational business within the University, which flows from the important arrangements for discussion and consultation with students within Faculties and Departments, through Faculty Boards and similar bodies, which for many years have had student members, to the General Board, which does not have student members, and to the Council, which has for many years had student observers and now members.

3. The General Board have suggested to the Council that one undergraduate student should be elected to the Board by undergraduate students, and that one graduate student should be elected by graduate students. The Council endorse this proposal and propose that the election of student members of the General Board should take place at the same time and on the same electoral rolls as the election of student members of the University Council, which are currently held in the last quarter of the Full Lent Term. The Council have under consideration a proposal that these elections should in future be held at the beginning of the Full Easter Term so that they take place after the Student Union elections. The Council will report further on this matter.

4. The Council and the Board have also been asked to consider new arrangements for the election of student members of Faculty Boards, and are consulting Faculty Boards about a suggestion that these elections should take place at the same time as the election of student members of the Council and the Board. In the long term the Council hope to introduce electronic voting in all these elections, to encourage participation and to simplify the work of returning officers. In the meantime they are examining a proposal that postal voting should be introduced.

5. The provisions of Statute K, 20 concerning reserved business already apply to the General Board and will continue to do so. Provision is made in the recommendations of this Report to extend to the General Board certain specific items of reserved business.

6. The Council therefore recommend:

I. That the Common Seal be affixed to the following amendments of Statute and that the Statute be submitted for approval to Her Majesty in Council.

Statute C

Chapter I

THE GENERAL BOARD OF THE FACULTIES

Section 4.

By adding the following new category of members:

(d) two members elected by and from among the students of the University, of whom one shall be from among those certified by the Registrary to be undergraduate students, and one from among those certified by the Registrary to be graduate students. The term student in the University and graduate student shall be as determined under Statute A, IV, 2, and the term undergraduate student in the University shall mean any student in the University other than a graduate student so defined.

Section 6.

By adding the following final sentence:

Members of the General Board in class (d) shall serve for one year and shall be elected by students in the University in accordance with section 4(d) of this Statute and in a manner determined by Ordinance, in each academical year on a date determined by or under Ordinance.

By adding a new section 10:

10. Under the provisions of Statute K, 20(c) the appointment (or nomination for appointment) of Examiners, Electors to Professorships, members of Appointments Committees, and members of Degree Committees shall be reserved business; and the provisions of Statute K, 20 concerning reserved business shall apply to any member of the General Board in class (d) who is not in statu pupillari as if he or she were in statu pupillari.

II. That, if Recommendation I is approved, the following regulations be approved:

Election of student members of the General Board

1. The members of the General Board in class (d) shall be in two categories as follows:

(i) one student elected by and from among all undergraduate students in the University;
(ii) one graduate student elected by and from among all graduate students in the University.

Members in class (d) shall serve for one year from 1 July next following the election.

2. The arrangements for the election shall be governed mutatis mutandis by the arrangements set out in Regulations 6-14 of the regulations for the elections of members of the Council (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 118).

III. That interim arrangements be approved for the election of two student observers to attend meetings of the General Board in accordance with the arrangements set out in Recommendations I and II of this Report, and that the Council be empowered if necessary to make Rules to adapt the arrangements set out in these recommendations for the interim period, until the amendment of Statute set out in Recommendation I of this Report is approved by Her Majesty in Council.

IV. That from the date of the approval of the amendment of Statute set out in Recommendation I of this Report by Her Majesty in Council the persons then serving as student observers of the General Board shall become student members of the General Board as if elected under the provisions of the Statutes as so amended.

19 March 2001 ALEC N. BROERS, Vice-Chancellor IAN LESLIE G. A. REID
  A. J. BADGER A. M. LONSDALE JEREMY SANDERS
  C. R. J. BAILEY C. LUDLOW M. SCHOFIELD
  MAT COAKLEY D. MACDONALD L. TAUB
  PETER GODDARD M. D. MACLEOD R. E. THORNTON
  GORDON JOHNSON JAMES MATHESON  

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Cambridge University Reporter, 21 March 2001
Copyright © 2001 The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge.