The Council submits the following Graces to the Regent House. These Graces, other than any which is withdrawn or for which a ballot is requested in accordance with the regulations for Graces of the Regent House (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 107), will be deemed to have been approved at 4 p.m. on Friday, 28 November 2008.
1. That a Harry Porter Footlights Fund be established in the University, to be governed by the following regulations:1
1. On the appointment of the University as trustees of the sum bequeathed for the purposes of the Footlights Dramatic Club by the late Dr Harry Culverwell Porter, the said sum shall form a fund called the Harry Porter Footlights Fund.
2. The capital and the income of the Fund shall be available at the discretion of the Managers of the Fund for the support of the Footlights Dramatic Club or, should the Footlights Dramatic Club cease to exist, for the support of other clubs or societies of the University in the promotion of original plays and encouragement of the arts amongst the members of the University.
3. The Managers of the Fund shall be the Senior Treasurer of the Footlights Dramatic Club, the Junior Proctor, and the Chairman of the Theatre Syndicate. The Managers may co-opt one other person, being a member of the Senate, such person being preferably a past member of the Footlights Dramatic Club, to serve for one or two years at a time as the Managers shall determine at the time of the co-optation, provided it shall not be obligatory for the Managers to co-opt any person.
2. A. That, on the recommendation of the Board of Examinations, the regulations for the Board (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 122) be amended as follows:2
Regulation 4(e).
By adding the following sentence to the end of this regulation:
The Board shall have power to impose on a person infringing one or more of those rules a fine not exceeding £175.
B. That the regulations for fines (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 197) be amended by inserting at the beginning of the regulation the words 'The Board of Examinations,'.
3. That, on the recommendation of the Board of Examinations and with the concurrence of the Board of Graduate Studies, Regulation 6 of the General Regulations for Discipline be amended so as to read:3
6. No candidate shall make use of unfair means in any University examination. Unfair means shall include plagiarism* and, unless such possession is specifically authorized, the possession of any book, paper or other material relevant to the examination. No member of the University shall assist a candidate to make use of such unfair means.
* Plagiarism is defined as submitting as one's own work that which derives in part or in its entirety from the work of others without due acknowledgement.
1 See the Vice-Chancellor's Notice on p. 166.
2 The regulations for the Board of Examinations already give it the power to make rules for the guidance of candidates and for the prevention of misconduct in examinations, but at present it has no power to impose any penalty for breach of these rules. Although a breach of these rules will in many cases also be an offence against the general regulations for University discipline, unless the breach is very serious, such as the deliberate use of unfair means, a prosecution in the University Courts by the University Advocate may not be either an appropriate or practical response. The Board is of the opinion that the imposition of a fine would provide a suitable remedy for certain breaches of its rules.
3 The amendment to Regulation 6 of the General Regulations for Discipline (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 196) now proposed supersedes the amendment contained in Grace 1 of 1 October 2008, which was withdrawn (see Reporter, p. 75); see also the General Board's Notice on p. 168. As a consequence of the proposed change in regulation, the Rules for the Guidance of Candidates and for the Prevention of Misconduct in Examinations (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 123) have been amended by removing the first rule and renumbering Rules 2 to 14 as 1 to 13.