Notices

Calendar

  9 July, Tuesday. Discussion by videoconference at 2 p.m. (see below).

16 July, Tuesday. Discussion by videoconference at 2 p.m. (see below).

18 July, Thursday. Congregation of the Regent House at 10 a.m.

19 July, Friday. Congregation of the Regent House at 10 a.m.

20 July, Saturday. Congregation of the Regent House at 10 a.m.

Ordinary issues of the Reporter for the remainder of the 2023–24 academic year will be published on 24 and 31 July 2024. Issues will only be published on 10 and 17 July if needed for urgent items of business. The first issue of the 2024–25 academic year is currently scheduled for publication on 25 September 2024.

Discussion on Tuesday, 9 July 2024

The Vice‑Chancellor invites members of the Regent House, University and College employees, registered students and others qualified under the regulations for Discussions (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 111) to attend a Discussion by videoconference on Tuesday, 9 July 2024 at 2 p.m. The following item will be discussed:

1.Forthcoming disposal of land at West Cambridge for the Cambourne to Cambridge busway (Reporter, 2023–24: 6744, p. 626, and 6747, p. 705).

Those wishing to join the Discussion by videoconference should email UniversityDraftsman@admin.cam.ac.uk from their University email account, providing their CRSid (if a member of the collegiate University), by 10 a.m. on the date of the Discussion to receive joining instructions. Alternatively contributors may email their remarks to contact@proctors.cam.ac.uk, copying ReporterEditor@admin.cam.ac.uk, by no later than 10 a.m. on the day of the Discussion for reading out by the Proctors,1 or may ask someone else who is attending to read the remarks on their behalf.

In accordance with the regulations for Discussions, the Chair of the Board of Scrutiny or any ten members of the Regent House2 may request that the Council arrange for one or more of the items listed for discussion to be discussed in person (usually in the Senate-House). Requests should be made to the Registrary, on paper or by email to UniversityDraftsman@admin.cam.ac.uk from addresses within the cam.ac.uk domain, by no later than 9 a.m. on the day of the Discussion. Any changes to the Discussion schedule will be confirmed in the Reporter at the earliest opportunity.

General information on Discussions is provided on the University Governance site at https://www.governance.cam.ac.uk/governance/decision-making/discussions/.

Discussion on Tuesday, 16 July 2024

The Vice‑Chancellor invites members of the Regent House, University and College employees, registered students and others qualified under the regulations for Discussions (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 111) to attend a Discussion by videoconference on Tuesday, 16 July 2024 at 2 p.m. The following items will be discussed:

1.First-stage Report of the Council, dated 2 July 2024, on the alteration and refurbishment of the Stirling Building on the Sidgwick site (p. 729).

2.First-stage Report of the Council, dated 2 July 2024, on a new temporary facility for the Molecular Imaging Chemistry Laboratory at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus (p. 731).

For information on joining the Discussion and/or contributing some remarks, please see the Notice above.

Notice of a benefaction and renaming of the Centre for Trophoblast Research

27 June 2024

In 2007, the Council of the School of the Biological Sciences set up a Centre for Trophoblast Research, to be supported by an endowment fund, the Trophoblast Research Fund, established with funding from Cambridge in America, following a donation from Professor Charlie Loke.

The Vice-Chancellor gives notice that she has accepted with gratitude a significant donation from Ms Amanda Loke, in honour of her father Professor Loke, to be added to the Trophoblast Research Fund. In recognition of this donation, the Committee on Benefactions and External and Legal Affairs, with the support of the General Board and the Managers of the Fund (who include the Head of the Department of Physiology, Development, and Neuroscience), has agreed to the renaming of the Centre as the Loke Centre for Trophoblast Research.

The Council is submitting a Grace (Grace 1, p. 738) to update the name of the Centre in the regulations for the Fund.

Election to the Council

28 June 2024

The Vice-Chancellor announces that the following candidate has been nominated in accordance with Statute A IV 2 for election to the Council, and that it has been certified to her that the candidate has consented to be nominated:

Class (a): one from among the Heads of Colleges

Professor Charles Alan Short, President of Clare Hall
nominated by: Ms H. J. Hancock, JN, and Prof. P. J. Rogerson, CAI

No other persons having been nominated, Professor Short is elected to the Council in class (a), to serve from 16 July 2024 until 31 December 2026.

Election to the Board of Scrutiny

28 June 2024

The Vice-Chancellor announces that the following candidates have been nominated in accordance with Statute A VII 3 for election to the Board of Scrutiny, and that it has been certified to her that the candidates have consented to be nominated:

Class (c)(ii): a member of the Regent House

Professor Neil Wyn Evans
nominated by: Prof. V. Belokurov and Prof. M. H. Kramer, CHU

Ms María Matilde Goodall
nominated by: Dr R. V. L. Doubleday, CHR, and Prof. R. G. Cacho, CL

It is necessary to hold an election to select one from among the two candidates. Those elected will serve with immediate effect until 30 September 2027. Online voting will open at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 10 July and close at 5 p.m. on Monday, 22 July 2024. Hardcopy voting papers and supporting materials will be distributed not later than Wednesday, 10 July to those who opted in November 2023 to vote on paper; the last date for the return of voting papers is 5 p.m. on Monday, 22 July 2024.

Election to the Nominating Committee for External Members of the Council

28 June 2024

The Vice-Chancellor announces that the following candidates have been nominated for election to the Nominating Committee for External Members of the Council, and that it has been certified to her that the candidates have consented to be nominated:

Class (d): two members of the Senate elected by the Regent House

The Reverend Canon Jutta Brueck, F
nominated by: Mr T. N. Milner, DAR, and Prof. K. Ottewell, LC

Mr Martin Daniel MacConnol, M
nominated by: Prof. E. V. Ferran, CTH, and Ms C. D. Lloyd, M

No other persons having been nominated, the above-named candidates are elected to the Nominating Committee in class (d), to serve with immediate effect until 30 September 2025.

Amendment to Grace 2 of 12 June 2024 (EJRA) initiated under Special Ordinance A (ii) 5: Notice in response

28 June 2024

The Council has received a proposed amendment to Grace 2 of 12 June 2024, put forward by 64 members of the Regent House (Reporter, 6747, 2023–24, p. 706). The Grace recommends the retention of the Employer Justified Retirement Age (EJRA) but with changes to its scope and other revisions to the University’s Retirement Policy.1 The Council notes that the amendment seeks the abolition of the EJRA by removing reference to the fixed retirement age from Special Ordinance, replacing the Report’s recommendations. The amendment, if approved in the ballot, would take immediate effect, when the outcome of the ballot is announced on 23 July 2024.

The Council has agreed to authorise submission of the amendment under Special Ordinance A (ii) 7, with some minor changes to the drafting (see below). This will enable a vote to be taken on the proposal to abolish the EJRA at the earliest opportunity. The Council is content that, if the amendment were to be approved in the ballot, it would be possible for its immediate impacts to be managed and for other implications to be considered over the longer term without any major disruption to the operations of the University. Most changes resulting from the abolition of the EJRA would be cultural – setting expectations, standards and norms – and these could be introduced over time. Providing additional tools for Heads of Department, to manage their staff more effectively, would be necessary but also a sensible step in any case. Those tools could draw on examples of good practice from across the University, where some institutions have already introduced their own ways to support the development of their staff. Institutions could be encouraged to adopt better practices because they result in better relationships. Also, proposals for changes to the provisions that aim to protect academic freedom are likely to be presented in due course as part of a review of the disciplinary procedure for officers. When there is capacity for that review, the Council and the General Board would be asked whether they wish to consider further changes as a consequence of the abolition of the EJRA. The Council has also considered the costs of abolition of the EJRA, noting the Review Group’s estimate of approximately £7.4m a year in steady state on additional salary costs, compared to £2.2m if the EJRA is increased to 69.2 In the event that the ballot results in the abolition of the EJRA, the Finance Committee and the General Board will, as part of the normal budgetary process each year, examine how the consequential financial implications can be managed.

Options on the ballot paper

The Vice-Chancellor has made minor changes to the wording of the amendment, using her authority under Regulation 11(c) of the Ordinance for Graces and Congregations. The effect of these changes is to remove imperfections in the drafting, so that the amendment has the intended effect (if approved) of amending Special Ordinance C (ii) 12, rather than simply replacing the Report’s recommendations with the alternative of abolishing the EJRA.

The revised wording of the amendment in full is as follows, with the minor changes to the text highlighted in bold [and underlined in the online version]:

That the recommendations in paragraph 14 of the Joint Report of the Council and the General Board, dated 14 May 2024, on the University’s Retirement Policy and Employer Justified Retirement Age (Reporter, 6741, 2023–24, p. 578) not be approved and that instead Special Ordinance C (ii) 12 (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 77) be amended to read as follows, having the effect of abolishing the Employer Justified Retirement Age:

12. Subject to the provisions of Statute C and any Special Ordinance made under Statute C, a University officer shall be entitled, unless the tenure of their office is limited in accordance with the provisions of any other Statute or Ordinance or by Grace, to hold office until their employment terminates so long as they satisfactorily perform the duties of the office.

The Vice-Chancellor has decided that the options on the ballot paper in the vote on Grace 2 of 12 June 2024 will be as follows:

(A)In favour of the Grace in its original form

•The EJRA only applies to academic officers, the Vice-Chancellor and the Pro-Vice-Chancellors

•The EJRA takes effect at the end of the academic year those officers reach 69

•The changes to the Retirement Policy and Ordinances are made with effect from 1 September 2024, as set out in the Report
 

(B)In favour of the Grace as amended

•The EJRA is abolished for all officers, both academic and academic-related, with immediate effect
 

(C)Against the Grace, whether in its original or amended form

•The EJRA is retained for all officers, both academic and academic-related, as it currently stands, retiring at the end of the academic year in which they reach 67

The Single Transferable Vote regulations3 will apply in this ballot. Online voting will open at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 10 July and close at 5 p.m. on Monday, 22 July 2024. Hardcopy voting papers and supporting materials will be distributed not later than Wednesday, 10 July to those who opted in November 2023 to vote on paper; the last date for the return of voting papers is 5 p.m. on Monday, 22 July 2024.