No 6781
Wednesday 30 April 2025
Vol clv No 30
pp. 528–539
3 May, Saturday. Congregation of the Regent House at 9.30 a.m.
4 May, Sunday. End of first quarter of Easter Term.
6 May, Tuesday. Ballot of the Regent House, voting opens at 10 a.m.
13 May, Tuesday. Discussion by videoconference at 2 p.m. (see below).
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Discussions (Tuesdays at 2 p.m.) |
Congregations (at 10 a.m. unless otherwise stated) |
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13 May 3 June 17 June |
3 May, 9.30 a.m. 23 and 24 May 25 June, 2.45 p.m. (Honorary Degrees) 2, 3, 4 and 5 July (General Admission) 24, 25 and 26 July |
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, 13 May 2025 at 2 p.m. The following items will be discussed:
1. Joint Report of the Council and the General Board, dated 27 April 2025, on reform of undergraduate admissions governance (p. 534).
2. Report of the Council, dated 28 April 2025, on the disposal of the Mill Lane North site to King’s College (p. 537).
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/.
1Any comments sent by email should please begin with the name and title of the contributor as they wish it to be read out and include at the start a note of any College and/or Departmental affiliations held.
2https://www.scrutiny.cam.ac.uk/ and https://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/reporter/regent_house_roll/section1.shtml.
The Vice-Chancellor reminds members of the University that a Congregation will take place on Wednesday, 25 June 2025 at 2.45 p.m., at which she expects to confer titular degrees honoris causa. The following were approved for these degrees by the Regent House at a Congregation held on Saturday, 29 March 2025:
Honorary Fellow of Girton College, sometime a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and formerly Chair of the Law Commission, lawyer and judge.
Chair of the British Olympic Association and former Chair of UK Sport, athlete and sports ambassador.
Musician, philanthropist and change-maker.
Professor in the Institute of Genetics, University of Cologne, President of the European Research Council and formerly Director of the European Molecular Biology Organisation, developmental biologist and immunologist.
Honorary Fellow and former Fellow of Churchill College, Honorary Fellow of King’s College, sometime University Lecturer in the Faculty of Economics and Politics, now Economics, Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor, Harvard University, economist.
Honorary Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, actor.
Distinguished Professor Emerita, University of California Santa Cruz, scholar in the humanities, philosopher, author and activist.
Honorary Fellow of Clare College, composer and conductor.
Admission will be by ticket only.
All students, alumni and staff (serving or retired) of the University and its Colleges are eligible to apply for tickets for themselves (but not for personal guests). If demand exceeds capacity, all applications received by the deadline will be balloted.
Applications should preferably be made online at: https://cam.ac.uk/HD25-Reporter
Alternatively, postal applications may be made to Honorary Degrees, The Vice-Chancellor’s Office, The Old Schools, Trinity Lane, Cambridge, CB2 1TN. The deadline for all applications is Friday, 23 May 2025. Tickets will be issued by early June and further details about the day will be included with the tickets.
Those who have queries or applicants who can no longer attend should please contact HonDegsRSVP@admin.cam.ac.uk so that their place can be offered to others. Tickets are named and not transferable.
Unless processing (see below), ticket-holders must be seated in the Senate-House not later than 2.30 p.m. The Congregation is expected to end at about 3.40 p.m.
There will be a reception afterwards for all those attending, with cover in the event of wet weather. Attendees should be prepared to show their ticket to gain access.
Matriculated members of the University are reminded that they should wear academical dress at Congregations. Wednesday, 25 June will be a ‘Scarlet day’, so Doctors should wear their festal gowns and all graduates are invited to wear hoods if they have them. Undergraduates wear their gowns. With the exception of the Vice-Chancellor, High Steward, Deputy High Steward, Commissary, Proctors, Registrary, Esquire Bedells, Orator and Honorands, members of the University holding non-Cambridge degrees may wear the dress of those degrees on this occasion.
Provided that the weather allows, a procession will form in the Schools Arcade at 2.25 p.m. Those specified below who wish to process should state this in their application. Only holders of Cambridge Professorial Chairs (including Clinical Chairs) at Grade 12 or Cambridge Higher Doctorates (D.D., LL.D., M.D. if conferred before 2014, Med.Sc.D., Sc.D., Litt.D. or Mus.D.) are eligible to process as Professors or Doctors. Seating for the procession is limited, so a processional ticket cannot be guaranteed for every eligible applicant.
After consulting the Proctors in accordance with the relevant regulation, the Vice-Chancellor has prescribed the following order of processions before the Congregation:
The Vice-Marshal
Heads of Colleges
The Regius Professors of Divinity, Civil Law, Physic, Hebrew, Greek, History, Botany and Engineering
Professors/Clinical Professors at Grade 12 who are Doctors of Divinity, Law, Medicine (if conferred before 2014) or Medical Science, Science, Letters or Music
Doctors of Divinity, Law, Medicine (if conferred before 2014) or Medical Science, Science, Letters or Music
The Librarian
Other Professors/Clinical Professors at Grade 12 and the Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum
Members of the Council
The Pro-Proctors
A second procession will form and proceed immediately after the first:
The Esquire Bedells
The Orator The Vice-Chancellor The Registrary
The University Marshal
The Proctors
(University Constables)
The High Steward
The Deputy High Steward
The Commissary
The Pro-Vice-Chancellors
The Honorands
The Deputy Proctors
The Pro-Proctor for Ceremonial
The Council gives notice that, after consultation with the General Board and on the recommendation of the Nominating Committee for the Office of Pro-Vice-Chancellor,1 it has agreed to reappoint Professor Bhaskar Vira, F, as Pro‑Vice‑Chancellor (Education and Environmental Sustainability) for a second term of three years from 1 October 2025.
1The Nominating Committee comprised the Vice-Chancellor as Chair; Ms Gaenor Bagley, Baroness Sally Morgan of Huyton and Professor Garth Wells (members of the Council); and Professor Tim Harper and Professor Nigel Peake (members of the General Board). Professor Harper sent his apologies for the meeting with Professor Vira.
In February, the Council published a timetable for the election of the next Chancellor, with voting opening in July 2025.1 Under that timetable, the deadline for registering to vote online is 5 p.m. on Friday, 2 May 2025. Members of the Senate (including Regent House members) will need to register by that deadline if they wish to vote online in this election and should have received a reminder by email recently giving a personal link for registration. Members of the Senate who do not register for online voting will be able to vote in person. For further information, see the Chancellor election website.2