Statutes and Ordinances of the University of Cambridge
CHAPTER II
MATRICULATION, RESIDENCE, ADMISSION TO DEGREES, DISCIPLINE

In this section

DISCIPLINE

General

Whereas it is the duty of the University to maintain good order and discipline within the University:

1. No member of the University shall intentionally or recklessly disrupt or impede or attempt to disrupt or impede the activities and functions of the University, or any part thereof, or of any College.

2. No member of the University shall intentionally or recklessly impede freedom of speech or lawful assembly within the Precincts of the University. No member of the University shall intentionally or recklessly fail to give any notice which is required to be given to a University officer or a University authority under the terms of a code of practice issued under the provisions of section 43 of the Education (No. 2) Act 1986.

3. No member of the University shall intentionally occupy or use any property of the University or of any College except as may be expressly or by implication authorized by the University or College authorities concerned.

4. No member of the University shall intentionally or recklessly damage or deface or knowingly misappropriate any property of the University or of any College.

5. No member of the University shall intentionally or recklessly endanger the safety, health, or property of any member, officer, or employee of the University within the Precincts of the University.

6. No candidate shall make use of unfair means in any University examination. Unfair means shall include plagiarism23 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.

7. No member of the University shall forge or falsify or knowingly make improper use of any degree certificate or other document attesting to academic achievement, or knowingly make false statements concerning standing or concerning results in examinations.

8. All members of the University shall comply with any instruction given by a University officer, or by any other person authorized to act on behalf of the University, in the proper discharge of his or her duties.

9. All members of the University shall state their names and the Colleges to which they belong when asked by a Proctor or Pro-Proctor, or by any other person in authority in the University or in any of the Colleges in the University.

10. Regulations 1–9 above, the regulations for the initiation of proceedings under these regulations, the regulations for motor vehicles, and the regulations for bicycles and boats, shall apply to persons in statu pupillari who have not matriculated as if such persons were members of the University.

Notice by the General Board

Statement on plagiarism

The General Board, with the agreement of the Board of Examinations and the Board of Graduate Studies, has issued this guidance for the information of candidates, examiners, and supervisors. It may be supplemented by course-specific guidance from Faculties and Departments.

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. It is both poor scholarship and a breach of academic integrity.

Examples of plagiarism include copying (using another person’s language and/or ideas as if they are a candidate’s own), by:

quoting verbatim another person’s work without due acknowledgement of the source;

paraphrasing another person’s work by changing some of the words, or the order of the words, without due acknowledgement of the source;

using ideas taken from someone else without reference to the originator;

cutting and pasting from the Internet to make a ‘pastiche’ of online sources;

submitting someone else’s work as part of a candidate’s own without identifying clearly who did the work. For example, buying or commissioning work via professional agencies such as ‘essay banks’ or ‘paper mills’, or not attributing research contributed by others to a joint project.

Plagiarism might also arise from colluding with another person, including another candidate, other than as permitted for joint project work (i.e. where collaboration is concealed or has been forbidden). A student who has received substantial help from her or his supervisor, or from some other person, with the language and style of a piece of written work should include a general acknowledgement of that fact.

Plagiarism can occur in respect to all types of sources and media:

text, illustrations, musical quotations, mathematical derivations, computer code, etc.;

material downloaded from websites or drawn from manuscripts or other media;

published and unpublished material, including lecture handouts and other students’ work.

Acceptable means of acknowledging the work of others (by referencing, in footnotes, or otherwise) vary according to the subject-matter and mode of assessment. Faculties or Departments should issue written guidance on the relevant scholarly conventions for submitted work, and also make it clear to candidates what level of acknowledgement might be expected in written examinations. Candidates are required to familiarize themselves with this guidance, to follow it in all work submitted for assessment, and may be required to sign a declaration to that effect. If a candidate has any outstanding queries, clarification should be sought from her or his Director of Studies or Course Director.

Failure to conform to the expected standards of scholarship (e.g. by not referencing sources) in examinations may affect the mark given to the candidate’s work. In addition, suspected cases of the use of unfair means, which might include plagiarism, will be investigated and may be brought to one of the University’s Courts. The Courts have wide powers to discipline those found guilty of using unfair means in an examination, including depriving such persons of membership of the University.

The University’s plagiarism and good academic practice website (http://www.cam.ac.uk/plagiarism/) provides more information and guidance.

Fines

The Board of Examinations, the Information Strategy and Services Syndicate and the Library Syndicate shall have power to impose a fine not exceeding £175 on any person who infringes the regulations for those bodies or the rules made by them under those regulations.

Motor Vehicles

1. A member of the University in statu pupillari shall not keep, use, or cause to be kept for his or her use any motor vehicle other than a moped within ten miles of Great St Mary's Church while in residence in term or in the Long Vacation period of residence, unless he or she shall have obtained, on his or her Tutor's written recommendation, a licence for that vehicle signed by the Special Pro-Proctor for motor vehicles. The Special Pro-Proctor may issue such a licence to any member of the University in statu pupillari who is a graduate of a university, or who has the status of Bachelor of Arts, or who has kept (or been allowed) nine terms by residence, or to whom the Proctors decide that its issue is warranted by exceptional individual circumstances.

2. A member of the University in statu pupillari who is not qualified to hold a licence under Regulation 1 may, on the written recommendation of his or her Tutor, be granted a licence to keep a motor vehicle to be used for the purposes of a University Department or of a University or College club or society, or for any other purpose approved by the Special Pro-Proctor, provided that the application be supported in writing, in the case of a University Department by the Head of the Department, and in the case of a University or College club or society, by the committee of the club or society.

3. A licence shall normally be valid until the end of the academical year in which it is issued but it may be suspended or revoked at any time by the Special Pro-Proctor, subject to an appeal to the Summary Court.

4. An application for a licence must be made within seven days of the vehicle being brought within a ten-mile radius of Great St Mary's Church, or, if it is already within that radius, within seven days of its coming into the possession of the applicant, or within the first seven days of Full Michaelmas Term if the application is for a renewal.

5. A licence shall at all times be prominently displayed on the vehicle for which it is issued.

6. The issue of a licence may be conditional upon the person to whom it is issued being covered by insurance on behalf of passengers, and upon restrictions on the garaging and parking of a vehicle for which it is issued.

7. These regulations for motor vehicles shall not apply to

  1. (a)the use of motor vehicles licensed by the Cambridgeshire Police Authority, or in charge of or driven by tradesmen or their employees,
  2. (b)the hiring of motor vehicles, or the receiving of driving instruction, from firms appearing on lists maintained by the Special Pro-Proctor.

8. The Special Pro-Proctor shall have power to impose a fine not exceeding £175 for an offence against any of these regulations or for a breach of any condition made by the Special Pro-Proctor under Regulation 6.

Bicycles and Boats

1. A member of the University in statu pupillari shall not keep, or cause to be kept for his or her use, a bicycle within the Precincts of the University, unless it bears a distinguishing mark in accordance with instructions to be issued from time to time by the Proctors.

2. A member of the University in statu pupillari shall not keep, or cause to be kept for his or her use, a boat to be used within the Precincts of the University, unless it is registered annually with the Conservators of the River Cam and bears a distinguishing mark in accordance with instructions to be issued from time to time by the Proctors.

Clubs and Societies

1. Any club or society consisting wholly or partly of members of the University in statu pupillari may apply to the Junior Proctor for registration as a University society. A club or society applying for registration shall submit to the Junior Proctor a statement of its current financial position and a copy of its constitution. The Junior Proctor may refer such an application to the Societies Syndicate. If the Junior Proctor refuses to register a club or society the club or society may appeal to the Societies Syndicate, who may if they think fit register the club or society.

2. All registered clubs or societies shall deposit any changes in their constitution with the Junior Proctor, and shall notify him or her of any change of officers.

3. Every registered club or society shall deposit by 31 December each year with the Junior Proctor a copy of its accounts for the previous academical year audited either professionally or by a resident member of the Senate or by a person approved for this purpose by the Junior Proctor.

4. A club or society whose constitution requires it to have a Senior Treasurer shall not amend its constitution so as to remove this requirement without obtaining the prior approval of the Junior Proctor and submitting to the Junior Proctor a statement of its current financial position.

5. Any club or society sanctioned by the Proctors before these regulations take effect shall be deemed to have been registered in accordance with these regulations.

6. Any registration granted or deemed to have been granted under these regulations may be withdrawn at the discretion of the Junior Proctor, subject to a right of appeal by the club or society to the Societies Syndicate.

7. No club or society consisting wholly or partly of members of the University in statu pupillari, whether registered under the provisions of these regulations or not, shall, while occupying University premises, engage in trade without the permission of the Finance Committee of the Council. The Finance Committee may make such permission conditional on the submission to them of annual audited accounts or subject to such other conditions (including the condition that the club or society shall be registered as a limited liability company) as the Finance Committee may deem desirable in the interests of the University or of its members. For the purpose of this regulation

  1. (a)the term ‘trade’ shall include the buying or selling of goods or services, whether for profit or otherwise, but shall not include the sale of tickets for admission to a public performance given by a club or society, or the sale of any paper, magazine, or journal published by a club or society or of advertising space in such a publication;
  2. (b)the term ‘occupying’ shall not include the occasional hiring of University premises.

Meetings and Public Gatherings on University Premises

Code of practice issued under section 43 of the Education (No 2) Act 198624

1. Section 43 of the Education (No 2) Act 1986, referring to freedom of speech in universities, polytechnics, and colleges, requires the Council to issue and keep up to date a code of practice to be followed by members, students, and employees of the University for the organization of meetings, etc., which are to be held on University premises, and for the conduct required of members, students, and employees of the University in connection with meetings, etc. This code of practice therefore applies to all members, students, and employees of the University, in respect of all University premises, which for the purposes of this code includes the Union Society. Outdoor, as well as indoor, meetings, etc., on University premises are included.

2. Members of the University are reminded that alleged offences under the general regulations for discipline may be brought by the University Advocate before the University Tribunal, the Court of Discipline, or the Summary Court, as appropriate.

Organization of meetings, etc., on University premises

3. Authority is required for meetings and public gatherings to be held on University premises, whether indoors or out of doors. In the case of accommodation assigned to a single Faculty or Department, the permission of the relevant Faculty or Departmental authorities is required. In the case of accommodation not so assigned, permission must be obtained from the central University authorities and, if a room is to be reserved, a booking must be made through the relevant office. The organizers of meetings, etc., must comply with any conditions set by the University authorities concerned for the organization of the meeting or other activity and the arrangements to be made. Such conditions may include the requirement that tickets should be issued for public meetings, that an adequate number of stewards should be available, that the police should be consulted about the arrangements, and that the time and place of the meeting should be changed. The cost of meeting the requirements, and the responsibility for fulfilling them, rests with the organizers.

4. In addition to seeking the permission referred to in paragraph 3, the organizers of all meetings, etc., to be held on University premises which are to be addressed or attended by persons who are not resident members of the University (except for academic meetings organized by the authorities of a Faculty or Department, or for any meetings or classes of meetings approved for the purpose by the Senior Proctor as being commonly or customarily held on University premises) are required to give notice to the Senior Proctor. This notice may be given on the form used to book University premises, a copy of which will be sent by the University authority concerned to the Senior Proctor. The organizers may also, if they wish, communicate directly with the Proctors to give further details. Information is required at least five clear days in advance (although the Senior Proctor may, at his or her discretion, agree to receive information closer to the time of the meeting than this). The information needed is the date and time of the meeting, the place, the names, addresses, and Colleges (if any) of the organizers, the name of the organization making the arrangements, and the name of any expected speaker, whether or not a member of the University.

5. The organizers of any meeting must comply with instructions given by a Proctor, by any other University officer, or by any other person authorized to act on behalf of the University, in the proper discharge of his or her duties. The attention of members of the University is drawn to Regulations 8 and 9 of the general regulations for discipline.

Colleges

6. The provisions of section 43 of the Education (No 2) Act 1986 apply also to the Colleges in respect of their own members, students, and employees, and in respect of visiting speakers. Each College is requested by the University to name a senior member who will be responsible for enforcing the provisions of the Act in that College and will co-operate as necessary with the Proctors. Members of the University are reminded that University disciplinary regulations apply on College premises as elsewhere in the Precincts of the University. A College may invite the Proctors to enter its premises.

Other legal requirements

7. The attention of organizers of public meetings and assemblies is drawn to sections 11 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986, concerning processions and assemblies. Other legal requirements may affect the conduct of meetings, etc. A speaker, for example, who incites an audience to violence or to a breach of the peace or to racial hatred transgresses the bounds of lawful speech. Equally, assemblies of persons, even if directed to lawful purposes, cease to be lawful if they cause serious public disorder or breaches of the peace. Attention is also drawn to the provisions of the Licensing Acts, which apply to certain University premises, including the University Centre. These Acts require the licensee to maintain good order on licensed premises, and give the licensee the power to expel persons from the premises if he or she considers it necessary.

Application of the code

8. Any person who is in any doubt about the application of this code of practice to any meeting or public gathering in the University is under an obligation to consult the Senior Proctor, who will determine whether the provisions of the code apply.

Footnotes

  1. 23. 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.a
  2. 24. Section 43 of the Education (No 2) Act 1986 was reproduced in Reporter, 1986–87, p. 578.a