Statutes and Ordinances of the University of Cambridge
Statute D
pp. 22–23
THE UNIVERSITY OFFICERS

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

1. (a) The University officers shall be those persons only who hold any of the University offices of Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, High Steward, Deputy High Steward, Commissary, Proctor, Orator, Registrary, Librarian, Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Esquire Bedell, University Advocate, and Deputy University Advocate; any University office specified in Schedule J; or any other University office established by Statute or Ordinance.

(b) In any Statute or Ordinance the term competent authority in relation to a University institution or a University officer shall mean either the Council or the General Board, according as the institution concerned is under the supervision of the Council or the General Board.

(c) The institutions under the supervision of the General Board shall be the Schools, Faculties, Departments, and any other institution placed under the supervision of the General Board by Statute, by Ordinance, or otherwise. All other institutions in the University, except the University Press, shall be under the supervision of the Council.

(d) In any Statute or Ordinance the term authority comparable with a Faculty Board or the term comparable authority shall mean the Board or Syndicate constituted by Statute or Ordinance for the management of a Department or other institution which is independent of any Faculty but under the supervision of the General Board.

(e) Offices established either by the University or by the competent authority may be established by these authorities on a part-time basis.

2. The competent authority shall decide, after hearing the opinion of the Faculty Board or other authority concerned, whether a University office that is vacant or is expected to become vacant shall be filled or left vacant; provided that this shall not apply to

  1. (a)any of the offices specified individually in section 1(a) above;
  2. (b)any Professorship;
  3. (c)any office which is required to be filled under the terms of a trust subsisting at the time.

An election or appointment to an office may be made by anticipation as from a future date if it is known that the office will then be established, or will then be vacant and may be filled.

3. (a) The tenure of a University officer other than an officer specified in Schedule B shall begin on such date as may at the time of the election or appointment be specified by the electing or appointing body; or, if no such date is specified, then,

  1. (i)if the office is already vacant or is newly established, the officer's tenure shall begin on the day of the election or appointment,
  2. (ii)if the office is not yet vacant, the officer's tenure shall begin on the day after that on which the retiring officer vacates the office;

provided that no such body shall specify a date, or shall make an election or an appointment without specifying a date, so that the tenure of the officer elected or appointed begins on a date that is either earlier than the day on which the office fell vacant, or more than six months earlier than the day of the election or appointment, or more than eighteen months later than that day.

(b) Wherever in respect of a University office or category of University office provision is made by Statute or Ordinance or has been made by Grace for reappointment, and reappointment has not been precluded by the conditions upon which a particular office was established or re-established, no holder of such office or of an office in such category shall be reappointed more than one year before the date on which his or her present tenure of the office is due to expire.

(c) Where any Statute or Ordinance provides that a University office shall be divided into grades, whether identified by a number or by a specific title, each grade shall, unless otherwise specified in the relevant Statute or Ordinance, be regarded as a separate University office, and promotion from a lower grade to a higher grade within an office which is so divided shall be regarded as appointment to a different office.

4. Unless it is otherwise provided by Statute or Ordinance, every officer shall be admitted to his or her office as soon as may be after the commencement of tenure by subscribing, in a book kept at the Registry, a declaration that the officer will well and faithfully discharge all the duties of the office, and by entering in the book the date of entering upon the office.

5. The stipend of an office shall accrue due to an officer from the commencement of tenure unless he or she fails to enter upon the duties of the office on or before the required date as hereinafter defined. The required date shall be that specified by the electing or appointing body at the time of the election or appointment, or, if no such date is specified, it shall be that of the commencement of tenure if the commencement is not on the day of the officer's election or appointment, or the first day of the next term if the commencement is on the day of the officer's election or appointment.

6. An officer who fails to enter upon the duties of his or her office on or before the required date shall report the fact to the competent authority. The competent authority shall then determine the date from which the officer's stipend is due to accrue, and may excuse the officer from compliance with any or all of the conditions of the office during a period of not more than one year after the required date, subject to any deduction of stipend which the competent authority may determine.

7. Except where it is otherwise determined by the University, stipends shall be considered as accruing from day to day and shall be apportionable in respect of time accordingly.

8. The University shall have power to prescribe by Ordinance that the stipend attached to any office shall be subject to deduction on account of emoluments received by the holder from a College or Colleges.

9. No person or body shall have authority to make any representation or contract on behalf of the University, except in the performance of duties assigned to such person or body by or under Statute or Ordinance, or by consent of the University authority concerned. Such consent may be given either with regard to a particular transaction or generally with regard to a class or classes of transaction, and shall be subject to any restrictions which may be imposed by the authority concerned.

10. The University shall join in the Universities Superannuation Scheme and shall pay the pension contributions due thereunder in respect of the pensionable salaries of those officers who become members of the Scheme.

11. All University officers (other than the Chancellor, the High Steward, the Deputy High Steward, the Commissary, and any University officer who is exempted under any Statute from the provisions of this section) shall vacate their offices not later than the end of the academical year in which they attain the age of sixty-seven years.