General Assembly

Subject: Council Membership

Origin: The Registrar

1.: At its last meeting Council received a report (COUN96-P61) of discussions which had occurred since Council's consideration at its meeting on 17 July 1996 of proposals from the Nominating Committee concerning Council membership. In particular, it was noted that at a meeting of elected staff members of Council there was a general consensus that the proposals put forward to the July meeting (Paper COUN96-41) could reasonably be considered again by Council provided that positive steps were taken to address the broader issue of the balance of Council membership in the co-opted category. This latter point has been the subject of further consideration by the Nominating Committee and appears separately on the Agenda. This paper is concerned with the issue of a limit on the number of former members of staff in the category of Council members elected from Court. It also addresses statute XIII 1(ii) which relates to the Secretary of State's nomination.

2. Members elected from Court

: Over the years former members of the staff have been elected to Council membership in this category. While the University has benefited greatly from the knowledge, experience and commitment of the persons concerned, it is considered by the Nominating Committee that it would be desirable for some limit to be placed on the number of such persons in the interests of balance and in order to preserve what might be regarded as the spirit of the statute, namely that lay members of Council should be wholly independent of the institution. The membership of Council by category is set out in the Annex to this paper.

3.: It is, therefore, proposed that Council should consider requesting the Privy Council to make a change to the statute governing membership of Council which would provide that no more than two members of Council in this category should be former members of staff of the University. It should be noted that there would be no retrospection so that existing members of Council who might be affected by the change would serve for the unexpired portion of their current period of membership.
4.: This would require an amendment of statute XIII 1(iii) which would read:-

: "Eight members of the Court not being members of the academic or other staff of the University or students, elected by the Court, of whom not more than two shall be former members of the academic or other staff of the University."

5. The Secretary of State's Nomination

: Several years ago the University was notified that the Secretary of State did not intend to exercise the right to nominate a member of Council and it was suggested that, when a suitable opportunity arose, the University might request the Privy Council to amend the statute to reflect this. The point was made, however, that any such proposals should not reduce the proportion of lay members on the governing body. If an approach is made to the Privy Council in respect of XIII 1(iii) above, it would be an opportunity to make that change also. The change would be to statute XIII 1 (ii) as follows :-

: delete "One by the Secretary of State for Education and Science".

: It is proposed that, to maintain the proportion of lay members, the number of co-opted members be increased by one to a total of eleven, necessitating an amendment to Statute XIII 1 (vii) which would read as follows:-

: "Such other persons of whom not more than two shall be members of the Academic or other staff of the University, and not exceeding eleven in all as may be co-opted by the Council"

6.: If Council were minded to proceed in this way, in accordance with the Charter, notice of the proposed changes would need to be given to Senate and the General Assembly which would have an opportunity to comment thereon. A special resolution would then be required. This means a resolution passed at one meeting of the Council and confirmed at a subsequent meeting held not less than one calendar month nor more than three calendar months after the former and passed at each meeting by a majority of three fourths of the members of the Council present and voting.

[Agenda]

Author - Dr D E Fletcher

Date - April 1997

Annex

Subject: Membership of Council 1996/97

Origin: Secretary

Membership of Council

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS

(a) Internal

The Chancellor                          Sir Denis Rooke                                 
                                                                                        
The Senior Pro-Chancellor/Chair         Dr. S.C. Miller                 1998            
                                                                                        
The Pro-Chancellor                      Dr. J.K. Green                  1999            
                                                                                        
The Vice-Chancellor                     Professor D.J. Wallace                          
                                                                                        
The Treasurer                           Dr. T. Higgins                  2000            
                                                                                        
Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor              Professor J.N. Miller           1997            
                                                                                        
Pro-Vice-Chancellors                    Professor J.P. Feather          1999            
                                        Professor C. Williams           1998

(b) External

The Chief Education Officer of          J.A.M. Strong                                   
the County Council of                                                                   
Leicestershire

APPOINTED MEMBERS

Appointed by the Secretary of           Vacancy                         1999            
State for Education                                                                     
                                                                                        
Appointed by the Alumni                 S.J. Gorton                     1997            
Association                                                                             
                                                                                        
Appointed by the Local Education        H. Barber                       1999            
Authority for the County of             M. Shuker                       1999            
Leicestershire                                                                          
                                                                                        
Appointed by the Students' Union        D. Eacott                       1997            
                                        M. Jackson                      1997            
                                                                                        
Appointed by the Postgraduate           A. Thacker                      1997            
Association

MEMBERS ELECTED BY THE COURT

Eight members of the Court, not         Dr. J.A.W. Deboo                1997            
being members of the academic or        S. Dorrell                      1997            
other staff of the University or        Sir Frank Gibb                  1997            
students, elected by the Court          J.E.L. Harvatt                  1997            
                                        Professor J.R. Hough            1997            
                                        Professor L.M. Cantor           1998            
                                        Dr. A.M. Duncan                 1998            
                                        Dr. A.N. Fairbairn              1998

MEMBERS ELECTED BY THE SENATE

Eight members of the Senate,            Professor M. Evans              1998            
elected by the Senate, of whom          Professor M. Shaw               1998            
not more than four shall be             Professor S.J. Cox              1999            
elected members of Senate               Dr M. Gilbert                   1999            
                                        Professor D.J. Hourston         1999            
                                        Professor R. McCaffer           1999            
                                        Professor I.C. Morison          1999            
                                        Professor P.H. Roberts          1999

MEMBERS ELECTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Three full-time members of the          Dr.W.R.Bowman                   1999            
academic staff elected by the           Dr. D.W. Edwards                1999            
General Assembly                        Dr. A.C. Pugh                   1999

OTHER ELECTED MEMBERS

Three full-time members of the          N. Slater                       1997            
staff, other than the academic          H.M. Woodward                   1997            
staff, elected from within their        Mr. E. Waite                    1999            
own number

CO-OPTED MEMBERS

Such other persons of whom not          R.H. Boissier                   1997            
more than two shall be members of       G.P. Fothergill                 1997            
the academic or other staff of          C.S. Woodruff                   1997            
the University and not exceeding        P.W. Harrisson                  1998            
ten in all as may be co-opted by        Professor M. Hutchinson         1998            
the Council                             J.B.C. Blood                    1999            
                                        K. Foreman                      1999            
                                        D'A.T.N. Payne                  1999            
                                        C. Stephens                     1999            
                                        Vacancy

Author - Dr J E M Elliott

Date - March 1997

[Agenda]

[Minutes]

This is a discussion documentand does not representUniversity policy at this stage.

This is a discussion document
and does not represent
University policy at this stage.