Graces

Graces submitted to the Regent House on 30 July 2025

The Council submits the following Graces to the Regent House. These Graces, unless they are withdrawn or a ballot is requested in accordance with the regulations for Graces of the Regent House (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 111), will be deemed to have been approved at 4 p.m. on Friday, 8 August 2025. Further information on requests for a ballot or the amendment of Graces is available to members of the Regent House on the Regent House Petitions site.§

1. That the University administration and the Council:1

(a)not apply for any extension to the present interim injunction or for any further injunctions aimed at curtailing protest on University premises;

(b)not apply to the High Court for permission to bring a contempt application in the event of an alleged breach of the injunction;

(c)enter into dialogue with students who take conscientious action.

2. That the list of members of the Vice-Chancellor’s Guild of Benefactors be made public.2

3. That the recommendations in paragraphs 8 and 9 of the Report of the General Board, dated 9 June 2025, on the outcomes of the Academic Career Pathways (Research and Teaching) and (Teaching and Scholarship) 2025 exercises (Reporter, 6788, 2024–25, p. 636) be approved.3

4. That the recommendations in paragraph 14 of the Report of the General Board, dated 9 June 2025, on the introduction of a Linguistics and Modern Languages Tripos in the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics (Reporter, 6789, 2024–25, p. 657) be approved.

5. That the recommendation in paragraph 6 of the Joint Report of the Council and the General Board, dated 30 June 2025, on student membership of the General Board (Reporter, 6791, 2024–25, p. 695) be approved.

6. That, with effect from 1 August 2025, the revised Equal Opportunities Policy (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 147), as set out in Annex A to the Notice dated 24 July 2025, be approved, replacing the existing Policy as set out in Ordinance.4

7. That, with effect from 1 August 2025, in the Ordinance for the Information Services Committee (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 138), new Regulation 6 be inserted to read as follows and existing Regulation 6 renumbered as 7:4

6. In fulfilling its terms of reference, and mindful of the University’s Code of Practice on Freedom of Speech and the need to have particular regard for the importance of free speech within the law, the Committee will consider whether any decisions that it takes, on policy or other matters, could directly or indirectly (and positively or negatively) affect free speech within the law and record in its decisions any significant points arising from these deliberations.

8. That, on the recommendation of the General Board, a Professorship of Public Policy be established in perpetuity from 1 July 2026, placed in the Schedule to Special Ordinance C (vii) 1, and assigned to the Department of Public Policy.5

9. That the Professorship of Bacterial Evolution (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 711) be retitled the Marks & Spencer Professorship of Farm Animal Health, Food Science, and Food Safety.6

10. That the following new Ordinance be approved, the Ordinance for Loan Fund I (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 1088) rescinded, and in Regulation 2 of the Ordinance for the London Students Hardship Fund (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 906) the reference to the Loan Fund I Committee replaced with a reference to the General Board and a similar footnote appended:7

Student Hardship Fund

The Student Hardship Fund shall be administered by the General Board, which shall consider applications to provide financial assistance to registered students from the Fund on the grounds of hardship.^[1]

^[1] The General Board has delegated the administration of the Fund to the University Financial Assistance Committee until further notice, which shall act in accordance with guidance issued from time to time by the Planning and Resources Committee’s Fees and Funding Sub-committee.