5 December 2002 Minutes

Board
of Scrutiny

Minutes of the Meeting Held at Noon on

Thursday 5 December 2002 at Selwyn College

Present: Stephen Cowley, David Howarth, Robin
Lachmann, Christopher Forsyth, Susan Lintott, Oliver Rackham, John Spencer,
Helen Thompson.

Apologies: Jack MacDonald, Timothy Milner,
Elisabeth Leedham-Green, Jennifer Rigby.

1)      Minutes. The
Minutes of the meeting of 21November 2002.

Matters
arising.

i)       
Buildings, the land fund and the deficit. There was a
discussion of the Reports on the CR-UK and Homerton buildings. There was
concern that some of the funding for the projects was coming from the Land Fund
which was in deficit. It was agreed that a short speech would be drafted for
the Discussion of 10 December 2002.

Action: The Chairman to draft a speech for the
Discussion of 10/12/2002.

ii)       Harrassment issues. The draft letter to the Press Office was
approved. It was agreed to send the letter.

Action: The Secretary to send the letter.

2)      Governance proposals and vote. Concern was
expressed at the timing of the vote, and the view taken towards amendments. It
was agreed to write to the Vice-Chancellor and Council on these matters.

Action: The Chairman to write a letter to the VC.

3)      The new Vice-Chancellor and the press coverage. There was a discussion of the leak to the press
concerning the appointment of the new Vice-Chancellor. It was agreed that the
leak was regrettable, but it was not clear that it was our job to take the
matter further.

4)      Conduct of Discussions: new Statutes and Ordinances. There was a discussion as to whether the new
published version of the Statutes and Ordinances were in line with the current
vote on the conduct of Discussions. It was agreed to see what the outcome of
the vote was before proceeding further.

5)      Any other business. The attention of the Board was drawn to some
higher education discussion papers on the DfES web site.

6)      Date of next meeting. The next meeting will be on Thursday 16 January
2003.