I no longer deal with degree ceremonies at Keele, but did so until last
summer, and at the time we expanded our number of ceremonies in 1996. We
now have 10 over two days plus one in December. The Chancellor and
Vice-Chancellor do 5 ceremonies each, (although the VC attends all 10), with
one or other presiding in December. We found that our Statutes permitted
degrees to be conferred only by the Chancellor or, in his absence, by the
Vice-Chancellor, with the Deputy VC able to act in the absence of both.
Other officers such as the Pro-Chancellor and Deputy Pro-Chancellors are
specifically excluded (which was a great relief to them!)
We have had no complaints about the absence of the Chancellor from some
ceremonies, although this was not the case when Princess Margaret was
Chancellor (until 1986) - then, when numbers became too great to accommodate
in the hall at one time, and the Princess could not give us more than one
ceremony, the students chose (by large majority opinion) to stick to one
ceremony, without places in the hall for all of them, and simply leave the
hall after conferment, with others then coming in. It may, of course, have
been her royal rather than chancellorial qualities that produced this
effect.
Stephen Clifford
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Stephen Clifford
University Secretary's Office
Keele University
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http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/rg/snchome.htm
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