Part III: Antarctica and Academe - Scott Polar Research Institute

forty countries, giving the College a very strong international flavour. At the time of
my election there were about 25 Fellows and some 50 students.
At this point I should mention the collegiate system. The governance of each
Cambridge College is in the hands of the governing body, consisting of the Master
and Fellows. Most of the Fellows are University Officers, teaching and conducting
research in their departments as Lecturers, Readers and Professors. At the time of
my election St Edmund's had 25 Fellows , including one Professorial Fellow. The
Fellows are elected to the fellowship by the governing body and some hold posts
within the college for which they are paid a small stipend or honorarium in addition
to their University salary; these are the College officers and the Tutors. In St
Edmund's the College Officers comprised the Vice-Master, the Senior Tutor, the
Bursar, the Treasurer, the Dean, the Admissions Tutor, and the Secretary of the
Association. With the exsception of the Vice-Master their seniority is based on the
date of their election. In addition there are privileges, such as a daily free lunch or
dinner; some have rooms in College. Each year the College elects a few Research
Fellows, by open competition, who may take part in the committee work, and there
are other categories of Fellows - Honorary, Life, Emeritus, and Fellow Commoners
who are not involved in the governance of the College. The ultimate authority within
the College is the governing body comprising all other Fellows; it meets two or three
times a term under the chairmanship of the Master. The ultimate appeal provided
for in the Articles outside the College, as in all Cambridge Colleges, was and is to the
Visitor, in the case of St Edmund's the Archbishop of the Catholic Diocese of
Westminster, during my Mastership this was Cardinal Hume.
The constitution of the older full Colleges is set out in their Statutes, granted by
Royal Charter. St Edmund's, as an Approved Foundation has a constitution known
as the Articles of Association; it is a limited company under the Companies Acts of
which the Fellows are "directors" and the Master is "chairman". These Articles of
Association are ambiguous in places as we shall see later. Thus the Master's duties
are not entirely clear, although there is a general catch-all article which states that
"The Master shall have a general responsibility for the affairs of the College, and for
maintaining and promoting its efficiency and good order and development in such a
manner as to further the objects expressed in the Memorandum of Association, and
for that purpose he may make such provision as he thinks fit in all cases not
provided for by these Articles or by Ordinances or Resolutions made by the
Association ".
It means that the Master does not have much real formal authority and the extent to
which he provides leadership and management is entirely up to him. This was in
contrast to my previous experience, for as director of a major research institute I had
been used to discussing issues with my staff, hearing views and facts and making
decisions - which I was quite good at. As Master I soon learned that all major, and in
some cases, minor issues had to be settled by vote of the Fellows. This system could
work quite well if, decisions having been taken by a majority vote, they were
accepted by the majority, but this was often not the case in the ealy days of my
involvement.
330