Convocation Other Than for the Election of Fellows

'24 Vic No. 13. 'Sydney University Incorporation Act Amendment Act, 1861.' Sections 5 and 7 of 14 Vic No. 31, relating to there having to be one hundred graduates of Doctor or Master status to elect the Fellows of the Senate, was repealed. Senate was enlarged by not less than three and not more than six ex-officio members selected by the Senate by by-law from among the Professors of the University. The Professors, Public Teachers, Examiners and Superior Officers of the University, along with the Principals of the Incorporated Colleges were declared Members of the University for the duration of their tenure, and were granted the same privileges as Graduates with degrees of Master of Arts or Doctor of Laws or Medicine, namely in Convocation, 'attending and voting at the election of Fellows'. (Calendar 1862 p 31). At the Senate meeting on 6th October 1861, the by-law was adopted that 'Convocation for the election of a Fellow shall be presided over in the same manner as if it were a meeting of the Senate' and that such meetings should take place within 40 days after the first meeting of Senate where a vacancy had occurred, and should be publicly advertised 30 days before taking place (Senate Minutes 1861 p 299).

The 'Ad eundem Degrees Act, 1881', (44 Vic No. 22) provided that Bachelors of Arts of three years standing in the University and fully 21 years old, should have the privilege of attending and voting at the election of Fellows (Calendar 1883-4 p 53), and the 'University Extension Act, 1884, (47 Vic No. 17) extended the same rights and privileges to all degrees of equivalent rank to the Bachelor of Arts degree (Calendar 1884 p 56).

In May, 1887, the Senate received a petition signed by eighty four graduates and presented by Mr. George Knox requesting, among other things, that the Chancellor should be elected by Convocation, that the Fellows should be elected for a set term, not for life, that the Professors should not be ex officio Fellows of the Senate, and that no by-laws should be made or altered or funds of the University appropriated for new purposes without the consent of Convocation. The petition also called for provision to be made for 'convening, holding, and regulating meetings of convocation'.

'As it appeared that under the existing By-laws no provision had been made for the establishment of convocation as a deliberative body with defined powers and privileges, the Senate resolved that proper steps should be forwith taken to frame and pass such By-laws as might be necessary for that purpose' (Calendar 1888 p 338).

Consequently, chapter III of the by-laws of 1888 consisted of eight sections entitled 'Meetings of convocation other than for the election of fellows' and detailed that twenty five members of Convocation should form a quorum, that the Chancellor or Vice-Chancellor should preside, and that in their absence a President should be elected by the members, and that at all meetings the Registrar should act as Secretary, keeping the Minutes of all proceedings (Calendar 1888 p 104).

The first meeting of Convocation 'other than for the election of Fellows' took place on 26th June, 1888. A second meeting was held in September, and a number of resolutions forwarded to the Senate which were duly noted (Calendar 1989, p 335).

Two more meetings were held in May, 1891, with resolutions forwarded to and noted by the Senate, but meetings held to elect four members of Convocation to work with the Ex-officio Fellows Committee on proposals to limit the tenure of Fellows and to abolish ex officio membership were adjourned without any appointments being made (Calendar 1892, p 397).

A meeting of Convocation other than for the election of Fellows on 18th September, 1896 referred the following resolutions to the Senate:-

'(1) That Fellows of the Senate hereafter elected should hold office for a period of five years only, but should be eligible for re-election on the expiration of their term of office.

(2) That the elected Fellows now in office should retire in rotation within the next five years, but should be eligible for re-election.

(3) That the voting at contested elections of Fellows should be taken by letter '(Calendar 1897, p 271).

After consideration the Senate declared that these changes could only be effected by an Act of Parliament, although they affirmed clause 3 in principle (Calendar 1898, p 283).

(Act No. 52, 1912, the 'University (Amendment) Act' provided for Fellows of the Senate to hold office for five years.)

Although the Senate appointed a sub-committee in 1903 to report on the desirability of increasing the powers of Convocation which subsequently concluded that Convocation possessed powers 'as great, if not greater, than those conferred upon the Body of Graduates in the British Universities of the most recent established' , Convocation other than for the Election of Fellows did not meet again until 1935 (Convocation Minutes p 14).

A meeting of Convocation was requisitioned on 12 September, 1935, to consider the recent formation of the 'Sydney University Graduates' Association'. At a later meeting on 10 June, 1936, some ten resolutions were passed, including that 'the Sydney University Graduates' Association consist of the Convocation of the University of Sydney' and that 'a Standing Committee of Convocation be elected consisting of about forty members' ( Convocation Minutes p 17). The resolutions were noted in the Senate Report of 1936 ( Calendar 1937, p 1020).

After further deliberations by the Senate and the By-laws Commitee, By-law Chapter V, Convocation, was approved on 19 December, 1938, and submitted to the Governor for approval. The By-law allowed for a Standing Committee consisting of a President and not less than forty persons, at least 25% of whom were to be women, to be elected by and from Convocation. Convocation itself was to meet at least once a year, and the Standing Committee could at any time but was at least once a year to report to Convocation (Convocation Minutes p 19).

According to notes in the Convocation Minutes (p 23), the first Standing Committee of Convocation was elected at the time of the quinquennial election of the Senate in November, 1939, the annual meeting of Convocation was suspended each year because of the war (1940-1-2-3), and the first Standing Committee reported to Convocation at its meeting on 23 October, 1944.

Page 27 of the Convocation Minutes notes that the annual meetings of Convocation were also suspended in 1945-6-7-8, but the report of the second Standing Committee of Convocation (elected 1944) was adopted at the meeting of Convocation held on 1 April, 1949.

The final entry in the Convocation Minutes was for the meeting held 3 November, 1950, when the report of the third Standing Committee of Convocation (elected 1949) was adopted.

The Minute Book of the Standing Committee of Convocation itself, however, contains an insert at page 48, of the minutes of a meeting of Convocation held 13 October, 1953, which discussed asking the Senate to rescind the section of the By-laws governing the Standing Committee and forming a new body to be called 'The University of Sydney Graduates' Association'. The meeting resolved, however, to ask the Senate to 'appoint a sub-commitee from the Senate, to confer with the executive of the Standing Committee of Convocation, with a view to recommending alterations in the present constitution of that body, which will make it more effective'.