This bill amends the Memorial University Act across multiple sections to modernize language and clarify several governance and operational rules. The package replaces gendered pronouns with neutral terms; changes how and when board seats become vacant; updates the ministerial title used in the statute; requires specific oath procedures and record retention for university special constables; and redirects certain fines to the university.
On substance the bill tightens the mechanics that govern board membership (including an automatic‑vacancy rule tied to accepting incompatible offices or incapacity, plus a limited carve‑out for teaching staff), formalizes the special‑constable appointment and oath process, and explicitly makes the chancellor the chair of convocation. For compliance officers and university administrators these are primarily implementation and governance changes: expect bylaw updates, records and HR workflow changes, and a small shift in financial flows and oversight responsibilities.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill converts gendered pronouns to gender‑neutral terms across multiple provisions, replaces several subsections governing board vacancies with an automatic vacancy mechanism, amends powers and references (including changing 'Minister of Justice' to 'Minister of Justice and Public Safety'), requires special constables to take RNC‑style oaths before a Provincial Court judge and have those oaths retained by the board, forwards fines recovered under campus regulations to the university, and replaces section 49 to make the chancellor chair of convocation and the person who confers degrees.
Who It Affects
Directly affected parties include Memorial University's board of regents, convocation members, teaching staff appointed under paragraph 22(2)(c), campus security personnel appointed as special constables, university administration responsible for records and finance, and Provincial Court judges who will administer oaths. Lawyers and statutory drafters who maintain institutional bylaws will also need to update governance documents.
Why It Matters
The bill removes ambiguous gendered language and clarifies routine governance mechanics, reducing interpretive friction. It also shifts certain operational responsibilities—most notably by routing fines to the university and formalizing special‑constable procedures—which has financial and administrative implications for the institution and raises conflict‑of‑interest and due‑process considerations that administrators must manage.
More articles like this one.
A weekly email with all the latest developments on this topic.
What This Bill Actually Does
The amendments are mainly housekeeping and governance reforms that affect how Memorial University operates and documents its governance decisions. First, the statute adopts gender‑neutral wording throughout — replacing phrases like "his or her" with "the member's" or "the person" — which is aimed at modernizing the text and avoiding gendered references.
Those wording changes appear in multiple sections and change the statutory language used in board procedures, audits, liability protections, and prohibitions on use of the university’s name.
On governance mechanics, the bill overhauls the vacancy and disqualification rules for board members. It creates an automatic cessation rule: when an appointed or elected member accepts an incompatible office or becomes incapable of acting, they automatically stop being a member and the board's minutes declaring the vacancy are conclusive evidence.
The bill, however, carves out a narrow exception for members appointed under paragraph 22(2)(c) who are teaching staff, so some faculty‑appointed seats remain subject to different treatment.The Act's policing and enforcement provisions receive practical updates. The board must supply special constables with identification cards and have them take the same oaths or affirmations required of Royal Newfoundland Constabulary members under section 5 of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Act, 1992; those signed oaths are to be taken before a Provincial Court judge and kept in the board’s records.
The ministerial reference in multiple places is modernized to "Minister of Justice and Public Safety." For campus regulation enforcement, fines recovered under parking and traffic regulations are now to be forwarded to the university rather than to a ministerial account.Finally, the bill removes the existing section naming the convocation chair and replaces it with a short, explicit provision: the chancellor is the chairperson of convocation and shall confer all degrees. That change consolidates a visible convocation role in statute and will require internal adjustments to convocation practices and documents.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill repeals and replaces subsection 26(2) so an elective board member vacates the seat if they cease to be a member of convocation.
Section 31 is amended to make an appointed or elective board member automatically stop being a member if they accept an incompatible office or become incapable; a minutes entry of the vacancy is conclusive evidence.
The bill adds subsection 31(3), exempting members appointed under paragraph 22(2)(c) who are teaching staff from the automatic‑vacancy rule in subsection 31(1) and paragraph 31(2)(a).
Subsection 34(5) now requires special constables to take and sign, before a Provincial Court judge, the same oaths or affirmations required of Royal Newfoundland Constabulary members under s.5 of the RNC Act, and the board must retain those oaths in its records.
Section 49 is deleted and replaced: the statute now states plainly that the chancellor is the chairperson of convocation and shall confer all degrees.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
Every bill we cover gets an analysis of its key sections.
Elective member vacancy tied to convocation membership and neutralized language
This amendment removes the old subsection 26(2) and replaces it to state that an elective member vacates their board seat if they stop being a member of convocation. The provision also updates nearby language by replacing gendered pronouns with neutral phrases (for example, using "the member's" instead of "his or her"). Practically, this ties elective board eligibility explicitly to convocation status and streamlines statutory wording across governance rules.
Filling vacancies, disqualification and vacation mechanics (automatic vacancy; faculty carve‑out)
Subsection 30(3) receives a pronoun modernization. Section 31 is overhauled: the replaced subsection 31(2) makes vacancy automatic when a member accepts an office listed in subsection (1) or becomes incapable of acting; the board's minutes recording the vacancy are conclusive. Critically, the new subsection 31(3) creates a limited exception: members appointed under paragraph 22(2)(c) who are teaching staff are not subject to subsection 31(1) or paragraph 31(2)(a). Section 32 gets wording updates and clarifies that certain board members (those described at paragraph 22(2)(a) and the teaching‑staff appointees) are exempt from subsection 32(1). This set of changes alters how vacancies are recognized (less administrative process, more reliance on minutes) while preserving a special status for some faculty appointees.
Board powers and special‑constable formalities
Section 34 receives multiple practical edits. The statutory reference to the responsible minister becomes "Minister of Justice and Public Safety." Subparagraph 34(1)(f)(i) switches gendered words to neutral phrasing. Subsection 34(5) is replaced to require the board to supply special constables with identification cards and ensure they take and sign the same oaths or affirmations required of Royal Newfoundland Constabulary members under s.5 of the RNC Act, 1992; those oaths must be administered before a Provincial Court judge and retained by the board as records. The section also corrects a statutory citation from the "Justice and Other Public Authorities Protection Act" to the "Justice and Public Authorities Protection Act." These changes both modernize references and introduce a more formal, recorded process for campus security officers who hold special‑constable status.
Parking/traffic rules wording and fines allocation
Subsections 35(2) and 35(3) are updated with neutral drafting. Section 35.1 is amended so that fines recovered under section 35 or its regulations are to be forwarded to the university rather than to a ministerial fund; subsection 35.1(2) also uses the updated ministerial title. This modifies the financial destination for enforcement revenues and requires the university to receive and account for those fines.
Audit, liability protections and term wording tweaks
Subsection 38(6) changes the auditor reference to "the auditor general" and other provisions (45 and 55) replace gendered pronouns with neutral terms or rephrase to avoid pronouns altogether (for example, substituting the word "being" in section 55(1)). These are drafting cleanups but have practical implications for statutory interpretation, internal templates and any compliance materials that quote or paraphrase the Act.
Chancellor named chair of convocation and degree conferral
The Act's previous section 49 is deleted and replaced with a concise provision: "The chancellor shall be the chairperson of the convocation and shall confer all degrees." That change codifies the convocation leadership role of the chancellor in plain terms and will require the university to align convocation procedures and any bylaws that previously allocated those duties differently.
Prohibition on use of university name — neutral phrasing
Subsection 65(3) replaces "him or her" with "the person," continuing the statute's overall shift to gender‑neutral drafting. Operationally this is a drafting modernization but it also ensures consistency in the statutory language that supports enforcement of the prohibition against unauthorized use of the university’s name.
This bill is one of many.
Codify tracks hundreds of bills on this topic across all five countries.
Explore this topic in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Memorial University administration — receives fines recovered under parking and traffic regulations, giving the institution direct control over those funds and reducing the need to wait for ministerial transfers.
- Members of the university community who prefer inclusive language — the statute replaces gendered pronouns with neutral terms, lowering the risk of exclusionary drafting and the need for ad hoc interpretive fixes in policy language.
- Special constables and campus security staff — the statute clarifies their status, requires ID issuance and prescribes a formal oath process that aligns their obligations with provincial policing standards, which can strengthen legal authority and legitimacy.
- Chancellor and convocation organizers — the chancellor’s role as convocation chair and degree‑conferrer is explicit in statute, removing ambiguity about who presides over graduations and related ceremonies.
- Teaching staff appointed under paragraph 22(2)(c) — the carve‑out in subsection 31(3) protects certain faculty appointees from the new automatic‑vacancy rule, preserving a degree of faculty representation continuity.
Who Bears the Cost
- University board and administrative units — must update bylaws, templates, HR policies and records management systems to reflect neutral language, new oath retention and the redirected fines; those tasks create modest administrative and legal costs.
- Provincial Court judges and court administration — will need to accommodate the additional formal oath administrations for special constables, adding discrete judicial time and scheduling requirements.
- University compliance and risk officers — forwarding fines to the university and retaining signed oaths raises potential conflict‑of‑interest and privacy considerations they must anticipate and manage.
- Convocation stakeholders other than the chancellor — any internal arrangements that previously distributed chair functions will need revision; those groups may lose informal influence over convocation procedures.
- Small units or affiliated colleges appointing board members — they will need to track the automatic vacancy mechanics and the teaching‑staff exception to avoid inadvertent governance lapses.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central tension is between modernization and administrative clarity on one hand (gender‑neutral drafting, clearer vacancy rules, formalized security oaths) and the risk of concentrating authority and creating practical conflicts on the other (institutional receipt of fines, reliance on minutes as conclusive evidence, and statutory consolidation of convocation powers in the chancellor). The bill solves drafting and clarity problems but shifts decision‑making, financial incentives and evidentiary burdens in ways that demand careful operational safeguards.
The bill's surface changes are largely stylistic, but several provisions raise substantive implementation questions. The automatic‑vacancy rule places legal weight on the board's minutes as conclusive evidence of a vacancy; that reduces process but may also eliminate opportunities for notice, appeal or rectification if a minutes entry is mistaken or contested.
Administrators should consider whether internal meeting procedures and minute‑taking practices are robust enough to support this evidentiary role.
Routing fines to the university simplifies receipts but creates potential conflicts of interest and oversight questions: the institution both enforces campus rules and benefits financially from enforcement, which can be sensitive if fines become a material revenue stream. The new requirement that special constables take oaths before a Provincial Court judge formalizes campus policing but centralizes a judicial step that is administratively heavier than an internal commissioning process; it also requires the board to retain signed oaths, raising records retention, access and privacy issues.
Finally, while neutralizing pronouns reduces exclusionary phrasing, careful drafting is required to avoid changing legal meaning. A string of isolated word swaps can have unintended interpretive effects if antecedent references or cross‑references are not adjusted in parallel.
The consolidation of convocation authority in the chancellor is clear on its face but may alter long‑standing local practices, requiring transitional governance work and clear communication to stakeholders.
There's more to this law than the bill.
Codify Laws traces every connection across the legislative lifecycle.