ABSTRACT
Most organisations punctuate their calendars with regular as well as one-off functions and ceremonies. Christmas parties, celebrations of promotion, or the launch of new products, are all institutional rites of passage. However, some institutional ceremonies have a long history of obscure origins. Their deep-rootedness has given them a meaning, momentum and integrity; they "need" to happen simply because they have always happened. Formal equal opportunities policies have assumed an increasingly prominent role in the affairs of institutions of higher education in Britain'. As part of this process of engagement with equal opportunities issues, universities are beginning to give more formal consideration to questions of religious discrimination, religious identity, and inter-religious relations. In the ancient universities, matters such as examination timetabling and other policy issues usually constitute university business, rather than being a matter for individual colleges. However, some colleges also have their own particular statutes, especially in relation to religious matters.
