The Oxford Chancellor: Wrong job?

After months of speculation about the chances of a few well-known candidates for chancellorship of Oxford (William Hague, Peter Mandelson and David Willetts, plus two illustrious insiders, Elish Angiolini and Jan Royall), it came as a surprise that there were in fact thirty-eight people who had thrown their hats into the ring. It was also a surprise to discover no sign of the name of Imran Khan, whose application had been widely expected. From the guarded statement put out by Oxford, one assumes that he was excluded because he breached one of the rules for prospective candidates. (Those include that the person concerned should not be disqualified from being a charity trustee under the 2011 Act – does that Act disqualify people in prison, I wondered?).

Radcliffe Camera, University of Oxford | Image by Tejvan Pettinger licensed under CC BY 2.0

I have no vote in this election, not being a member of Oxford University (though I do have an honorary degree, which might possibly have counted, I guess). So, it was with a feeling of freedom of responsibility, and no parti pris, that I looked through the list and read their statements (available here). I still find it puzzling that so many people, who appear to have very little chance of success, put in an application. Is the considerable number of Pakistanis something to do with Khan’s attempted candidacy? And what do those who appear simply to have submitted their standard CV think their chances are? (I didn’t actually spot anyone saying “clean driving licence”, but almost.)

I did however have a bit of a soft spot for one of these candidates who spoke “outside the box”, as it were. This is not meant as a recommendation, but there was something from-the-heart and refreshing about Francisc Vladovici Poplauschi, who wrote in his manifesto:

I am a simple student … My aims for Oxford are simple. Win, win, win. Why not get a common person to deliver? Why not pick a rando? Why not pick someone who you have no clue about? This is democracy manifest! … Who cares about the big names? They’re all old anyway, they will probably pop off soon and I’ll be back here anyway so let’s skip ahead and elect me Chancellor of Oxford for a safe and secure university.  [typos corrected]

Every election needs one of these, at least to make you stop and think.

As I said, I have no vote and no stake, but I hope the Oxford alumni who do have a vote will think carefully about the job description. As I understand it, it is not to “lead” the university (they already have a Vice-Chancellor and a supporting team to do that). It is to front the ceremonial, to speak up for the university, to offer a bit of wise counsel to the whole university community, to be a sounding board and to listen, and to help with money raising. If it were me, I would look twice at those who claimed they were looking to “lead” the university. Wrong job.

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