The position of Chancellor of Cambridge University is vacant following the resignation of Lord Sainsbury of Turville. An election will shortly take place.
The role is unpaid and has been seen in recent years as largely ceremonial. However, by Statute A4, the Chancellor has powers ‘to see that all officers of the University duly perform their duties‘. The Chancellor is also a member of Council, which is the principal executive and policy-making body of the University.
The Chancellor is elected by members of the Cambridge Senate. The Senate is, roughly speaking, all holders of degrees from Cambridge University, as well as current and former academic staff. This is an extraordinary and laudable example of academic self-governance, albeit a relic from centuries ago.
The mission of the University of Cambridge is “to contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence.” Its core values are “freedom of thought and expression and freedom from discrimination“. Inspired by this, I am standing on a twofold platform.
1. A thorough review of current job creation and retention trends against the background of the University’s mission statement.
- The University urgently needs to create new academic positions to maintain its international standing. Over the last decade, the University has found it much easier to create fresh managerial and administrative positions than academic jobs.
- More than two-thirds of staff at the University are employed on a fixed-term basis. They make a significant contribution to teaching and research, yet their pay, conditions and promotion prospects are often poor. The trend towards increasing casualisation of staff must be reversed.
2. A thorough review of transparency, accountability, accessibility and performance within the management of the University as judged against the background of the University’s core values and mission statement.
- The University needs an Ombudsman with power to investigate serious abuses or mismanagement and hold the mighty to account. For example, the recent staff survey shows high levels of discontent at the handling of bullying and harassment at the University.
- The University needs to stop the waste of money on highly paid, external consultancies. The expertise and knowledge present in our own staff greatly exceeds that of most expensive consultancies.
This is not a stunt. I am in it to win.
When the Labour Party ran an open election for its leader, a genuinely different candidate emerged. Similarly, this is an open and unpredictable election in which the large and dispersed electorate can (if they wish) choose some from a different background and inclination to all previous Chancellors. Social media now means the electorate can be reached and mobilised much more easily than in the past. We can win this election.
Oxford University recently elected a politician with an unprecedented record of failure as its Chancellor. We can do better than this.
At the start of my academic career in Cambridge in the 1990s, there was a genuine sense of collegiality and working together. Now this has little force with the creation of a very well-paid and remote managerial over-class. As the pay gap between senior management and the rest of us has become wider, so all sense of common purpose has disintegrated. What was once a self-governing communities of scholars has become an administrative oligarchy. We can reclaim what we once were.
If you wish to vote, please check your eligibility and read how to register here. The deadline to register for online voting is 2 May 2025.
To stand, I will need completed nomination forms (paper or electronic) from at least 50 supporters who are eligible to vote. If you wish to nominate me, please email me here and I will supply you with the details. The nomination forms will need to be signed and returned to me (in person or electronically). I will need to submit them, along with my application form, to the university on 2 May 2025.
Once the nomination hurdle has been overcome, I will assemble a campaign team to win this election.
Together, we can change Cambridge University for the better.
(Prof) Wyn Evans (Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge)
17 Comments
HunterStockton · 4 April 2025 at 19:35
Wow.
It is really good to see that there are people prepared to stand up to those running Cambridge University.
Good luck.
ProfessorPlum · 5 April 2025 at 10:47
There does indeed need to be major reforms with governance at the university.
Although sceptical of rankings, the university’s decline is real. There are a number of causes of this (in addition to the ones mentioned)
The idea that a Chancellor should look internally at where the problems are is a very interesting one.
TheOwlService · 6 April 2025 at 08:06
Cambridge People,
What’s the story on the resignation of Tim Harper, aka the Teddy Bear?
He’s been involved in as many scandals and coverups as an MP’s browser history.
Stress? Just fed up with the relentless cover ups?
21percent.org · 6 April 2025 at 13:15
Perhaps some vestiges of moral sense?
And what of his fellow traveller, Nigel Peake, Head of School of Physical Sciences
The responsibility is “mine and mine alone” he says for the catastrophe at the Institute of Astronomy. If Peake is admitting the responsibility, then he should resign as Head of School. Huge damage has been done to many people because of his calamitous misjudgment.
Peter · 6 April 2025 at 15:52
what happened at the institute of astronomy in cambridge? i always enjoyed the friendly morning coffee time there when i visited.
21percent.org · 6 April 2025 at 18:20
What happened is akin to Operation Midland.
This was an investigation which the London Metropolitan Police carried out between November 2014 and March 2016 in response to false allegations made by Carl Beech. The 18-month operation failed to find any evidence to support the claims, and an inquiry into the police investigation afterwards concluded that the people involved had been falsely accused, leaving them dealing with considerable damage to their lives and reputations.
The Met subsequently paid damages. Hogan-Howe made apologies & then left his job. Beech is in jail (subsequently found guilty of the crime of which he accused others)
Except it’s the last part that hasn’t happened at the Institute of Astronomy.
Nigel Peake played the role of Hogan-Howe. He has claimed the responsibility is “mine and mine alone”. He must now resign
It is a complete and utter disgrace that Nigel Peake is part of the appointments committee for Tim Harper’s replacement. The person blocking an investigation into Peake’s actions is Kamal Munir, also on the appointment committee.
DestroyingAngel · 6 April 2025 at 20:46
Cover-ups never bury the crime—they just dig a deeper grave.
Peter · 6 April 2025 at 22:48
Wyn says “At the start of my academic career in Cambridge in the 1990s, there was a genuine sense of collegiality and working together.”
This report in the Guardian from 2001 reports a different perspective;
‘Macho’ Cambridge dons maintain work inequality
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/jan/31/highereducation.oxbridgeandelitism
Cambridge university yesterday accepted a report which identified it as having a “tough macho culture” defined by senior white male academics.
In the university’s first “equality audit”, 23% of the 3,000 staff surveyed said bullying by managers had prevented them from getting ahead in their careers. Two-thirds of female lecturers and 81% of disabled and 74% of ethnic minority staff said they had felt excluded from the culture at some point.
“The culture has been described as ‘a tough macho culture’ where ‘intimidation is by culture rather than by individual persons’,” says the report, by consultants Schneider-Ross.
Only 6.25% of Cambridge professors were female, putting it 69th in a league table of 81 universities.
Wyn Evans · 7 April 2025 at 07:30
A lot has changed in the universities over my, and Peter’s, working life. Most of it for the worse.
The point I was trying to make, somewhat poorly, was this. The difference in salaries between individuals working in the universities was not then so great. Vice Chancellor and senior management pay was not so excessive. I believe this has had a deleterious effect on sense of community. One reason why politicians have not acted over the crisis in university funding is that the institutions do not have genuine public support & admiration any more. Universities are tarnished by the high pay of (not very good) senior management, which reminds them of bad businesses. There is a divide between academics and management that I don’t think existed in the universities in the 1990s. Or maybe it did, but the centre was not so omnipresent in our academic lives, and I was able to ignore it.
The link from the Guardian in 2001 illustrating problems with bullying is interesting. The 2024 staff survey showed only 27 % were “satisfied with how bullying and harassment are addressed in my department”. We can conclude that the university has made almost zero progress in this area.
On the matter of female professors, the University has made definite progress (though still not at equality).
On the matter of ethnicity, progress has been extremely limited. I know of two cases of alleged racial discrimination against Cambridge University heading to the Employment Tribunals at the moment. (Direct racial discrimination is hard to prove at a Tribunal, unfortunately).
Ongong · 7 April 2025 at 10:09
Lord Sainsbury was wise to resign. He clearly saw the mess we are in, and realised he needed to get out fast.
NonnyMouse · 7 April 2025 at 13:20
It is a consequence of the fact that the present senior management of the university is the most intransigent in memory
They have a ‘them’ or ‘us’ mindset that is not conducive to any compromise or any change in direction.
Anon · 8 April 2025 at 08:27
I think a lot of this is caused by the remoteness of the senior management. They are just not interested in talking to us, except through these All-Staff Teams meetings. It would be an act of career suicide to raise any serious criticism at such events.
Anon · 8 April 2025 at 10:01
The University has become a dangerous environment, unconducive to creative thought and opportunities to perform at the highest level. There is no one currently willing “to see that all officers of the University duly perform their duties” so that those wishing to ensure that the University can “contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence” remain able to do so without fear of interference and recrimination. As indeed, when we exercise our “freedom of thought and expression” to raise concerns our “freedom from discrimination“ is instantly revoked.
Falash · 8 April 2025 at 12:36
They conduct a survey to find out what staff think, realise staff hate them, then spin bullshit stories about how everything is great on the Camtanic and that we shouldn’t conduct any more surveys in case that accidentally reveals an iceberg
Supermarket Sweep · 8 April 2025 at 13:52
A shame Lord Sainsbury is giving up on us but I am frankly not surprised.
But do take a look at his message to staff during the covid pandemic…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8JDgIwwUeQ
…. humble, direct, honest and factual, as a leader ought to be.
Such a contrast that with the trivial idiocy of the current VC’s messages.
Of which the Christmas ones are truly the worst of all.
JohnLeCarre · 8 April 2025 at 17:46
She knew no-one before taking the job from a place 1000s miles away.
She does not know who are her friends, who are her enemies in the double-cross at the top of the university.
She’s the VC who Came in from the Cold
Aesop · 9 April 2025 at 13:38
It seems as though she applied to do the job of TikTok influencer.
She’s very relatable, creating her cutesy short videos that show her pushing her bike in Cambridge or delivering her Christmas message.
It’s like we have ended up with Meghan as VC.
I am expecting a ‘Cambridge Orchard’ range of her favourite College port or creme brulée mix next