{"id":1787,"date":"2025-04-04T19:14:16","date_gmt":"2025-04-04T18:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/?p=1787"},"modified":"2025-04-05T08:20:46","modified_gmt":"2025-04-05T07:20:46","slug":"fear-and-loathing-on-the-campaign-trail-cambridge-chancellor-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/?p=1787","title":{"rendered":"Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail: Cambridge Chancellor Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"825\" src=\"https:\/\/21percent.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Screenshot-2025-04-04-at-19.01.29-1024x825.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1800\" style=\"width:651px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/21percent.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Screenshot-2025-04-04-at-19.01.29-1024x825.png 1024w, https:\/\/21percent.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Screenshot-2025-04-04-at-19.01.29-300x242.png 300w, https:\/\/21percent.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Screenshot-2025-04-04-at-19.01.29-768x619.png 768w, https:\/\/21percent.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Screenshot-2025-04-04-at-19.01.29.png 1204w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The position of Chancellor of Cambridge University is vacant following the resignation of Lord Sainsbury of Turville. An <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cam.ac.uk\/about-the-university\/how-the-university-and-colleges-work\/people\/chancellor\/election-of-the-next-chancellor\" title=\"election\">election<\/a> will shortly take place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The role is unpaid and has been seen in recent years as largely ceremonial. However, by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.admin.cam.ac.uk\/univ\/so\/pdfs\/2024\/statutea.pdf\" title=\"Statute A4\">Statute A4<\/a>, the Chancellor has powers&nbsp;&#8216;<em>to see that all officers of the University duly perform their duties<\/em>&#8216;. The Chancellor is also a member of Council, which is the principal executive and policy-making body of the University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The Chancellor is elected by members of the&nbsp;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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cam.ac.uk\/about-the-university\/how-the-university-and-colleges-work\/mission-and-core-values\" title=\"mission \">mission <\/a>of the University of Cambridge is &#8220;to contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning\u00a0and research at the highest international levels of excellence.&#8221; Its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cam.ac.uk\/about-the-university\/how-the-university-and-colleges-work\/mission-and-core-values\" title=\"core values\">core values<\/a> are &#8220;freedom of thought and expression and freedom from discrimination<em>&#8220;.<\/em>\u00a0Inspired by this, I am standing on a twofold platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>1.<\/strong> <strong>A thorough review of current job creation and retention trends against the background of the University\u2019s mission statement.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">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 <a href=\"https:\/\/21percent.org\/?p=1441\" title=\"fresh managerial and administrative positions than academic jobs\">fresh managerial and administrative positions than academic jobs<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">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 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucu.cam.ac.uk\/casualisation\/\" title=\"their pay and conditions are miserly\">their pay, conditions and promotion prospects are often poor<\/a>. The trend towards increasing casualisation of staff must be reversed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>2.<\/strong> <strong>A thorough review of transparency, accountability, accessibility and performance within the management of the University<\/strong> <strong>as judged against the background of the University\u2019s core values and mission statement.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The University needs an Ombudsman with power to investigate serious abuses or mismanagement and hold the mighty to account. For example, the <a href=\"https:\/\/21percent.org\/?p=1716\" title=\"recent staff survey\">recent staff survey<\/a> shows high levels of discontent at the handling of bullying and harassment at the University.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">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.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">This is not a stunt. I am in it to win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Oxford University recently elected a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ox.ac.uk\/news\/2024-11-27-lord-hague-richmond-elected-new-chancellor-oxford-university\" title=\" politician with a record of failure\"> politician with an unprecedented record of failure<\/a> as its Chancellor. We can do better than this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">If you wish to vote, please check your eligibility and read how to register<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cam.ac.uk\/about-the-university\/how-the-university-and-colleges-work\/people\/chancellor\/election-of-the-next-chancellor\" title=\" here\"> here<\/a>. <strong>The deadline to register for online voting is 2 May 2025<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">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 <a href=\"mailto:Camchancellor@proton.me\" title=\"here\">here<\/a> and I will supply you with the details. The nomination forms will need to be signed and returned to me (in person or electronically).<strong> I will need to submit them, along with my application form, to the university on 2 May 2025.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Once the nomination hurdle has been overcome, I will assemble a campaign team to win this election. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Together, we can change Cambridge University for the better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ast.cam.ac.uk\/people\/wyn.evans\" title=\"(Prof) Wyn Evans\">(Prof) Wyn Evans<\/a> (Institute of Astronomy<\/strong>, <strong>University of Cambridge)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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&nbsp;&#8216;to see that all officers of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1787"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1812,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787\/revisions\/1812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}