A message from the Vice-Chancellor - A busman's holiday?

Monday, 11 August 2014

It might seem like a busman's holiday but I am just back from two weeks in Princeton, New Jersey. As well as enjoying the town itself, I spent many a happy hour wandering around the University which is a very splendid place indeed.

Two highlights. One was visiting the University Art Museum with its collection of 72,000 works of art. I was able to see Monet's Water Lillies and Japanese Bridge, a current exhibition, Rothko to Richter: Mark-Making in Abstract Painting from the Collection of Preston H. Haskell and - a particular favourite of mine - Charles Willson Peale's George Washington at the Battle of Princeton 1783. The other was to see the Institute of Advanced Study which while not part of Princeton University, is closely associated with it. I couldn't go inside but I allowed my mind to wonder what it must have been like in the 20+ years that Einstein was located there.

At the end of another busy term, I confess that I was looking forward to my break. Having said that, June and July were great months, not least because of three very successful Graduation days. They were the last ones overseen by our soon-to-retire University Secretary, Keith Hodgson. We even managed to have the organist play the theme music from Test Match Special at the 5pm ceremony on the Friday to mark Keith's well-known love of cricket (something, as a Scotsman, I have never understood!).

Talking of Graduation, I was on the other side of the fence - as it were - when I attended my younger daughter's ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall. This was the venue chosen by Roehampton University and it was fine occasion - second only to Reading, if I am permitted such a partisan comment. I am sure that many of you engage in such comparisons if you are attending events elsewhere.

One pleasant duty in early July was to participate in the Disbursements Committee for the Annual Fund. This is where we decide how to allocate the money that is raised from our alumni via the annual telethons. We distributed funds across three main areas; scholarships, innovative teaching and learning initiatives, and student activities. As always, many parts of the University will benefit and it demonstrates again the incredibly valuable support we receive from those who attended the University in the past.

Some of our former students have also pledged legacy donations and we were able to recognise their contribution through an afternoon tea held at my home on the University's Hall Farm. Those who contribute in this way become  members of the Palmer Society and we are hugely grateful to Andrew Palmer for his support, given his family's outstanding contribution to the University from its very beginnings. From a personal point of view, it was really good to meet Palmer Society members and hear their memories of being students in very different times and circumstances.

Finally, it wouldn't be a post-holiday message without some reference to what I have been reading. I would highlight three books, two of which I actually bought in Princeton and have a distinctly American theme. The first was Matthew D. Tribbe's No Requiem for the Space Age. My 60 word review for the Times Higher Education reads as follows:

Why did the Apollo moon landings fall out of favour so quickly? Matthew D. Tribbe's 'No Requiem for the Space Age' provides an interesting explanation. He suggests that a mood shift from 'technocratic rationalism' to the mystical counter-cultural movements of the 60s and 70s was as important in ending the programme as was the enormous cost. That and NASA's failure to cultivate the public imagination, despite the magnitude of its achievements.

My second book was Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus. This is the first in what is now a trilogy (with more to come) on the rise of the American Conservative Right. It is an important book because it makes the case that although Goldwater - a Conservative through and through - was hammered by Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1964 Presidential election, that period saw the emergence of the Right which can now be traced all the way through to Tea Party Republicanism.

The third book was Philip Short's, Mitterrand: A Study in Ambiguity. This is a compelling account of the life and times of the most enigmatic President of France's Fifth Republic. Life mirrored his presidency which Short described as one of 'ambiguity, mistrust and solitude'. It is also a brilliantly written book which made it a joy to read.

One last recommendation is for a movie which isn't out in the UK until October. Called Get On Up, it is the story of the legendary James Brown, the self-titled Godfather of Soul. It is terrific and was much appreciated by the audience that we were part of in a Princeton cinema.

Sir David Bell KCB

Vice-Chancellor