logo
Lord Hague inaugurated as university chancellor

Lord Hague inaugurated as university chancellor

Yahoo19-02-2025
William Hague will be formally inaugurated as Oxford University chancellor today.
Lord Hague will become the 160th recorded chancellor in the University's history and will succeed Lord Patten of Barnes, who announced his retirement from the post in February 2024.
The ceremony will take place in the Sheldonian theatre in Oxford.
Lord Hague previously said he regarded his election for the position "as the greatest honour of my life".
Profile: William Hague
The 10-year role dates back at least 800 years.
Duties include advisory and fundraising work and acting as an ambassador for the University at local, national and international events.
Lord Hague graduated from Magdalen College in 1982, where he studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics.
He was president of the Oxford Union, the university's esteemed debating society, during his time as a student.
He became leader of the Conservative in 1997 at the age of just 36, and later became foreign secretary from 2010 to 2014.
Lord Hague spent 26 years as the MP for Richmond in North Yorkshire.
He won the final run-off of voting that took place throughout November against Lady Elish Angiolini by a margin of 1600 votes.
He said he would "dedicate myself in the coming years to serving the university I love".
"What happens at Oxford in the next decade is critical to the success of the UK," Lord Hague added.
You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
William Hague elected Oxford University chancellor
Imran Khan uni chancellor bid rejected, says adviser
Oxford University could have its first female Chancellor
University of Oxford
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Where did Trump's children go to college? See which schools they attended
Where did Trump's children go to college? See which schools they attended

Yahoo

time5 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Where did Trump's children go to college? See which schools they attended

Since taking office, President Donald Trump has steadily escalated his administration's battles against several elite universities, threatening billions in federal funding, challenging First Amendment protections, and stoking broader conversations over academic freedoms. Columbia University said on July 23 it reached a $200 million settlement with the Trump administration to halt federal investigations into alleged civil rights violations over on-campus Israel-Hamas war protests. Meanwhile, Harvard University is embroiled in a court case in a bid to win back more than $2 billion in federal funding for research the Trump administration froze, claiming the university has failed to address antisemitism. More: Where does Barron Trump go to college, and did he get rejected by Harvard? What we know The administration has announced pauses or threatened to revoke federal funding to other top universities as well. They include Brown, Cornell, Northwestern, Princeton and the alma mater of the president himself and three of his five children, the University of Pennsylvania. More: Two big cases underway over Trump's higher education policy. Here are the key takeaways Where did Trump's children go to college? Trump's youngest son, Barron Trump, broke family tradition when he chose New York University for his undergraduate studies, where he currently attends. Trump's other children either went to Georgetown or the University of Pennsylvania. Donald Trump Jr. went to the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. He graduated in 2000 with a Bachelor of Science in economics with a concentration in marketing and real estate, according to the university paper. Ivanka Trump, the president's eldest daughter, graduated from the same college in 2004, also with a bachelor's degree in economics. She did spend her first two years of college at McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. More: Trump administration says Harvard can no longer enroll international students Eric Trump graduated from Georgetown University in 2006, making him the second of Trump's children to not attend his alma mater. Eric earned a degree in finance and management. Tiffany Trump resumed the family tradition when she graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in sociology in 2016, before attending Georgetown Law School. She graduated in 2020 with her Juris Doctor. Kathryn Palmer is a national trending news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at kapalmer@ and on X @KathrynPlmr. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Where did Trump's children go to college?

University of Edinburgh profited from slavery and promoted racist pseudoscience
University of Edinburgh profited from slavery and promoted racist pseudoscience

Yahoo

timea day ago

  • Yahoo

University of Edinburgh profited from slavery and promoted racist pseudoscience

An inquiry into the University of Edinburgh has found it played an outsized role in the creation of racist pseudoscience and greatly profited from transatlantic slavery. It also found that the institution had not engaged meaningfully with students and staff concerned about its ties to Israel, and that students and staff experiencing racism tended not to report it. A report entitled Decolonised Transformations: Confronting the University of Edinburgh's History and Legacies of Enslavement and Colonialism found that the institution raised the equivalent of at least £30million today from slavery and empire linked sources, with the value potentially over £800m if measured by 'Relative Output' which measures the amount of income or wealth relative to the total output of the economy. It found that: "The University of Edinburgh was a haven for professors and alumni who developed theories of racial inferiority and white supremacism, such as the idea that Africans were inferior to whites and that non-white peoples could be colonised for the profit of European nations. Read More: We visit the University of Edinburgh student encampment protesting for Palestine University of Edinburgh principal defends pay despite plans for £140m cuts LIVE: Donald Trump in Scotland as President spends second day at Turnberry "These ideas provided powerful intellectual justifications for enslavement and colonialism and underpinned the rapid expansion of European empires around the world. "University of Edinburgh professors and alumni played an outsized role in developing racial pseudo-sciences that created civilisational hierarchies and habitually positioned Black people at the bottom and white people at the top. "These ideas also provided the basis for British ethnology. Examples include Adam Ferguson, Dugald Stewart, David Hume, James Cowle Prichard, Robert Knox and Arthur James Balfour who, through research and teaching, proliferated racist ideas against African, Asian, Middle Eastern and other non-European peoples that underpinned enslavement and colonialism." In a modern context, the report found many students and staff from racial minorities face ongoing racism, with reporting systems 'potentially inadequate' as these did not tend to be reported. The report also made reference to the Balfour Declaration, the letter from British foreign secretary and chancellor of the University of [[Edinburgh]] to Lord Rothschild favouring the creation of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine. The UK Government had pledged to recognise Arab independence in the region in exchange for support against the Ottoman Empire in the First World War, and had also secretly agreed with France to divide what was then Ottoman Syria between the two nations. A protest at the University of Edinburgh (Image: Newsquest) Following the war, British Mandatory Palestine was established and eventually partitioned to create modern day Israel and Palestine. The report said: "One of the University's longest serving Chancellors, Arthur James Balfour (1891–1930), played a unique role in establishing and maintaining a century-long process of imperial and settler-colonial rule in Palestine through the 1917 Balfour Declaration. "This Declaration led to the partitioning of Palestine and the permanent exile of many Palestinians from their homeland. "Balfour assumed race to be a social and biological fact and upheld the right of white Europeans to govern and dominate non-Europeans. This racist view directly affected his attitude towards his governance of imperial and domestic affairs. "The University of Edinburgh continues to be entangled in the historical harms that Balfour instigated through its direct and indirect investments that are supporting the Israeli government's human rights and international law violations against Palestinian people today." Students currently enrolled at the University have protested about the institution's ties to [[Israel]] in the context of its ongoing occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, and it's military operations in the former. The report said: "To date, the University of Edinburgh's senior leadership team and Court have not demonstrated sufficient direct engagement with the requests emerging from one of the most well-supported community mobilisations in the history of the University. "Importantly, this mobilisation is comparable to the successful divestment campaign that took place in the 1970s from another apartheid state, South Africa. In 1971, the University of Edinburgh listened to students and staff, and after intense protests it sold all its investments complicit with apartheid. 148 But in the case of Palestine, the senior leadership team has deployed a 'conflict agnostic' approach, a term that denies the Nakba and its settler-colonial afterlife. Read More: Horrifying images are clearly the tipping point for public outrage over Gaza SNP to force vote on recognising Palestine to coincide with UN summit Glasgow University accused of profiting from 'blood money' due to Gaza ties "This approach also means that the University of Edinburgh runs the risk of eluding due diligence and exposing itself to complicity with genocide, crimes against humanity and an illegal occupation." The report recommended that the University of Edinburgh de-adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism. The IHRA definition, which is used by most UK universities, includes 11 examples to support that definition, seven of which reference the state of Israel. Falling under its definition of antisemitism are "claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour", "applying double standards by requiring of it a behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation", and "drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis". The University of Edinburgh report said: "The IHRA definition violates academic freedom and freedom of speech by framing any criticism of Israel's policies of settler-colonial dispossession driven by state racism as a form of antisemitism." The report further found that donations explicitly sought from slavers were used to help build the Old College on South Bridge in the 1790s and the old medical school near Bristo Square in the 1870s. The university had at least 15 endowments derived from African enslavement and 12 linked to British colonialism in India, Singapore and South Africa, and 10 of those were still active and had a minimum value today of £9.4m. It currently has close to 300 skulls gathered in the 1800s from enslaved and dispossessed people adherents of phrenology, a racist pseudoscience which holds that intelligence can be determined by skull shape. University Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Peter Mathieson said: "The publication of the University of Edinburgh's Race Review is a landmark moment in this ancient institution's willingness and determination to learn from its past, as well as its present, in order to shape its future. "The University of Edinburgh acknowledges its role not only in profiting materially from practices and systems that caused so much suffering but also in contributing to the production and perpetuation of racialised thought which significantly impacted ethnically and racially minoritised communities. "On behalf of the institution, I extend our deepest apologies to all individuals and communities impacted by the legacies of our connections to enslavement and colonialism. "We cannot have selective memory about our past, focusing only on the historical achievements which make us feel proud. We are right to address its complexities too, and learn from those aspects which are highly challenging to confront. Only by fully engaging with and understanding the entirety of our institutional past can we truly learn and move forward. We are unwavering in our commitment to a future where racism, racial discrimination, and racialised inequalities have no place in higher education or society. The findings of the Race Review will help to inform our evolving policies and practices as we design a University fit for the future. "Our institutional vision embodies a proactive approach to fostering an environment of racial equality and justice, through our research, teaching, improved institutional practices and community engagement. We will also continue to strengthen our global partnerships, recognising that we do not have all of the answers ourselves and that building progressive, consultative and equitable relationships is crucial. "I am deeply grateful to everyone that contributed to the University of Edinburgh's Race Review, and in particular to Professor Tommy Curry, Dr Nicola Frith and Chris Cox who led the various sections, to community members for their active involvement in discussions and workshops and also to the Steering Group chaired originally by Sir Geoff Palmer: Geoff sadly died in June 2025 but he had seen the draft report and he and I reflected together on the importance of this work, and its legacy, very shortly before his death. We will honour his memory through our ongoing commitment and contribution to advancing race equality within our institution and in society more broadly. "

After 599 Take Buyouts, Duke University To Begin Layoffs In August
After 599 Take Buyouts, Duke University To Begin Layoffs In August

Forbes

time2 days ago

  • Forbes

After 599 Take Buyouts, Duke University To Begin Layoffs In August

Staff layoffs are slated to begin at Duke University in August. Almost 600 staff members — 599 to be exact — have accepted Duke University's offer of a 'voluntary separation incentive,' but that won't be enough to accomplish the total cost savings the university's administration believes are still necessary. Instead, Duke will need to turn to involuntary layoffs to help cope with a series of financial threats, including a reduction in federal research support, an increase in the tax rate on Duke's endowment earnings, changes in health care reimbursements, and a possible decline in international student enrollment. Although Duke has not been specifically targeted by the Trump administration for massive funding reductions — like other private universities such as Harvard, Columbia, Northwestern, Cornell and Brown — its administrators have projected that federal funding cuts and other policy changes could cause it to lose anywhere from $500 million to $750 million in support, according to The Assembly, a North Carolina press outlet. In their 'Dear Duke Community' message sent on Friday, Executive Vice President Daniel Ennis, Provost Alec Gallimore and Executive Vice President for Health Affairs Mary Klotman, wrote that the layoffs would begin next month. 'This news weighs heavily on all of us at Duke,' wrote the officials. 'Between August 5th and 19th, impacted employees will be contacted individually by their managers and will work closely with Human Resources through this transition. We recognize and are sorry for the impact these changes will have on our colleagues.' Duke introduced its voluntary buyout program at the end of April. It was one of several budget measures the university pursued, including hiring freezes, postponed construction and renovation projects, and cuts to non-essential spending, after Duke President Vincent Price directed administrators to develop a strategic plan to reduce expenses by as much as $350 million back in March. 'We are working to prepare for the possibility that the university will have to adopt new ways of operating in order to fulfill our teaching, research, and clinical care missions with reduced federal funding in the future,' wrote Price at the time. However, even after those cost-reduction measures were enacted and the university realized what the administrators called 'a high rate' of voluntary staff separations, they concluded 'we will unfortunately need to further reduce the university workforce to ensure we can responsibly support and invest in our important missions.' Duke did not identify a specific number of staff that would be terminated or the units that might be targeted. All departments and units have been asked 'to reassess their budgets and identify any further non-personnel expense reductions that can be made.' Those assessments will then help determine the scale of the involuntary staff reductions that are needed. The Duke Chronicle reported that it had 'received multiple reports of broad cuts across the libraries, student affairs, Office of Information Technology and communications.' One other unknown for Duke's budget and the magnitude of staff terminations that might occur is how many faculty might elect to retire under a different incentivized program, announced in June. Friday's message indicated that 'more than 250 eligible faculty members across the university are currently considering voluntary retirement incentive offers.' "While the challenges before us are difficult, we are confident we can navigate them as a community and maintain exceptional support for our students, our world-renowned research and our core values," wrote Duke's leaders. 'The respect and compassion we have shown and will show for our colleagues affected by the VSIP and the involuntary reduction in force reflects the very best of who we are as an institution.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store