Oxford Faculty Rejects Governance Shift

Inside Higher Ed

The faculty of the University of Oxford has given a final rejection to a plan to overhaul the university’s governance and give more control to outsiders similar to boards of trustees in the United States. Oxford administrators have been pushing for such a change, saying that it is needed to provide the university with sound management. But dons have protested that their role would be diminished and academic values would be compromised. At a November faculty meeting, 62 percent voted down the plan, but Oxford administrators exercised their right to have a mail ballot of all professors. In that vote, 61 percent of professors opposed the plan. Oxford announced the results Tuesday. John Hood, the vice chancellor (the top position) at the university and a leading proponent of the rejected reform plan, issued a statement saying that “the priority now is for the university to come together in order to advance Oxford’s standing as a pre-eminent democratic and scholarly community.”

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