Claire BarnesAmid the pageantry of his installation, the new Chancellor of the University of Cambridge made some pointed & interesting comments, & important commitments.
🧵 1/15
Here’s a recording of the full ceremony. The 15min speech by the Chancellor starts at 15min30. 🧵 2/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmKEytZ9E3c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmKEytZ9E3c
The New Chancellor of the University of Cambridge Installation Ceremony
The video’s transcript omits the Latin address by the Orator, but there’s a full transcript in the Cambridge University Reporter at https://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/reporter/2025-26/weekly/6819/section5.shtml 🧵 3/
The Orator explained the Chancellor’s “duty to see that we the officers of the University properly discharge our own, that we continue this long journey toward knowledge, that we never cease to shine the light of wisdom beyond these walls. Today the academy is beset by forces which would extinguish this sacred light and stifle dissent, which would confound truth with lies and falsehood and deny it utterly.” 🧵 4/
In reply, the Chancellor’s first commitment was “to speak out on behalf of Cambridge, and on behalf of higher education more broadly.” 🧵 5/
He spoke of “global discovery, learning, teaching, research, knowledge and, yes, wisdom”. He affirmed the importance of sciences & STEM, but also of “the profound knowledge of human behaviour and motivation that can come from the study of the arts, humanities and social sciences. I will defend the importance of these subjects to my last breath.” 🧵 6/
Defending his own, he declared that “there was no better preparation for a career in public life than the study of English literature, because it would tell you more about character, relationships, society, joy, sorrow, emotion and intelligence than anything else possibly could.” 🧵 7/
He spoke of the value & the dangers of AI. “We need to teach our students how to develop AI tools, how to use them – but also how to steer them and oversee them.”
“It is often said that in Cambridge we don’t try and teach our students what to think but how to think. Let’s hold fast to that approach.” 🧵 8/
“It is often said that in Cambridge we don’t try and teach our students what to think but how to think. Let’s hold fast to that approach.” 🧵 8/
“Universities have to be at the forefront of countering this tidal wave of misleadingness. Universities are where truth and knowledge are discussed, debated, contested, and as a result discovered. It is why the first assault of autocrats across the world is always on education.” 🧵 9/
⬇️ Documenting >1,000 attacks to date on science, education & true information: https://www.trumpactiontracker.info @chrischirp.bsky.social
“Dictators do not want their populations thinking for themselves… It is by listening to arguments you don’t agree with, and then contesting them, that you learn and discover. Both the listening and the arguing are crucial parts of this process.” 🧵 10/
“It’s why I will strenuously oppose any attempt to deprive anyone of a platform, however much I might disagree with what they have to say. It’s why students have every right to protest and make their point.” 🧵 11/
(Threats to US universities were mentioned by the BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg1gj8q1jqo)
(Threats to US universities were mentioned by the BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg1gj8q1jqo)
The Chancellor called for a rethink on the terms of student loans, & on visa obstacles to “overseas students, who fundamentally enhance the lives of everyone in a university community”. 🧵 12/
Finally, “a university education is not just about the acquisition of learning and knowledge. It is above all about the development of the whole person. It’s about stretching someone’s vision, it’s about reaching beyond the horizon, it’s about finding interests and passions you never dreamed you would have.” 🧵 13/
“A university is here to help students to aim high, to reach further, to find fulfilment in all sorts of ways in and beyond the library and the laboratory. Yes it’s about achieving outstanding academic excellence. It is also however about providing a supportive community, about helping young people to find their true humanity, and as a result about helping them to make a difference to the world.” 🧵 14/
The patrons of Cambridge’s #14thCentury colleges (predecessors of Trinity College, plus Clare, Pembroke, Gonville, Trinity Hall & Corpus) were convinced of universities as a public good, persevering amid war & plague. The #LadyOfClare fought tyranny, & emphasized the importance of community in her statutes for #ClareCollege. Her friend #MarieDeStPol founded Chris Smith’s college, Pembroke. The intellectual, educational & social vision lives on. 🧵 15/15
Isabel RuffellIt is not clear to me how this ambition is consistnt with an obligation to platform hate, anti:human rights propaganda or blatant lies .
Albert CardonaI've had the pleasure and the privilege to work side by side with Chris Smith when he was master of Pembroke college (he stepped down last year) for about 5 years, and, despite being a former politician, he means what he says.
@albertcardona Very encouraging to hear!
I've just been enjoying your #pembroke1347 posts, especially on the gardens full of flowers & new life in the spring:
https://mathstodon.xyz/@albertcardona/114208692736099464
Albert Cardona (@[email protected])
This Spring I'm documenting the awakening of Pembroke College gardens in Cambridge, UK. Posts will touch on flowering plants, bushes and trees, and their visitors – largely bees, wasps, flies and butterflies, but also all other critters I happen to stumble upon. Aiming at one post per week. Posts will appear here: https://www.pem.cam.ac.uk/college/news/all First post: "The return of the queens" https://www.pem.cam.ac.uk/college/news/return-queens (March 13th, 2025). Second post, today: "Magnificent magnolia" https://www.pem.cam.ac.uk/college/news/magnificient-magnolia #Pembroke1347 #UK #CambridgeUK