This great university once bowed only to greatness. These days a bit of ‘diversity’ will do
In 1985, Margaret Thatcher was the first post-war Tory Prime Minister to be denied an honorary degree by Oxford University. It was the first sign of something that is now undeniable: Oxford dons, far from being pipesmoking, port-swigging toffs, are predominantly Left-wing.
You can see those politics at work in the new portraits commissioned by the university to “promote greater diversity”. Have you heard of Dr Norma Aubertin-Potter, the librarian at All Souls College? Or Patricia Daley, Oxford’s professor of the human geography of Africa? Nope, me neither. If I were Dr Aubertin-Potter or Professor Daley, I wouldn’t want to be on this list, anyway. It’s a list of consolation prizes. Who would want to be rewarded in part because they were a woman, or because they were from an ethnic minority, and not on pure merit?
The reason why Oxford was once celebrated is the same reason why the Olympics or the World Cup Final are so cherished – because you have to be extremely good to get there.
The academics, writers, athletes and astrophysicists on the list of new portraits shouldn’t be celebrated because they’re black, white, male or female. The only criteria that matter are excellence and achievement.
A list of prominent recent Oxonians should include David Cameron, Ed and David Miliband, and Theresa May. They don’t make the list for the obvious reason: they are either white and male, or female and Conservative.
Even as Oxford has moved towards financial independence, the university has become monolithically politically correct. You can see it in the 2015-16 row over the Cecil Rhodes statue at Oriel College. Some undergraduates were determined to get rid of the statue because they took against Rhodes’s colonialist views. Fair enough to disapprove of those views – and fair enough to take against the statue. If you aren’t spirited about politics when you’re young, when can you be?
What was pathetic was the reaction of the Oriel authorities. They should have slapped down the undergraduates, and told them the past is a different country, whose monuments remain an important historical record. Instead, the authorities considered getting rid of the statue, only to buckle in the face of public opinion and threats from alumni to withdraw their donations.
One of the great pleasures of my time at Oxford was looking at portraits in college dining halls and libraries. In my own college, Magdalen, there are busts of Oscar Wilde and Lawrence of Arabia. Oscar Wilde isn’t there because he was gay, or Irish, or imprisoned for homosexuality. He’s there because he was one of the great playwrights and writers of the 19th century.
It is greatness, and greatness alone, that should qualify you for eternal preservation on Oxford’s hallowed walls. Harry Mount is editor of ‘The Oldie’