In conversation with chancellor candidate Lady Elish Angiolini – The Oxford Student

Note on corrections: This article has been edited as the original version contained some factual errors regarding Lady Angiolini’s upbringing, family and a mix-up of events.

In the 800 years since the role was conceived, Oxford University may finally see its first female chancellor. The woman in question is Lady Elish Angiolini, the current headmistress of St. Hugh’s College and former Solicitor General and Lord Advocate of Scotland. As a lawyer, Lady Angiolini led several high-profile inquiries, from the review of deaths in police custody to the investigation into the murder of Sarah Everard. She has served as head of the house at St. Hugh’s for fourteen years and seven as Chancellor of the University of the West of Scotland. I sat down to a dinner conversation with Lady Angiolini in her lovely college lodgings on Canterbury Road. The more formal parts of the dinner conversation have been condensed and can be found below.

What was your career like before Oxford?

“First and foremost I was a lawyer; before my tenure as rector of St. Hugh’s here in lovely Oxford. I think that if you pick up a law book, it is a history book, since the area of ​​law is based on precedent, and especially in Scotland ‘declarations’, and the development of case law in relation to this. There was life in the cases I saw, real people with problems that came to life amidst the legal philosophy, stories and legal processes. There were several areas of law I was involved in from the start of my career. I liked, and still like, criminal law and advocacy especially unlike my son who is a corporate lawyer. I was particularly fascinated by criminal cases, mainly conspiracies, murder and rape. I also did a brief stint in counter-terrorism back in the 80s. I was there for the rather famous Pan-Am Lockerbie flight case.

I come from a humble background. I am a Lady in title bestowed upon me by the Queen about twelve weeks before her passing, but was born into a working-class family in Govan, an industrial area of ​​Glasgow. While I was young, my parents experienced financial challenges and ensured that we were all very well educated and I have led a very good life as a result.

I am a Lady in title bestowed upon me by the Queen about twelve weeks before her passing, but was born into a working-class family in Govan, an industrial area of ​​Glasgow.

I was eventually asked to be Solicitor General of Scotland, and soon after, Lord Advocate; in case you’re not aware, it’s essentially the Attorney General. About fourteen years ago, I realized that I had a very strong desire to take my career abroad. I started looking for roles in Europe, but it was around this time that I accidentally got an offer from Oxford! Oxford is a lovely city. I had really enjoyed my short visit then, and after my interview at St. Hugh’s went well, I was appointed principal of the college, the head of the house, responsible for both students, fellows and researchers. And the rest, as they say, is history!”

How was your time as rector of St. Hugh’s been so far?

“In one word, engaging. I have lots of lovely memories of the community here as we are a large, close-knit and very friendly student body.

It’s the daily interactions that stick with you. The position in my office at the College is ideal for my role – it’s in the main corridor, so it’s really good to pick people up, be able to say hello and ask how they’re doing, invite them for coffee and have the opportunity to lend a listening ear to their problems. Sometimes they are just having a bad day, but sometimes there are deeper issues that are hurting them, so we can refer them to more people to support them.

But sometimes it’s also the lighter things, the students’ everyday life, that resonate – I remember an anecdote about a boy who always sat and hid in the basement under a tree in our main garden. On one occasion I came up and asked him what he was doing there, only for him to point to a well-hidden bag of baked goods; I then asked if he hid it from his friends! We also host many fun events from our music concerts to our charity auctions, to our pasta competition where students try to roll out the longest piece of pasta. I have really great memories from my time here. But I think it will be good to see someone else take a stand – fourteen years is a long time.”

Why did you consider the role of chancellor?

I think it’s a lovely role which is fundamentally apolitical, not executive or managerial in nature, but rather very ambassadorial.

“I think that for the role of chancellor, like head of the house, you have to like people. You have to like socializing, as that is the aspect of it that characterizes the role and also gives the good memories I From the Christmas parties to our Burns Supper, I daresay we have the best Burns Night in Oxford, we’ll get you a ticket next January!

Being surrounded by all these young people, these young, brilliant minds fascinates me. I think it’s a lovely role which is fundamentally apolitical, not executive or managerial in nature, but rather very ambassadorial. It’s representative where you chair dinners and chair very happy events, like when the Honorary Fellows come, welcome very senior academics to Oxford and help raise funds for research. Especially today when the economy is tough; I think Oxford is goodit’s a place to mold young minds that are doing great things not just here but around the world, and I want to continue to support their efforts to preserve that legacy, financially and otherwise.

A big part of this role is going out into the world to market Oxford as a place that can help with life-changing research. For example, if you find a guy whose life’s work is about something groundbreaking, like curing cancer, or maybe you find a donor who is interested in putting up a building, like a new library. It’s like what we have here with the Bodleian at St. Hugh’s; I am very proud of the China building and the courtyards there. I would love to continue to be a vicariously part of research here at Oxford, whether that is supporting a particularly remarkable researcher or simply providing a listening ear to students who are going through difficult times in their personal or academic lives. “

A bit of a morbid question, but from Lockerbie to Sarah Everard to the police custody inquiry to even your time as chancellor here, you’ve worked in roles surrounded by death. Does it not come to you, fundamentally harm your soul? Forgive me for sounding so poetic.

“I think in this day and age we are surrounded by death just by watching television or reading the news. We are inundated with information, not only locally but internationally, and we absorb much more in the way of traffic that is bad and disturbing, which is something we definitely need to plan for in the future to make sure we’re not overwhelmed by tragedy when there’s so much good going on in the world. It sounds a bit’Anne of Green Gables‘; tragedies are really quite overwhelming. But even when I was looking at all these terrible cases, like when we helped an elderly victim of a terrible crime, you could really see the compassion and humanity of everyone who tried to support the victims, from the amazing work done by the police officers to the court staff , who smiled and made sure everyone was ok. Despite being in the middle of a tragedy, there is always a light you can see shining through, some positive aspect of humanity through the people who really cared about the justice system.

Even among the accused, where we see that most people are not really evil, but commit crimes because of circumstances, very often substance abuse, I think it is better to provide interventions and see their ability to improve, instead to simply lock them up. Or with the victims, when we see their resilience, their ability to survive what would mentally make most of us crumble, it’s inspiring; there was always something warming or encouraging to look for.

Despite being in the middle of a tragedy, there is always a light you can see shining through, some positive aspect of humanity through the people who really cared about the justice system.

I also faced tragedy in my youth – I was involved in the Polmont rail disaster when the high speed train between Glasgow and Edinburgh was derailed by a young cow on the tracks. One minute we were speeding, the next essentially up in the air, flipping and flipping – I was knocked out and two of the men sitting next to me were killed. It was a pretty horrific incident, fourteen killed and 44 seriously injured, including me. I spent ten days in the hospital after, and when a week had passed since I was discharged, I was back on the train. I knew if I didn’t come up with one then, I’d never come up with one again. I thought it was better to face my fear instead of letting this incident limit me for the rest of my life and I stand by my decision to pick myself up and move on. Life is full of tragedy and sadness, so building your resilience and having a battery of warmth and support and love is essential.”

And finally, to end on a lighter note, who would you say has been most influential or memorable to you during your time at Oxford?

“Oh, there are just so many. I know it sounds facetious, but the person who has been the most significant during that time is my personal assistant; Amanda. Without Amanda, my life would have just been a complete and utter kaleidoscope of chaos. She is there behind me, a good listener and a good friend, and we have fun in the midst of the hard work we do together. I also want to mention my housekeeper, Cathy, who has been with us since the beginning .She has become part of our family and is just wonderful. She comes to Scotland with us, she has also been with us on holidays. I think the people in power that I have met have also been incredibly impressive, some of the most brilliant of all time , passionate and caring minds. Nevertheless, the people who transform my life on a daily basis are Cathy and Amanda.”

Second round off vote for the Oxford Chancellor takes place this week, with Lord Patten’s successor announced in week 7.

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