lord patten Archives – The Oxford Student

In Defence of Lord Patten: why ‘no-platforming’ and safe spaces miss the point

24th November 2017Iona Rangeley-Wilson

“If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought”– or so wrote George Orwell inhis essay ‘Politics and the English Language’. Language, and most especially political language, ispowerful and aware of it. All speech and writing is created with the intention of influence: propaganda and advertisements invade one’s mind with ready-made thoughts, and politicians attempt […]

JCR Presidents and OUSU officers criticise Patten’s statement on quotas in open letter

5th June 2016James Broun

Nearly two thirds of Oxford’s JCR Presidents and most of OUSU’s executive committee are among the signatories to a letter criticising the Chancellor, Lord Patten of Barnes, for his comments made about quotas last week. At the time of writing, 24 JCR Presidents have signed the letter, plus many other JCR officers. The President of […]

Chancellor Patten dismisses Rhodes Must Fall movement in Vice-Chancellor admission

12th January 201612th January 2016Jan-David Franke & Toby Clyde

During this morning’s admission of Vice-Chancellor Richardson, Chancellor Patten, the ceremonial head of Oxford University, spoke out strongly in his welcome speech against historical revisionism in Oxford. Speaking before Professor Louise Richardson’s appointment, he stressed the need for both competitive public education spending and academic autonomy before moving on to criticise “intolerance” in universities. Chancellor […]