271st Vice Chancellor of Oxford University attends Chabad Society Shabbat Dinner
The Oxford University Chabad Society recently hosted Professor Andrew Hamilton, the new Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University and former Provost of Yale University.
The Vice Chancellor was welcomed by Rabbi Eli Brackman, director of the Oxford University Chabad Society, who said that it was symbolic for the Chabad Society to host the 271st Vice Chancellor of the University of Oxford, pointing out that Jews have only been allowed to study at Oxford for the last 250 years out of its 900 year old history.
The introduction was given by 1st year student President of the Chabad Society, Michael Bodansky (Pembroke College), who compared the hospitality of the Chabad Society to the generous hospitality of the Biblical Abraham, in whose spirit the society welcomed the Vice Chancellor.
Resplendent in bow tie, Yarmulke and tuxedo, he spoke to close to a hundred students and faculty about the perils of being a Cambridge graduate in ‘the other place’, the burdens imposed by a 900 year-old bureaucracy, and the impact of the current economic difficulties upon the university.
Professor Hamilton spoke sympathetically of the difficult choices with which the Browne Review had to wrestle. Student sentiment was less sympathetic to these dilemmas.
If the Vice Chancellor had expected an easy ride from questioners, he may have left disappointed. He was asked about the paucity of housing available to families with children, the paltry wages paid to tutors and inadequate university supervision of lecturers.
There was, of course, the usual heckling from French students upset by their defeats at Agincourt, Trafalgar and Waterloo. He dealt with these questions with his customary aplomb.
As for the issue of paramount concern, namely bicycles, Professor Hamilton confirmed that not only does he own one, but he rides it too.
The Vice Chancellor was full of praise for the dynamic and warm atmosphere of the Oxford University Chabad Society’s Slager Jewish student centre, in that it provides a vibrant home away from home for a mix of Jewish students, faculty and community members of all backgrounds.
A toast was offered to Oxford alumnus Mr. David Slager, who helped establish the Slager Jewish student centre in the centre of Oxford that has transformed Jewish life in Oxford over the last six years.