University College Oxford Record 2020

FROM
THE
It seems both an age and no
time at all since I wrote our
2019 message from the Domestic
Bursary. In 2020 we are all older and
wiser in ways we hadn’t anticipated
and didn’t wish for. However, with threats
come opportunities and among all the things
that we Univites are good at, we are good at using
opportunities well. While the immediate future
may be different from our previous expectations
and certainly a more uncertain and concerning
time for all, this enforced pause does afford us
a chance to reset some of our priorities, reexamine
what we value and redouble our efforts
for each other and for our wider community.
As I write, my staff are largely furloughed,
but some remain; some trying hard to reunite
students with their belongings after the swift
exodus of Hilary; others are doing their best to
look after our remaining students and prepare
for the much-anticipated return in Michaelmas.
Others still have turned their thoughts to how
they can make a difference in the here and now,
when the world is calling on all of us to step
up and lead. The brilliance of the Fellowship of
Oxford is much reported and the world will
be indebted to their efforts for generations to
come. On a more local level, the wider College
remains in my view a beacon for how to live well.
In extreme adversity we see people as they really
are, for good and for bad. I am overwhelmed
by the sheer numbers in our College who have
stood fast; I’m at a loss for how we can ever say
thank you to them.
Their support has been critical as we consider
how we move forward. Planning in an uncertain
world is everything; we can none of us see over the
hill, but we can know where we want to land and
plan for it. So it has been with the contributions
DOMESTIC
BURSAR
we have made to the various
University coordination groups
for a safe return to on site working
and for Michaelmas Term. The
Bursary has been at the leading edge
of the development of protocols for safe
operations in colleges, for addressing risks and
for reassuring our people that we are as well
placed as we could hope to be. I am confident
in our thinking and in our ability to adapt; we will
need to deploy copious amounts of these skills in
the months ahead.
In their collaboration with the Oxford
Homeless Movement, Oxford Mutual Aid, and
Wadham and Jesus Colleges, our chefs are
demonstrating their outstanding personal and
professional qualities in volunteering beyond
our walls. In feeding the homeless, the elderly
and vulnerable, in putting free school meals
onto the tables of families in need, our staff are
volunteering in support of everything that they
believe that the College stands for; they are living
our values of being loyal, fair and inspirational. We
at Univ have led in so many ways through the
pandemic; we can look back at our contributions
to preparing all colleges for the challenges of
Michaelmas Term and we can be proud. But
nothing makes me prouder than my chefs who,
during this pandemic, on their own initiative and
through their own efforts have made a difference
every time they have put good food in front of
the hungry in our society.
We have spoken much in recent weeks about
Univ being together apart. Although we are apart,
nothing is dividing us because we have a common,
unifying purpose. It is an honourable purpose, the
same purpose which emerged when Oxford
City Council asked Univ to help them meet their
own challenges of the pandemic. To help them
University College Record | October 2020 41