Model Principal!?

[St Regs squatter]

Anyone else seen this truly bizarre article which recently appeared in the Wall St Journal, with Dr Louise Richardson modelling a load of pricey clothes and flashing the bling:

http://magazine.wsj.com/hunter/rebel-ye ... the-class/

The pics are bad enough (how to be taken seriously academically lying among the crocus!), but here answers to some of the questions are totally mental. Comments are a hoot though.

[Guest]

Brilliant! Now we can say what we want about her in a public forum where people will actually read it.

[Jos Dad]

Surely its a wind up? Otherwise what was she thinking of? Apart from anything else there is the aesthetic side. The Principal is a well preserved woman but she is no spring chicken.
In the second photograph she seems to hink she is a pedestrian Kate Kennedy with four bejants on either side. And why must photographers insist on the gown being clipped up? It is not lucky and it is not done. Would they insist on gentlemen doing up the bottom waistcoat button? Are they trying to make us look silly?

[Cain]

I gave every incoming student at St. Andrews a copy of “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” by Mohsin Hamid and asked them to read it before they came. It’s a quite wonderful book, about an encounter between an American and an other, it could be a terrorist. Then we had Mohsin come and give a talk—students were literally hanging from the rafters to get inside.

Literally hanging from the rafters?

I think that somebody, somewhere, doesn't know what literally means

[Senethro]

I'm always driven to like the Principal more because of the kind of people that get angry at her.

[ojk6]

I'm fairly neutral about Dr Richardson, but the following quote did make me smile:

"They’re very dismissive of style in academia. But there is a difference in Scotland. Part of my job is to go to a lot of black-tie events, and there is a real sartorial sense there—there are men in kilts."

[Hennessy]

Simple.

Irish women = mad

That rule has never let me down in the past.

[donpablo]

I'm always driven to like the Principal more because of the kind of people that get angry at her.

Indeed. You cant help but think there is the spirit of an epic troll inside. Love it.

[Ian Sutherland]

I'm fairly neutral about Dr Richardson, but the following quote did make me smile:

"They’re very dismissive of style in academia. But there is a difference in Scotland. Part of my job is to go to a lot of black-tie events, and there is a real sartorial sense there—there are men in kilts."

Oh god. Brian Lang in his dinner jacket with tartan trousers and purple socks. I thought I had managed to forgot that image. (Shudder)

[rham]

Actually the most shocking things are the comments. There are some really angry people inside the University. Most students have little to do with the Principal, except over KKK etc (and thats a minority). The attempted trashing of her reputation smells like an inside job from a disgruntled professor or lecturer, anyone in IR know more?

[wild_quinine]

Actually the most shocking things are the comments.

Guess she shouldn't have cross-posted to 4chan.

[DACrowe]

To try and discredit Paul Wilkinson is both shameful and petty!

Anyone know what the last few comments are talking about? I can't see an anonymous poster referring to either 'Critical Terrorism Studies', Colin Wallace or Paul Wilkinson. Did they remove a comment? Any idea what it said?

[Guest]

Looks like comments have been disabled.

BAWWWW LOUISE.

Resign already!

[rham]

Anyone know what the last few comments are talking about? I can't see an anonymous poster referring to either 'Critical Terrorism Studies', Colin Wallace or Paul Wilkinson. Did they remove a comment? Any idea what it said

You could find it in google cache, something about letters to ITV in the 80's made no sense to me. Presumably there is some sort of more or less open warfare in IR

[David Bean]

There was a comment there, yes, which made some attacks on Prof. Wlkinson based on some allegations of controversy earlier in his career. There wasn't any foundation presented for any of it, and it didn't look particularly interesting. There's also nothing to suggest it came from within the School of IR - in fact a subsequent commentator implied that their probable source was from within the journal you mentioned, which evidently has a record of attacking the School.

[Guest]

Seems like the Scottish press are picking up on some of this stuff, which can't be good for the Uni's reputation. I know St Andrews has traditionally been slated for being elitist but this kind of frivolous spend when the library needs improvement and us students can't afford the rents in town is a real slap in the face, imho.

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/educati ... 6319368.jp

[Guest]

Seems like the Scottish press are picking up on some of this stuff, which can't be good for the Uni's reputation. I know St Andrews has traditionally been slated for being elitist but this kind of frivolous spend when the library needs improvement and us students can't afford the rents in town is a real slap in the face, imho.

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/educati ... 6319368.jp

Seems that the source of the story is a St Andrews student with some pretensions to journalism. The story itself is quite likely factually flawed and, if so, very possibly actionable. Good luck with that...

[DACrowe]

Seems that the source of the story is a St Andrews student with some pretensions to journalism. The story itself is quite likely factually flawed and, if so, very possibly actionable. Good luck with that...

I could be wrong of course, but the profile picture of the student quoted in the article (Mufadal Jiwaji) looks as though he's taking part in the Kate Kennedy parade. Any bad blood between the KK and the Principal by any chance?

[Guest]

Although his profile picture seems to be taken from the KK parade, I know Mufadal Jiwaji isn't in the KK. Also, having been in the parade a couple of times, you don't have to fully agree with all the KK stands for to accept an invitation to be part of this town/gown tradition.

[the_third_man]

Seems that the source of the story is a St Andrews student with some pretensions to journalism. The story itself is quite likely factually flawed and, if so, very possibly actionable. Good luck with that...

I suspect the sums of money quoted are accurate, since they seem to have been obtained through an FOI request. The context and spin are probably debatable. In particular, I understand that it was necessary to spend substantial sums on University House anyway, since it was a listed building. Also, I'm almost certain that Brian Lang would never have described University House as "inappropriately large and grand" to be his residence, simply because Braetrees, his replacement official residence, was almost as large. (If I wanted to be cynical, I might add that no residence could possibly be "inappropriately large and grand" for Brian's ego, but that's another story... ;-) )