What's the Big Idea?
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What’s the Big Idea? Sir Ronald Cohen on Big Society Capital Charitable Status Ian McGregor shakes up the third sector Thirty Years of ExVac The student-run charity is still full of life THE EXETER COLLEGE MAGAZINE ISSUE 15 AUTUMN 2012 WWW.EXETER.OX.AC.UK/ALUMNI Best of British Nick Hurd MP on the philanthropic habits of a nation PLUS: Aung San Suu Kyi in the Fellows’ Garden, Alison Brooks presents the Third Quad, record breaking philanthropy at Exeter and Oxford, Exonian tops the charts, and more... WC EL OME COLLEGE NEWS FUR ND AISING Turn Up for the Books O n the Money Tessa Stanley Price | 34 Joanna Bowring | 4 Editorial Call Me, Maybe Lara Bryan | 35 Is it All the Fault of the Bankers? Top of the Class Emily Watson | 36 Rector’s Sang Lee | 5 A ll’s Well that Ends Well Tim Ashley | 37 What Should We Save? Lucy Sackville | 5 MA TTHEW BALDWIN, Thirty Years of ExVac The Origins of Sex Freya Hadrill | 6 Kate Mathieson | 38 COMMUNICATIONS Great European Commemorated OFFICER Daniela Omlor | 7 Letter CaPG M AI N Is German Renaissance Literature Misogynistic? Campaign Update istorians might look back on this as the FRA NCES CAIRncROSS, RECTOR Mark Houghton-Berry | 39 Age of Austerity. It is certainly a term Helen Watanabe-O’Kelly | 8 H Building the Future Alison Brooks | 40 that is used often in the media, parliament A lbert Camus: The Outsider and, one might imagine, a good many Alexander Walker | 10 accounts departments. Fishing for Answers Xinyuan Zheng | 11 ALUM NI We hear all too much about sustained Taking the ‘A’ Train Michael Dunne | 12 A Prize for John Kufuor economic stagnation and public spending Timothy Davies | 42 cuts, and the third sector strains to cover Student Past Times Jennifer Bandi | 13 A ftershocks Jamee Elder the inevitable gaps. Life After Oxford Michael Mayo | 14 and Chris Simpson | 43 What a relief and a pleasure then to be The First 700 Years Hannah Parham | 14 able to bring such a bounty of good news Good Karma Peter Mann | 44 State of the Arts Naomi Charatan, to you. This edition of Exon is on the theme Touching Bass Michael Lisanti | 44 Jessica Palmarozza | 15 of philanthropy. Such is the goodwill and Mad Dogs and Englishmen endeavour of so many Exonians that this hilanthropy is the theme of this issue of Exon. It is, of To give us the taxes levied on a few poor peasants Sports Ben Abdoo, Chris Bennett, Spencer Crawley | 45 year’s magazine could have made a book. course, the theme of much that happens in College – may hardly count as philanthropy, but Stapeldon also Nick Fletcher, Rory Antcliff | 16 P O lympic Torch in Exonian Hands From Westminster Palace to the Kingdom and of the past 698 years. But in the following pages, we gave us properties in Oxford which secured additional Charlie Howell | 46 of Bhutan, we find Exonians hoping to are ranging more broadly. With good reason: philanthropy income and accommodation, with the specific and UnV I ERSITY NEWS make a difference. is ever more important for the survival of many institutions relatively novel intention of supporting a group of Pilot Perils Brian Phillips | 46 A ung San Suu Kyi Honoured There are record-breaking gifts to the that once depended on taxpayers’ cash. impecunious young men through their studies. Moreover, at Encaenia Matthew Baldwin | 18 University to celebrate, and Exeter can be Exonians are involved with philanthropy at many each of the subsequent centuries brought additional B EACK S CTION proud of its own progress as the Walton levels. Right at the top, Nick Hurd MP (1981, Literae gifts that helped Exeter to survive. Perhaps the most Tomorrow’s World Adam Ward | 19 # Oxfordtrending Alison Edwards | 47 Street development takes large strides Humaniores) is Minister for Civil Society, after spending remarkable story is that of the building of the Chapel, Ertegun’s Legacy Matthew Stokes | 20 forward and the Annual Fund sets new 19 months in the role of Shadow Minister for Charities, that soaring work of Gilbert Scott, in the late 1850s. O ld Members’ Association £75m for Oxford’s Poorest Students benchmarks for success. Social Enterprises and Volunteering. At similarly dizzying The whole College community took part in the Kinsey Forsdyke | 48 Gitanjali Joseph | 20 Sir Ronald Cohen discusses the value heights is Sir Ronald Cohen (1964, PPE), already fundraising, with many small donations from Old Published Exonians | 49 The Language of the Heart of social investment, while Chris Arnold regarded as the father of venture capital in Britain, and Members, roughly a year’s income from each of the Eleanor Franzen | 21 The Year in Pictures | 50 espouses the merits of Giving What We now also widely seen as the father of social investment. Fellows, £1,000 bequeathed by the Rector, Joseph Can. Hannah Lownsbrough considers the Both write in this issue, as do several Exonians who are Richards, and a gift of the ante-chapel screen from power of online campaigning and Jamee trying to harness philanthropy in more modest but equally the JCR. FAE TURES Elder describes how the welcome she important ways to change the world for the better. Today, our continued existence and the welfare of our Think BIG Sir Ronald Cohen | 22 received at Exeter at a time of need made For this college, philanthropy has always been students are more dependent on the generosity of Old an indelible impression on her. essential to our continued existence. Indeed, as I have Members and friends than at any time since those difficult The Best of Britain? Nick Hurd | 24 There is much to celebrate besides worked on Exeter College: The First 700 Years, the mediaeval years. But we also live at a time when our Old Charitable Status Ian McGregor | 26 Exonians’ charity. It was a difficult year collection of history, Members and friends are more generous than ever before Back to the Future on the water for Exeter’s rowers, but the anecdotes and in our history. Therefore the debates on philanthropy, Frances Cairncross | 28 hockey, football and rugby clubs enjoyed recollections of Exeter on the best ways to harness it and the constraints that success on dry land. Xinyuan Zheng shows that we will publish society should put on it, are of great importance to our Charity not Aid I have marvelled at Chisanga Puta-Chekwe | 30 how the research of Exeter’s students can in October 2013, I future. Indeed, this is true not just of Exeter but of many have far-reaching ramifications, contributing have marvelled at the other British institutions, as we continue to pay down our A Social Medium the extent to which to our understanding of the world’s past extent to which the huge public debt but also face more calls on government Hannah Lownsbrough | 31 the College has been and future. And the feature on Published College has been built spending from an ageing population. Giving What We Can Exonians includes new books from Martin built on the generosity on the generosity of So we also hope that our students learn, during Christopher Arnold | 32 Amis, Philip Pullman, Will Self, Tariq Ali and of individuals for individuals for nearly their time at Exeter, the importance of giving back to Faith, Hope and Charity Stanley Johnson, and could have included nearly seven centuries seven centuries. society even more than they receive during their time Hugh Shilson-Thomas | 33 many, many more. If we look for a here at College. One of Exeter’s marvels is ExVac, run I hope you will find much to hearten precise foundation entirely by our students and in existence for 30 years, you in these pages. Times may be austere, date for the College, it helping many generations of Oxfordshire children and but at Exeter enterprise, dedication and is not one on which we teaching Exonians much about the needy and what they Editors: Matthew Baldwin & Frances Cairncross | Editorial Intern: Gitanjali Joseph compassion abound. received a royal charter or bought a building. It is the date – 4 can do for others. The articles in this issue show the Produced by Matter&Co April 1314 – when we received our first gift. For it is the date astonishingly wide variety of ways in which Exonians Designer: Sarah Blick | Assistant Designers: Syd Hausmann, Sarah Gill [email protected] of the document under which Bishop Walter de Stapeldon have practised philanthropy, with their time, ideas Production Intern: James Misson secured for us the tithes of the parish of Gwinear in Cornwall. and money. Without the stream of income that this gift provided, the Our founder, Walter de Stapeldon, would have enjoyed College could not have come into existence. reading this issue of Exon. I hope that you will too. www.matterandco.com 2 EXON AUTUMN 2012 www.exeter.ox.ac.uk/alumni www.exeter.ox.ac.uk/alumni EXON AUTUMN 2012 3 COLLEGE NEWS A DA Y in Is it All the Fault of the Bankers? the Turn Up for L Exeter’s lecturer in economics welcomes Lord Burns’s I FE frank discussion of the financial crisis from a banker’s O F perspective SAGE N LE , LECTURER IN ECONOMICS A the Books L I B JOAN N A BOWRING R reveals that Exeter’s library holds AR more than just books as she looks back on her I n 26 October 2011, Lord Burns, Eventually, banks ran into problems A N first year as the College’s librarian OChairman of Santander UK, delivered and their exposure to these products a speech entitled ‘Is it all the fault of the made their positions highly correlated.