DONS at Oxford University are contemplating an unprecedented vote of no confidence in the Vice-Chancellor in protest at his management style.
Senior academics are said to be considering a call for a debate in Congregation, Oxford's "parliament", on the leadership of John Hood, only 18 months after he was appointed. The arrival of Julie Maxton, an academic from Dr. Hood's former university in New Zealand as Oxford's new Registrar, has also inflamed opposition. The bursar of one college yesterday demanded an independent inquiry into the appointment. Dr Hood, a New Zealander, is the first outsider to head Oxford in its 900-year history. He has sparked furious opposition from many academics over plans to modernise the university's governance.
Dons rebelled last year and forced Dr Hood to back down on a plan to introduce performance assessments of academic staff. Proposals to establish a board of governors to run Oxford, with a majority of members drawn from outside the university, have also caused deep divisions. Some academics accuse Dr Hood of trampling on centuries of collegiate tradition by attempting to run the university in the style of a business chief executive.
Peter Oppenheimer, the president of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, said that it was "conceivable" that there would be a no-confidence vote in Dr Hood "because he is absolutely intolerable". "If there is an attempt, it would be because of his contempt for Oxford's well-established particular style of government, and his authoritarianism," he said. "He is a very disagreeable man. It is more than just a particular issue, it is the style of governance and behaving like a chief executive rather than the head of a very conscientious university."
David Palfreyman, the Bursar of New College, said that he thought a motion of no confidence would "potentially have at least a significant minority of support". Discontent with Dr Hood ran "across departments and colleges and across subjects". "It is quite an achievement to unite so many people," he said. "Maybe it's our fault for the way we made the appointment. Next time round we have to do better, rather than give the idea that they will have a giant broom and have to use it. It's a mess." Asked whether he thought Dr Hood should be asked to go, Mr Palfreyman said: "It can't be far off."
A motion to Congregation needs only 20 signatures to be placed on the agenda for discussion. One senior Oxford scientist told the Times Higher Education Supplement: "One scenario would be to collect a number of signatures to debate the motion that this congregation has no faith in the Vice-Chancellor. His position would then be untenable. If John Hood continues to be inflexible and isn't prepared to understand how this place runs, I don't see any alternative."
Dr Hood arrived at Oxford on a five-year contract in September 2004 from New Zealand, where he had been Vice-Chancellor of the University of Auckland. Professor Maxton, who was highly regarded as Dean of Law at Auckland, took up her post at Oxford yesterday after being appointed last May. She had no previous experience as a registrar, but a spokeswoman for Oxford said yesterday that Professor Maxton had been the unanimous choice of an appointing committee that included Alison Richard, Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University. The post had been advertised widely and headhunters had carried out a global search.
Mr Palfreyman said that the role was so important as a counter-weight to the Vice-Chancellor that an inquiry was needed to ensure trust in the appointments process. Other universities set out detailed procedures for the appointment of a registrar, while Oxford left it to the university's governing council. "It needs to be more scrupulous than in any other circumstances because what binds this place together is trust, as opposed to hierarchy, the issuing of orders and fear," he said.
Any motion of no confidence in Dr Hood will have to be presented to Professor Maxton, as Registrar, for inclusion in Congregation's agenda. The university said that it had received no notice so far of any such plan.
DR JOHN HOOD made history in 2004 as the first Vice-Chancellor in Oxford's 900-year history to come from outside the university's academic body. He succeeded Sir Colin Lucas. Dr Hood, 53, was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Auckland in New Zealand for more than rive years before his arrival at Oxford. He was a member of the Prime Minister's Enterprise Council in New Zealand and New Zealand Secretary of the Rhodes Trust.
Before resuming his academic career, Dr Hood spent 18 years in business as an executive with one of New Zealand's largest companies. He chaired the America's Cup task force and also led an important review of the way New Zealand Cricket ran its affairs. The son of school teachers in New Zealand, Dr Hood graduated from the University of Auckland, where he also took his PhD in civil engineering. His only previous connection with Oxford had been as a Rhodes Scholar in 1976, when he took an MPhil in management studies.