Tuesday 5 October 1999
Remarks by
Sir John Daniel
Vice-Chancellor
The Open University
It is a great pleasure to be with you this evening. Ever since I first visited Leo Baeck College it has held a special place in my memory. I think that the acuteness of my recollections of the College is a combination of the people and the place.
I recall visiting your wonderful library where I saw a scholar recently arrived from Russia surrounded by documents ancient and modern. It evoked for me all the splendour and the seriousness of the Jewish tradition of scholarship and I felt immensely proud that the Open University is associated with this College and with your work.
When I was at school we used to have a day each year when previous pupils would return to visit. The events began in the late morning with a service in the chapel at which the lesson was always that sonorous and memorable passage from Ecclesiasticus that begins:
Let us now praise famous men,
And our fathers that begat us.
The Lord manifested in them great glory,
Even his mighty power from the beginning
Some verses in the middle of that passage describe the roles to which we aspire:
Leaders of the people by their counsels,
And by their understanding men of learning for the people;
Wise were their words in their instruction:
Such as sought our musical tunes,
And set forth verses in writing.
Those words seem particularly fitting for the people of Leo Baeck College and particularly for your distinguished Principal, Rabbi Jonathan Magonet. I have met Rabbi Magonet on numerous occasions since the association between Leo Baeck College and the Open University began. We have met here at the College, at degree ceremonies at our campus in Milton Keynes, at receptions in London and at our offices in Grays Inn Road. Every time we meet I am impressed by his kindness and his dignity. He epitomises for me the scholar practitioner which is my ideal of the modern academic leader.
I have quoted from Ecclesiasticus. Let me also quote from the literature of England. One of the first references to an academic in our literature is in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. The character in question is referred to by Chaucer as the Clerk of Oxenford, who must have been an Oxford don not long after the creation of that university.
Chaucer tells us that the Clerk of Oxenford would rather have twenty books in his bedroom than nice clothes and that he was not a rich man. And then he adds:
And gladly wolde he lerne and gladly teche.
I have always felt that to be the best one line summary of the ambitions that we should harbour as scholars and academics. First, what we do should be done gladly. We should be pleased that our community values the academic mode of thinking, that great triumph of the human spirit, enough to support us to be people of learning.
Second, I like the order of the words. And gladly would he learn and gladly teach. Reminding us that learning comes before teaching and that the good teacher is always a learner. Ecclesiasticus has it the same way round: And by their understanding men of learning for the people; wise were their words in their instruction.
That is the attitude I encounter at Leo Baeck College, learning and teaching with gladness, and I congratulate you for sustaining that atmosphere of study, reflection and scholarship.
I also congratulate you for being a model institution within the Open University’s network of accredited institutions. Earlier this year your institutional and course reviews gave rise to an unconditional recommendation for re-accreditation, which is an impressive achievement for a small institution.
I want to tell you how much we value Leo Baeck College within our diverse network of institutions and to thank the staff for their participation in the activities of Open University Validation Services. You bring wisdom, commitment and a tradition of scholarship that is an inspiration to all the other institutions.
You have also added some highly distinguished people to the Open University’s roll of honorary graduates. I think of Hyam Macabie, Lionel Blue, and Sigmund Sternberg, who was kind enough to write to me to express his regrets that he could not be here with us this evening.
It is for all these reasons that it is such a pleasure to be here this evening and to congratulate the new graduates whose success we have celebrated. We are proud to count you as new graduates of the Open University and you should be proud to carry with you the name of Leo Baeck College.
On your behalf I thank the families that have supported you during your studies and the staff of the College who have guided your learning. I wish you every success in the future.