Available onlineChancellor of the OU
(page 2 of 2)| Title: | Chancellor retirement speech |
|---|---|
| Duration: | 00:03:03 |
| Date: | 2006 |
In 2004 the new OU Library building was completed and officially opened by Baroness Boothroyd on 3 November that year. On the occasion of her retirement as Chancellor in October 2006, it was renamed The Betty Boothroyd Library. During an oral interview recorded for the University Archive in 2009, Baroness Boothroyd reflected:
“Oh, well it’s lovely, it’s a great feeling. I’m very privileged to have had that named after me. I was enormously flattered, what a privilege it is to have a library of the OU named after you, and I’ve visited that library many times. And of course my archives are there, I wanted them to have all my papers, and they all stay in the archive at the Boothroyd Library. I’m very proud, I’m very proud indeed, as you would expect.”
During her time as Chancellor, Baroness Boothroyd was a popular and highly respected champion of The Open University. On her retirement, the then Vice-Chancellor, Brenda Gourley paid tribute to her in the staff newspaper Open House:
“I know that all members of the university hold her in the highest esteem and that includes the many students whose lives have been touched by her… We are enormously grateful for her dedication and hard work on our behalf and know she will remain a champion for our cause in the future… Betty Boothroyd was and remains a great believer in the OU and everything we stand for. We owe her a great debt for the way in which she has used her high profile to promote the work of the OU. She has been a consistently magnificent ambassador for the university and a champion of our thousands of students and the learning opportunities we are giving them”
The video clip on this page is a recording of Baroness Boothroyd addressing staff at the retirement event held for her at The Open University on 2 October 2006.
Baroness Boothroyd donated a collection of her private papers to the University Archive in 2004. The papers are largely based on her time as Speaker, but also cover other areas of her political career. To view materials from the collection please contact university-archive@open.ac.uk
